Zimbabwe Victorious!

We never thought Zim would do it but they did. They managed to bowl the Bangies out on day 5 to win their first test match since re-admission to the international test scene. Bangers came out smashing the ball all over the park and I honestly thought if they carry on like this then they are going wack Zim. The Zimbabwe bowlers stuck to their guns and eventually bowled the Bengal Tigers out. Shew!

Check out THIS great montage which Adam cut for the final day of the test match and summarises the 5 days quite nicely. He cuts motages like these each day for when we go off air while playing out replays for the production. Top man.

It was great that the cricket day finished early. Great for us freelancers because it’s almost like a paid vacation. Our test match sponsor, Castle, supplied the crew with some ice cold refreshments and the crew celebrated in style with some of the guys even resorting to a rigorous game of chess! Arnie seems to be the chess king with chess battles raging at every opportunity. Pommie and the rest of the production crew thought otherwise and socialized instead.

Later that day and unbeknown to some of the crew, Zingi and Rory had their phones stolen at the Maiden. Seems like quite a theft hotspot.

Off days between games bring a fantastic opportunity about to go out and explore. Although I am sure some of the crew hung around in their rooms recovering. Lo and Andrew went fishing with Lo lucking in and hooking a 30cm bass and Andrew lucking out. The skipper of the boat hooked a cracker of a bass and as Lo put it, the guy was frothing!

Phillip and I walked to the stadium and played a couple of games of squash. We taxied back to the hotel as we weren’t amped to walk another 40 minutes to get back there. We hooked a couple of supplies at the local Spar near the ground. It’s full of groceries and the prices seem fairly close to the South African equivalents. Maybe just a touch more expensive.

Just for the record, between Lo, Andrew, Phillip and I, we have broken 3 of the hotels tennis racquets! Ouch. And I won’t mention a word about the really classic game of golf that Phillip and Andrew had on Thursday. Out of bounds, club abuse, about 15 lost balls and that's all I’m going to say! Although Maggie, our local taxi driver, is just full of classic sayings and expressions. A colourful personality!

And it seems like Pommie and Kep just keep on running. I’m not sure who they are running from but they always arrive at brekkie in their running kit. I’m sure it’s just a smoke screen to make us think that they are still sooper fit ex-cricketers.

Our first ODI starts tomorrow, Friday the 12^th. We’ve FACS (facility and communications check) checked and thankfully everything is working. The graphics dudes are hard at work prepping for the ODI games. They need to prep due to differences in the test and ODI data bases or more simply put, the players test numbers are different to their ODI numbers, so all that info needs to be updated as well as various other information. The cameramen are really happy that were into the ODI’s as the white ball is easier to follow.  We’re trying to source a SCUSSI hard drive so that we can fix the spare EVS. Cross fingers! Technical products are about as scarce as hens’ teeth in this country, and so is the internet. 

Z, and crew just chilling after day five's early finish.

Let the celebrations begin!

Lawrence admiring Arnies camera.

Andrew and Arnold 'battling'.

The Bangladesh ENG crews filming and interviewing various players after their humbling defeat.

Lunch time up on the camera platform.