Simon Langton Grammar School in St Lucia

Simon Langton Grammar School on cricket tour in St Lucia

Report by Simon Langton Grammar School's tour leader, Bob Green

We left Canterbury in the grips of snow, but as we travelled by coach to Gatwick the snow gradually disappeared and we were confident of a scheduled departure. Little did we expect a four hour delay due to the volcano erupting in Montserrat. However, once away we were very happy to be flying to St Lucia.

After arriving in St Lucia just before sunset we were greeted by, as we found out, the ever present Roland Cox, our Gullivers' ground handler. We then boarded our coach, that took us on an exciting journey in the dark, along the winding roads to Rodney Bay and our hotel, the Bay Gardens Inn. Having grabbed a snack we settled in for the night.

On day two we travelled south to our first fixture against Dennery U19s who set us a challenging 291 to win in 35 overs. Langton were all out for 212 in 32 overs with Michael Eeles top-scoring with 54.

Our third day was a day of leisure. We enjoyed the half day jeep safari through the banana plantations and rainforest and also visited a waterfall, where most of the party took a dip in the rock pools. This was followed by an afternoon on Reduit Beach, but the volcanic activity had made the sea uncharacteristically rough.

Day four and five were cricket playing days. The first was probably our most exciting game played at the picturesque Monchy ground against a Gros Islet XI. Set 205 to win we scored 202 for 9 to lose by just 2 runs. Will Lock took 3-37 and Will Matcham scored 57. This was followed by another visit to Dennery. This time Langton were set 284 to win, but again finished short on 258-9. Tom Staunton took 3-25 and John Ewart scored 74.

Our fifth day was spent mainly on Reduit Beach and by now the sea had calmed and all of the water sports were available and experienced by us. A very relaxing day was had by all.

The next two days were again cricket days and back to Monchy to play against St Mary’s College. Batting first Langton scored 178 all out with Jago Pearson scoring 42 and Richard Smith 38. In reply St Mary’s scored 139 all out to give us our one, and only, win of the tour. Francis Gush, Ben Mahon and Richard Smith all took two wickets each.

The following day we travelled to Mabouya Valley, set amongst the banana plantations. We arrived to find a very wet wicket (late preparation by the groundsman, although he had said that it had rained!). An early toss saw Langton elect to bat. This was definitely the wrong decision as we were all out for just 104, a total knocked off by the opposition in just 15 overs with three wickets down.

On our final full day we enjoyed another excursion, a catamaran cruise down the west coast of the island. This was such a great way to finish off the tour. We stopped off at Soufriere and headed inland to visit the sulphur springs, a spectacular waterfall, a botanical garden and had lunch before heading back to the catamaran for the return journey back to Rodney Bay Marina. On the way back we stopped off for swimming and snorkelling. It was a truly great day out.

On our final evening we had our team dinner at the excellent Bay Gardens Inn where we enjoyed a very good barbeque meal. Presentations were also made to players and staff. We spent the following morning taking in the last opportunities to shop and look around before we headed back south to the airport. No delays this time – in fact we even arrived back in Gatwick early!

What can definitely be said of this tour was that it was great fun and very enjoyable. The St Lucians were very friendly and helpful, and the hotel staff could not have done more for us and Roland Cox looked after us well throughout the entire tour. Hopefully we learnt a lot about our cricket, and also enjoyed the social experience. St Lucia above all has the most fantastic scenery. We are already thinking about our return in a couple of year’s time.