After Two Years of Covid it was great to tour again!
7 Apr 2022
After Two Years of Covid it was great to tour again!
Barbados was the largest tour party we have had to date! It’s always lovely meeting old friends as well as welcoming new to the group. I’m not going to harp on too much on the cricket, but my thoughts were that Root should had dangled a carrot. That would have left the Windies an impossible task, especially as every day we had not seen the amount of runs scored let alone see it in two sessions. Having had a lead over 100 going into the last day I was surprised the the batting order didn’t change. I would have put Bairstow & Stokes up to 3/4 and get another 130 and declared before lunch! Had we done that and picked up those early wickets before lunch that would have created different pressure to the Windies batters! I’m sure others see it differently, I just felt a score that large offered little incentive to go for it!
Being as we were only in Barbados a week, we unfortunately couldn’t get a client match in but we did have a cool West Coast catamaran cruise followed by a beach cricket game and an evening event event at Copa Cabana with guests Desmond Hayes & Gordon Greenidge. Dom was sensational when interviewing this famous pair and with so many new clients in the audience it was nice to walk around and introduce ourselves.
We then moved to our final destination of the tour – Grenada. Unfortunately for two of our clients they had contracted covid and remained in Barbados. We were in contact with them during their hotel confinement period until they were negative and were able to fly back home.
We had our event at Sails right on the harbour in St Georges with guests Sir Curtly Ambrose and Sir Richie Richardson. Again the event was a big success, Curtly was in great form, he seems to have come out of himself, might have something to do with singing in the band as well as commentating. I wonder if we will see him commentate in the UK replacing Michael Holding? Petra Roach CEO of Grenada Tourism kicked off our evening of entertainment complimenting Sara Malin ICT owner for her vision when she started promoting cricket tours all those years ago.
Once again the cricket did not go to plan. Windies thoroughly deserved the win. We are languishing near the bottom of the standings. A lot needs to change, we need a few of the old players who have played for England running the game! Then perhaps we wouldn’t have the 100 any more! I know I am not alone in my views others in media and a lot of you tell me the same! I guess we will wait and see what happens?
We had our cricket match at La Sagesse on Grenada. Apart from being the most one sided game we have had it was well supported and a lot of fun. Spice Isle Specials was captained by Andy Maidstone and were the victors against East Caribbean Crusaders captained by Paul Taylor. We had three ladies take part this time, Debbie, Louise & Sue, they all played their part in the game. The day was a huge success. Junior Murray joined in and played, we had another great BBQ and an open bar. I would say it was one of the hottest days we have had for our cricket matches, only a couple of injuries one of which was me! Fell on my chest trying to save a 4. My ribs are still painful especially when I laugh! My thoughts now are with Jeff who is still in Grenada until at least Saturday as he contracted Covid!
I would just like to thank you all for travelling with us, it was a huge success in difficult times with covid still prominent! One Day in Barbados I was going around booking several guys for their antigen test to travel to Grenada. We have a great team at ICT- we all have our roles to play, which is why so many of you keep coming back, so I thank you.
I will in the coming days put together a summer WhatsApp group, I know it’s not for everyone, but it helps to connect you during the summer of test match & county cricket. We try and arrange dinner or drinks, there always someone who has a spare ticket! I look forward to catching up with many of you at the Oval or another test match around the country and of course we will see many of you in Holland! So have a great summer of cricket wherever you watch it!
