Unfortunately due to rain, yes rain, the game was cancelled without a ball bowled. There had been heavy showers throughout the day and remarkably the groundsmen were on strike action and thus refused to fix the ground up to facilitate play. So our 100% record from Antigua stayed intact and we set off to sunny Barbados.
We arrived at the airport early in the morning and chilled in typical Caribbean fashion as we lazed about the terminal. This mood soon changed when we saw the plane we’d be flying in. Personally I have never been one for flying on planes with propellers where a jet engine should be. It was reassuring to know that according to Aerospace expert, Jordan McKeown, statistically propeller-propelled aircrafts are safer. Apparently this is because birds can’t cause an engine failure. However watching the staff manually wind up the engine like a 19th century car left me feeling uneasy.
After the hour-long flight (which seemed like 4) we landed in Barbados. Immediately we noticed the difference between the two islands. Barbados had roads that seemingly hadn’t been tarmac’ed by Irish (Gypsies) and the strong sea breeze made things a lot more comfortable for us Irish (non-Gypsies).
Tour manager Neil had assured us that we would be facing much stiffer competition on the cricket field. This was the challenge we’d travelled for, as there was no point coming home with seven easy victories and nothing learnt (in cricket terms).
The aforementioned “Barbados Three” finally arrived on the Island late in the afternoon after an interesting day in transit. Firstly they arrived at the White House (our hotel in Gatwick, which only reassembled the American namesake in colour) and discovered that they had indeed not been booked in. This meant they had to sleep in the Hilton (Gatwick not Paris). The fire alarm went off at 5am which was probably a blessing in disguise as this meant they didn’t sleep in, which considering the touring contingent, was expected.
The day after the party had increased in size we were playing Pickwick at the Four Square Oval. The ground was located next to the famous Four Square Rum Factory. The rum was the “Best Seller” on the island and no doubt had replaced 50% of the red blood cells in the party’s bodies since arrival, with mosquito ejaculate a close second. Interestingly we decided to tour the rum factory before the match instead of after, apparently this was because it would be shut after play but there’s a conspiracy that tour manager thought that free Four Square would render many unfit or even dead.
So to the cricket, we were told that there’s a strong chance Tino Best would be in the opposing team and were thankful that this didn’t come to fruition. Having witnessed Tino bowl 95mph head hunters on SkyHD, I didn’t wish to take my viewing experience to an even more realistic level. My father had rang to inform me that my travel insurance didn’t cover playing cricket so if I broke a rib/jaw/fingernail then I picked it up wrestling Burgers (A.Nixon) during one of his drunken moments. Speaking of which, in typical student fashion, the sibling in question, ironically named “innocent Andy” had made the most of the free booze shortly after arrival on the Wednesday. As Paul McLarnon (Ricky’s Dad) has quipped we were a team of bulimics and Andy was the newest addition to that squad.
We won the toss against Pickwick and Cowden decided to bat on what looked like a flat wicket. The opening pair had a North Down taste to it. Russell of the Comber club and Zach Rushe of the club located within the constituency, took the openers apart with ease. We raced onto 68 off 9 overs until both fell with scores of 33 off 26 balls and 31 respectively. After the ever-optimistic Turk had designs on a score of 300+ in our 35 overs. I reassured him that I would be slowing the rate down to make things a bit more competitive. As promised the rate slowed dramatically whilst I was at the crease. Wickets fell at the other end as the wily off spinner Edwin upped the pressure. The wicket began to crumble like an M&S chocolate truffle (speaking of which happy Mother’s day Mrs McCollum) and hence we struggled on against the spinners and eventually found ourselves in a bad way at 6-134 off 27 overs. We battled to 164-9 off our 35. We were hoping the standard of batting would be similar to that of the Antiguans. How wrong we were.
Brothers Clint and Craig St. Hill opened the batting and straight away put our bowlers to the sword. They played with a straighter bat than Boycott but with the Caribbean flair the older tourists talk of seeing on tv as young children. The two brothers (both have toured the UK with representative teams) were relentless on our bowlers although no-one’s figures can be said to be embarrassing. We lost by ten wickets as the openers finished 82 and 72 not out. The result of the match could have been so different. At 150-0 the ball was spooned to Andy Nixon at cover only to be dropped. He claimed he didn’t see it due to the sun; we all thought otherwise.
If the game had been one sided then the post match entertainment was much more even. The opposition side came into the dressing room and for the next two hours it was dangerous to be in possession of an opened beer, as regular “down it” chants ensued. The night had kicked off nicely and before long we were all at the Ship Inn dancing ‘til the early hours.
The first 48 hours in Barbados were extremely promising and we were all looking forward to the game of tape-ball that was to come on Friday evening vs Wadadadah.
Scores
Pickwick Vs Ulster Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers 164-9 (35 overs, N Russell 31 Z Rushe 33, M.Nixon 43)
Pickwick 168-0 (30 overs)
Pickwick won by 10 wickets
