Ashwell Prince's Caribbean Diary - Part 2

It was very much a case of "early to bed and early to rise" for our four-dayer against Barbados, and although the extra rest didn't, as the rhyme suggests, make us "wealthy and wise" (at least, not any more so than we already are), it helped us give a pretty good account of ourselves.

But where was I the last time I let you have a peek into the pages of my diary. Oh yes, it was on TUESDAY 22 AUGUST and I had just returned to my room after we'd had supper with Sir Gary Sobers, Desmond Haynes and Franklin Stephenson.

WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY 23rd-25th AUGUST

We play with a calm assurance over the last three days of our pipe-opener against the Bajans (as the people here sometimes refer to themselves). Time in the middle is always important at the start of a tour and all our batsmen are reasonably happy with the opportunity they're given to acclimatize to local batting conditions. Highlight of our second innings is a super 85 by Mark Bruyns. Benkies (Dale Benkenstein), too, is finding conditions in Barbados much to his liking as he strokes his way to his second fifty of the match. If you're a fast bowler, you're king in the Windies. And so, when Mfuneko Ngam takes the ball and begins to bowl really fast on what has become a rather flat wicket, the crowd really take to him. I don't think you'd need guess who'll be signing the most autographs from now on. Barbados are unable to reach their target of 245 in about 45 overs and so the game ends in a draw.

SATURDAY 26th AUGUST

It's a day off for us. Victor Mpitsang and I decide to take a ride into Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, to do some shopping and sightseeing. The island, like Cape Town, relies a lot on tourism to bring in much-needed revenue. So things tend to be a tad expensive (American dollars seem to be more popular than the local currency, the Barbados dollar). We see quite a bit of the capital, including, interestingly enough, a Trafalgar Square, a 19th century Jewish synagogue (built on the site where a synagogue was built in the 16th century), and Baxter's Road (Bridgetown's famous "street that never sleeps"). Of the rest of the party, some of the guys have opted for tour around the island, but the majority decide to rest aching limbs at the hotel.

SUNDAY 27th AUGUST

Today we're up against Barbados in a one-dayer at Kensington Oval, the island's test venue. We win the toss and ask them to bat first. "Puppy" (Charl Willoughby) gives us a great start by dismissing Barbados captain, the dangerous Philo Wallace (remember him) in the first over for a duck. Puppy's in no mood to mess around with the opposition he's almost unplayable as he shoots out six of their batters for 24 (a career best bowling performance). Barbados are dismissed for 89 and we do the necessary for the loss of only three wickets. We have a fines meeting after the match and Western Province new boy Graham (Smithie) Smith ends up with the most fines.

MONDAY 28th AUGUST

We're up at the crack of dawn in response to coach, Hylton Ackerman's instructions to be outside his hotel room at 6.30am. After being put through some stretching exercises by the "fizz" (Shane Jabaar - physio), we're sent off on a run. The boys cope reasonably well, considering our long fines meeting the previous night. We're given the rest of the day off. In the afternoon, Victor, Shukri and I decide to play some golf. Funny thing, although Barbados is a small island, it has six golf courses, of which three are full 18-hole courses and three 9-holers. I make a mental note not to record our scores in this diary in case it's used against us in future. Later that evening, the Barbados Cricket Board and players are our hosts on a dinner cruise around the island. What a perfect way to end the day.

TUESDAY 29th AUGUST

This time we have the morning off. Our next destination is St Vincent, a tiny island about a 30 minutes flight from Barbados. There doesn't appear to be much happening here and that is probably a good thing, because we've now reached the business end of the tour. Great though it was to be there, Barbados had a number of potential distractions, not least its super beaches and night life. From now on every game is going to be like a test match for the squad. It's going to be a tough battle for everyone to win a place in the "test" team.

WEDNESDAY 30th AUGUST

We hear of the passing of Khaya Majola. Please convey our condolences to the Majola Family. We have the morning off. And in case you're saying to yourself, "these guys seem to have a hell of a lot of time off", there's a good reason for this: We get most mornings off because in the Caribbean the warmest part of the day is between 10am and 2pm. Afternoons are when we put in the hard slog. We have a net at 3pm. Everyone is looking in good shape and certainly worthy of a place in the "test" team.

THURDAY 31st AUGUST

We have another afternoon practice session. We're raring to go for our three-day game against the Windward Islands. But I'll tell you all about it next time. Until then Cheers!! Ash