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Nomads Centenary Tour Narrative

Under reconstruction and editing

Heathrow,Bahrain,Abu Dhabi and Delhi



The main body of Nomads duly arrived at Heathrow many hours before take off as advised. Tom Reader lost his wallet en route from Ealing to Heathrow but otherwise everybody turned up in good order only Gulf Air screwed up!

The Gulf Desk 'manager' advised Veronica to queue with the hoi polloi and when she reached the front then he would book us all in as a group through the vacant business class check in area. Seemed like a good idea but when Veronica reached touch down all hell broke loose as a matronly 'check in' lady countermanded the manager's decision and so everybody checked in individually and late and had to hurry to the departure gate when other activities may have been planned.

The plane dropped us off in Bahrain well at the airport not before Lamb and Marions had mounted a vociferous complaint about the quality of the seats and more. However at Bahrain airport much of the squad found the bar and England on TV in Australia. Not a pretty sight.

We then hopped along to Abu Dhabi before making the final cruise into Delhi and a meeting with Bharrat our guide from 'Holidays To Treasure'. He proved to be fantastic and of immense assistance to the tour.

All seemed well until Steve Marions discovered his suitcase was missing. We motored in the dusk towards our hotel and for many the extraordinary sights of India were to impound for the first time. In London you visit the zoo to see the animals, in India they walk the road like everybody else, why not?

Hotel Vasant International
India Tour Day 1 and Marions is sans baggage

At the Vasant Continental Hotel we were greeted by Darren Williams and Karren who had been galivanting about the desert in Oman. Everybody was garlanded with marigolds and drinks were served.Bharrat informed the leader that many of the party were being upgraded and so they were but not the lads. Some weeks later Andy Stokes was to quietely enquire why not? The first ripple of a subsequent rumble.

A telephone call to the Imperial hotel found Jeremy Lascelles watching Leeds United live..he was well but their trip was not.Ugh During the night Russell Mann and Jo Ireland arrived by way of British Airways and out of the blue so did Mossie and his sons. Remarkably all seemed well.The party had arrived in freezing foggy Delhi....would Sunil and Unmish show up ?

Hotel Vasant International
Centenary India Tour Day Two 

Match v Delhi Blues Delhi Blues win by 3 wickets

 Most of those who had not been to India before and/or couples were designated sightsee-ers on day one but nevertheless everybody except Catherine Lascelles came to the PKDP ground where we were greeted by a volume of fans not common for the Nomads Cricket Club. Of course, the main source of interest was Ben Nealon but camera men, interviewers and autograph hunters were keen to talk to everbody.

Nomads have a long association with Delhi Blues and it was good to see Gurcharan Singh still so fit at 70. Vikram Kaul was playing for the opposition as was Kirti Azad who had played for Nomads a decade ago in UK.

Nomads skipper of the day Michael Blumberg won the toss and elected to bat in what was to be a 35 over match with bowling restrictions and OD wides. The innngs got off to a good start against some friendly bowling but failed to accelerate to a large total. A mean mid innings spell from former Test quickie Atul Wassan and some accurate spin from Kausik and Banadur restricted Nomads to a useful total nevertheless of 196-7.
Keith Alexander in his first knock 'back home' hit 74 including a 6 off Kirti Azad who once took a 6 wicket international haul. 

After a sumptuous lunch Nomads opened with Ben Nealon and Jo Ireland. Some years previously Ben had bowled for Nomads but a shoulder dislocation since had restricted his bowling and at once he was to be the victim of a merciless assault by Kirti Azad. However at the other end Joe trundled away with great effect finishing with 5 wickets. After Kirti's demise Vikram bombarded the boundary but when he fell there was the glimmer of hope still for Nomads. However the platform established was too substantial despite wickets for Blumberg and Reader and the Dehli Blues ran out victors by 3 wickets.
This was a very pleasant ground with other facilities, though the toilets left a lot to be desired. The highlights and interviews on TV were to be shown on Sony's Cricket Masala and elsewhere for many weeks to come.


Match One Nomads v Delhi Blues Veterans at PDKP Ground December 24 2002 Limited Over Game -35 overs    Delhi Blues won by 3 wickets 

Next morning the 'First XI and supporters went to the PDKP ground where several thousand spectators had gathered plus a mutltude of press, photographers and VVIPs. The two teams were introduced to the Minister for Sport and culture


Although there were banners around the ground wishing Nomads well on their Centenary tour Doordashan had billed Nomads as a Lagaan XI and had expected 5 or 6 of the cast not just Ben. This was their fault not Nomads as a volume of email and letters had gone to a great length to explain and the original confirmation of the fixture clearly states the Nomads Cricket Club.

While the match progressed Charlton Lamb and Steve Marians pursued their singular quest to secure sponsorship for the flights of the Lagaan cricketers and, in particular, a film to be directed and produced by Steve Marions.This took them to many discussions at the ground and elsewhere in Delhi when they should have been playing against a Delhi Blues XI for Nomads 2nd XI.

TV interviews were conducted with Nomads President David Alexander, former India Soccer international Keith Alexander, Lagaan actor Ben Nealon and many others including Mrs O'Sullivan. as above.

Meanwhile at the Yamuna Sports Complex Nomads under the captaincy of Russell Mann were being slaughtered by Delhi Blues. The original match was billed as against TATA-AIG but they pulled out at the last moment and happily Delhi Blues stepped in.This time the DB youngsters not the veterans of yesterday's match but tomorrow's stars. Lamb and Marians were unavailable busy on the 'Lagaan/SM Film show and Sunil Amar had reported lame having pulled a muscle on the golf course. Therefore three DBS played for us but not as well as their reputation suggested.Randeep Singh recorded a duck.Rather like a bad day in UK,three drop outs!

 Match Three at Yamuna Sports Complex Delhi, December 30th 2001 Nomads 2nd XI v Delhi Blues/Tata, 30 overs per innings game ,dELHI bLUES WON BY 211 RUNS

That evening the entire tour party and friends were entertained to a grand dinner by Delhi Blues CC at Claridges Restaurant, presents were exchanged and warm words of welcome and thanks delivered. Vikram Kaul remarked during the dinner that it was a good job the Nomads cricketers had been playing against Doordashan rather than an eleven of actors as the match would not have been half as exciting!...even if better for the autograph hunters.Absolutely!.

Nomads Cricket Club had achieved a memorable first ever for an amateur grass roots club in enjoying worldwide ball by ball live TV coverage. It was also quite a feat to have put out two elevens on the same day on tour and in India.

Hotel Vasant International
Centenary India Tour Day Four

 Tour Matches 4 & 4 NOMADS CC v NSCC & TERI XI-Cancelled due to deluge

 Pouring rain and deep fog hung over Delhi at breakfast time and calls were received cancelling the NSCC match but miraculously the TERI match was still on as they had extensive covers. This caused disbelief from our Delhi Blues players and this game was also cancelled by 10.30. We were all invited to lunch at the NSCC and duly set off only to receive a desperate call from Vikram Kaul demanding we also go th TERI where there was a much better lunch awaiting us.

In the end NSCC won and Vikram joined us there. More Presentations. Losing these two matches was a confounded nuisance as it seriously cut the amount of cricket played before we set off on our travels.

As to the Lagaan sideshow.Steve Marions and Charlton Lamb went into deep discussions with Vikram Kaul during which a flurry of pieces of paper appeared as well as the mobile 'phone. Later Harish was to appear and a friend of Vikram rang up who was a sports events promoter interested in sponsoring a Lagaan Match in Mumbai. Harish emphasised to Michael B and Charlton L that a synopsis should be sent asap outlining the advantages to a sponsor promoting this match.

Haresh stated that he would drive down to Jaipur to meet us with the Sports Promoter and bring the tour brochure for which he had found and recommended a printer.

On the way back to the hotel most of us visited the former home of Mahatma Ghandi, now a museum in memory of the great man, and Bill Rodwell drove off with Sunil Amar visiting among other places such as the the Delhi Golf Club. Such had been the volume of rain that it had invaded the air extraction unit in our coach and whenever the bus jolted so water poured over some of the passengers. Particularly unlucky in this respect were Diane O'Sullivan and Liz Stokes as shown in the photograph opposite..

On our return to the Vasant Continental it was apparent that miracles had been achieved in relocating and rebuilding the 'New Year's Eve' party. Most of the squad duly booked into this extravaganza which turned out to be a very good party with endless drink, mountains of food and a great Bhangra type band to which almost everybody danced.

The locals included innumerable stunning beauties but none seemed to fancy the Mature single Nomads in the party.....nevertheless it was a most enjoyable New Year's Eve party

Jaypee Agra De Lux ï

Centenary India Tour Day Five

Travel to Agra

We visit the Taj Mahal

Two thousand watch Nomads
Centenary tour to India Day Six

Match v Agra XI Lost by 5 wickets off Penultimate Ball

The party rose early and visited the Red Fort in the morning. It was foggy and the Taj Mahal was invisible to the eye. When we arrived at the Agra Stadium we were greeted with garlands and there were huge banners welcoming the Nomads

Match Six Nomads CC v Agra Veterans CC at Agra Stadium January 2nd 2003 30 overs per Innings Match Agra Veterans won by 5 wickets with one ball remainingress and TV were also there to interview, in particular, Ben Nealon who was 12th man. The ground was very wet and the start was delayed.The stadium manager asked Michael Blumberg for the match balls as Gurcharan Singh had indicated the Nomads would provide them. However this was news to Nomads and unfortunately since Blumberg was not playing he had not brought his cricket bag and hence did not have any new cricket balls with him. This further delayed the start of the match as lackeys were sent into town to procure some new balls...or so it seemed for we were actually to wait for the arrival of the VVVIP-the Commission for Income Tax in Uttar Pradesh.

The teams were duly introduced to the commissioner who apologised for the weather but said it was not as bad as Glasgow where he spent a year as a student! The gentlemen who introduced the commissioner made reference to Income Tax, Lagaan, and more and so hoped that whatever the result of the match taxes would be reduced.

Because of the late start the match was reduced to 30 overs and a matt was laid for the pitch.Much of the outfield on the stadium stand side was very damp. Mark Surridge lost the toss and Nomads were inserted.The game began at 12.30.

Jeremy Lascelles fell early with the score at 18 but then Wycherley and Stokes put on 94 in 14 overs before Wycherly was adjudged lbw.29 runs later Stokes was bowled by Raman Dixit for 57 off 63 balls. This was unfortunate as the rush to score quick runs over the last 6 overs then brought a flurry of wickets and Nomads closed on 182 probably some 20 runs short of target.Dan O'Sullivan was not out 28 off 29 balls.Agra had taken nearly 2 hours 40 minutes to bowl their 30 overs so lunch was restricted.

Agra began their innings at 3.25 pm as Mark Surridge opened the bowling. He and Andy Stokes struggled to find direction and length and Stokes in particular conceded a spate of boundaries to Peter Paul.The introduction of Darren Williams and then Charles Fellows-Smith curbed the run rate and Williams secured the wicket of Sapan Dev at 58 in only the 9th over. Peter Paul and SK Dwivedi now put on 59 runs before Paul was appropriately stumped by Alexander off Paul Wakefield bowling wrist spin. It became increasingly apparent as the tour progressed that the Indian batsmen loved nothing better than fast medium seam bowling whereas slow seam and spin presented more problems on the slow Indian wickets.

Agra were 118 in the 22nd over compared with Nomads 135 at the same point. However they had lost only 2 wickets.The introduction of Jo Ireland produced the next wicket caught Surridge,127-3.With 6 overs left Agra needed 56 runs to win. Ireland was removed from the attack and Mark trusted himself to finish the task with Wakers at the other end. A run out and another stumping gave Nomads a chance but two dropped catches in the deep were crucial.With mounting excitement and deepening gloom the Agra captain ran on the field to request an early end to the match. "It was too dark to play sir" with a shake of the head. However the umpires persauded the Agra to persist, after all Dwivedi was still batting and the light was much worse for the fielders.

At about the same time Dan O'Sullivan who was patrolling the stand side boundaries pestered by hundreds of autopgraph hunters put his foot in a hole and badly sprained his ankle which also gave Agra exra runs. Dan was to leave for hospital and was out of action until Bombay. Surridge went for 10 runs in the penultimate over leaving Agra 8 runs to win in the last over to be bowled by Wakers. It was a wide long on slap that decided matters beating the diving fielder to break the boundary. Two to win two balls to go and Dwivedi hit the winning two with a ball to spare. Thousands of Agra cricket fans ran on the pitch to celebrate victory.It might as well have been the ICC World cup Final for thses fans.!

It had been a thrilling match with the Nomads in constant demand for interviews photographs and autographs. At the match end appreiciative speeches were made in Hindi and English. Keith Alexander made all the locals laugh but it remains a secret to his team mates just what he said. All the players received model Taj Mahals and the club acquired a huge trophy for coming second.

Daniel O'Sullivan was taken to an army hospital and at once made friends with the doctors treating him and because of his brothers army credentials became a VVVIP patient. As a result the doctors came to dinner with the Nomads at the Jaypee Hotel.One of the doctors proposed marrying a westerner, advancing the theory that there was a better or wider gene pool in Western Europe.

There were power cuts periodically at Agra and the hotel switched to its own generator. However this did not apply to the internet server which remained down for most of our stay. As to Lagaan sideshow.Charlton Lamb had been on the mobile phone most of the day fighting against the voluminous Hindi commentator who shouted for nearly six hours at an astonishing pitch of perpetual excitement. CCI was contacted but what they said about our booking there was either not heard by Charlton or not thought worth passing on. Whatever was achieved or not Steve Marions and Charlton spent the whole day on and off the phone and deep in their endeavour much to the quizzical interest of other members of the party.

During the match Bharrat took the ladies and some non players on further trips to a centre of enbossed embroidery and also jewelry. Liz 'modelled' the priceless museum pieces and Brian Wilson photographed this fantasy.

After the match the bus made an unsheduled stop at the hotel before taking the party to see a marble factory with beautiful inlaid work but most were glad on their return to hear the tour leader had made it to the lobby 'loo' in time. He was by now not the only tour member to be the victim of persisting tummy trouble!

In the evening a telephone call was made to Gurcharan Singh to thank him for arranging the Agra match but also to ask him about Jaipur where there was a potential problem with Dr Surana.Gurcharan said he was on the case but had so far failed to reach Dr Surana.

Hotel Halevi
Day Six 

 The Pink city with its extraordinary astronomical gardens

We arrived in the evening at the rather quaint heritage Halevi Hotel which was rather elegant in a minature and intimate manner, very different from the large international Jaypee rectangles in Agra & Delhi.

We were originally scheduled to play the Surana Cricket Academy but Dr Surana had come up with the staggering fee of £440.00 to play the game.As a result Gurcharan Singh and Sukumar Pathak had been put on the case.However the combined efforts of Gurcharan, the hotel owner(via Sukumar) and Keith Alexander with the Jaipur Eaglets proved to no avail and so our match was posponed until our return to Jaipur from Ranthanbore. As a result the party went on an interesting conducted tour of Japiur's city palace and other places of interest.Tom Reader led a posse elsewhere to ride camels and returned to tell the tale.

Hotel Halevi
Day Seven Match v Jaipur v XI Cancelled

Hotel HRH Hunting Lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Eight Travel to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve via Amber Fort
Day Eight



Hotel HRH Hunting Lodge Ranthanbore
Day Nine-TIGER Trot twice round wild life reserve


Half the party saw this Tigress and then her two large cubs.They then walked across the road in front of the vehicle and each turned and looked at the Nomads as if for a photo cue. Robert Wycherley captured this on video which was shown later on the hotel TV.

Hotel HRH Hunting Lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Eight Travel to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve via Amber Fort
Day Eight

Back to Hotel Halevi
Day Ten-Long journey then Game Lose To Modi CA by 5 wickets


The party rose mighty early at Ranthanbore in order to reach Jaipur in reasonable time for the cricket match.

The Neerja Modi School turned out to be very new, very grand and half way through its construction. There were two full size cricket grounds, one complete, the second still be worked on. The Modi Cricket Academy was the dream fulfilled of Mr Modi the father of the proprieter of the school and he was determined to create cricket grounds as he had seen them in England, surrounded by trees and shrubs. There were plans to build a pavilion/clubhouse. We were greeted again by a posse of local press and TV reporters with cameras.


Nomads failed to accelerate at the appropriate time and despite some fine shots by skipper Surridge the total was always 20 runs short. When we bowled although Stokes intimidated one opener who was soon out for a duck and Surridge dismissed number 3 with a beauty there were a lot of wides bowled. Stokes,Surridge and Nealon gave away 23 wides while Williams,Blumberg and Fellows-Smith bowled none.With a low total to defend wides are a luxury no team can afford. True the opposition gave away 23 wides as well but that is no reason to follow suit. So we lost!
Match Seven Nomads v Neerja Modi Cricket Academy at Neerja Modi Cricket Ground January 7th 2003, 40 overs per Innings match.Neerja Modi CA won by 5 wickets

Tour Brochure Botched Arrives

Nomads were very well looked after and warmly welcomed by Miss Modi the Principal of the school. Later we returned to the Halevi hotel. That evening the printer arrived with the tour brochure.Ugh! He had printed it 'perfect bound' when the whole thing was layed out for 'saddle stitch'. All the proof reading that had been done by Annette,Daryn Williams and MB as we flew to India had been ignored! Every copy stank of printing machine solvents! What's more he insisted on being paid there and then. This was a slight problem as the Treasurer Brinde Collins and husband Simon Collins had refused to transfer the funds from the Nomads account until we had produced an official invoice. This was apparently the result of a misunderstood instruction from the Club President Richard Kershaw who had mentioned receipts! All of which was not very helpful when in the middle of a tour of India. In the event a whip round by Steve Marions from the tour party for part payment of their sweaters(two thirds of the price was paid by the club) and all MB's tour spending money paid the bill. What should have been a stunning brochure thus became a disappointing venture. Harish and sponsor come to see Charlton and Steve about a Lagaan Match???

HRH Shikiathur Hunting lodge
Centenary tour to India Day Eleven
Fly to Uadaipur & Look Around

Arrive in India's Venice .
We were delayed by fog and arrived in Udaipur in two posse-s.Some by jetair second some by Air India. Only one bus was sent for us and the driver informed the first group."You may wait for your colleagues or we can go now and return for them but they must pay for the second journey"
As the bus was quite obviously incapable of taking the whole party and its luggage Tom announced " Drive On" and so the driver did.There had been much revolution and moaning and grumbling at Jaipur airport..'Vee Voz Robbed' and its Anglo Saxon equivalent rose and fell amidst a plethora of false data, bad arithmatic and silly innuendo so the tour leadership decided to have aget together when were at Sikarbhadi.
However when everybody arrived at this beautiful place and settled down to drinks by the pool we discovered John Behar was now with us and his laid back relaxed manner obviously invaded the wild emotions of the revolutionaries and all seemed happy. So the 'get together' was abandoned..or postponed

Hotel Shikarbadhi Hunting Ldge
Day Eleven Lots Of Runs Match v HRH Udaipur XI- Dramatic Victory

Match Eight Nomads v HRH Udaipur XI at Shikarbhadi Cricket Ground on 9th January 2003,40/40 overs match. Nomads won by 3 runs

Hotel Shikabadi Hunting Lodge
Day Twelve- Wakers hits 145 Match v Udaipur XI Lost by 23 runs

T his was a match of great scoring with an extraordinary number of sixes hit.Tariq hit 177 for the opposition and Wakers despite his hobble struck an heroic 145. There was some indifferent fielding by Nomads in the match including one youngster who sat on a wall over the boundary for much of the Udaipur innings with the result that he failed to stop a string of square hit boundaries!

Had the designated opening batsmen been ready to start the Nomads innings we may well have won as then Keith and Ben would have been coming in at numbers 5 & 6...but on tour it was ever thus......

Match Nine Nomads v Udaipur XI at Shikarbadi Cricket Ground January 10th 2003 40/40 overs each innings Udaipur won by 23 runs

A reception at the Palace with HRH the Maharana was scheduled for the evening followed by dinner at the adjacent Shiv Niwas Palace Hotel. Unfortunately the Maharana was held up in Delhi and so a message was sent to the Hunting Lodge that the reception was postponed until after the cricket match the next day. Doubly unfortunate was the fact that this message came to Tom Reader who rushed round telling everybody that both the reception and the dinner were off.

Luckily a phone call to Sabina Bailey clarified the situation but nevertheles a breakaway body did their own thing which apparently was very nice although Russell Mann was moved to unusuall wrath by the habitual moans of one Nomad tourist. The rest of us were entertained by members of the Mewar family in a stunning courtyard with fountains of the Shiv Niwas Palace...drinks, canapes and a sumptuous dinner to the accompaniment of local musicians. Everybody received their official royal invitation to the reception the next day including members of 'the missing party'.

A depleted party set off for the Kumbhalgarh Fort which was much recommended by the locals. Others used their time for more time in and around Udaipur itself .

This lunch was by general acclaim the best of the tour, unfortunately the tour leader had to sit this one out having suffered a serious indisposition while visiting the fort. However from hereon in he was to feel much better...


Thirty miles of walls and we walked to the top and down.Dan as usuall attracted his own train of local followers and Charles shook his head and mumbled 'most impressive'.

For futher information about this redoubt of the Mewars..just click here

> Hotel CCI Brabourne Stadium

Centenary tour to India Day Fourteen Tea wih His Royal Highness

Our flight turned out to be in the evening so a third match was arranged and everybody including HRH ,his son and brother and Sabina Bailey thought the match was on. However the guy delegated to raise the team did not and so we had a rest day. Ugh! G Charlton Lamb was due to make his debut in this match and so ended up not playing at all all tour!

Before we left Udaipur we visited the Palace for tea with HRH Maharana Arvind Singhji Mewar 77th in line and at great time was enjoyed by all and even the ladies received an HRH tie.

Tom Reader was of special interest to HRH as his daughter had been at school in the Isle Of Man which he had visited often

After this glittering affair the Nomads departed to the airport and so to Mumbai while Charlton for reasons most mysterious flew back to Delhi and Steve Marions travelled to meet his spiritual guru somewhere else! 

On arrival after some searching we discovered our coach and set off for the CCI. Keith Alexander gave a detailed commentary about everything we were passing although most of those at the back of the bus could not care less and almost drowned out his interesting observations about his home town.Disaster was yet to take place ..indeed near outright revolution and a great deal of condemnatory language was used but perhaps people were tired. >

Anyway Keith pulled off a miracle and most of the party ended up at the Taj President...5 Star double deluxe for a pittance. Some people thanked Keith....but lots vented their fury at a meeting held in their new luxurious surroundings.

Meanwhile Ben Nealon,Bloomers and Annette bedded down in the 4star deluxe newly reburbished part of the CCI complex while Wakers and Charles F-S did the same in the CCI Chambers. "I don't care if you have booked us a room in the f...ing Ritz we're in bed and staying here retorted Charles F-S on the news that he should decamp to the Taj President.

 

Hotel CCI & Taj President
Day Fifteen 

Match 11 v CCI Cancelled

 We were due to play the CCI on this day.Then they took a booking from the World Cricket Academy and so the ground was not available.They said they would play us at the Bombay Gymkhana but that never materialised and although they had promised to arrange three matches they did nothing which was a pity. Had we known earlier Keith Alexander could most likely have arranged another game.

So those at the CCI met the WCA chaps including Prasanna, Bedi and Ralph Middlebrook amongst others and one of the young players learning to bowl spin and play spin better turned out to be Master Terence Howe-a Nomad

For those who stayed at the CCI there was the great pleasure of evening drinks on the ground.Here are 'Bloomers', Charles and Annette enjoying the whicker chairs and the Brabourne ambiance.

Hotel CCI & Taj President
Day Sixteen Match v Bombay Gymkhana 

 

Others ventured into town and did a lot of shopping.

Charlton Lamb remained mysteriously in Delhi although Steve Marians steadfastly refused to join Ben Nealon in the plush bedroom he had all to his own in the Club house-equally very intriguing!

 

Match Twelve Nomads v Bombay Gymkhana at Bombay Gykhana January 14th 2003 Limited Overs Match 40 overs 12 a-side 11 field.Bombay Gymkhana won by 34 runsnbsp; 

Despite a taxi driver who did not know where the Bombay Gymkhana was and took the CCI party to the Police Gymkhana instead in the end we made it there.Whew!

  

Someway through Bombay Gym's innings along came Wakers dragging his cricket bag behind him so as they had 12 we batted Wakers instead of Bill Rodwell, having asked the Gymkhana skipper first.

 

The four lbws did not enamour umpire PS Patang to the Nomads. It was a pity that Stokes did not bat higher as he played brilliantly to give us an outside chance of reaching our target being caught on the boundary on 105 off 79 balls. It was a unfortunate we conceded 30 wides!

 

Hotels CCI & Goa Jaypee De Luxe
Centenary tour to India Day Eighteen Travel For some to Goa
The tour splits with some going on to Goa while others lounge around the CCI pool or go shopping before leaving for London  

Hotel CCI & Jaypee Goa de Luxe
Centenary tour to India Day Nineteen Some leave Mumbai for London others lounge around in Goa

Day18/19 

Hotel Bogmalo Beach 

 

 

Day Twenty Match v Goa XI Cancelled

In the original plan it had been hoped that Steve Marians and Charlton Lamb would be with us in Goa as well as Tom Reader and Andrew Stokes. For our match we hoped that both Mark Surridge and John Behar whatever the quality of their romantic sojourns in South Goa bamboo huts on the beach they would still travel north to play. That would have made us 10...and of course had the Lagaan plan come off some of them may have been around.Well it did not work out like that. 

 

Bill Rodwell, Keith Alexander,Robert Wycherley,Bloomers and three umpires made the trip to Goa plus three ladies and that's no cricket XI. This much dismayed our Sita guide who greeted us at the airport. He turned out to be playing in the Goa club KO final which Mike Palowker went along to watch. 

 

Robert played some beach cricket to add to his experience at Rathnabore.But many of us did see, once again, Nomads in Delhi on TV-Sony Cricket Masala. Indeed it was a pleasant few days relaxing after the arduous programme of the previous weeks. 

 

Hotel Bogmalo Goa
Day Twenty Two Relax,Feed, Sunbathe, Swim & vist a Spice Farm

  

 Eating in Goa was very good and a serious matter. The famous three at a spice Farm and a sight to remember on the beach.

Here on the beach at Bogmalo are Hazel, Brian, Bill and Nompere Hulot alias 'Dusty'.

The famous three at a spice Farm and a sight to remember on the beach. Naturally the cows enjoy the beach as well

 

 
En Route
Centenary tour to India Day Twenty Three

 

Travel pm to Mumbai & London
Back to blighty..a rich and wonderful report ..or a trip to hell..watch this space 

 

 

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