Sherbornecricket

Having completed our highly successful tour of Sri Lanka led by one Ed Fricker, we arrived at the Airport Gardens Hotel for some much needed tanning sessions, where Charlie Gent thought his olive skin was impenetrable. His misjudgement has led to him looking like a lobster. In the late afternoon we enjoyed pizza funded by the harsh fines given out by elected fines master Julian Bertie. In the evening as the sun was setting we played an intense and sweaty game of football with Kamal making an appearance and imposing his physical dominance over the smaller members of the team i.e. the 3rd formers Nic Scaglioni and Will Ellwood. It has been a great tour with lots of memorable moments including Elliot Whiting to be the only tour member having lost his wicket to bob back ... read more

Arrived at Airport Garden hotel near Colombo in good time on Thursday morning and had an excellent lunch followed by pool time. Relaxing evening meal and then some IPL cricket viewing before bed. Last day in SriLsnka on Friday promises more pool time and a bit of revision for the 5th form! Apologies for lack of photos in the last week. Internet access not always what it might be and the iPhone does not allow photos to be uploaded directly to the blog. More will be added on our return. Final entry by Ben Simon and Connor S-Smith will follow this evening.... read more

Today's early start was made worse by the resignation of Ollie Sale after his famous victory yesterday as captain.  Once again we faced a journey of around two hours, which was worsened by the "back row banter" from Fred Cave, who was wondering how not to be run out again. On arrival the captain lectured us on the difference between the batting tracks in Jersey and Sri Lanka. Having been put into bat, we started brightly, but another collapse and some incredible fielding resulted in the steady fall of wickets. After a slight recovery we reached 99 for 9 off our 20 overs but that was never going to be enough.  The first ball of the second innings set the tone for the remainder of the game, with Whiting conceding five wides down the leg side. ... read more

Nic Scaglioni and Josh Dickson did an excellent diary entry for today but due to technical difficulties with Mr Dickson's iPad we have not yet been able to transfer it. Hopefully it will appear tomorrow. The good news is that the boys won today successfully defending 105, bowling the opposition out for 89. It was an outstanding effort in the field by everyone and there were sone excellent catches. Josh Dickson took five wickets and Ollie Sale bowled 7 overs for 3 runs, two of which were wides! Hopefully a second victory will come tomorrow! Mr Nurton and Mr Turner are not receiving e-mails at the moment for sone reason so please do not expect to get an immediate response if you send a message.... read more

Today we transferred to Club Bentota, stopping on the way at the official Sri Lankan Cricket shop where many if us bought replica world cup items.  Heading south on our two and a half hour journey we encountered more problems with the onboard air conditioning, causing us to fear that another Tom Edwards sweat pool would appear. We had lunch upon arrival and soon after we were enjoying the luxuries of the pool and the water polo goals. The water polo however soon got over crowded and a bit too aggressive, therefore we moved to the beach for a bit of cricket, for the second encounter between the two teams we formed in Colombo. However, the Red Barrons came out on top again despite the best efforts from the likes of Stuart-Smith who was one of ... read more

We woke up today relieved to be playing an U16 team and not an U21 international spin team. We arrived at the ground and caught sight of a pregnant dog which Barron said had potential! The toss was made and we decided to field much to the delight of those playing only as batters like Sale, Ritchie and Bertie. We started brightly with a wicket maiden from Dickson and the rest of our bowlers kept it tight early on, including Barron who made a valiant comeback from injury. Scags finally got the big from skip and bowled strongly despite his size taking three wickets for very few runs. The opposition finished on 190 all out, a real plus that we had bowled then our again. The opening bowler started brightly and despite fears that he might ... read more

Today was the first real rest day of the tour which meant that the 5th form had a two hour revision session in the morning whilst the 4th form enjoyed the environs of the swimming pool.  Lunch followed and then a trip to Majestic City, a Sri Lankan shopping mall in the centre of Colombo, where many pairs of Calvin Klein boxer shorts were bought for the very reasonable price of 300 Rps (£1.70) each! On the way back to the hotel we popped into the famous Cricket Club Cafe for a refreshing drink and an opportunity to peruse the plentiful cricketing memorabilia that adorned the walls. The day was finished off with a very competitive game of beach cricket as the sun set majestically over the Indian Ocean. Messrs Nurton and Turner... read more

Vice-captain Ollie Sale's supposed responsibility and consideration deserted him today as he forgot to wish Mr Turner a happy birthday. This also applies to Max Ritchie who was appointed deputy fines master today, one of his proudest moments. There was much disappointed and unrest amongst the squad, namely Charlie Gent, for the lack of chocolate sauce with the waffles. There was one member of the squad who wasn't disappointed whilst queueing for the waffles though. This was womaniser Ben Simon who found himself flirting with a young lady to the great jealousy of Hugh Barron who likes to think of himself as a 'cool guy'. One onlooker hinted that the conversation only extended to 'how long are you staying for'which was repeated on numerous occasions. Today we played Leo Cricket School and having lost the toss ... read more

Last night's decision to appoint Genty as team dietician sparked controversy as there were more obvious candidates for the job. With our last morning at the hotel in Kandy we were surprised by the early arrivals to the meeting of Barron, Bertie and Ellwood. At 8.45am we left for Colombo. On the journey to Colombo we stopped off at an elephant orphanage where we had the chance to ride and bath the elephants. Barron's face of terror and Connor's "this one's got reverse" comment were the highlights of the visit. After that we got back on the bus where everyone got a powernap only to be ruined by the immaturity of captain Ed Fricker, who thought it was funny to throw a foam rugby ball up and down the bus hitting a certain Tom Edwards in ... read more

The boys have arrived safely in Columbo but have no Internet access at the moment. They hope this will be resolved by tomorrow.... read more