Our arrival in Barbados was delayed by some four hours due to a problem with the charter flight which was fortunate because it meant we could watch England’s last qualifying match against Slovenia. A tense affair with England playing marginally better than they have so far in this World Cup and just doing enough to qualify.

Victory over the West Indies in the 1st Test was comprehensive and thorough. Given that play didn’t start until 14h30 on the first day, winning by the close of the fourth day translates into a 3½ win. Celebrations followed and the next day we were on our way to the island of St Kitts and the venue for the 2nd Test starting today.

The Marriott Hotel & Resort is an enormous hotel which seems to spread over a couple of acres. I am fortunate enough to have a room in the main building thus negating the ten minute walk to the breakfast room every morning.

Trinidad’s geographic location as the most southerly of the West Indian islands situated just north of Guyana which, of course, is actually part of mainland South America, does not auger well for dry weather. We have had a fair amount of rain during the week off between the last ODI and the 1st Test due to start today (Thursday). The weather has already interfered with the two day warm up match meaning that the South African’s had a day of batting but only just a few overs of bowling.

Wherever you are in the world if the Springboks are playing an international you have to make every effort to make sure that you watch it. On Saturday the boys played against Wales and much research had gone into the start time and a venue in which we could watch. Four of us, all South Africans, set off after breakfast for the cricket ground and the sports bar therein called “All Out”. We were told that the game started at 10h00 on Fox Sports but we were only aware that the billing was simply ‘International Rugby’.

Today saw the last of the ODI’s with the West Indies once again winning the toss and choosing bat first on a very dry looking pitch. It would seem that Sulieman Benn has been left out of the team for disciplinary reasons because the West Indies have gone into this game without a specialist spinner. South Africa on the hand, have played both spinners so it isn’t difficult to form an opinion on Mr Benn’s omission.

 It is a very long time since I competed at international level -- at
least it feels like a very long time -- but one thing I clearly remember
from the many one-day series in which I was involved was the thrill of a
possible clean sweep.

   There is only one thing harder than winning a series, and that is to win
every single game.  It rarely happens, even between undoubted favourites and
significant underdogs, so when you get the chance to do it, especially in a
five match series, the competitive instinct kicks in as hard as ever.

Yesterday I promised to investigate things a little more thoroughly and here is some feedback. The Hyatt Hotel, Port of Spain, is a beautiful hotel and certainly the best that we have stayed in so far. Both teams are here as well which tells us we are moving up in the world! Situated on the sea front overlooking the harbour but with no beach as such, one can see as many as 25 tankers and cargo ships at any one time. Along the front of the hotel is a promenade rather than a beach.

Given that I have struck up an ongoing relationship with the demented cockerel that haunts me every night before I go to sleep with the sure knowledge that I will be woken in the early hours of the morning, I have now named him ‘Ronnie’. To date, I haven’t yet spotted the bird and I guess the likelihood of so doing is remote but should I have the pleasure of such an encounter I cannot hold myself responsible for my actions.

The one dread (apart from the tidal wave) that I have when on tour, is to wake up late and miss the transport to the ground and in doing so, keep other people waiting. So when I retired to bed last night I covered as many angles as possible by setting my alarm on my cell phone as well as asking reception to please call me at 06h00. I needn’t have bothered because apart from the constant noise of the waves lapping against the shore immediately outside my room, which tends to induce slumber rather than disturb it, there is a cockerel within close proximity of the hotel.

This morning, after breakfast and having at last finished Fatty Batter, I set out on the reasonably simple task of acquiring a ‘top up’ for my new pay-as-you-go Digicel sim card recently acquired for the island of Dominica. You see, if you don’t get a new sim card at every destination then you get into this whole roaming thing which is apparently very expensive. To me these are merely cyber words that I don’t understand but feel that I should take notice of.