AACC U14 France 2026 - Day 2
St Aulaye Cricket Club | Training, The Hundred & a lot of heat
The boys have had a really good, very long and very hot day — but spirits are high and they’ve packed plenty into it.
8:00am start and breakfast was suitably French:
Croissants
Pain au Suisse
Chocolatine
Local jams
Fruit
Yoghurts
Cereals
Basically enough carbs to fuel a small nation.
Then it was off to St Aulaye Cricket Club for the day, where the squad joined up with the juniors from Nîmes CC for a 90-minute joint training session.
Plenty of good work, plenty of learning, and a great chance for the players from both clubs to get to know each other before the afternoon match.
Lunch arrived at 1:15pm with sandwiches, breads, cakes, fruit and juice.
And then came the main event…
THE HUNDRED
Nîmes only had 8 players available, so instead of making it awkward, we mixed the sides and got everyone involved.
It turned into a really useful learning experience on what can only be described as:
A very bouncy artificial pitch
on a rather erratic outfield
Welcome to touring cricket. 
Anything hit along the ground had about a 50/50 chance of either reaching the boundary or disappearing forever into agricultural France.
Despite that, there was some really encouraging cricket played.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Fin McGeachy
An excellent day behind the stumps:
* No byes conceded
* 2 catches
* 1 stumping
* 34 runs with the bat
His innings only came to an end thanks to an absolutely outrageous one-handed grab from Jack Brooks.
One of those catches where everyone briefly stops and goes…
“…did he actually catch that?” 
Seth Williamson – 24 runs
Really positive batting, using his crease well and getting his feet moving nicely.
Pick of the bowlers – Fergus Abrahall
3 overs
7 runs
2 wickets
Lovely spell and very difficult to get away.
Fielding mentions
Some exceptional work in the field from:
Henry Simmonds
Ben Adams
Both throwing themselves around despite the heat.
And it really was HOT.
Temperatures reached around 28–31°C today, with a little bit of rain thrown in for good measure — but thankfully nothing that was going to stop cricket.
Meanwhile…
LIL CHEF WAS BACK IN ACTION
While everyone else was sweating it out at the cricket ground, our resident culinary department spent the afternoon preparing dinner.
And on the team’s return they were greeted with:
Fresh homemade pasta
Beef bolognese
Roasted vegetable bolognese
Garlic bread
Not bad after a full day of cricket.
The boys then spent the evening with 
Pool time
Badminton
Table tennis
So naturally, after approximately 10 hours of activity in the sun, the solution is…
more activity in the sun but with the added bonus of jumping in the pool when too warm.
Another cracking day in France.
Lots learned.
Lots of cricket played.
Lots of food consumed.
And thankfully nobody lost in the cornfield.
Tomorrow we go again. 
#AuldAlliance m #FranceTour2026#U14FranceTour#JuniorCricket#TourDiary#StAulaye#MakingMemories#developponsvotretalent