Thursday, 7 January 2016

Day 2: T20 & Road Trip to Camellia Resort

A brighter start today and less distance to travel to the Burger Recreation Ground for our game against St Joseph's, one of the top schools in Colombo. This was going to be a tougher outing for the boys and, after captain Rob lost the toss again, we were sent in to bat, again. Less familiarity with the format led to the loss of early wickets although Zac tried to hit the cover off the ball on a number of occasions. The innings was steadied by Lachie (40) and Rahul (19) before Ben P chimed in with a quick fire 20 to enable us to reach a respectable 139.
 

One unfortunate event during our innings occurred when two of the opposition players had a head clash when both attempted to field a ball. All ok in the end, but there was plenty of theatrical writhing on the ground for added effect.
St Joseph's batted sensibly and confidently and our wayward bowling let us down again. We fought hard and with a flurry of late wickets thanks to Charlie (with an athletic run out and c & b in successive deliveries) and Zac with 2 wickets we almost snatched a victory.

A tough time for the boys but much was learned. To add to the occasion Thommo claimed to have seen Kumar Sanggakara wandering around the ground. Unfortunately, this could not be verified and we don't think he is even in the country.
A long 5 hour road trip followed the game where we put our lives in the hands of the excellent coach driver as he manoeuvred through the traffic avoiding motorbikes, crazy tuk tuk drivers and other buses with seeming ease. The boys occupied themselves by singing songs, talking loudly or sleeping.
At a rest break Thommo and Bindog were hopeful of getting a decent coffee, but were disappointed yet again. They live in hope. A huge highlight for the everyone occurred when two elephants were spotted on the side of the road. This led to much excitement, camera flashing and a few boys even had to leave the bus to relieve themselves.
Another long day and an early start tomorrow as we climb Sigirya and go elephant riding.


1 comment:

  1. Well done in Game 1 lads.
    Unfortunate for Game 2. Perhaps if Kumar had flown up from Hobart, the boys may have been inspired to victory. I do hear he has a soft spot for the Reds...

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