St Kitts. Antigua & Barbados...

Getting the opportunity to do a complete England ODI tour wasn't something I ever thought I would be lucky enough to do, so when the opportunity arose to spend 15 days island hopping across the Caribbean watching cricket I couldn't wait to get out there and start exploring...even if I did have 8 months to wait from when we booked it.

St Kitts was the first of the 3 islands that we would be visiting where England would be playing 2 warm up games against a West Indian Invitational team and the University of West Indies XI in preparation for the 3 match ODI series. Having been to St Kitts two years prior I couldn't wait to get back out there to start the holiday. With a 5am alarm set and the inevitable passport panic I was on the way to meet mum who had flown out a few days previously. However I never seem too make travelling simple...with a combination of a lack of sleep and not actually checking my flight before leaving I had quite the surprise once I'd got on the plane to have the pilot announce that it was travelling to St John's, Antigua before going onto St Kitts, thinking I'd managed to get through having my boarding pass checked and still got on the wrong plane wasn't ideal when I had been awake 4 hours by 9am!

Arrival into the Caribbean is definitely one of my favourite places to touch down purely because you have to actually walk down the steps off the plane onto the runway getting that immediate rush of heat that finally feels like you're on holiday. After the quick drive to the hotel and catching up with mum I could settle in and get ready to go out on the evening.

       

 Frigate Bay was the most local 'Strip' where we found ourselves eating and drinking well into each evening. Situated alongside Timothy Beach the Strip provided multiple beach restaurants and bars to choose from with scenic views and live music entertainment while having dinner. Our first night started at ChinChilla's a small Mexican restaurant right at the end of the strip, the live music that was being played only added to the atmosphere of the otherwise fairly quiet bar but in no way took away from the high quality food.

Patsy's Beach Bar and Grill was the beach bar of choice for our second night in St Kitts, very much the same setting as the previous night however more of a 'typical Caribbean bar' with its laid back approach and array of jerk chicken on the menu it was fairly obvious what foods they specialised in.

My second day was the first instalment of cricket on the tour, having won the opening warm up game against the University of West Indies, England who were rotating the remaining players in the squad would have been going into the game with confidence levels high. After losing the toss and bowling first England got off to the best possible start having them 55-5 with the few fans dotted around the ground thinking it may all be wrapped up fairly quickly and back round the pool by mid afternoon. However a 100 run partnership between Jahmar Hamilton (73) and Rakeem Cornwall (59) who had an unlikely physique for most cricketers providingmore big boundaries than quick singles to entertain the crowd. With a target of 233 to chase England had a new look opening partnership of Jonny Bairstow and Sam Billings. A positive start and another contribution from the ever consistent Joe Root (46) meant England looked set to chase the score with relative ease...until a few quick wickets in the middle order meant Chris Woakes (47) needed to recreate some stability. Bairstow was dismissed on 87 and England were still 60 short with not so many wickets in hand however Woakes alongside the lower order were able to bat through and get us over the line making it 2 from 2 before the series began.

   

 With the cricket finishing early a walk into Basseterre along with the other travelling Barmy Army to find a specific bar hidden in a car garage that had been recommended ended in a guided tour of the capital with absolutely no idea where we were going after taking a couple of completely wrong turnings. However we did stumble upon Independence Square in the centre of the capital which we later found out was where slavery auctions had been held after they had arrived from the ships in the harbour, the square held a lot of historic relevance surrounded by churches and cathedrals, which made our walk to the bar more scenic than down the main roads.

Despite only having 3 days in St Kitts they were crammed with cricket, catching up with friends, meeting new people and of course making time for some sunbathing before moving onto Antigua where the first leg of the tour would properly start.

 With jet lag still having me up at 4.30am each morning the getting up for our flight too Antigua leaving at 8am  didn't feel so difficult especially when the sunrise provided some of the most incredible views over the beach that I have seen, that coincided with the airport only having 2 flights leaving before midday meant getting the security was probably as quick and easy as it would be anywhere in the world.

The flight from St Kitts to Antigua was also only 20 minutes long which is quicker than my usual commute into London for work...the sort of travelling I could definitely get used too! So arriving at Jolly Beach at 9am in the south of Antigua where we would be for the next 6 days meant even on travel days we had a full day to take advantage of lounging around the pool and eating entirely too much of the all inclusive buffet that was on offer.

With most of the other travelling fans not arriving till the following day we hadn't quite anticipated just how much busier the bar was going to get of an evening and enjoyed the only quiet day we had of the whole tour. The hotel at Jolly Harbour is situated right on the beach giving you the most incredible view of the sea and sand straight from the sunbed...there really isn't a much better feeling than relaxing with a book with a view like that.

With the resort being filled by 90% English travelling fans there's only one way to describe the bar of an evening...lively. With the combination of alcohol and the entertainment the nights were never going to early or dull, there's something very typically British about drunken men blasting Wonderwall at the top of their voices on karaoke.

Our hotel was also where a large group of the Barmy Army that we had met on previous tours were staying meaning dinner was full with conversation and laughter on just about anything and everything with the odd rendition of the barmy army songs for the whole restaurant to hear.

On the morning of the first game we naively thought that just talking to the cab company would mean our cab would be ready and waiting for us, very wrong. With every single person in the hotel trying to get a taxi at the same time proved quite a challenge trying to find one that wasn't related to a tour company or pre booked by someone else. But after waiting around we met Samwell George who became our driver for the week, a bubbly 75 year old Caribbean local who was highly passionate about his country and wanted to ensure we knew everything about Antigua...although many of the stories we believed may have been folk history.

Arriving at the ground was just as chaotic as getting there, the lines for each gate was more of a crowd of people just trying to get to the front where they would check each ticket individually to then go through the bags and finally make the walk down to the stands. On approaching the ground the typical Caribbean atmosphere was already in full swing with the sound of steel drums and smell of chicken roasting on the barbeque.

West Indies started the day well by winning the toss and putting England into bat, with a relatively inexperienced team aside from captain Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite and Shannon Gabriel in comparison to the collective number of caps in the England squad. England starting promisingly with opener Sam Billings making 52 on a wicket that seemed to be tricky to start on making his innings one of the better to watch although Eoin Morgan stood above everyone else showing his class reaching his 10th ODI hundred. With the middle order also contributing with Ben Stokes (52) and an unbeaten 31 by Moeen Ali England posted a challenging 296 in the 50 overs. They started just as well with the ball having West Indies 39-3 fairly early on, the only real resistance being from Jason Mohammed (72) and Jonathan Carter (52) before the pick of England's bowlers Liam Plunkett finished with career best figures of 4/40 along with Chris Woakes also picking up 4 wickets before bowling out West Indies for 251 and winning by 45 runs.

The second game in the series was a must win for the West Indies for them to stay in the series, once again winning the toss this time electing to bat on a wicket that appeared to be better suited for batting early on. Opener Kraigg Braithwaite gave them hope of a big total making 42 along with Mohammed again making a well needed 50, although they were put under constant pressure with a slow run rate meaning they only amounted to what appeared to be an under par 225, Liam Plunkett again the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/32. Jason Roy matched his opposition opener with another 50 after losing Sam Billings first ball, in a partnership with Joe Root who held England's innings together when 4 middle order wickets fell very cheaply. Alongside Joe Root, Chris Woakes played for me the innings of the tour with an unbeaten 68 to guide us to a series win.

 

The conclusion of the second game in Antigua also was our last day before moving onto Barbados, this also was the last night before a large majority of the fans we had spent the last 10 days with would be flying home. So having a 6am flight and 3am wake up call combined with a rather heavy night of drinking and chatting with no where near enough sleep made for a very interesting next morning...in future leaving packing till 2 in the morning isn't the smartest idea I have ever had.

Samwell George once again picked us up at the ungodly hour of 2.45am and was just as chatty as any other time we had seen him although I could only thank him as it did keep me awake. Instead of the light-hearted possibly fictional stories we had been told on the way to the cricket this time Samwell went on to tell me about the less glamorous side to the island laced with an undercurrent of crime that you may not immediately think about when in paradise, although we never experienced any of this side Samwell's personal stories made me appreciate how lucky I am to have been able to travel to such diverse countries and meet such a variety of people gaining a small insight into what lives they lead.

Arrival into Barbados was met with a fair amount of nerves, having flown with LIAT on a flight filled with those who were a part of a tour company we had been pre-warned that the luggage (especially heavy suitcases) don't always get put on the plane when leaving the island. So you can imagine how we felt when we got through customs and were one of the few people left standing around the luggage belt waiting, although finally mine and mums unbearably bright suitcases made it and we were ready to get to the hotel.

Accra Beach, Bridgetown was where we were staying, a beautiful modern hotel set on Rockley Beach. Having arrived at the hotel very early meant we still had the day to look around the surrounding areas and of course ensure we used the buffet breakfast to the fullest extent.

 We had 3 full days before it would be the final game in the ODI series, as much as I would like to say they were spent exploring the area and being really productive in reality I sat on the same sunbed everyday with the furthest I moved being a dip in the pool to cool off. It was however probably the most relaxing time of the holiday not having to do anything but read a book. The road in which our hotel was on had multiple restaurants to chose from, the first night we went to the highly recommended Tapas restaurant right on the boardwalk. Alongside the incredible food the setting only highlighted why it was one of the better restaurants in the area.

One of my favourite things about the Caribbean whichever island you are on is the beaches, the scenery sometimes is hard to believe and the sunsets are even better. I fell into a bit of a habit walking a good few miles down the beach each morning at sunrise and again as the sun was setting, with barely anyone being up and walking around that early in the morning there wasn't a more peaceful time of the day, some of the tiny beaches littered along the coast that I stumbled upon made it all the more worthwhile. The beach walks are definitely one of the things I always miss the most after getting home.

On our second night in Barbados we attended the Barmy Army Tour Party at Barbados Yacht Club, an opportunity to meet up with other friends who were on the tour while raising money for a local charity. The night was hosted by Dean Wilson the Cricket Correspondent for the Daily Mirror, he chaired the question and answer session with Jimmy Adams the newly appointed Director of West Indies Cricket who voiced his concerns on how to take forward an inexperienced team alongside the excitement of facing such a challenge. They also had Liam Dawson and Jonny Bairstow who represented England to give an insight into what its like to be a part of the team and around a dressing room that is taking such positive strides forward across all formats.

With England sealing the series in Antigua, the game in Barbados held little relevance to the series. England had a boost in the top order with Alex Hales being passed fit and regaining his place in the starting 11, with a point to prove having not played for a few months he couldn't have announced himself back on the international stage in a better manner than a seemingly effortless hundred, looking in full control alongside Joe Root who also reached his own hundred England put an exceptional 328 on the board. Once again England's bowlers were all too strong for the inexperience of the West Indian side with the only resistance being from Jonathan Carter (46) and a late innings cameo from Alzarri Joseph (22) before England wrapped up the innings winning by 186 runs and completing a series whitewash of 3-0.

Although mine and mums highlight of the day came from a slightly ironic scoreboard mishap, given the conversation that had been had around the dinner table in Antigua the week previously it was only topical that from the angle we were sitting in it looked as though Liam Plunkett's name had actually been spelt as 'Plunkfit', after a long tour it was evident that we were easily amused.

Our holiday came to a rather hectic finish, spending the evening at St Lawrence Gap the main strip in Barbados full of bars and restaurants where the majority of the tourists had congregated to celebrate the series win well into the night. We ate at Sharkey's a relatively small bar in comparison with very typical traditional Caribbean food the perfect way to conclude our two week trip.

I feel lucky to have been able to go on a full tour in this way, visiting 3 islands in a short amount of time really shows just how different each country is from St Kitts which is still extremely stripped back to a more commercialised and tourist friendly Barbados. I also got the opportunity to meet so many new people, people who invariably I will see throughout the summer while following England. While I seem to say it every time I go on away on tours you really do meet some of the nicest people while traveling, the common ground that everyone shares to travel such a distance for a cricket creates the opportunity to form genuine friendships.