Pre-Tour meeting - feedback.

The players have signed 6 of these bats to be presented, along with a copy of the Tour Brochure, to each of the opposition teams in Barbados.

Almost 100% turnout at Leyland CC for tonight's pre-Tour meeting.

Head Coach, Dave Leighton presented each of the players with a Tour Pack with guidance on "rules and behaviour", how to stay fit and healthy, prepare for games etc. A copy will be posted here when available. Dave also advised the players on the high cost of mobile phone calls and texts! For those who are staying at home but want to keep in touch with the Tour, the Blog will be up and running and you can post comments on here, you can also e-mail barbadosdadu13s@gmail.com and I will pass any messages onto individual players, who can then use the same e-mail to respond if they wish, and there's also a Twitter account @barbadosdadu13s.

Shaun Anders advised that he is to run a video diary of the Tour and it is intended to post some video content on the Blog whilst the squad is in Barbados.

Phil Wright confirmed that the Tour Fund had now reached £12,500 and this should be sufficient to cover the likely costs of feeding the Tour Party, paying for transport to and from games, pitch hire, umpires fess etc.

John Hood, already Official Scorer has also landed the role of Tour Manager.

Paul & Lisa Clough brought along the flight confirmations for all those family, friends and supporters travelling on the flight but not as part of the official group, and....

........Liv and Sarah Davidson distributed the Tour Brochures and they look fantastic!

Arrangements for Departure Day are - meet at Terminal 2, Manchester Airport Monday 11th April, 10 am to allow plenty of time for kit and baggage check-in (23kg per case - 1 case per person PLUS each player can have an additional 23kg in a cricket kit bag). DON'T FORGET YOUR PASSPORTS!Flight time is 1.45pm with arrival in Barbados at 5.25pm LOCAL TIME! Flight is on a Boeing 747/400, journey 4163 miles, flight time 8hrs 40mins.



Dominic Morris takes the controls of the Tour jet at Manchester!

 The only slight downer to the pre-Tour excitement is that it looks unlikely that the planned game at Kensington Oval will be able to go ahead as the ground authorities are having major problems with the pitch in advance of a Pakistan Tour to the West Indies later this year and have cancelled all matches for the time being. However, the Tour Management is hoping there will still be a visit to the Test Ground and are working hard to arrange an alternative fixture.

Other than that, all looks good and the excitement levels are building with 4 days to go!