MCC in St. Kitts & Nevis - tour blog - Mostly Nevis
There is an old adage “What goes on tour stays on tour” but when the MCC Captain’s passport very nearly doesn’t that principle surely cannot apply. Fortunately there is an excellent emergency service between Taunton and Gatwick Airport so Rob Turner (for it was he!) had his blushes spared.
After a night at a Gatwick hotel in readiness for an early morning departure the aircraft left on time and landed ahead of schedule with only a minor hiccup en route.
The stewardess’ faux pas turned out to be just that: “Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the seat belts sign as we are preparing to descend.” – 4 hours out of London and 4 hours short of St Kitts!
The professionalism and enthusiasm of the party could be seen in the case (or cases) of Darren Cousins – formerly of Essex and Northants – whose 90 kilos of baggage included five pairs of boots for a six-match tour: nothing was being left to chance.
Arrival in St. Kitts
Upon arrival in St. Kitts, and after the formalities had been completed, we were transferred to the harbour to catch the ferry to Nevis for the first 7 days and three matches.
The flag of St. Kitts The one hour wait at the quayside gave everybody a flavour of both the Caribbean and Carib beer before the half hour crossing to the smaller sister island.
Our hotel, the Mount Nevis, is idyllically sited on the lower slopes of the 3,000 feet high dormant volcano (at least, that’s what they tell us) looking across the strait at St Kitts. As I write this the weather has closed in a bit and we have just survived a squall (a legacy of a storm system from Puerto Rico) – it is rain but, hey, at least its warm rain!
Yesterday was our first match against Nevis Under 19. The population is only 12,000 and the whole island just 36 square miles, much of which is filled by the volcano, but this ‘village’ has produced no fewer than five Test cricketers including Stuart Williams and Derek Parry: can anyone think of a similar situation in England?
The 50-over match was switched to another ground to accommodate a schools sports day and, whilst the outfield had more loose stones than the average mason’s yard, the pitch played well and true.
Batting first, the local youngsters made a flying start with a four off the first ball and four more leg-byes off the next (there is a foul rumour the MCC eagle-eyed umpire gave runs but this is vehemently denied and, since the score sheet is with him, there the matter will rest!).
The boys were happy enough against the seam bowlers but the introduction of the spinners found them wanting: Dave Snellgrove finished with a highly creditable 4-31 off 9 overs, Tony Cottey 3-19 from 6.1 and Chris Jones a wicketless but useful 0-28 from 7 overs.
The innings subsided dramatically from 122-2 in 30 overs to 168 all out 42.
Given the outfield, the ground fielding was of a high standard and the home team were never able to really dominate by running quick singles – 94 of their total came in boundaries.
The experience of Arfan Akram and Richard Kettleborough told from the start with clean hitting and incisive running between the wickets.
Akram gave one chance when the circling horde of fielders all left it to each other and the skied chance never actually went to hand. An opening stand of 157 sealed the result although the departure of both batsmen to the ever willing Phillips meant the coup de grace was left to others.
All in all a good all round performance and a good reason to visit Eddy’s Bar that evening!
Local celebrity status
At 7.30 this morning Gra-ham Monk-house, our illustrious manager and Surrey legend, took over the local radio station and broadcast to the world – fortunately the rest of the party slept through it. We have just been told by our shy, retiring leader that he is now booked to appear on local TV: that should test the skills of the make-up artist!
Today is a rest day before the Good Friday Twenty20 against the Island XI and a 50 over international on Sunday.
You will all, I am sure, be delighted to know the sun has just come out, the Caribbean has become blue again, the palms are waving in the breeze and the waves are breaking gently over the reef about ½ mile off shore. Such is life!
The 20th March was a day of rest and recuperation by the pool.
The Entertainments Committee had a bad hair day and we finished up at Shirley’s Place, a quaint shack on the shore where the Caribbean is coming to the successful conclusion of its Grand Plan to completely wash away the supports and send Shirley and her hut to its well-deserved rest.
We at least had one piece of good fortune in that the lethal bacteria normally found in a badly cooked beef burger had died of hypothermia among the chips.
The spectacular backdop to the Twenty20 match in St. Kitts & Nevis Day five involved a Twenty20 match against the Nevis Pro Team.
Unfortunately this proved an anti-climax as the MCC team failed to fire on all cylinders – or any at all.
The Nevis side, all professionals playing in the Stamford Cup, racked up an impressive 194-6: this after Darren Cousins opened with a maiden.
Top scorer for the island was J. Liburd with 48 whilst Tim Hancock (3-30) and Chris Jones (2-27) struggled manfully to keep the tide at bay.
In reply MCC played a disjointed innings, four times losing two wickets in an over.
The other Tony Cottey (43) and Richard Kettleborough (46) steadied the ship with a fine 6th wicket partnership of 81 which looked for a while to have possibly turned the match on its head until Cottey’s dismissal heralded another collapse and Nevis ran out the winners by 53 runs.
In the evening we decided to drown our sorrows (metaphorically speaking of course) by going into the capital Charlestown.
Today was Good Friday and the Caribbean islands are a good deal more religious than the UK. We guessed something was not quite right as we drove in only to find the main street giving a more than passable impersonation of the Wild West town as Gary Cooper prepared to meet Lee Van Cleef and the rest of the gang – and we didn’t even have a Grace Kelly to mop our fevered brows.
All that was missing was the tumbleweed.
And so to bed, as another great diarist once said.
Spirit of Cricket
Several players had a chance to put their feet up on Saturday as Tony Cottey took four coaches off with him to a local school to give a master class to the youngsters and skipper Rob Turner gave some hints to two young wicket keepers.
For the uninitiated, this is a very important part of the MCC’s role in touring. The cricket is a lot of fun and none of us would ever pretend it is not a holiday but coaching youngsters and proselytising the Spirit of Cricket is a vital core function of the MCC’s international programme.
In the afternoon it rained heavily and very little of note happened. You can laugh all you like but, when we get home, we’ll all have suntans – and you won’t!
Easter Sunday and our last full day in Nevis. We played the island XI in what was scheduled to be a 50 overs match but was reduced to 40 following delays caused by yesterday’s rain.
The innings never really got going and we stuttered to a disappointing 155 all out. Only Tim Hancock with a gritty 57, Mike Burns 27 and Rob Turner 24 made any impression at all and all got out when seeming set.
In response, the home side simply flew out of the starting blocks and smashed the MCC bowling to all parts – Darren Cousins excepted. Smithen led the way with 24 off twelve deliveries and Browne made a hard-hit 57 not out to claim the Man of the Match award.
The fastest outfielder on display had feathers... At least Chris Jones was a happy man with a grin which got broader and broader with each successive text from home listing the demise of Liverpool at the hands of Manchester United – what’s a northerner doing supporting them?
On the journey back to the hotel Mike Burns spotted a pig prompting his claim to have now collected the Caribbean’s ‘Big 5’ (goat, sheep, cow, dog and pig): who needs elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard?
In the evening the Fines Committee requested the pleasure of the company of the touring party for an Extraordinary General Meeting: tomorrow any survivors will be evacuated by ferry to St Kitts for phase II.