Off to Sri Lanka for the ODI Series

10/08/06 - Departure day for the ODI series in Sri Lanka.

I wake to find out that all British airports are on the highest state of alert that there is which is causing chaos and disruption, just the news I wanted to wake up to – NOT!

I’m not supposed to leave the house for the airport until later. I try, unsuccessfully, to find out what the situation is like at Birmingham airport. I get a call from Emirates Airline (the ICC’s carrier), although there are extra security measures in place and some delays I am to report to the check in desk on time.

The car arrives at 11am to take me to the airport so it’s goodbye to Miche, my wife and Meg, my dog.During the journey I found out that my son, Stuart, has been announced in the England Champions Trophy squad of 30. A fathers pride knows no bounds! I don’t now care how long the delay at the airport would be, I would be smiling from ear to ear!

I had to check in all my baggage onto the aircraft which meant I had no hand luggage, but that didn’t bother me as I bought a book to read and some batteries for my camera in Duty Free. Our Emirates flight left almost on time at 2.30pm bound for Dubai and having done this trip many times I was looking forward to sampling the delightful cuisine and the fabulous entertainment system on board. The food was excellent and I watched a film called ‘Inside Man’ starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster. If you like thrillers with a twisty turning plot you’ll love this film! A brief 2 hours sleep made the 7 hour flight pass without me knowing and we were soon disembarking from the airport at a steamy Dubai.

There was a 3 hour wait for my connection to Colombo, I spend that time in the Business Class lounge, catch up on some emails and have a bit more food.

I boarded the flight for the 4 hour trip to Colombo, as we were leaving the plane I noticed Ranjan Madugalle, our Chief Referee -who was also on the flight having spent a day in Dubai having officiating in 3 Tests of the England/ Pakistan series. It was nice to catch up with him as we don’t very often see other referees. After a few brief words and the exchange of phone numbers it was time to head off to the hotel, the Taj Samudra on the seafront in Colombo.

11/8/06 – Checked in. The hotel is full as the Indian and Sri Lankan teams are here with 78 Indian journalists! The South Africans are in a hotel down the road. Made contact with Billy Bowden the ICC umpire officiating during the first 4 games of this series and then went to bed to catch up on some sleep.

12/8/06 – Met Billy at breakfast at about 9am, chatted for about an hour whilst enjoying some cereal and toast. Sri Lanka is a great place forgem stones and in particular sapphires. Billy was very keen for me to come and have a look at some as so after a morning on the computer we met at 2pm and went shopping! There are 3 ways of going Gem shopping in Colombo the first is getting into a Tuk Tuk and let the driver take you to one - they are generally on commission so you won’t get the best deals. You can also ask at the hotel, they generally have shops attached which are still relatively expensive. However if you know someone you can trust you’re on to a winner, the great thing about cricket is you get to know the locals who point you in the right direction. This was our story and the shop we went to was full of the most gorgeous stones at very good prices. I was never going to buy at the first visit but I couldn’t drag Billy away, he was almost acting as a shop assistant, thumbing through every stone he could, talking to the owner and generally being Billy.

A ticket for the game the on Monday got us to the most beautiful Buddhist Temple called Gangaram which means River Temple. They have an elephant standing to welcome you a magnificent sight with a pond full of Koi Carp and the most magnificent treasures and statues, they claim to have the ‘smallest Buddha statue in the world’ you could only really see it through a magnifying glass which they had and it certainly was tiny. We met some monks who gave us a guided tour and then gave us a blessing – there’s a war going on here between the Tamils and the government – so I thought we needed all the protection we could muster! It was excellent.Then it was back to the hotel for a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of the series.

Lots of people there, not my scene really as there were a lot of journalists invited. I kept getting asked about bowling actions so I made my excuses and left. But there were more important things to do....

My son, Stuart and his Leicestershire colleagues were on TV playing the Twenty20 Cup semi-final. As we’re 4½ in front of the UK over here the match started at 4pm local time. I missed the first 45 minutes of the game but caught the last of the Leicestershire innings. They set Essex a fairly stiff target of 174 to win. Leicestershire managed to win quite comfortably with Stuart getting the danger man Ronnie Irani out early for nought, it was a job well done. Stuart and the Leicester boys were in the final which wouldn’t be shown until 11.40pm local time, but I wasn’t going to miss it!

The other semi was between Nottinghamshire (my old side) and Surrey. Nottinghamshire won, it was an all East Midlands final.

Leicester again won the toss and batted and set an imposing target of 178 to win thanks largely to Darren Maddy who finished unbeaten on 86. Nottinghamshire got of to a good start thanks to Stephen Fleming and David Hussey but with Stuart getting Hussey out and Fleming falling as well, Leicester were in the driver’s seat. There was still some tension to come but Leicestershire wouldn’t be denied and they were crowned Twenty20 champions, let the party begin!!It was 2.30am in Sri Lanka when the game finished but I was soo excited I couldn’t get to sleep for a while. What a proud Dad I felt, wishing I could have been there to join in the celebrations for my sons first major cricket trophy.

Oh well the lot of a Match Referee I suppose!