Post Card from India: 'India is great for cricket'
Neil Mckenzie - 13 March 2000

This, like a few of the boys, is my first trip with the SA side, let alone to the India
continent. I'm still feeling my way through the goings on of touring internationally and
everything at this stage is a learning experience for me.

Getting to know some of the guys whom I've only really played against has been good
and rooming with Crooksie has re-united an old Gauteng acquaintance. Also, I've toured
with Bouchie and Jacques to England before on the under-17 and under-19 tours so I'm one
step ahead of some of the guys with regards to their practical jokes and tricks they play.
Some of these include putting the aircon in the room on hot and coming back to an oven,
lacing the rim of the cooldrink glass with Tabasco sauce and stink bombs exploding on your
room.

On the playing side, I haven't caught a game yet and I'm really keen to play one soon as the
experience of batting on new pitches is what I look forward to. The pitches seem quite batting friendly and there isn't much lateral movement for the seamers. The spin is obviously going to be a real challenge and I'm looking forward to facing Kumble and Joshi and their boys.

On the social front, there hasn't been too much to speak of, as there is no usual night
entertainment like we would have back in the land of milk and honeys. Thus, there is more
player interaction to pass the time and this has been good for team spirit and building
friendships.

Amusing ourselves is left up to us, which has come in the form of the local transport and the
three-wheeler tuc-tuc. Racing with and betting on the tuc-tucs has taken over from late night reveling and disco dancing. Traffic laws are broken and road signs non-existent, all for the sake of a couple of rupees.

The accommodation has been very good. I've tried to stick to the European and continental
foods but have dabbled in a few chicken masalas. The Indians here are cricket mad and
everywhere you go they are taking snaps of you and begging for your autograph and passes to the game.

Traveling back from Jamshedpur this morning, Fordie and Corrie bowed out of the flight and
took the train that was a 5-hour trip. With all the veggie vendors and pick-pocketers on the
train I was quite prepared to take my chances on the 15 seater plane-ride back to Calcutta
even with a few of the boys currying it up the night before.

We had a 5 hour lay-over in Calcutta before connecting to New Delhi so a few of us went to
see Eden Gardens, the 110 000 seater stadium where SA played their first one-day game after being re-admitted back from isolation. We also visited the Calcutta Zoo and checked out the pythons, rhinos and the famed Bengal tigers. Everywhere we go we are accompanied by a security guard that acts as a liaison officer/travel agent/tour guide and crowd controller.

Well, it's been an honour to be selected to represent the SA team and have the privilege and
opportunity to tour India as an ambassador for my country. India is great for cricket but Ibiza
would have been better for the social side. I'm looking forward to Dubai where I've been
instructed to spend a few dollars on Jen.

Until next time....