West Indies

No pictures yet, they will follow, but sitting on my bed in Trinidad where we are on tour.

Monday 22nd February.

Drove to London where the touring team, the MCC Ldies Cricket team were meeting for the start of their tour. We had designer suits made for us as a touring uniform and this was to be the first time we had seen them. Paul Costello is the designer and the suit consists of a navy jacket with red and yellow ribbon trim and a navy skirt. Very smart but not quite my sort of thing. Paul came to see us all and we had several photos taken with him in the Long Room. We also had head and shoulder pictures done (have not seen mine yet but have seen the team ones).

We also had a net session, packed our bags, including a mangers bag which weighed 32kilos and was/is my reponsibility. This is filled with cricket balls, a flag and miscellaneous presents to be given to officials. Off to the hotel in the airport for the night.

Tuesday 23rd February.

Up very early, into suits and high heeled shoes and walked, or staggered to the airport. I had a big shoulder bag with paperwork,laptop etc a cricket bag and a managers bag so I was struggling ! We managed to get all our luggage through, (massively overweight) and went through to departures. There I said the team could change into official tracksuits, which we had hidden in our hand luggage. The flight was long, 11 hours but it passed uneventfully. I knew we were being met at the Trinidad airport so I thought we could change while waiting for our bags. What I didn't know,was that the Zimbabwe men's team were travelling with us and so the press were waiting as we got off the plane! We all had to dash into the loos and do a quick change. With the change and the heat, I was a dripping mess and had 'bed hair' from the flight and was caught for interview! The first interview was with Colin Croft who is a famous retired West Indian cricket player. I then had some sort of television interview. Next we were met by our Liaison officer and taken to the carpark - mistakenly, I thought it was to get on the coach, but no, it was to have cold beers from the boot of his car!! The heat, the flight, the small amount of food and beer are not a good mix for me. We moved to our hotel and ended up eating a meal at 22 30 which is 02 30 English time.


Wednesday 24 th

Leisurely breakfast after a swim in the outdoor pool and then back into the suits to go to 'The Oval' for photos and a press conference. Had our photos taken and then the captain and I had our conference. We were taken to a room and when we opened the door it was to see a row of cameras and microphones. I do not remember much about all the questions but we got through it without making too many mistakes. We were told at this point that we had featured on the tele and also in the Trinidad Guardian. I think if you google it you can find the photo. We then had a lazy afternoon around the swimming pool before getting into our suits yet again to go and meet the Trinidad President and his First Lady. Very formal affair and standing for two and a half hours in high heeled shoes !!