Day 4

Friday was a rest day with the boys nursing their wounded pride following yesterday’s heavy defeat. Some were actually resting bruised limbs following their endeavours in the field. Paddy Cox has suffered the first injury on tour – a grazed knee, whilst Henry reported to Doctor Castle concerned about a blood blister on his toe. ‘Man up’ pills were administered as the boys took to some serious recuperation by the pool.

Several took the opportunity to get out their revision guides, whilst Rookie Wren returned to the makeshift D61 classroom on Mr Castle’s balcony to resume Btec catch club. The afternoon saw many of the squad venture down to the beach, whilst the real hardhitters stayed by the pool for a serious game of test match cricket. Keen to impress coach Rowe, Jacob Mackay and Willem Bygrave were out to claim a place in Sundays starting eleven having not contributed yesterday. Defensive capabilities were tested to the full against a tweaking wet tennis ball, coupled with some outstanding fielding into the pool made it very challenging for the batsmen. Mr Rowe couldn’t resist the temptation and joined in showing the lads how it’s done down under.

A very pleasant evening was spent in Oistins fish market on the southern tip of the Island. Oistins comes to life every Friday with live music, entertainers, market stalls and lots of food stands selling everything from barbecued pigtails to dolphin! Many of our party took the opportunity to sample some of the local fresh fish whilst others stayed safe with some good old Caribbean fried chicken. With the group travelling aboard two minibuses the staff decided to journey back on the self-proclaimed ‘banter bus’, where they were quickly entertained by Danny Tomlinson’s advice on romance and the expense of regular visits to florists in Shepway!

WALLY OF THE DAY: Eliot Tyler for running down the track and attempting an audacious shot on the first ball he faced in Barbados (surprisingly he was out for a golden duck!). Also for befriending the resident cat.

Day 3

There was a mix of excitement and apprehension in the air over breakfast this morning with the lads preparing for their first game on tour against Combermere School - which boasts previous students such as Sir Frank Worrell, Chris Jordan and Rihanna!!

The teamsheet was pinned up after breakfast revealing the names of the starting XI and the responsibilities of the resting squad members.

To the surprise of Mr Castle and Mr Rowe the entire squad was ready and assembled in the car park on time for the 10:45 pick up before heading off on the 30 minute drive to the school. The match sponsors for today's game were Sylvia Taggart and BigJigs Toys who we thank for their support.

On arrival the outfield was being mowed, pitch rolled and boundary rope set out making the ground look a pretty attractive one. The lads were keen to inspect the pitch - possibly in the hope of seeing a green seamer or something similar to UK conditions!! What confronted them couldn't have been more different with a flat and hard wicket staring back almost screaming "bat first, please"!!

Unfortunately our captain for the game Josh Woodward lost the toss - possibly not helped by the lack of a visible head or tail on the coin!! Our bowling suffered from a bit of a wayward start, with the Combermere batsman picking up anything short and playing some very nice shots straight down the ground to the fuller pitched deliveries. They also ran very well between wickets with lots of quick singles frustrating our attempts to build pressure. The opening bowlers of Axon and Emanuel-Burns failed to break the opening partnership despite some good deliveries and with the score at 0/48 off 6 the ball was thrown to Dan Marsh. What an impact he had with his first delivery - a juicy, long-hop that the opening batsman flat-batted straight to Henry Axon, who held it for the first wicket of the tour. Marshy then continued to take wickets at regular intervals despite runs still being scored freely. At the end of his spell Marshy was sporting figures of 4/28 off 5 overs with the opposition on 4/101 off 15 overs.

Spin was then introduced with Danny Tomlinson getting some good purchase off the surface and creating a stumping in his first over, assisted by some sharp deflecting work from wicketkeeper Seal. The Combermere batsmen continued to bat well down the order and started to up the scoring rate, despite some steady bowling from Woodward, Cox, Mills and Tyler no-one was able to break a strong 6th wicket partnership. Eventually the return of the openers saw Axon pick up the much needed breakthrough with a good outfield catch taken by Rookie Wren, however by this stage most of the damage had been done and the hosts were sitting pretty on 6/241 off 31 overs. Another wicket for Marsh bagging his 5-for and dismissing Combermere's #3 for a well compiled 94, and a wicket in the final over for Cam saw the innings end on a sizable total of 7/267 off 35 overs. Much work would be needed with the bat if the tour was to start on a winning note.

A superb lunch of chicken or beef curry and rice & peas lifted the mood slightly and then the Harvey openers took to the middle to chase down the score. Marshy was unfortunately not able to re-create his bowling effort with his off-stump cartwheeling behind him from the first legitimate delivery faced on tour!!! 267 was starting to look more like 2067. As wickets began to fall regularly there was some resistance from skipper Woodward (29) and Cam (19), however the asking rate was increasing beyond 10 an over and with a couple of very dubious stumpings of Mills and Emanuel-Burns the task was looking well and truly beyond us at 5/68 off 16. Rookie Wren played a couple of very nice straight drives giving in indication to the rest of the team that runs can be scored but the key is to bat for long enough to give yourself an opportunity of scoring big towards the end of the innings. After 25.5 overs the boys were all out for 100, a 168 run loss to start the tour. Hopefully some lessons have been learned and the squad can improve the little things to make a better fist of our next game in a couple of days time.

Returning to the apartment the lads were keen to get into the pool and cool down before a team quiz, including a topical Barbados round. The room of Axon, Hulse, Tomlinson & Norris came out victors, giving their team a points boost in the Barbados Tour challenge. A few more hours in the pool followed before the lads retired to their rooms for some sleep and treatment for the numerous grass burns and gravel rash obtained from diving around on the baked outfield.

The scorecard is below and keep an eye on twitter for live updates.

Day 2

With body clocks still attuned to English times the boys emerged very early this morning, some having sweated out the evening in the very high temperatures whilst others came out shivering – some work obviously needs to be done on mastering the air conditioning units. This didn’t deter the lads, several of whom took the opportunity for a morning jog whilst the others decided to hit the pool – not bad for 6.00 am!

The rest of the morning was really spent getting to know the area, acclimatising, shopping for provisions and generally relaxing. Several boys used the time doing some revision whilst Harry ‘the rookie’ Wren had a ‘one on one’ Btec catch up session with Mr Castle…..Mr Dawson will be so proud!

With the temperature rising we packed drink bottles and sun lotion and went for our first training session. The short 10 minute walk to the field gave some indication of the heat and humidity we will need to play in tomorrow (definitely a toss to win and insert our hosts!).  Nevertheless the boys worked hard as they were put through their paces by Messer’s Castle and Rowe on a variety of fielding drills across what can only be described as a ploughed farmers field with a bit of grass on.  It didn’t take long for a crowd to appear and watch ‘the mad white English guys playing in the heat’. Proceedings were briefly interrupted by a herd of wandering goats, which immediately prompted Ronan to run off in search of his camera shouting ‘Sir, can I have a selfie with a goat?’. …surely a statement that would have raised more than a few eyebrows years previously.

 

During the training session we started our ‘apartment’ challenges. Each apartment of 4 boys will be doing a series of challenges and tests throughout the tour with the overall team winning a prize (and of course substantial bragging rights!). Topically named our four teams are Axon’s Cutthroats, Marsh’s Marauders, Woodies Warriors and Jesses Giants. Today’s competitions were all fielding based with Dan Marsh winning the power hitting contest, Ronan the ball throwing, and Ben Norris and Willem Bygrave sharing the spoils with the high catching contest.  An eagerly contested cricket ball relay race around a football pitch saw Woodies Warriers take first place with some excellent running to avoid goats, small children and a cricket roller.

 

The afternoon finished with a traditional kwik cricket match, with full international rules of tip and run and one bounce one handed catching. Turn and Burn Tomlinson proved to be the pick of the bowlers whilst Josh Woodward hit a huge six into a local fruit sellers stand. Once again we lost Ronan fleetingly from his fielding requirements – this time chasing a couple of monkeys in search of the elusive animal selfie!

From training we took a short walk to Folkestone Beach for a late afternoon cool down and a barbecue to watch the sun set. With barbecues brought all the way from England, some of Barbados’s greatest sausages and burgers and a marvellous setting -what could possibly go wrong! With the boys playing in the sea, Messer’s Castle and Rowe set about the cooking in true ‘Bear Grylls fashion’. The small print failed to tell us the fact the barbecues would fail to light and when ignited produce so little heat that the food would actually cook quicker from the overhead sunlight! Surely such bushtucker tribulations wouldn’t stand in the way of an Australian and a beachside barbecue. It was at this point that Mr Rowe reminded us that his roots were in fact English convicts and not some outback wizard Aborigines. I’m sure that fact will come back to haunt him at some point!!

With no option but to feed the troops  bread rolls, crisps, apples and bananas we settled down and enjoyed the sunset in a wonderful setting (albeit a little peckish!!).

 

A gentle stroll back along the beach and an evening chatting by the pool ended a very warm but entertaining day.

WALLY OF THE DAY: Ronan Taggart for nearly leaving his passport on the plane, his weird fascination for animal selfies and his pink sweat bands and head band (worn with pride)!!

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.