Arriving at the airport was nerve-racking, not only because I had only met one member of the team before, but also the fact that I was carrying 100kg of kit with me. Well there was really no need to worry, the team are an absolute delight and we wangled well over our allocated weight limit on the plane for no extra charge.  Everything was going swimmingly; even the flight left on time, until out of the blue, our youngest member Sarah proceeded to be sick. It was very slickly done though, all in the bag! With little sleep under our belts, we landed at Nairobi just after 6am local time and weirdly I got recognised at baggage collection. This could have been due to publicity of the ICC Women’s World Cup or just from the England Women’s Cricket bags charging round the carousel.

All the bags were loaded on to our 25 seater bus with the careful help of Abraham, our bus driver, meaning there were 10 left for us to actually sit on. The drive to Nakuru was long but broken up by a snack trip, a stop at the top of the Rift Valley and falling in and out of consciousness.  Quick question, what do you get when you cross a squealing pig and terrified schoolgirl? Answer the sound of the bus’ breaks and the main reason that my sleep on the bus wasn’t more substantial.  When we arrived our rooms weren’t quite ready, but a local cricket match at the Rift Valley Sports Centre kept us entertained. I particularly enjoyed the whooping and hollering every boundary, the fact in the 19th over a twenty20 game there was still a ring field and slip and the fact that there were two girls playing for the development eleven.

After lunch, there was no time to waste and it was off to the orphanage where we were to entertain a multitude 1-2 year olds. However, as to be expected apparently this was not the case. We had 70 children between the ages of about 4-12. The hour was split into 5 stations at which Jamie and I claim that ours was the most fun. Lee begged to differ as his bowling masterclass kept being interrupted by raining tennis balls from our group running riot. That was the most fun I’ve had coaching in a long time. The kids were desperate for just a tennis ball, to show what they had learnt and helped put the equipment away without you even asking. Coaching bliss. A quiet night in the hotel was required to recharge the batteries ready for the week of coaching to come.