Last update from Barbados.

Update 4

After a free morning shopping and exploring Bridgetown (the capital), the U/17 boys travelled back to Speightstown to play the rescheduled game against Colleridge and Parry in a T20 fixture.


Wanderers U/17  V  Colleridge & Parry School

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Wanderers lost the early wicket of Jacob Wilson. From here Kale Hare and Pat Whittard put on 60 in even time. After their departure there were contributions from most players with Reece Woods making a quick fire 25 off 10 balls and Daniel Lawrence a swashbuckling 26 from 8 deliveries to have Wanderers on 7 for 171 from their 20 overs. In reply, C & P made a good start getting to 115 for the loss of only two wickets. With three overs remaining C & P still needed 46 runs to take an unlikely victory but when they took 17 from the 18th over and 14 from the 19th there were some jitters in the Wanderers camp. Jacob Wilson came on to bowl the last over and gave up a miserly 6 runs. Wanderers U/17's win their first game on tour!!!

Wanderers  7 for 171

P. Whittard     65
D. Lawrence     26
R. Woods     25

Colleridge & Parry

T. Jellie     3/32
M. Morgan     1/15


Match Day 5

Wanderers U/15  V  Dover Juniors

Wanderers won the toss and elected to bat but were immediately under fire losing wickets on 10 and 24. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and we were bundled out for 89. In reply, Dover Juniors passed our score with ease and managed to amass a huge score of 214 for the loss of six wickets. Many lessons were learnt and we look forward to much better performances from here on.

Wanderers     89

L. Fairbairn     18
W. Simpson     16
Z. Williams     14

Dover Juniors     6/214

M. Cranfield     2/31
S. Fairbairn     2/16


Wanderers U/17  V  St. James School

On a roll, Wanderers won the toss again and elected to bat on a flat, dry wicket in the Eastern part of the island. Despite the early loss of Morgan, Kale Hare was able to push on and score a solid 51 and set up a big score for the Wanderers. Joined by Tom Jellie, they put on a valuable 151 run partnership with Jellie scoring 70 nefore being dosmissed when the score was 162. From here, some solid hitting from Alex Pisani and Reece Woods saw them finish with a total of 7/256. Mark Twyford and Mitch Morgan ripped through the St. James top order and they were never able to recover. In the end they batted time and were held to a mere 8/106. That's two in a row for the U/17's, they are now on a roll.

Wanderers     7/256

T. Jellie     70
K. Hare     51
R. Woods     33n.o.

St. James

M. Morgan     2/11
J. Wilson    2/13
T. Jellie     2/13


Match Day 6

Unfortunately our final games in Barbados were abandoned due to rain but not before both teams had the opportunity to bat, with some great performance from the Wanderers boys. The U/15 team managed to get to 2 for 76 from 18 overs against St. Philips Juniors with Simon Fairbairn getting 29 and Will Simpson getting 24 not out. The U/17's played against Grantley Adams and were able to put together a very competitive 9/195 from 30 overs with Jacob McGoldrick scoring 51, Tom Jellie getting 29 not out and Kale Hare returning to the wicket after being struck in the head to score 33 not out including a reverse sweep for 6 off the last ball of the innings.

Today we leave Barbados and head back to the USA. We've had a fantastic time here and have really appreciated the hospitality shown to us by all the clubs we have visited and from the Bajan people in general.

UPDATE NUMBER ONE

Here is our first tour update and some photos. After a long and arduous 14 hour flight from Sydney (and various other destinations) we finally arrived in Los Angeles and were greeted by chilly conditions that few of us were prepared for. Nevertheless we headed immediately for a look through Rodeo Drive and Hollywood Boulevard before heading to Universal Studios for roller coasters, 3D experiences and a tour of the Universal Backlot where real movies get made. No celebrities were sighted but the sets of many famous movies were there for all to see, including the plane crash set from War of the Worlds (including a real crashed airplane). At the end of the day ( a long, 36 hour day) we were all well and truly ready for bed.

After a 6.00am muster and as many queues as you can poke a stick at we again departed for another 8 hour flight to Barbados. Due to time differences we arrived at 9.30 at night and there was little to do but hit the sack and catch up on sleep. The morning exposed a beautiful, island scene with clear blue water, white sands and happy, easy going people. No time was wasted before many were in the water relaxing and trying to body surf the small waves on offer. Lunch in the small town of Oistins (mostly KFC) was followed by a training session at a nearby ground with it's rolled mud pitch and uneven outfield. Hot work but a good way to blow out the cobwebs. After a short rest back at the hotel, many of the group headed back to the Oistins fish market to sample local dishes of Blue Marlin, Swordfish, Flying Fish and even Macaroni Pie for dinner. Kareoki was the entertainment for the evening but the Wanderers boys were conspicuous in their absence. Tomorrow we play our first match for the tour and all the boys, coaches and parents are eager to get started. Stay tuned for further updates and scores from Barbados.