Two Winters and One Summer of English Cricket and Continued Adventures

[Logie66]

Just back from the days play and I have to get changed and rush out to a Questions and Answers session being hosted by Tuffers tonight.

Update on the days play and the Q&A session tonight will be available in the morning for most of you, any night owls out there may get to read it earlier  

[Logie66]

Alcohol enduced delay to the updates last night   Q&A session very good, followed by a drinking session, followed by a Karaoke session. Updates will be completed tonight after my head has cleared  

Weather looking extremely dodgy this morning, lots of black clouds around and it has also rained overnight.  Will this make it difficult for England with the Windies the only team that could force a result today. Let"s hope not !!

[Logie66]

[Logie66]

[KarmaDope]

I could have made a hundred on that wicket and I can"t bat.

Can"t bowl, field or keep wicket either but that"s something else entirely.

Great blog - looking forward to the final test.

[Logie66]

Barbados Day 4 - Final Session

So now it"s a question of how long the Windies are going to bat, Taylor continues his onslaught of the England bowlers and rushes to a quick fire 50.  Entertaining knock even if he did cost me lots of Barbadian Dollars  



No sooner does he reach fifty and he"s out, bowled by Swann.

Ramdin who had been fairly quiet then takes the initiative and the Windies soon reach 700 !! Blimey I"ve never seen so many runs in two innings, 1300 runs so far and only 13 wickets !!



Ramdin keeps scoring and there aren"t many overs left in the day now, looks like the Windies are going to make us bowl them out.  Mind you, they are 1-0 up in the series they could make England suffer  

Finally Ramdin falls, and Gayle decides to call it a day, England will have to face two overs, could be a dodgy 10 minutes for Strauss and Cook !  So this test has been one that has seen a lot of records set, one not beaten though is the highest score by a West Indian wicketkeeper as Ramdin falls two runs short, unlucky fella  

So it"s 749-7 declared and a lead of 149, England could lose this now if the Windies get them on the rack.



The final two overs are negotiated by Strauss and Cook and it"s one day to survive to have a chance of squaring the series in Trinidad.

[Logie66]

Tuffers on Tour

So last night we had a Q&A session with Tuffers a barbeque and some Karaoke.

We settled in the bar and our Tour Manager Richard posed the questions to Tuffers. His opinions on the Captaincy and Head Coach were put to Tuffers.  Tuffers is a supporter of Strauss and feels he should have had the Captaincy ahead of Freddie and should have been chosen before KP, he said it appeared no one had any idea who to pick apart from whoever was deemed to be our best player at the time.



Upon the Head Coach, he criticised KP for challenging the Head Coach and suggested he should have just got on with his cricket and let the Head Coach do what he does, put the cones out for fielding practice  

Asked about any future role in the England setup, Tuffers said he had been consulted for this tour so he could advise the younger players of the best bars and clubs to frequent to get the most out of the tour   On a serious note he didn"t rule himself out from being involved in the future.

A few questions were put from the floor, a covered his jungle exploits and a Question of Sport, he said Matt Dawson was a swot and that he did not research which is why he loses most weeks  

I got the last question in and asked him about the best sledging he had received, he said it was Ian Healy, the Australian Wicketkeeper.

"Tuffers, can I borrow your brain I"m building an idiot" slight pause and Tuffers said "What did you say" as Warne bowled him. Ian Healy said "F**k off you idiot"  

After the Q&A we had a BBQ and then a Karaoke session, some good singers and I had a few drinks too many and ended up doing two songs. "Up on the Roof" and "American Pie" which seemed to both go down well. Our tour manager Richard was a bit of a crooner doing a few Sinatra numbers, finally we got Tuffers up and he sang "Unchained Melody" to wife Dawn.



A great night and a few sore heads this morning  

[Logie66]

[Logie66]

After three weeks of the tour, some of the original touring party that started in Antigua are leaving for home.



So it"s goodbye to Rod and Stella on the left, John and Deidre on the right.  Been a pleasure meeting them and enjoying their company in Barbados and Antigua.  A special note of thanks to Stella for making sure the sun cream was on my back properly.

A day of leisure today and I"m taking in a Catamarran, flight to Trinidad tomorrow along with the Welsh contingent and the remainder of the tour party.

[Logie66]

A gorgeous day today, enjoyed the Catamarran trip, got to snorkel with Turtles, they weren"t little ones either, also snorkelled around a wreck and reefs, hundreds of fish.  Enjoyed a lot of Banks Beer and lunch in a lovely little bay also.  A few photos of the day out.

Captain Sheldon

Snorkelling with Turtles

The Lunch Stop

Packing tonight as we transfer over to Trinidad, some spare clothes to go in my hand luggage just in case the same experience with the cases is encountered on our way to Trinidad.

[Logie66]

We"ve been given some advice for when we are in Trinidad, apparently gun crime is a real problem, I"m sure it"s not as bad as what you read, but after 21 days away I can see the hotel being stayed in a lot, especially as we are in the centre of Port of Spain and not near the beaches.

The only concerning thing is the advice about Taxis, always get in one, but be careful which one you get in   Good advice  

[tumblet]

Loving the blog and some norkage pictures as well, fantastic..

Keep it going, good advice on the taxis that..  

[duke3016]

Best blog - best pictures - best written word

priceless

[Logie66]

So it"s goodbye Barbados, it"s been a great two weeks and I would recommend the island to anybody, in fact I"ve decided to come back for a week before I go back to work at the beginning of May.

Beautiful place, friendly people and lovely weather.

Hopefully I"ll be back and posting when we get to Trinidad.

[Chipaccrual]

Safe trip and remember to get into the right taxi.