Day 1

The 2014 Barbados Cricket tour kicked off with a 5:45am meet at school but despite this early start everyone was on time and ready to depart by 6:00am. Mr Cowling and Mr Harding were extremely helpful in driving the two minibuses (one packed full of lads, the other overflowing with kit bags!!) and we arrived at Gatwick airport as scheduled without any incident.
Unfortunately our flight with Virgin Atlantic was slightly delayed but this allowed the lads to grab some breakfast and stock up with last minute beachwear purchases.

After the delay of about 45 minutes we boarded our flight and found our way to the very back of the plane - smart move on Virgin's part!! There were a couple of slightly nervous flyers, Messrs Hulse and Cox in particular, with this being Simon's first ever plane flight, however his teammates were all very supportive with comments like "is that noise normal?" and "should the plane be shaking like that?"!!
The flight took about 8 and a half hours and throughout the journey a number of other passengers, including one colourful local, took time to speak to some of the lads about what to expect when we arrived. Their words were all very encouraging until the inevitable line "hope you boys packed your helmets"!!

Passing through customs in Barbados without any incident - despite the Barbados customs declarations form consisting of a small essay - we met our tour rep and were taken to our transfer coach for the 45 minute drive from the airport to our apartments. Our driver Winston (or it could have been Vincent - the accent was a bit tough to decipher!!) had the lads in hysterics with his laughter, even though no one on the bus knew what he was actually laughing about!!
The drive showed all the diversity of Barbados, ramshackle huts and burnt out cars in one area, to lush golf courses and luxury villas in another. The lads were slightly relieved to be informed that our apartment was located in the latter of the two.

After unloading all the kit bags out of the window (standard modus operandi in these parts!!) the boys were allocated their rooms and had some time to get themselves unpacked and settled in their apartments. With hunger kicking in it was time to venture into the main beachside area of St James', about a 5/10 minute walk, which also allowed the guys to locate the important amenities such as the medical centre, supermarket and KFC!!

In Barbados at this time of year there is very little twilight, as once the sun sets (about 6pm) it becomes dark almost instantly, causing some of the guys to lose their bearings somewhat, however eventually everyone made it back to the apartment by about 8pm. With the temperature still sitting at around 25C Mr Castle and Mr Rowe decided to be the first of the tour to swim in the pool. This resulted in a mass-convergence into the pool with the guys expending the last of their energies on a pretty long day with a game of water-volleyball. By 9pm the pool was cleared with everyone retiring to their rooms for some much needed sleep.
Tomorrow's itinerary includes a training session in the afternoon followed by a BBQ on the beach.

Keep up to date on Twitter @HGSSport (follow the link on the left).

One week to go...

After what must have seemed like an eternity to arrive, the tour is just around the corner and the excitement levels are rising.

Over the last 3 months the lads have been training hard in preparation for the challenge of potentially taking on some of the Windies future stars.

We've seen some good performances in the intra-squad indoor cricket matches held over the last few Friday afternoons. Cameron Emanuel-Burns has racked up 127 runs across 2 innings without being dismissed, 

Daniel Marsh, Jack Fakley and Jesse Mills have also had some good knocks of 48, 47 and 47* respectively.

The ball has been perhaps a little overshadowed by the bat so far with only Ronan Taggart and Harry Wren taking multiple wickets in their respective games, however with only 6 wickets to get each innings it can be tough to take big hauls.

The guys have also been working hard to raise money for the tour by running afterschool coaching sessions for some younger HGS cricketers, providing refreshments for the Old Harveians at the RAF Squadronaires concert and supervising a Disco for over 200 year 7&8 students from The Harvey and FSG.

Prior to departing we would like to thank a few people for their support. Check out their websites via the links on the left of the blog:

• Brooks Macdonald Group
• Saga
• Fuelled By Design
• Big Jigs Toys ltd
• Kent Site Investigations ltd
• Ambition Sport

We would also like to thank Mr Pawsey for his help with the team photo below.