Easy Like Sunday Morning

Sitting quietly on the verandah at Woodlands Lodge this morning, relaxed by a good night's sleep and the gentle humming and chirruping of Botswana's varied wild life, there was time to reflect on an active first week. In particular I wanted to consider the working and personalities of the team, especially as nine have become seven after we had to say goodbye – I anticipate au revoir rather than farewell – to Tom and Meng.

Not having coached for five years, Tom slid back into it like he hadn't ben away, even developing a new stroke for the MCC handbook – the Botswanan Pull – like a standard pull but with dancing feet, added power, smiles and high fives. Tom's reversed jazz hat cap was an apt choice of headwear – functional and flamboyant at the same time. Meng fully illustrated the inclusive ethos of cricket without boundaries, moving in the space of a single day from someone who had never picked up a cricket bat to an integral part of the coaching team, energising us, the local coaches and all the children with her Infectious enthusiasm. If the world of corporate law ever pales I can write the reference for the job as a Redcoats or a Children's TV presenter – although you may have to slow down for the latter to avoid complaints of Meng-induced ADHD from any viewers' parents. Thanks Meng, and hope the free coaching session and the perfect forward drive you produced were reward enough for the hard work. What of the remaining team? I decided that I would learn a lot through asking each member about their key experience of the week. However, this proved surprisingly difficult as few could differentiate one moment from the whole experience. Nonetheless we tried. Tim's wished to record the six runs he scored in the Friday night floodlit match at the Gaborone Oval and six takes a lot of running given the size of his steps and the weight of the bats we had been lent. Tim has spent the week looking for pies (surprisingly widespread in Botswana)and on Friday he went duly delivered them – to the thanks of the Pioneers batsmen. Also locked in Tim's memory is the his fellowNorwegian exile Simon's choice of local reading matter – Popular Mechanics! This August publication is not to be sniffed at – indeed there is now one project leader who wishes he had read the article 'How to Mechanise your hacksaw' before embarking on a round of cricket bat re-sizing armed only with a smallish handsaw. Still, I can report the cut off pieces of blades and handles worked admirably in getting our Sunday Braai up and smoking. With the wisdom of a third time returnee to Botswana Adam noted his highlight was us all arriving safely and with kit and then being warmly welcomed by the stalwarts of the Botswana Cricket Association. He did get misty eyed when eight year old Simba insisted on carrying the enormous kit bags round Molelopole on Monday and positively ecstatic when observing how the team had slotted in, gelled together and delivered his cricketing master plan. The ECB surely missed a trick here. Simon represents the beating heart of this team; no challenge unaccepted, no theory too outlandish; no experience unappreciated. A recent returnee to the eternal game yet a fierce competitor in any sport Simon was instinctively drawn to the cut and thrust of cricketing combat in the gladiatorial de of the BCA. Here however he was at risk of undermining the charity's name (Cricket Without Boundaries, should you need reminding) by hitting his very first boundary four in competitive action of new experiences. The hight of his celebratory leap reminded everyone of his high jumping days – but with a safer landing on solid Botswanan ground. Dave -our third Oslo Alien and very proud Scotsman – agreed with both his fellow exiles (at least I think that's what he said) then added highlight was the fact that no translator was needed for his introductory bowling session. Of course it wasn't, with the delivery of the HIV awareness message matching the superb accuracy of the bowling. I had our senior member Ken down as the quiet gentlemanly type, but this exercise revealed his true character, as he confided in me how much pleasure he had got in umpiring our Friday night match, and in particular his ruthless interpretation of Law 25 (Wide Ball, actually) which enabled him to make Simon bowl a nine ball over. The team have puzzled long and hard about why he felt such a need to continually ' top up his underarm tan', but the accuracy of his accounting for the first week team food and drink kitty mean that there is no room for dissent about his judgement and probity ( which is a shame as the wides were the difference between the teams and I would like to be able to who get about something). Oddly enough Carl was lost for words when asked to provide his highlight of the week. I can only deduce from this he is very shy or of course very modest as anyone else would surely have highlighted their 40 odd runs scored under lights against Botswana's opening bowler. And what about me? The opening over produced by a guest BCA coach Elvis (uh-hah) will live long in my memory. Two deliveries whistled past the batsman's nose, the next removed the middle stump from African soil. Ball number four hit the new batsman flush on the grill of their helmet and ball number five was dutifully played on and at this point there was one CWB captain worried about being reported for breaching the spirit of a Good Friday friendly game. Equally memorable was the session in which a crowd of attentive teachers were peppered by plastic stumps hit in their direction as Yours Truly stressed the important message of 'protecting yourself and others. Still the teachers were unperturbed and so at the end of our Monday session broke into spontaneous singing and dancing which will live long in my memory. So what have I learnt from this exercise? Nothing, other than that the ridiculous idea of putting together nine people who have barely met, setting them challenges and broiling them in the the African sun actually works provided you have the right group of them with the right positive attitude. We can do more than we think we can. I hope the Botswanan children we see will think the same. Emboldened by the rub of clean underwear and freshly pressed shirts we are ready to attend the sos orphanage in Francistown – an Easter treat to us all. sun actually works provided you have the right group of them with the right positive attitude. We can do more than we think we can. I hope the Botswanan children we see will think the same. Emboldened by the rub of clean underwear and freshly pressed shirts we are ready to attend the sos orphanage in Francistown – an Easter treat to us all.