With 2025 coming to an end, we wanted to reflect on this amazing year. From travelling internationally, the growth of our Affiliate Academies, new partnerships arising with the High Performance Program, exciting tournaments, and the achievements of Joe Root, this year has been triumphant for the R66T Academy.
Affiliate Academies
To kickstart our amazing year, in January we had a brand new Affiliate Academy join The R66T Academy! All the way from the USA, MVP Cricket Academy joined on board to produce successful coaching camps in Minnesota, creating a pathway to professional cricket for young players. As the academy advanced over the next few months, they achieved a successful summer as they went on to compete in several major tournaments across the USA, including the USA Cricket Junior Pathway Tournaments, the Atlanta Spring Cricket Tournament, and the AMLCA Tournament. Their U11 team in particular shone spectacularly throughout the year by winning their age group category at the Atlanta Spring Tournament USA Cricket Junior Pathway Championship - WIM Hub competition and Division B of the AMLCA championship, therefore winning promotion to Division A. MVP Cricket Academy Under 13’s were also successful throughout the year, finishing runners up at the Atlanta Spring Competition and going one better at the USA Cricket Junior Pathway Championship - WIM hub and the AMLCA Championship by winning both competitions and in turn gaining promotion to Division B of the AMLCA Championship.
As MVP Cricket Academy strived to succeed in the USA, over in India, Crayon Academy for Skills Excellence (CASE) joined us in February. Developing their elite-level training program, they launched their official academy in April. Driving passion for the sport, they began their intense batting, fielding, and bowling drills, led by Head Coach, Puneet Mehra. Now, they have developed across India, providing cricket coaching for players of all ages who have a passion for the sport. We hope to see both Affiliate Academies flourish further throughout 2026!
The High Performance Program
Previous High Performance Program attendee and ex-captain of the ACE team, Troy Henry, signed his first contract with Sussex Cricket in March! His previous cricket training experience started in May 2024 under the watchful eye of Shaun Seigert during our High Performance Program in Australia. Troy stated, “The program has developed me not only as a player, but as a person, getting out of my comfort zone by living with new people, exploring a different country, and embracing a different culture.” After graduating from the program, upon his return to the UK Troy successfully signed his very first rookie contract with Sussex Cricket. Taking to the field on the 27th August with Sussex Sharks, he then took his first wicket in professional cricket!
Another progression the High Performance Program saw in 2025 was the latest partnership with Adelaide University Sports and Fitness! By becoming official partners with the university at the start of August, we worked closely together to make use of their facilities during our program, which began in October. Their high-quality facilities were typically useful to provide the perfect environment for any cricket player to thrive. From the modernised gym to the excellent cricket nets, this was a key feature to include in our program for the players' benefit.
The R66T T20 Cup
Over the duration of the UK school summer holidays, our 2025 R66T T20 Cup commenced. Taking place at 6 locations across the UK, including Bristol, Southampton, Glasgow, Sheffield, Derbyshire, and Newcastle, players aged 14 upwards thrived at each location, making new friendships whilst showcasing their skills on the field from July to August. This was an excellent opportunity over the summer holidays for young cricketers to develop their skills amongst other players. With high demand for 2026, players can now register their interest online to be the first to know when we launch the new dates. You can register by clicking here.
The R66T State School Cricket League Tournament
During the start of 2025, the R66T State School Cricket League tournament took place in partnership with the Cricket Society Trust and the MCC Foundation. The tournament was an amazing opportunity for state schools aged 11 to 15 years to be able to play hardball cricket for free due to the fundraising from the R66T Academy, Cricket Society Trust, and the MCC Foundation. As July came around, it was time for the finals, where schools would play for the winning trophy. In the finals at Kimbolton School, success struck as these cricket teams claimed victory…
- Latimer Arts College - U13 Girls
- Challney High School - U13 Boys
- Spalding High School - U15 Girls
- Bishop Stopford School - U15 Boys
- London Academy - U15 Boys Middlesex Finals
Congratulations to everyone who took part in the tournament this year. We hope to see another amazing turnout in 2026! If you would like to donate or attend the fundraising dinner for this event, please click here to find out more.
Joe Root’s Success
England cricketer and the face of the R66T Academy, Joe Root, made headlines once again this summer as he reached an ultimate milestone whilst competing for the Trent Rockets during the Hundred competition in August - 30,000 career runs! This was just a few weeks after passing Ricky Ponting to move up to second place in the all time list of test run scorers. After thesehis roaring achievements, England’s leading run-scorer then went on to unlock another unbelievable achievement earlier this month at the Gabba, Brisbane, whilst competing in the Ashes series in Australia - the century he had been awaiting. During the day/night Test match, Joe not only succeeded with his first century in Australia, but also claimed his 40th Test Century! The R66T Academy wishes Joe Root all the best for the duration of the Ashes series over in Australia.
The R66T Dubai Cup
The annual R66T Dubai Cup, in partnership with inspiresport and SportzJourney, saw 194 players from around the world join together at the Dubai Sevens Stadium in April. The 14 teams resulted in 614 4’s, 96 6’s, 311 wickets, 6,100 runs, which were streamed to 11,000 family, friends, and supporters at home via the partnership of NV Play. The unique tournament provided an excellent blend of cricket and leisure activities for the U15 and U13 cricket clubs, schools, and academies. If your School, Academy, or Cricket Club is interested in joining the tournament in 2026, you can register online by clicking here.
The R66T Community
The R66T Academy Community launched on June 6th 2025, providing cricket enthusiasts from all over the world a space to access cricket coaching & be part of our community. With almost 200 members from 10 countries and counting it’s been brilliant to see the impact an online community can have.
For example, Loz Harris who said “Really friendly community and a great space to talk to other cricket fans. Feels like one big cricket family”. Loz was also the winner of our 2nd Competition, receiving a shirt signed by Joe Root himself. Members engage within the community to earn points and aim to finish the monthly leaderboard at the top to win amazing prizes such as Test Match Tickets, R66T Academy Training Kit or Joe Root Memorabilia.
These competitions have encouraged an active community with members creating 280 posts, giving out 2570 likes and commenting 1703 times on other members' posts. Now that’s a community!
Inside the community, members can also access exclusive video masterclasses from top pro’s including Joe Root, Billy Root, Ben Duckett, Tammy Beaumont, Josh Da Silva, Sam Cook and more. And should they have any questions about their game, the “Get Coaching Feedback” space is the place to submit questions & videos for our coaches to help out.
We also host monthly live Q&A’s with Joe joining himself in September to speak to members as well as hosting exclusive courses from partner coaches like Stuart Barnes, Cricfit and the WK Coach.
You can sign up to the community for free by starting a 7-day trial here, and after that it is just £7.49 per month!