Sunday

WORLD TOUR – Match 13

We played Bangladesh, at full International level.


I’d realised, as we arrived in India, that I haven’t used Medusa in the team very much this tour, so I asked her to open the batting, as I suspected the playing conditions might suit her. I think the result justified my decision – she was our top scorer, with 31. Apart from a few starts higher up the order, which we unable to convert into a decent score, we suffered our usual middle-order collapse. A slight fight-back by the tail took us to a grand total of 127 – nowhere near good enough, we all felt.

Tea was a very subdued affair. I’m sorry, I have no idea what I ate. It was ashes in my mouth, as I sat there with my head in my hands – I couldn’t see how we could possible contain an international side to such a low score.


I hadn’t realised what a hard wicket we were playing on, until Tom thundered in, and with his first over dispatched three of their batsmen.


I knew, from having seen their bowlers, that the wicket was also taking spin, so I tried my hand.


Amazingly, Tom and I were all that was needed, as we ripped through them, with a five-fer each. All out for just 18 runs! We win!

Next week’s match, against Pakistan, will, I suspect, be considerably harder.

WORLD TOUR – Match 12

A full international match against India.


They won the toss and elected to bat. Our defensive play was hindered by a terrible display in the field. In all, twelve catches were dropped. Seven of them came off my bowling – I was particularly annoyed by one over, in which I tempted them to hit the ball in the air – the first four flew straight to fielders, and were dropped; the next two flew over the boundary rope, and rather mucked-up my figures.


We all struggled in the heat, but nevertheless, six catches were finally held, and I polished off the tail (being fed-up at seeing so many dropped catches, I bowled them out). We were lucky, frankly, to get them out for as little as 175.

We enjoyed the many dishes we tasted for tea, although I fear some of you may have overdone things.


Our batting, frankly, in the last few weeks has been letting us down. One or two individuals may shine, but the majority surrender their wickets far too readily.


So they bowled us out for 67, and we lost another match.


Next week we play Bangladesh.

WORLD TOUR – Match 11

We arrived in India somewhat subdued after last week’s defeat. Then several key players complained of upset tummies. I persuaded our hosts to delay the international match to next week, and play us at county level this week. With only four players indicating they felt up to batting a long innings, those of us who were still fit really had to stay at the crease as long as we could.


I felt I had no choice but to open the batting (well, it was my birthday) and I did my best to stay in. I’m sorry that I managed such a derisory score before being bowled, particularly as once Frangelita was out (magnificent 85 by the way – well done!) our tail collapsed – it was quite obvious that you felt more comfortable in the pavilion than outside. Fortunately our local player hadn’t been affected by the bug, so Mincat and Lisa managed to see out our 50 overs, and we posted a magnificent total of 411-9.

Most of you hardly touched the tea. I do hope our hosts weren’t offended.


Bowling was going to be a problem. Very few bowlers managed more than one over before having to hurry from the pitch, so short spells were all we could put together.


I bowled straight through my ten overs, being reasonably economical, and knocking-off another five wicket haul. The rest of you did what you could, and we eventually bowled them out for 159, and won.

Next week we shall be playing them at International level, and things will not be so smooth.

WORLD TOUR – Match 10

Unlike last week, this was an International level match against New Zealand.


They won the toss, and decided to bat. The wicket was playing very oddly, and we managed to contain them to a mere 79 all out (with another five wicket haul for me – it could have been more, had not six catches been dropped off my bowling). Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of our full bowling figures. The summary, however, shows that our three best bowlers were me (5-14), Tom (3-7) and Vicus (2-17).

Kiwi soup made an interesting variation at tea-time.


We felt reasonably confident, with a target of just 80 to win.


We soon found that confidence to be misplaced. They skittled us out. Three ducks, three players scoring just one run each, and my miserable 14 being the only double-figure score for our side.


We finished all out for 43, and so leave the Antipodes with a rather mixed record.

Our ship sails tonight for the Indian sub-continent.

WORLD TOUR – Match 9

Having played such a tough series in Australia, I asked our hosts in New Zealand if we could play a county side, for a bit of relaxation. I am concerned that we never manage to bat through our entire allowance of 40 overs, so I did suggest that we try to play ourselves in this time, not go for wild and rash shots.


You may note I’ve been putting myself down the batting order recently, as my reflexes are a bit shot at the moment. Today I decided I’d try opening again – and was moderately successful.


We used up all our 40 overs (I had at least managed to stay in for the entire innings) scoring a magnificent 284-9.

Tea was another inspiring choice by our hosts. It’s amazing what you can do with a kiwi.


With such a decent target to play with, I let you all have one over to bowl, just in case any new stars appeared, and then I concentrated on our main bowlers, particularly giving them a chance to try out a few tricks, like reverse swing.


We skittled them out, eventually, for 75, and so we won – oh, and a hat trick with the last three balls of the match rather rounded off the game for me.


Next week we’ll play them at international level, which I suspect will be somewhat harder.