West Indies 2009

In February 2009 I took my sabbatical, a great benefit from work that provides me 8 weeks off work fully paid.  Combining this with 4 weeks holiday I had three months to keep myself busy.  28 days of this was spent travelling around the West Indies following the England Cricket team in the test series, a link to the blog that I completed on the APAT Poker Forum can be found on the Links page.

 

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I enjoyed lovely weather and great company in Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad.  The trip got off to a great start by finding out the hotel in Antigua was the same as that being used by both the England and the West Indies teams.  Antigua nose dived following the abandonment of the 2nd Test at the "Sandpit", but rose back up in estimatation with the "3rd" Test being played at the old Recreational ground, with the change in schedule the first 4 days were enjoyed, the final day was lost as I travelled onward to Barbados. A tense ending was watched on the TV in the hotel room with the Windies holding out for a draw, to keep a 1-0 lead in the series.   Upon arrival in Barbados we had a few days relaxation before what was now going to be the "4th" Test following the rescheduled match in Antigua.  We also had the main tour party joining us, as well as our tour host Tuffers.  Barbados was a wonderful place, the locals being great hosts and so friendly, the weather was great, had the odd shower but once the cricket arrived it was all sun !   The Kensington Oval was an impressive stadium, recently refurbished for the 20/20 world cup, the only let down being the wicket, it was just a road !! Not enough in it for the bowlers and as a spectator spectacle it was poor, Strauss continued his form and a few others pitched in with hundreds as the game was so weighted towards the batsmen.  With the test drawn we headed to Trinidad.

 

Trinidad was an interesting place, very industrial in the capital Port-au-Spain, before we set off from Barbados we were provided with Foreign office information on keeping safe, always use a Taxi, but make sure we only use an official taxi, hmm how do you tell the difference.  Even with all the bad publicity and the daily body count in the local paper, Trindad was good fun.  Enjoyed the night life more as some good bars and restaurants were close by.  The cricket again was slow moving with the batsmen dominating once more, although the last day was turned around and England managed to put themselves in a possible winning position.  The Windies held on and the series was lost following England's 2nd Innings collapse in Jamaica.

 

 

So my first overseas cricket tour ended after 28 days, the experience was superb and has to be one of the best tours to go on just for the atmosphere in the grounds and the welcoming of the local residents.  Tuffers was excellent as a host and Paragon Sports Travel provided a great tour and I look forward to South Africa next year as I have the bug now.