Cricket tour to Grenada
On the first Monday in July we all boarded the plane for Grenada, West Indies. The squad consisted of 15 players, ranging from Upper Sixth to Year 10, and the coaches, Mr Hulston, Mr Holden and Mr Smith.
Throughout our time in Grenada we explored the island, visiting the capital St Georges, snorkelling, visiting a 200-year-old rum distillery – the rum was 80 % alcohol and tasted more like poison – and swimming next to a tropical waterfall.
The main challenge of playing cricket in the Caribbean is the heat. It was not necessarily the scorching sunshine, but the humidity, especially in all your batting gear, which made you feel you were in a sauna. It did not take us long to find out that the Grenadian batsmen were ultra-aggressive and not afraid of smashing a good length ball over the ring field. In fact it meant that most of our wickets were caught on the boundary.
These unfamiliar conditions meant it took us a while for our tour to really get firing, as we unfortunately lost our first three games. We were, however, incredibly fortunate to play three games at the Grenada National Cricket Stadium. We then managed to follow up these three losses with back-to-back wins, due to gutsy batting performances from Rory Easton( 59), Nick Bett( 48) and Patrick Nickols( 66 *) and a much improved bowling and catching display.
Our sixth and final game was nail-biting but we just fell short with the bat in the second innings, despite some spirited fight from the team. The final record was two wins and four losses.
Bowler of the tour was Peter Wright with figures of 24.3-2-70-9 and Batsman of the tour was Nick Bett with 190 runs at an average of 38. Nick also passed 1000 runs and 50 wickets for Sevenoaks School 1st XI.
Overall, it was an absolutely once-in-alifetime experience to play cricket in the Caribbean, one I will simply never forget.
Alfie Marr-Johnson, Year 10
6 SPORT