Herds, hooting and high spirits

Charlotte Edwards helps her side maintain their winning ways © ECB

Saturday, November 12

Today was our second one-day international against Sri Lanka, at the Premadasa Stadium. My "tails never fails" theory was clearly not so great afterall as I lost my first toss. However, we did what we wanted to do, which was bat first on a pitch similar to last time - a slow, low track with a slow outfield, again due to heavy overnight rainfall.

We made 206 which was a very good effort considering the conditions. Another good innings from Laura Newton, and Jenny Gunn's highest one-day international score of 49, ensured another good total for us. Another good bowling display with Cheesy [Rosalie Birch] picking up four wickets and finishing them off for 107 gave us a 99-run victory. [Click here for match report]

To celebrate the 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka we headed to The Cricket Club Café where we were soon cheering again - this time celebrating yet another England win against Australia, in the rugby. Here we were able to indulge our passion for chocolate with team brownies and pancakes.

We took our favourite form of transport in Sri Lanka back to the hotel - the tuk-tuk - but our driver decided to take a detour. This provided me with the perfect opportunity to persuade him to let me drive. What a mistake! I jumped behind the handlebars and set off at a steady pace and hooted all the way back to the hotel, just like the locals.

Today we had a three-hour bumpy, cramped bus ride to see a herd of elephants at the Elephant Orphanage. We arrived in high spirits - although I'm not an animal lover - and got off the bus just in time to see the elephants coming back from their bath at the river. There were about thirty of these huge creatures and twenty minutes later they were still ambling by! After lunch we went to watch them being fed. This happened in a barn, which five minutes later proved to be the only shelter from a torrential downpour. I was at the back of the crowd and got completely soaked! I managed to fight my way to the front only to be told that we were making a run for it to the bus!

I woke up early and did my morning gym session. Andy, you'd better be proud of me! [Andy is Charlotte's fitness instructor] Late afternoon we took a bus to the airport only to be caught up in the gridlock due to a political procession. We had to ring ahead to let them know we were still flying that day - I've never seen 36 bags unloaded and checked in as quickly as I did today. Our flight was an eventful one with the majority of the passengers intent on standing up for the flight even when the seatbelt light was on. For some reason they congregated around the toilet and my seat - fuming!

We were met at Delhi airport by girls with flower garlands which they put round our necks, and put dots made of vermilion on our foreheads. I was then interviewed by every media person at the airport - a definite sign of things to come. We left the media and packed the bus which wasn't dissimilar to the A-Team van, although Mr T was nowhere in sight! Leaving the airport at 11pm we started our three-hour journey to Meerut.

Tuesday, November 15
We arrived in a courtyard at 1.30am. We saw a lift and a sign and no indication of hotel. We took our chances and got in the lift. We went up three storeys and - bingo! - there was the hotel reception. It was basic, but clean with good-sized rooms. We fell into bed at 2am, only to be woken three hours later by a woman chanting over the loudspeakers outside. This continued for three hours so we eventually decided to get up.

We took the afternoon to explore Meerut by rickshaw. We saw lots of traffic, cows and camels wandering the streets and lots of hustle and bustle. The colours in the markets are so bright and, because we were in a fairly remote part of the country, we got stared at quite a lot. Everybody was so friendly and wanted their pictures taken with us and our autographs. We were so well received. When we got back to the hotel we thought we'd take a quick nap before dinner only to hear our friend chanting once more! Quiet Time!

No need for an alarm clock due to further chanting at 6am. We trained today in preparation for our two practice matches. It was a good session, but I wasn't quite expecting the amount of people to turn up to see a training session as there were. We managed to get some sleep in the afternoon ... before the chanting started again!

After an early night, and our usual wake-up call, we were up early ready for our first practice match. I lost the toss - tails failing again - but we did what we wanted to do, which was to bowl first. We did that very well and restricted India Under 21 to 147 for 7, with Laura Harper taking 3 for 16. I had a sneaky bowl and claimed my first wicket of the tour - it's tough being an allrounder! Laura and I got the runs in the 22nd over with Laura on 51 and me finally finding my form on 91. [ Click here for match report]

The crowd were fantastic - very vocal and loud - well, you'd expect that with 5000 people there! Following the presentations, where I was awarded Player of the Match, I was called upon for interviews. Sixteen microphones were thrust into my face, each with their own television crew. The journalists all crowded around me and started firing questions, which came predominantly from one reporter - until a little one to my right piped up: "Madam, Madam I'm important too!"

That evening, after dinner, we were presented with some nice sports bags from a local manufacturer. This turned into one of the funniest nights on tour as they gave us autograph sheets with our names on - all spelt wrongly! The best ones were Roslay Brich and Bathe Morgan. It was a lovely gesture and much appreciated, not least for the laughter it provided!

I woke up at 4am with a real sense of dread. I felt bloated and uncomfortable and thought "Please no, not me, not today!" But yes, for the first time I had Delhi belly! I don't think I need to go into the finer details!

I woke up again feeling quite rough, but soldiered on through the first innings, batting at No. 8. This was new territory for me but it gave others an opportunity to impress. I have to say batting down the order is not that fun and I am now sympathetic to the tail-enders for the amount of running they have to do! We made 182 which was a good score on slow, turning pitch. It proved to be a winning total as we bowled them out for 145 giving us a win of 37 runs. Cheesy was on top form again, taking her first six-wicket haul for England and winning Player of the Match. Another great crowd and a great win going into the series against India. [Click here for the match report]

We travelled to Delhi today and are looking forward to our training session ahead of the first Test on Monday. I expect there will be some similar stories for you next week - I certainly hope so, anyway!