From the fridge to the furnace

Our preparations for this tour started two weeks ago at the National Cricket Centre in Loughborough, with all the girls eager and raring to go. We had some good indoor practices over the weekend and did some fine tuning to our fielding with our specialist fielding coach, Richard Halsall. It was the first time we had the whole squad together as we were rejoined by Beth (Morgan) and Jenny (Gunn), who have spent the past four months playing cricket in Australia. On the Sunday evening we had a really nice team meal, finished with a piece of birthday cake for our Manager Neil Rider.

On Monday we headed down to Heathrow, after our official weigh-in with all our bags. We each had a limit of 50kg and unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, I weighed in heaviest due to my tour ketchup supply! (and maybe a few jars of jam…) We stayed in a hotel close to the airport as we had an early start on Tuesday morning to catch our flight.

I was up at 5.30am and it finally dawned on me that now was the time that all our hard work, practice and dedication was going to be put to the test on one of the toughest continents. Despite the hour the girls were very chirpy and upbeat.

There was a lot of press to greet us (ha ha) – I think they had more to do with British Airways’ baggage restrictions than our forthcoming quadrangular series – something I can relate to - but it got us more coverage nonetheless. It was ironic that the men’s squad arrived just as we were leaving. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Fred [Andrew Flintoff] and the boys, but what a great comeback for them in the tri-nations series down under.

After 11 hours travelling we arrived in Chennai at 1am local time. Although very tired we were all excited at the prospect of being in India again, especially Ebony (Rainford-Brent) who’s never been to India before. After a short bus ride we arrived at our resplendent hotel and were quickly into our rooms for some well-earned sleep. The majority of us got lovely, spacious rooms, but two of our players were assigned the 22,000 rupees/night suite complete with lounge, dining room and guest bathroom as well as two ensuite bedrooms and an upstairs! This is proof that captains don’t reap the rewards!

We spent our first day here getting used to the heat, which is nearing 30 degrees, and exploring what the hotel has to offer - massages for £2 amongst other things - so I think we’ll be indulging ourselves! Tired from the travelling, me and my roommate Jenny “what an arm” Gunn had an early night, only to be awake watching Arsenal v Bolton from midnight to 2am.

We had our first training session on Thursday at the main stadium. It went brilliantly due to some excellent facilities and we were lucky enough to get some fielding done on the main outfield. All the girls coped well with the conditions and it was a really promising start for us. We’re practised again on Friday, getting ready for the two warm-up games on Sunday and Monday against India ‘A’ and ‘B’. We’re all really looking forward to playing some cricket again after what seems like a long winter back home.