Vanuatu benefits from rest day

Today went well for us but Suriname definitely tested us when we went into bat. They did well to restrict us to begin with, and they were bowling in the right areas. But it’s good to know we’re now through to the semi-finals of the tournament.

We fielded much better today than we did on Sunday. We picked ourselves up and it was good to have a rest day yesterday to refocus and look at what we needed to improve for today’s game.

I hit the winning runs today, which is a good feeling. It’s nice to bring home a victory for the team but we can’t rest on our laurels. Thursday’s game against Germany is a big match for us that could see us qualifying through to Division 7 in Botswana.

After our recovery session yesterday morning we went for lunch as a team at one of the restaurants outside the hotel – it was good to get out and not be sitting in our rooms all day. We had a total day off, which I think probably helped us today, as our minds were clear and ready for the game.

One of my team-mates, Frederick Timakata, was late to our pool training session yesterday so we decided to fine him for it. This morning when we went to breakfast at 5 a.m., Frederick arrived at breakfast in full batting kit, pads, helmet, gloves, bat – the whole lot! It was good laugh for everyone – including all the other teams and officials who were in the breakfast area!

We’ve got another rest day tomorrow, but our coach Mark Coles has already decided we’re going to have a training session. We didn’t perform as well as we could have today against Suriname and Germany is going to be a big test for us since they’ve been batting really well through this tournament.

Hopefully once we’re finished with training tomorrow we can go for a walk around the mall or something just to have a break from cricket before the big game on Thursday.