The second game of the tour was on for the day. The sky was cloudless but not clear. The Jaipur haze was in.

We were playing a team comprised of employees from the local TV and Radio station . The match was being played at the Sanskar Cricket Academy ground. It turns out the Academy is part of a private school on the newer outskirts of Jaipur. So before we could play cricket we had to be welcomed by the school. We were met by the school prefects and introduced to the school principle. Then we were given a tour of the school's new and impressive science block. A few group photos and then it was off to the ground.

Driving up we could see the opposition there already and in their whites. It appears that when playing cricket you should arrive dressed to play because the change rooms are not what they are back home.

The ground itself was fairly rough. Grassed but uneven and litter was everywhere. The pitch was hard rolled clay with a handful of grass clippings rolled in for appearances.

The opposition batted first. The two openers just teed off from the start and hit everything . The rules included power plays but we did not know how many fielders were allowed out when.

Whatever enthusiasm we had disappeared quickly as we dropped 5 catches and watched the ball fly everywhere. The runs were rattling off at over 10 runs per over. The skip changed the bowling around but to no effect until the Cougar came on to bowl. In one of the greatest resurrections from injury in cricket history, the man who was so badly injured in the first game, that we had to field with only 10 players, was able to remarkably bowl 9 overs in row and more remarkably bowl very well in taking 3 wickets including the high scoring openers, but not before one scored a hundred (retirements not being in the spirit of game!).

Having gone from none for 190 after about 17 overs we fought back well to dismiss the opposition for 312. Steensie and Sherro took their first wickets on the tour and Morrie after keeping well for thirty overs took off the gloves and did a direct hit run out and bowled well at the end .

During the innings a PA system was fired up and between overs and sometimes during an over loud IPL Twenty20 style music blared out over the ground.

Lunch was Chicken McCurry burgers from McDonalds complete with coleslaw sandwiches. Yummy.

Our innings started badly, I was out for a duck in the first over, missing a slow inswinger. However we fought on with just about everone else getting good runs, but we just could not match the Indians early run blitz. Robin (37), Morrie (33), Simon (26), Sherro (30) and Wayne (24) all batted well, and Brendan hit a few big shots including a six out of the ground. We were all out in the last over for 223.

If we thought he ground resembled a cow paddock our suspicions were confirmed when two cows walked the boundary before doing a dash across the outfield.

The opposition joined us for a beer after the match, a concept that appeared to be novel, but they were very nice and friendly (although not to our bowlers).

It was game we could have run if we had held our catches as after the two openers the Indians lacked batting depth. What we also learnt is that we should put fielders on the boundary straight away.

Back in town I went down to the Liberty Sports Shop and purchased a new cricket bat (RNS Larsons) for the princely sum of $87.

For dinner some of the lads returned to the Polo Bar at the Taj Hotel, a couple of others got confused and went to Polo Club instead (no names, the Duke and the Cougar). Tina and I with Wayne, Frank, Larry and Robin went to the famous Niros restaurant (well, famous in Jaipur) and enjoyed the best Indian meal so far on tour. Robin’s exertions with both bat and ball had tired him out so much that he fell asleep at the table. Larry combined some painkillers with red wine and spoke nonsense for the evening. Wayne decided it was a nice evening for a walk so decided walk Robin and Larry home. By the sounds of it our touring party was nearly reduced by two. Nice one Wayne.