Isles of Scilly Tour

September 2022

Twenty years after our first ‘modern tour’ the Refreshers went back once again to Cornwall – this time across the water to the Scilly Isles. Arriving by plane, helicopter and ferry a motley collection of Refreshers assembled on Thursday afternoon at Tregarthen’s Hotel on St Marys to find our super-efficient tour manager (in the form of Rachel Godschalk) ready and waiting….

Dramas begun early. Two players who shall remain nameless simply did not turn up while poor Jason Gallian (formerly of Notts and England) got himself to Gatwick only to be kept waiting all day and eventually informed that his flight to Newquay had been cancelled. Three down – fortunately the tour’s assistant manager (in the form of Joe Cannon) had anticipated the essential unreliability of some of the Refreshers and had contracted 14 playing tourists (including the President, who kept informing anyone who would listen that he had retired from competitive cricket and did not want to play). Too bad.

Of course, nothing compared with (or had prepared us for) the sudden and unexpected death of HM Queen Elizabeth II on the Thursday afternoon, inducing in most a numb sadness which was hard to ignore throughout the tour.

An adventurous few nevertheless plunged straight into the north Atlantic, which proved surprisingly warm, followed by dinner in St Mary’s Hall and an early excursion to the island’s most notorious pub, The Mermaid.

Friday dawned bright and warm. Rowan Clapp, as usual, ran around the island to prepare for his heroics later in the day. Others repeated the ocean excursion and we convened for pre-match lobsters and rose at On the Quay, one of the Scilly Isles’ best eateries. On to the ground, where we lost the toss and were asked to bat. Rowan and Tom Dumont KC (as he, Anu and the President had become the previous evening) opened and put on twenty something before Tom missed a straight one, bringing Jack Dillon to the crease. Some savage hitting followed; Jack scored 40 while Rowan notched up an impressive 104 in 15 overs before retiring, which allowed Jon Willatt to punch 23 elegant runs through a tiring St Marys’ attack, reaching a total of 183-1 for our hosts to chase. Their friendly umpire assured us that a total of that size was unassailable, and we rashly believed him, bowling for the most part a fair selection of dross. Unfortunately, we had not learned the lessons from Alderney that you do not bowl short on artificial wickets to local batsman who are invariably waiting to pounce on anything not pitched up.

To be fair, the match went the distance, and every result was possible as the last ball was bowled. Step up the owner of the Mermaid, wearing an MCC cap, who latched on to another short one and smashed it tantalisingly close to Joe Cannon’s outstretched hand and hence on to the boundary. We shared a beer with our convivial opponents and dined at the Pilot’s Gig, a decent pizza restaurant.  Back to the Mermaid, we walked straight into a violent bar brawl, which locals told us was quite normal for the two protagonists who disliked each other so much that every Friday they beat each other up.

On Saturday we caught the ferry to St Martins and some of the faithful followed Joe Cannon around the entire island for yet another dip. The beaches are fabulous and perfectly suited to any remake of Swallows and Amazons. Via The Seven Stones, a terrific pub (wooden walls and floors, and lobster sandwiches) on to the island’s cricket ground – what it lacked in billiard table smoothness it more than made up in character. We won the toss and chose to bat. Paul Stewart was bowled first ball of the game but Rachel (23) and Abhi (54 n.o. retired) put on useful runs for the third wicket and were followed inter alia by Cannon (13, including a huge 6) and Rowan Clapp (23 n.o. including two huge sixes) to produce a total of 162 from our 20 overs. This time it was enough; we bowled slightly better, Anu (2 for 17 off 3 and Akhtar (1 for 15 off 4) in particular, and ran in winners by about 15 runs. As yesterday, our oppo were a great bunch and we all agreed to return as soon as possible.

Sunday was a ‘rest day’ and most of us took the ferry to Tresco, arguably the prettiest of the islands, to enjoy the wonderful Abbey Gardens, the low-tide walk to Bryher and lobster sandwiches at either the Island Fish café or the Ruin. After dinner back at Tregarthen’s Hotel on St Mary’s the President told a good joke about Douglas Bader, thanked the tour managers and suggested (a) that Rowan was our player of the tour, (b) that this tour, like all of the Refreshers’ tours this millennium, had been highly enjoyable and (c) that our touring adventures will continue for, hopefully, many years to come. Unexpectedly, he did not mention his impending retirement from playing.

Touring party: Rachel Godschalk (manager), Joe Cannon (assistant manager), Anu Mohindru KC (capt), Abhi Mohindru, Rowan Clapp, Akhtar Ahmad, Jack Dillon, Jon Willatt, Tom Dumont KC, Paul Stewart, Philip Cayford KC (President), Tom Cayford, Judith Dumont, Caroline Hartley, Silvia Ziranek.