Early starts, but worth it when you win

Trevor Langa, the Vanuatu wicketkeeper, writes about the World Cricket League Division 8

Before we came to Kuwait we had camp in Brisbane with some of Cricket Australia’s High Performance guys and we also had talk from John Buchanan the former Aussie coach. He spoke to us about how to be a team on the field but also how to play to your best as individuals – I think that’s come through for us today against Bhutan.

Today was good day for us beating Bhutan – it was our first win ever in an ICC World Cricket League which was awesome, but our total today of 337 was also the highest Vanuatu has ever scored in a 50-over game which made it even more special. We can be proud of that but we have to look ahead to Sunday when face Kuwait who beat Suriname today very easily.

I think if people come to watch here in Kuwait, or if they see Vanuatu playing cricket, they might be surprised as we’re quite loud on the field. It keeps us upbeat and I think it helped us against Bhutan today.

When we last played in World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey we got smashed by Norway and that was our first time out in the league. I think this was Bhutan’s first time out in the league and maybe they were a bit nervous, but it felt it good to smash them. We’ve long way to go though before we can say we’re through to the next round.

Kuwait is a new experience for me – I’m from Vanuatu which is very green and is kind of tropical and this place is definitely not that. It’s very hot and sandy here and I’ve only seen trees on the highway or at the cricket pitches so far.

I’m sharing room this time round with Damien Smith who is as loud as me, which I think is why we’re put together. He’s a funny guy but at the moment he seems to be my wake-up call to get me down to breakfast. We’re starting early here in Kuwait, the earliest I’ve ever had to get up for cricket, the buses leave at 6am for an 8.15 start so we’re all breakfast at 5am falling asleep into our cornflakes!

Mind you the early start didn’t affect us today with our win, so maybe I shouldn’t complain.