Matthew Elliot... played with Eastcote Cricket Club while a Crusaders scholar. Matthew was the first Crusaders scholar to be selected to play for Australia in a Test match, making his debut against the West Indies in November 1996.

Two scholarships have been instituted to provide young players with the chance of developing their cricketing experience with a season of club cricket in England.

Many of these players, such as Matthew Elliott, Damian Fleming and Paul Reiffel , have gone on to represent Australia or to reach First Class level.

A third scholarship provide the opportunity for an up-and-coming young English cricketer to experience the game in Australia by playing with a Melbourne club side.

Paul Collingwood, winner of the Crusaders/Sir Ron Brierley Scholarship.

England’s international representative, Paul Collingwood,has been one of those scholarship winners.

Christchurch Boys High School, New Zealand.		Hagley Hall, Birmingham, England.

Links with clubs in the UK have helped the Crusaders to place other players and to arrange successful playing tours every second year, commencing in 1987.

Some of the fixtures are against the Royal Household at Windsor, the Duke of Norfolk’s XI at Arundel Castle, Sir John Paul Getty’s XI at his private estate at Wormsley and the Marylebone Cricket Club. Other games are played on some of the oldest and most traditional ground in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Recent tours have also included matches in Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia, Singapore and New Zealand.