Breakfast this morning was a sea of enthusiasm as the boys
arrived keen stop the rot ahead of our fourth tour match, surely we couldn't be
another English cricket team facing a winter tour whitewash. Coach Rowe posted
the team sheet with a slight surprise in the promotion of Jack Fakley to
opening batsman. He would join our previous match hero, Henry, at the top of
the order. Captain for the day would be Dan Marsh (suitably donning the wally
of the day outfit) as Josh Woodward took his turn for a rest.
The last time a Harvey touring group went to Carlton Cricket
Club it was to watch a full first class game, as Barbados occasionally use it
as one of their home grounds. The lads were impressed again this time as they
drove through the gates of the Desmond Haynes Oval – a large covered stand with
seating, a lush green outfield (helped
by the overnight rain) and a good looking wicket being rolled by a large sit
on electric roller. More impressive still was the sight of our opponents! No
six foot bearded giants or three foot wide muscling power houses, just a
collection of what looked like a ‘rag tag’ group of under 15's (that included 2
players that appeared under 10!). Sporting the British ‘stiff upper lip’ we
continued as normal accepting our opponents willingly (even graciously!!).
Surely today could be our day for a tour win…..unfortunately looks can be very
deceiving and of course we failed to take into account 'Bajan time'.
Having won the toss and elected to bat, Henry and Jack took
to the wicket quietly confident they wouldn't be facing the usual 70 mph ‘chin
music’ that regularly welcomes the openers over here. Pace and bounce was replaced by good accuracy
as our top order pair played like classic English openers, excellent leaves,
text book forward defensive shots and the occasional prod into the off side.
Boycott and Tavare would have been proud as Henry and Jack worked to set up a
good platform at the top of the order (keen to heed Mr Rowe's orders of batting
for the full 35 overs). What wasn't noticed
was the subtle arrival of a couple more Carlton players. Whether reinforcements
had been called for or whether the ‘big guns’ were simply allowed to arrive on ‘Bajan
time’ is unsure, but they swiftly replaced the two under 10’s and began
throwing ‘rockets’ in from the outfield suggesting some strength yet to be unleashed!
After 15 overs we were 62-1 a steady but far from explosive start. The drinks
break and the introduction of a couple of ‘mediocre’ under 14 spinners turned
our innings on its head. Against what has been the friendliest bowling so far
on tour, a collection of rash shots and a real lack of confidence meant that
instead of posting a score in excess of 200 we limped to 152 all out in 32
overs. The exceptions were Harry Wren who hit an exciting 54 including one huge
six over the pavilion and Jack Fakley playing his first game as an opener and
posting his best ever score for the school, 29.
For the first time on tour we were genuinely disappointed
with our batting. The bowling was only ‘average’ and we hadn't taken advantage
of it. Still, we had a score on the board and without the normal collection of
strapping left handers surely we were still in the game. How wrong we could be!
Whilst we opened in a traditional English style our opponents chose the classic
Caribbean Calypso 20:20 style, smashing the ball to all parts from the first
over! We took 6 overs to score 12 runs – they took 6 balls. The idea of opening
the bowling with spinner Danny Tomlinson initially looked foolish, until we realised
they had every intention of treating every bowler with the same disdain...and
they did, reaching our 152 total in the 13th over!
Sometimes you can
only stand and admire outstanding batting and this was such an occasion. The
two lads, one 15 and one 16 are both Barbados players and once again highlight
the natural talent that exists all over this Island. What we learned from today
– ‘never judge a book by it's cover’ and remember for every under 10 there’s
always a big brother round the corner who's likely to rock up and make you pay!
One game to play to
avoid a ‘white wash’. The boys will need to bat with more confidence and play
the way we've seen them do regularly in the nets if they are to overcome their next opponents.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and on this occasion it
meant an earlier than planned return home that would allow some of us a quick
trip to the beach whilst our budding chefs had a little extra time to prepare
for tonight’s ‘Come Dine with me’ day 3. Keen to impress the judges our
boys ‘raised the bar’ yet again in their gastronomic offerings. Tonight's winner was Simon ‘stir fry’ Hulse who
produced one of his trademark stir fry's, this time it was an oriental beef
number served up at 7.00 pm precisely, on a well laid table with some delicate background
oriental music! He had even made a chocolate and orange mousse for dessert. Danny
Tomlinson scored highly on originality with his starter of salt ‘n’ pepper squid rings followed by fresh king fish!
Unfortunately he lost vital marks on timing when his pommes frites (chips!) weren't
cooked until long after every other group had finished their desserts. Elsewhere
Willem used his all his pub kitchen experience to produce an excellent chicken
and pasta dish whilst Jesse served up Mexican beef tacos to his hombres.
Todays match sponsor was Kent Site Investigations Ltd. We thank you for your kind support.
WALLY OF THE DAY:
Danny Tomlinson for preparing squid and king fish to perfection then failing to
cook his chips on time because he spent too long in the pool! Plus, losing his wicket to what can only be described as a cross between a golf swing and a hockey shot - both gone terribly wrong!!
