Canada’s Trinity College School (TCS) will be pitting themselves against two Bermuda National Academy teams as part of their eighth cricket tour to the Island.

The Ontario-based boarding school take on the National Academy Under-15s tomorrow and a National Academy Select XI on Saturday. Both 30 over games will be held at Shelly Bay starting at 1pm.

Tour manager Doug Mann said TSC had a long history with Island with Deputy Premier Michael Dunkley, a former captain, and Independent MP Terry Lister among the school’s Bermudian alumni.

“Bermudians have been coming to our school for about 126 years and we currently have 12 Bermudian pupils,” he said.

“The Second World War encouraged more Bermudians to consider TCS with British boarding schools being inaccessible during the war.”

TSC’s squad of 13 players, including three Bermudians, arrive on the Island today ahead of tomorrow’s opening game, the school’s first match on the Island since 1985.

Mann said the team were looking forward to dusting off some cobwebs having not yet been able to train outside in preparation for the start of the new season.

“We’ve only just started our season and the boys haven’t really trained outside yet so this will be a nice warm up for them,” said Mann.

“It will be a good chance for us to build as a team and get some competition before we start our serious training and serious matches.”

TSC have been visiting the Island since 1954 when Bermuda’s Tony Brewer skippered the tourists, who included the late television journalist and Canadian Peter Jennings in their squad.

The first Bermudian to attend the school was WE Tucker in 1887, while former Bermuda Governor Sir Edwin Leather was a TCS old boy and helped to foster links between TCS and Bermuda over many years.