Postcard: Roger Telemachus - Blue between the ears.

Roger Telemachus

April 24, 2001

Since I was only picked for the one-day matches, which are due to start this weekend here in Kingston, Jamaica, I joined the tour when the guys were already in Barbados.

However, I came out a lot earlier than the other two one day squad members, Jonty and Justin Ontong (who arrived on the first day of the Jamaica test) as the coaches wanted me to help with net bowling to the batsmen.

Coming earlier has also allowed me to work on my bowling fitness here with the team. However, I must add that before I arrived I did play in the remaining SuperSport matches back home, especially the final that WP won.

Its been important to maintain my work rate on this tour to keep pace with the boys who have been playing in the tests and thus each evening after the day's play the rest of us are out there doing shuttles and bowling in the middle.

This is my first trip to the West Indies and I am enjoying it a lot. It's very much what I was expecting as I had heard some of the stories from the "A" team guys who were here last September.

I've been quite lucky to be able to get out a bit during our off days and the beaches have impressed me a lot. The beaches in Barbados are particularly nice, as well as the resort where we stayed in Antigua, the Jolly Beach Hotel.

It was great to be able to stay right on the beach and end each day off around the pool sipping a few drinks and swapping stories with the boys. While we were in Antigua, dinners were very entertaining, as there is a great outside arena that would play host to various local reggae and soca bands that kept us entertained well into the evening.

On this trip I am not rooming with my normal roomie Paul Adams and thus I am getting to know my current roomie Makhaya quite well. We've been getting on like a house on fire and its great to tease each other in the room in the evenings, as well as chat about the day's play and also how we're going to bowl and approach the upcoming one-day games.

Both Makhaya and I have girlfriends back home and unfortunately they could not make the trip with the other wives and girlfriends. Therefore, you can understand that we are longing for them even more and missing them tremendously.

We also each have little boy's so we've also been swapping notes on how the families are doing back home and how we are missing the little ones.

I played my first game on tour on the island of Montserrat and can you believe it; it is a volcanic island with an active and smoking volcano. The last few eruptions were between '95 and '98 and thus all the guys, especially Corrie and Fordie were a bit worried about it spewing forth volcanic lava and ash during our Vice Chancellors match.

Getting there and back was quite interesting as Montserrat is just few miles off Antigua and we had to catch the ferry. On the return trip to Antigua, straight after the match and into the swells and against the wind, some of the boys felt a bit blue between the ears.

Until another time this is Roger Telemachus signing off for CricInfo.

© Cricinfo

	Email

Watch our daily Cricinfo SportsCenter news round-ups Available on Cricinfo.tv     Fantasy cricket: India v Australia and Bangladesh v New Zealand Login to check the standings     Live scores, news & ball-by-ball commentary on your phone Cricinfo Mobile

Players/Umpires

Roger Telemachus

Series/Tournaments

South Africa tour of West Indies

Teams

CI Thornton's XI

CI Thornton's XII

South Africa