MCC in St. Kitts & Nevis - tour blog - Mostly St Kitts
Surprisingly, all the party came through unscathed from Mike Burns’ wine-tasting the night before and fears of a Dunkirk-style evacuation proved completely unfounded. Well, perhaps not completely unfounded, because we very nearly had to leave some of our number behind, if not exactly on the beach.
The 'wine-tasting' night disabled many senses, including taste Who else but Darren Cousins who had managed to lose his room key and was being held by the staff pending a full body search?
Eventually, after texting Jonathan back in Blighty to find out who he was and where he was meant to be, he was able to get away and rejoin the main force on the quayside (the missing key turned up later in one of his multitudinous bags).
After an uneventful crossing (what can go wrong on a millpond in perfect conditions – oh, alright, re-read the above paragraph) we were transferred to the Marriott Hotel after the obligatory delay whilst the Dear Leader was interviewed by the local TV station.
The Marriott is a quiet, unassuming American hotel situated on Frigate Bay: in fact, it is most of Frigate Bay, and full of Americans whose 3,000+ calories breakfasts and surgical implants made the Manager and Umpire feel positively anorexic. There were a few slightly more easy on the eye.
The Warner Park Stadium All four matches are to be played at the magnificent Warner Park Stadium where a former MCC Young Cricketer, van Bunge, wrote himself into the history books by serving up six consecutive deliveries for Herschelle Gibbs to hit for ‘maximums’ as I believe commentators unable to count past the digits on their hand are now given to calling the old fashioned “6”. The outfield is flat and grassy so we might get to see the fielders diving on this half of the tour!
Things you didn’t know about St Kitts & Nevis
1. Both islands are dominated by dormant volcanoes
2. Nevis has a population of 12,000 and has produced five Test cricketers
3. St Kitts has a population of 50,000 and hasn’t
4. The main social area of Frigate Bay is ‘The Strip’; an area of some dozen rum shacks all battling with each other to be the loudest, fullest and latest
5. The Americans have built a veterinary college just down the road with a girl/boy ratio of 90:10
6. They have also built a nurses’ training college nearby
We, of course, knew nothing of this because we were there just to play cricket.
Back to the cricket
The early weather didn't look promising The first match against St Kitts saw us confident of extending our unbeaten run until the rain stopped, the covers came off and the opposition turned up!
The home side totalled a mammoth 271-9 in 38 overs thanks, in the main, to a partnership of 139 between Liburd and Rogers and especially a devastating knock of 125 by the latter (4x6; 13x4).
To be fair, the MCC’s guardian angel had obviously gone to the beach that day because the ball flew near, but not to, fielders all the innings: none actually went to hand but on another day....
In reply, we got off to a poor start and never really managed to get into the game.
Arfan again made a good-looking 37 and skipper Rob Turner a comfortable 63 but every time we attempted to force the pace a wicket fell. In the end we were dismissed for exactly 200 with two overs to spare.
Match action from MCC's tour in St Kitts & Nevis One of our opponents was a Lord’s ‘old boy’. Some will recall Shane Jeffers who played for the staff in 2007 before returning to play for the Leeward Islands and to try and force his way into the Test team.
His season has been dogged by injury but he was leaving straight after the match to play for the islands against West Indies Universities. It was lovely to meet him again and I am sure everyone wishes him all the best for his forthcoming marriage later in (our) summer.
Almost like watching Brazil...
Next door to the cricket ground is the National Football Stadium and Wednesday 26th March 2008 saw the St Kitts national side carry the hopes of the nation into the second leg of their 2010 World Cup qualifier against Belize.
The first leg had gone against the FIFA rankings with the home side winning 2-0, much to the disgust of the islanders.
Four of us went along to watch and take a step back into a different, bygone, era. For just £11.00 we stood (yes, stood) in the Party Stand behind one goal amidst family groups, a steel band, as much Carib beer as you were prepared to queue for as part of the cost, some rice that was of dubious origin and a lot of good fun and good humour.
The match finished 1-1 but the home supporters did not trash the place and we all walked out the ground in complete safety.
It wasn’t quite like watching Brazil but when you are a Brentford supporter you can’t afford to be too choosy!
Back again to the cricket
The fifth match was the one game where we were completely outplayed: all out 141 with nobody making 30 and an effortless 5 wicket victory for the home side with 13 overs to spare. The only bright spot was Alex Garman’s 4-41 from 7.2 overs.
The MCC team with the Governor General In the evening we were guests of the Governor General at his magnificent mansion along with fellow English touring side Dunnington from Yorkshire (apparently they are part of England).
Joe Brennan, a virgin tourist – a reference to his MCC touring status rather than his social habits – was designated by the Manager, worn out after yet more television and radio interviews, to make a speech on behalf of the Club.
At one point it looked as if it might be a blow-by-blow account but by cleverly leaving out 1788-2007 he remained a manageable length.
A group photo was taken with His Excellency before we returned to the hotel to prepare for the last match against the locals.
Today’s game was a Twenty/20 and it would be fair to say we somewhat threw away a winning hand.
We had restricted the St Kittsians to 137-7 thanks to a good all-round bowling and fielding display, particularly by Luke O’Reilly who took 2-12 off his four overs.
In reply, after being 32-2 off six, we were cruising at 93-2 seven overs later as Mike Burns (60) and Tony Cottey (30) took complete control. Unfortunately Tony’s dismissal turned the game on its head: in Twenty/20 cricket there is no time to play yourself in and the innings began to stutter.
Richard Kettleborough made a quickfire 17 before being bowled trying to force the pace to minimise the number of runs needed off the last over by the distinctly ungenerous Ward and the innings simply ran out of steam as Rob Turner couldn’t get the strike and we slumped to an annoying 3 run defeat.
Saturday was a rest day for all except those who joined Tony Cottey on a coaching session at a local school.
The suntans are now beginning to become quite impressive and the island’s Carib mountain (or should that be lake – I suppose it depends on whether you count the contents or the empties) is disappearing relentlessly. The evening saw the final fines meeting of the tour and, given the results, there was plenty to fine!
The last match of the tour was a curious one.
Match action from MCC's tour to St Kitts & Nevis We played Dunnington CC a village side who were also on tour (although they did pack their side with five locals including the previously unknown Keith Arthurton) in a 35-over match.
Our batting came good and we managed 185-6 with the ever-consistent Arfan Akram top-scoring with 73 and the tea interval saw a much more confident changing room than at any time since the opening match. Unfortunately our opponents stuck to their task well and won by 2 wickets off the last ball.
Bowes, the horizontally-challenged opener, struck a big blow for those of us of a certain size by top scoring with 35 whilst Dave Snellgrove finished with a highly creditable 3-29 off his seven overs; unfortunately that was all he was allowed to bowl.
He was well supported by the wicketless Tony Cottey (7 overs for 24). We had our chances as two shots flew inches over 5’6” Arfan in the covers: I blame his mum; if she’d made him spend his winters in the same fertilizer bag as Luke’s mum obviously did, we’d have won!
All good things...
Sadly, after a farewell function at Bobsy’s hosted by the Tourist Board we had one last nostalgic trip to The Strip before the inevitable anti-climax of the last day.
A VIP farewell was hosted at the airport by Ricky Skerritt, former West Indies Manager and now St Kitts & Nevis Minister of Sport, and the Deputy Prime Minister and the officers of the Tourist Board before we boarded our Forty Club jet back home (the airline was called XL but then so is the Club – they really ought to get together).
We were saddened to see it was hammering down with rain as we left! Having been strip-searched in the modern way before we left St Kitts we were required to go through exactly the same routine on landing at Antigua – just 12 minutes later!
Lots of thanks are due to:
- the Tourist Board of St Kitts & Nevis for their organisation of the tour and their unfailing friendliness and help throughout our stay
- His Excellency, the Governor General for his generosity during the garden party at his residence
- our opponents, who were gracious, if very ungenerous, hosts!
- everybody we met on both islands
- Graham Monkhouse, international media star, for his excellent management throughout the tour (no, honestly!)
- Rob Turner who captained all the matches and, along with Joe, did not concede a single bye on tour
- all the tourists for their unfailing good humour and camaraderie throughout: the 1-6 scoreline was a little unflattering
- and, finally, the MCC for giving us all a marvellous chance to tour a beautiful part of the world.
One final piece of advice: if you are ever in the Lake District and you find Graham driving the local bus – walk!
This report was brought to you courtesy of Catherine in the MCC IT Department who was able to sort out the major problems with my laptop (probably by plugging it in).