Day 10

Cricketing exertions and the heat are slowly taking their toll on our finely tuned athletes. Either that or they’re quickly reverting to common teenage ‘sloth-ness’ as the majority of the boys didn't appear until gone 10.00 am this morning. Some of us enjoyed the peace and quiet, which of course didn't last too long as normal poolside games (usually involving balls, bats and leaping into the water) soon resumed.

The afternoon saw the boys jog down to the local field for some training. In hot, humid conditions some fierce fielding competitions were set up for our four teams. It nearly ended in calamity for Simon Hulse as an early collision with Willem saw him drop out holding his wrist. A quick administering of ice seemed to do the trick as he soon returned to perform some outstanding boundary fielding and throwing. Among the winners today were Woodies Warriors for whom Willem Bygrave didn't drop a single ball in the high catching contest.  Jesse's Giants won the run out challenge, while Dan Seal showed great promise in the "throwing in" contest – not bad for a wicket keeper.

The afternoon finished with an eagerly contested 8 v 8 football match. The kick off was slightly delayed as the ‘skins’ team administered sun lotion, which of course gave the shirts side some valuable time to sort out a suitable tactical approach. This tactical master plan failed to include picking someone to play in goal….a weakness noted very quickly by Ronan on the skins team who scored almost immediately into an empty net.  Paddy Cox shone in his role as lone defender for the skins team, reminding Mr Rowe of a young Alan Hansen. Meanwhile Danny “I’ll be Kevin Nolan” Tomlinson used all his West Ham knowledge to clear his lines high and wide when required, whilst solo front runner Jesse Mills was holding the ball up expertly (shame he can’t hold his wickets up so well!). At the interval the skins were leading 3-0 and looking comfortable. Tactical changes were swiftly made by the shirts, for whom skipper Woodward was beginning to pull the strings. It was all very much in vain when shortly after half time Dan Marsh produced a shot from nowhere (probably his only attacking shot on the tour so far!) and immediately ended the game as the ball sailed over a 10 foot high barbed wire fence into a neighbouring garden. That’s what you get when you mix hockey players and football. Whilst the shirts were demanding the game to be void, the skins were claiming it to be a stroke of genius by Dan. Mr Castle and Mr Rowe were simply dumbfounded by the ability to hit a shot over a fence that was so far from the goal! 

All that was left to do was to make a swift retreat across the road to the beach. As the boys left the field so the herd of goats (or as we now know them to be “Caribbean sheep”) appeared. The staff took the opportunity to record the elusive “goat selfie” and as such claim bragging rights over poor Ronan.

At the beach a fun hour was spent taking it in turns riding “Great big Mable” – what can only be described as a large inflatable sofa being pulled around by a boat. Our Bajan driver thoroughly enjoyed his role bouncing the lads around the Caribbean Sea while pointing out to the staff in the boat the coastline homes of the rich and famous. He was also quick to tell us his 11 year old son scored a century last week… let’s hope he’s not playing tomorrow, our record on this tour against under 12’s is far from impressive!

Avoiding the calamity of our last training session, this time the staff arranged for a proper local cook to come down and provide a real “Caribbean beach meal” under the palm trees. The lads thoroughly enjoyed their barbecue chicken with rice and macaroni pie and faith was once again restored in “hunter gatherers” Castle and Rowe.

It just left time for some of the boys to enjoy an ice cream and a proper West Coast sunset.

WALLY OF THE DAY: Dan Marsh for the second day in succession. If he could hit the cricket ball like he did our best football, we wouldn't have a 0-3 playing record!