England V Sri Lanka – Wow !!
what a match !! ,
finally got to see a proper game of cricket , last ball tension and all that jazz!!
The atmosphere was unbeleivable , I was in the party stand with all the poms,
if you guys saw all the jumping around in the pool
when england hit runs in the last few overs, it was me!!
and a few other drunk , pissed poms …

Once again !! a handful of Sri lankan supporters , which is a bit sad,
because the atmosphere was being created by mostly indian,
aussie and english fans,
their was one solitary Sri lankan flag in the whole stadium !!
When ravi bopara was facing the last ball
the tension on the faces of the pom fans was unbelievable!!
a lot of them turned their backs to the pitch and couldnt watch it !!.
Great game all in all !!

On sunday I’m off to the Aussie England game , that should be a great contest as well.

Beach Cricket -
Went to Sandhaven beach yesterday,
because there was going to be a cricket
match between the legends and the travelling journalists,
things here happen on carribean time.

The match (15 overs per side) was supposed to start at 12 noon,
but eventually got underway at 3 pm !! which is all cool
as all the people were well and truly wasted on rum punch and carib beer by then !!

The beaches here are stupendously beautiful as there is no pollution of any kind,
the reason being there is no industrial factories
and the mainstay of commerce is tourism and tourism only.

Chilled out on the beach and finally the cricketers turned up,
Sir Viv richards being one of them !!
There was absolutely no security of any kind !!
( unlike the travelling circus that indian and pak cricketers have)
Walked up to the great man and introduced myself,
asked him if it was ok to have a photograph with him,
he bought me a beer and said ” thats cool maan ” lol …

the person next to him was the minister of tourism and sport , a certain mr lowell ..
of course i didnt know this , so I handed him my camera and said ” do you mind” ??..
and he didnt !! , he took our pics with a smile
( only later did I find out who he was, as he was the captain of the legends side )!!

The HIGHLITE of the evening was ….
bowling an over to Sir Richards ..
and getting SPANKED FOR 4 SIXES !! in a row ..
man what a guy !!

That is one defining difference between cricketers in the windies
and ones in the sub continent,
… the legends of the windies.

Drank beer and punch and partied with the crowds till 9 pm ..
always with a smile and true carribean attitude,
Sir Viv was hitting on all the beautiful bikini clad women and dancing to the music ..
not a security guard in sight !!
jumping into the ocean and playing aussie rules rugby ..
it was a great great day !! ..
i can now say I have played cricket with the master blaster himself

right im off now .. more later…

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Desi Jack-Daniel’s original blog can be accessed @ “Winding down the Windies”- World Cup Cricket 2007