Saris and singing to round off a good tour

Sunday December 4
Twelve hours on from my last diary entry the majority of the squad came down with various bugs and therefore ruled themselves out of contention for the next few matches. The morning of the match in Guwahati we literally had eight fit players and had to call on three of the least sick remaining girls to make a team! This was the start of things to come.

We won the toss and batted first. We posted a good total of 215 with a good partnership between me and Lau [Newton] of 102. We were happy with that, but in the second innings we didn't do ourselves justice and gave the worst bowling and batting performance of the tour resulting in our second loss in the one-day series. To top the day off we found out that Laura was being sent home for surgery after fracturing her finger. All in all, not a great day at the office today.

I was woken this morning at 5am by the porters who came to pick up our bags for their overnight trip to Silchar as the plane was too small for both us and our luggage. After the flight time had been changed about three times, we eventually got told we were leaving at 9am and made our way to Silchar on a 50-seater plane. Entertaining for those girls who really don't like flying!

We arrived mid-afternoon and after lunch, some of the girls headed out to buy saris for a party the following evening. I decided to have some quiet time and spent most of the afternoon asleep!

Half the team get ready to party... © ECB

A busy morning for me as I had to sort out my outfit for Cheesy's [Rosalie Birch] Bollywood birthday party that evening! We headed to a sari shop and I picked a little orange number for the bargain price of £3. I'll be bringing that one out for fancy dress parties in the future!

In the afternoon we headed to the stadium and had a light training session followed by a mini press conference. When we got back to the hotel we enlisted the help of the housekeeping staff to dress us up in our saris. We all actually ended up looking quite good in genuine Indian dress complete with face and hair jewellery and some even went so far as to have fake henna tattoos. After dinner the party really started and we had a sound system set up for us. I started a round of karaoke and then the housekeeping staff came and gave us an Indian dancing lesson. It was hilarious and a good night was had by all!

From 8.30am, when I lost the toss, the day just got worse. It was the most crucial toss of the tour due to the early morning conditions and the pitch. Jhulan Goswami took full advantage of these conditions and we were left helpless and bowled out for 50.

The Indians knocked off the required runs in about an hour. To make matters worse this was done in front of a 22,000-strong crowd because Silchar had been given a public holiday due to our international cricket match. This meant we'd lost the series and we were all bitterly disappointed. That night we had a good night dancing with the Indian team at another function. I got another early night in preparation for our 5am start the next morning for our flight to Calcutta.

Thursday December 8
We arrived in Calcutta at around midday and were able to have a couple of hours' rest before a press conference at Eden Gardens. With video cameras, microphones and photographers in my face wherever I went, today was the first time I've ever felt like a celebrity! In front of more than 30 journalists me, Batesy [Richard Bates] and Isa [Guha] fielded a range of questions before walking out to look at the pitch ahead of tomorrow's game. I realised what an amazing place Eden Gardens is and was full of anticipation for a good game the next day!

Friday December 9
Another 9am start to the game, we arrived at the ground early and everyone went straight out to take pictures of the stadium.

It started well as I won the toss, maybe a game too late though! We restricted the Indians to 243, which was a good total considering it was a good batting wicket and had a quick outfield. I felt confident we could chase it down. We didn't get off to a good start due to some decisions that didn't go our way and we were left at 4-26. A great middle-order partnership from Arran [Brindle] and Lydia [Greenway] saw us back into the game and got us into a great position needing 70 off the last ten overs with five wickets in hand.

However our bad luck continued and Nicki Shaw was forced to retire hurt only to return with Arran as a runner. We finished 38 runs short; a series loss of 4-1 which doesn't reflect the competitiveness of the series. A poor fifty overs with the ball and a poor fifty overs with the bat has cost us the series.

However there are still so many positives we can draw from it. Touring the sub-continent is never going to be easy, but I think we've done a fairly good job considering the loss of our opening bat and bowler. We're really looking forward to hosting the Indians next summer as we'll have players back and we'll be back on home soil.

We're all having some rest before our eleven-hour flight back to England. I'm currently writing this sitting by the pool getting my last bit of sun before hitting the minus temperatures in England!

There's shopping trips planned for this afternoon for the girls to get some last minute Christmas presents and also the opportunity to visit a couple of temples!

It's been a great tour and one I'll look back on with fond memories - maybe not this last week, but as a team we've enjoyed ourselves and look forward to returning next year for the World Series.

I've had great fun looking back on a weekly basis at what we've been up to in order for me to write this diary. It's been a great experience and one I hope to repeat in the future.