Our final day and Knight

Rob on one last suprise on our final day in Rwanda

I confess that by the afternoon of the second Friday of my first CWB trip my thoughts were beginning to turn to home (although after landing in a typically dank Manchester two days later I swiftly began to pine for the rolling hills and warmer temperatures of Rwanda). It had been a manic yet thoroughly enjoyable two weeks on the coaching front that culminated earlier that morning in a fiercely contested festival played out beneath the scorching Huye sun. With nothing in particular planned for the Saturday, I was expecting this amazing fortnight to wind its way gently to a pleasant conclusion. In hindsight, given that we had been greeted with a surprise at every twist and thrown a curveball (or rather bowled a googly) at every turn, I was perhaps being more than a little naïve, as our astonishing adventure was about to offer us one last extraordinary and improbable experience.

The Rwanda Cricket Association (RCA) had very kindly invited us for a curry on Friday evening. Surprise was feigned at Bill’s proclamation he was rather fond of curry (you should have mentioned it previously Bill). Also present would be Ed Pearson, the Project Director of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation (RCSF), a charity we have close ties with. The RCSF are definitely on the same wavelength as CWB when it comes to cricket development and are fundraising for the construction of Rwanda’s first proper cricket stadium, hopefully to be completed by 2015. The charity’s fundraising manager, Jo Hancock, had joined us for a day’s coaching the previous week,  much to our delight, not least because we coached over 200 kids that day! Jo had a natural affinity with the children as well as a great sense of fun. Add to that her willingness to get involved and her adaptability, evident by how quickly she picked up the coaching techniques, and it is clear that the RCSF have made a shrewd appointment. Ed, a fine cricketer who was swiftly selected for the national side, had volunteered with CWB previously and has taken the development of Rwandan cricket to heart. The heights of his ambitions for the game in the country are mirrored in those of the project he is fronting. When you stand on the mismatched astroturf strip in the middle of the Kigali Oval, looking out over the uneven outfield towards the two or three benches that provide the only seating at Rwanda’s national ground, the facilities at the lowliest of English club grounds seem a million miles away, yet the guys at RCSF are striving to  provide a ground that exceeds that sort of standard. In order to realise ambitious projects such as this, you need the right sort of people at the helm. RCSF undoubtedly does.

I had heard murmurings earlier in the week that England Women’s cricketer Heather Knight was scheduled to visit RCSF. The team and I felt very privileged when she arrived with Ed at Zaffron, the curry house we were eating at.

I was once before  in close proximity to curry and an Ashes centurion simultaneously. Prior to the 2005 Ashes, England played a Test against Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street. Through my school I was fortunate enough to visit the ground as part of a youth project linked to the match. . Local chefs had provided a spread of Bangladeshi cuisine for the assorted members of the press swarming about the place but sadly, I myself wasn’t entitled to it. As I gazed at the food I felt a large hand descend on either shoulder and was moved aside – not unkindly, but with a definite sense of purpose. The shape that strode past me, making a beeline for the nearest samosa, was none other than Mike Gatting. The former England captain never gave me as much as a glance but I can’t really blame him given how appetizing the dishes appeared. Although the food at Zaffron looked even more inviting, it goes without saying that Heather was more restrained in her approach to dinner than the current President of the MCC.

Professional athletes have an often underserved reputation for being aloof, standoffish or disengaged. I can safely say that none of these adjectives could be used to describe Heather. Given we had an Ashes winner in our midst, we could be forgiven for assuming the conversation would centre around that topic. In truth, however, Heather was far more interested in asking us about our work. Although she had been in the country for only a short space of time, she had already taken cricket development in Rwanda to heart and was genuinely interested in the various trials and tribulations we had experienced over the fortnight. Whenever we asked her about her own career she answered sincerely and her responses were fascinating . All in all it was a fantastic night and a great way to round off our second week.

After an easy morning (for me at any rate) to let the after-effects of the Mutzig wear off, we made one final visit to the Kigali Oval, where Heather was due to run a coaching session with the Rwandan Girls, with a men’s T20 match taking place afterwards. There were football and volleyball matches taking place a stone’s throw away, both with vociferous sets of fans and an abundance of vuvuzelas. It was a scorching hot Saturday and the whole place had a festival atmosphere as Heather set out her coaching drills. The session was supposed to be for the Rwanda girls but in true African style that protocol went out the window as the men and juniors joined in too. She enlisted the help of Ed, Joshua and Lee to run fielding stations and the ground was soon buzzing with activity. Lee being Lee, he swiftly ran off to join in with the players, leaving me to take over his station  – remarkably I was suddenly coaching international cricketers. I want to take this opportunity to apologise in advance for the drop in performance this will inevitably cause.

The session was of the highest intensity and it was clear that both Heather enjoyed giving it and the players enjoyed doing it. She once again showed the extent of her commitment by appearing as a ringer in the T20 match that followed the coaching. After the latest of late cuts and a couple of superlative drives she slapped what looked suspiciously like a wide long hop from Eric straight to cover point.

Unfortunately for us, this was our last day in Rwanda, but it was definitely one to remember. Heather, however, was travelling north to Kinihira. What with the extraordinary day we spent there the previous week and now a visit from an England cricketer, that region of Rwanda has had a huge injection of cricket. Let’s hope that the enthusiasm we instilled there will endure and that the north will become a cricketing hotspot in Rwanda – just as it is in England.