The ABAV Tradition

England 187 all out
v West Indies 30 for none
close on Day 1
2nd Test
Thursday 31 January 2019
Played at The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua

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There is a great tradition on the first day of a Test in a holiday centre. Which was impeccably observed today. That tradition is ABAV. Any Breakfast (in) Any Vessel. Scrambled eggs & beans, in a cereal bowl. That was a very popular choice this morning. Let me explain. Antigua has lots of fairly large All Inclusive Resorts. Most are, natch, located on the beach. The cricket ground is, however, Island Centre, Nowhere, Middle Of. Cricket tourists have to get to breakfast, get to reception, get on their minibus, get to the ground, for the inevitable confusion over queues, security, etc, in time for the toss. Right. Day one. Minibuses will leave reception at 0800. A full hotel of tourists. Normally self staggering from 0700 to 1100 for the buffet breakfast. Depending of course on previous night's Pina Colada consumption. But, today, every minibus time critical tourist suddenly descends on breakfast in a ten minute, 0700 to 0710, window. Carnage. First go the plates. Then go the coffee mugs. Third, the bacon. The female omelette chef was in tears by 0720. Not on that, by the way.

Reality. Sets. In. Unless I grab something, anything, to eat in, to eat with. FFS to EAT. I'm going hungry here. Cereal bowl. Check. Teaspoon. Check. Scrambled eggs, beans. Check. We're in The Game.

There's a lot of simple cricket still to be played in this game. The pitch looked green through the binoculars. Holder decided to bowl. Root said he would have as well. So, who knows what a good first dig is? What I do know is - be the West Indies - potentially facing 27 overs - get this in your heads - be none down at close. And, they were. Set simple, obvious targets, achieve 'em. Games will win themselves. And, here's a home batting truth for England. Walk down the wicket. In the modern attacking styleeee. Get out. You'll look a mug. Turn it 180. Set the objective of not looking a mug. Long way to go. We're all jostling for position. Which reminds me ….. breakfast queue in the morning.

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