Post Card from India: 'The captain dragged us to have a photo with Miss World'

I arrived with the other one-day squad members into Mumbai and had to stay the night in the Orchid Hotel. The realization of arriving in India was a bit diluted. It was midnight and thus the initial impression and cultural differences of being in India only hit me the next morning when we had to catch a connecting flight to Bangalore to join the other team members who were fighting it out in the test match.

Our first hiccup came when we had to connect to Bangalore and our plane was delayed 3 times, totaling 3 hours. We sat around the airport watching the boys slogging it out in the test match. The feeling among the five guys was one of high anticipation, as we couldn't wait to get into the dressing room and mix it with them.

After finally arriving in Bangalore, we went to the hotel to put our bags down and then went straight to the ground. The atmosphere amongst the test guys when we walked into the dressing room was tense, as they were still batting, but also very warm and friendly. You could see there was a great morale about them having just won the first test and in a great position in the second, fighting hard to win it.

Polly was the first guy I saw and he was lying on the physio's table (as usual) but not being treated this time. It was a bit of a unique experience to walk into the dressing room half way across the world and into a tight test match because if you are not part of a tour or test match back home, you don't go near the ground.

Our arrival into Bangalore was great as we could sleep till late afternoon the next day (catching up on a little jetlag) and then going to the ground and having a net after the days play in the test. The following day we had to be up and going by midday as the test had finished at lunchtime and we needed to get another practice in before they watered the practice facilities. This however, did me no good as I am used to getting up a 5.30am each day because of my son Matthew who comes through to our room and insists on playing (anything).

The quality of the hotels has amazed me, as they seem to just rise out of the poor areas yet once you get inside they are finished off really well. The Taj West End hotel in Bangalore was really great as it was situated in a garden environment with different bungalow areas. We had a function on the second night and met the current Miss World who happens to be the current Miss India and true to form the captain insisted on having a photo with her. Needless to say he dragged all of us into it.

Now that the one-dayers are upon us, it is a pity we lost to India yesterday but a great game of one-day cricket it was. This highlights that there is no easy one-day match. The heat was intense and extremely humid and the crowd was electric.

We are now sitting on the plane to Mumbai, to connect to Calcutta to connect to Jamshedpur for the second match. I hope to catch up with you after that....