Whether or not it is better to travel than to arrive, England cricketers (and,
by extension, cricket correspondents) really have no choice in the matter.
Not unless you want to give up playing for England, as Marcus Trescothick
did, or want to spend most of your working life miserable, as Stephen
Harmison is when abroad on England duty. Homesickness and cricket don't sit
well together.
No, it is far better to travel well and with the kind of positive attitude
personified by Robert Louis Stevenson, who said that he travelled for
travel's sake and that “the great affair is to move”.
After all, it is not as though cricket is played to international standard in
Basra or Kabul yet. It is played in war-torn Sri Lanka, but we give Jaffna a
swerve and head down to the southern beaches of Galle instead. We're not
talking war correspondent stuff here.
There are hardships, of course. Well, there used to be hardships; in the
subcontinent especially, from where tales of the past were handed down with
something close to reverence to the next, luckier generation. Those on
England's 1987 tour of Pakistan still talk of the accommodation at the
Montgomery Biscuit Factory in Sahiwal with the kind of affection that only
comes two decades later.
Now, with the millions on offer in the Indian Premier League, cricketers can't
get to India fast enough. It is a different experience these days, with
five-star hotels and airports whose efficiency puts Heathrow to shame.
The Indian authorities have decided to send England's cricketers in November
to far-flung outposts such as Guwahati, on the Chinese border, and
Jamshedpur, which can only be reached by train from Calcutta.
It is unlikely that the team will pass the train ride downing a bottle of
Scotch, as Sir Ian Botham did when I travelled with him on that very journey
two years ago. Purely medicinal, of course.
My favourite cricketing destination? For romantic reasons, the Caribbean,
where I met my wife on an England tour 14 years ago. The Caribbean also has
the best rum and the friendliest people (both Guyana), the prettiest girls
(Trinidad) and the most stunning scenery (Jamaica).
Did I mention that I'll be there next February and March? Well, someone has to
keep an eye on Freddie Flintoff when he's near a pedalo.
Who, in their right mind, would turn down the opportunity to visit the
beautiful Rippon Vale vineyard on the shores of Lake Wanaka, to catch an 8lb
wild brown trout just north of Christchurch, to eat freshly caught bluff
oysters from Invercargill, or spend time in a pub in Hawkes Bay that offers
speed dating - all of which I did last winter in New Zealand.
Just in case you're getting jealous, I should tell you that it's not all beer
by the boundary under a sunshade. In the Art Deco town of Napier (who was
Arthur Deco, asked David “Bumble” Lloyd) we stayed in a rather shabby
establishment called the Motor Inn.
Botham arrived from a fishing expedition with bags of laundry and immediately
went to reception and handed them in to be washed. The receptionist looked
him up and down, handed him a token and told him the washing machine was on
the first floor. You should have seen his face.
Mike Atherton is chief cricket correspondent of The Times
