Wine World and Piper Heidsieck along with Breitling were there to lure perhaps some of the Cheshire crew there to support the Taylor dynasty to shed some Sterling.

Major Mike Hartland was touting a book on the military history of Barbados in both hardcover and trade paperback with the assistance of a lady Zouave.


DI’s Jacob Hassid was on hand to ensure the Cheshire team got their Breitling flight bags after the games (Imagine, you have to WIN and PLAY to get this cool gear, sigh – One of these days … ? Que Sera…).

There were many lively folks at Holders, one lady must have felt she had to be a psychedelic Larry King by way of her bracers.

Another lady might have put Meryl Streep’s character to shame…

Nirmal “Hit For Six” Thani was chatting with DI’s Marketing Manager Simone Ward while Polo & More‘s Karen Kranenburg (She told me with great glee she has a long skirt on just so I would not say anything) was comparing chukka-notes with polo-shutterbug Lisa Davis (Her hubby Roddy Davis is a top-notch mallet-swinger but he took it easy from Sunday’s games)…

There was a lot to talk about too, both matches were 6 to 1, and the feature chukka was not nice news for Bajans, but great for Brits and Cheshire fans who would celebrated by depleting the bar’s stock.

I understand a further 70 Cheshire fans are due to arrive in Barbados both for a wedding and the finals on the 8th!

In the first game Whitehall burst Holders’ tail with a drubbing of six to a paltry one – Charles Chambers, Natalie Chesham, Philip Tempro and Oliver Williams held for Holders while Jason O’Selmo, Vicky Gonzalez, A. Lucas and Wayne Archer played for Whitehall (Wouldn’t it be more Bajan to say Whitepark?).

In the featured game, when I did some snooping as to why Barbados got such a washdown… There were some theories that Holder’s grounds was spongy after the heavy rains in January and February, who ever had faster horses would gain and since Howard Taylor keeps a string of steeds in the island, then this makes for an advantage that way.

Another theory posed to me is the fact that Holders is a members only club, while Clifton and Waterhall are invitation only, as a result – the way the grounds kept by Apes Hill and in St George differ from that in St James.

The team for Cheshire remained unchanged from the Royal Pavilion announcement, and the Barbados team featured Jeffrey Evelyn as captain, Bruce Bayley, Luis Venizia plus Danny Atwell.

Cheshire was quick to draw first blood and via the powerful biceps of Oli, wielding his mallet like Thor’s Mjolnir – yet Barbados rallied in the 3rd chukka but almost halfway in Chukka 3, Cheshire ramped up again with Lucy Taylor making many key assists in the match. She blazed under the Bajan sky, so appropriate for a game sponsored by Diamonds International!

It was the 4th and final chukka when disaster for Barbadians happened and Cheshire fans were hooting and hollering all over Holders as a further four goals increased the UK team’s lead to six over the single shot from Bimshire.

Later after trophies were shared – there was some cool retro-80’s tunes spun by ex-Harbour Lights’ deejay David that evening as folks recounted both hot chukkas and eventually I paused for a nosh with the Corbins catering and rather than steak this time around, instead I went for BBQ’d leg & thigh along with 1/2 pie and rice and some plantain and a piece of flying fish. This made me feel like an anaconda after assaulting King Kong so it was home I went, to rest for more of DI’s Cheshire 2009 series tomorrow at Lion Castle.

If you are feeling a bit chukka-withdrawn this year due to Jan & Feb’s gushing skies, Mon/Wed+Fri are all at Waterhall but Tues/Thu & Sun are DI’s!