Boys watching England v W.Indies cricket on TV at local

What does a group of 13 "lads" in Benidorm conjure up? Trouble..... well I was about to find out as I met up with the group at their hotel. They were officially here on a cricket tour, members of the "Old Wimbledonians Cricket Club" - but how much cricket was likely to be played I wondered!

They landed last Sunday evening and against my advise of a private transfer, opted for the shuttle transfer... more drinking money was possibly in their thoughts. Well they did turn up eventually, but it was an arduous 2.5 hour transfer via most of Benidorm´s hotels - and they nearly missed dinner which finished at 9.30pm. They were booked into the Playa Albir Hotel, aptly named as it is situated in Albir - on the outskirts of Benidorm and some 200 meteres from the Woodbridge Oval cricket ground, the home of SACC "Sporting Alfaz Cricket Club".

Monday was a "day of rest" which was spent by the pool and bar - in equal measures. The group was made up of a mixture of backgrounds, nationalities and ages -  the youngest being 21 and most senior and supposedly most sensible in his 50´s! They had all taken a weeks holiday to participate in the tour and it was the first time any had been to Benidorm.... they were like kids in a sweetshop and couldn´t wait to hit downtown Benidorm later that evening. I suggested that they taken the number 10 bus in and taxi´s back, which they did.

Subdued boys on Tuesday

I did wonder why 13 had come, especially as only 11 play on a team but the answer was apparent the following day. They certainly know how to party, with some not returning to the hotel till 6.30am! They managed to meet up at the cricket ground for a 1pm start, but on counting they were one man down... already. Many bloodshot eyes, dark glasses and copious bottles of water gave me a fair idea that they had sampled the delights of the 1.50 euro pint the previous night!

I asked them if they had seen any of the Benidorm entertainers the previous night and they managed to nod but were still shell shocked .... which meant only one thing in my mind, they had been to see "The Legend". And yes I was right, they had witnessed our very own and unique "illusionist / magician" - Sticky Vicki! I actually find it quite difficult to categorise her when someone asks what she does! So what did 13 "Benidorm virgins" think..... well the consensus was, retire! Most of these boys have certainly "experienced life" but this was just a step too far they said - she needs to think of training up an apprentice, and quickly!

So was man number 13 still recovering I enquired. No I found out, he had been injured during the night - and alcohol was not actually a contributing cause as he had returned before midnight. He tripped up on a wet towel left on the bathroom floor by his room mate and knocked himself out on the bidet, cracking his head open! Ouch.... he made it back to bed sometime later but blood on the pillow alerted his co-habitee that all was not well when he returned some hours later. So what did he do... go to reception, bring back some iodine which he poured on the open wound and went to bed! Typical man.... He spent Tuesday in bed but the following day, Wednesday he was still feeling queasy so went down to the English doctor in Albir who sent him off to hospital for an xray. Tut tut, he forgot to bring his EHIC card with him so had to pay for his consultation and xray. Anyway, he was still feeling poorly on Friday so was sent off to Clinica Benidorm where he was relieved of several hundred euros for a CAT Scan - thankfully nothing has shown up so he will be fit to fly back home later this evening. Let that be a lesson to everyone coming on holiday - you don´t expect to fall ill or have an accident but these things happen, so be prepared. Apply for your FREE EHIC card now and if you do already have one check that it has not expired!

I discovered that his nickname is Medic - how apt! Apparently he always manages to injure himself when on tour one way or another. In fact, all the team members have them, nicknames that is - Beetlejuice, Slidder (I didn´t ask the origins of that one), L Plate, Mr Tickle are just a few. After each game one of the players is awarded the "Spoon of the Match" ... similar to the tradition of Man of the Match but for the opposite reason. They then have to spend the rest of the day wearing a very attractive piece of headgear... as modeled here!

Boys with their minibus ready to hit Torrevieja

Yesterday they had a game against a side in Torrevieja which they drove down for. But booking the vehicle was no walk in the park. In the UK it is fairly simple to book a 15 seater self drive minibus... but not here we discovered. The most you can book is a 9 seater, after that you have to book it with a driver. Different rules in different countries - never having the need to book one I wasn´t aware of that either. So they ended up with a 9 seater from Centauro and a car. They opted for full insurance protection on the van at an additional 30 euros for the day, meaning they had no excess to pay in the event of any damage ... it certainly added up to a costly game! Also not many companies had the larger vehicle in stock, so if you are planning on coming as part of a large group you definitely need to pre-book.

Their last night was spent sampling more of Benidorms finest... the only regret many of them were now having was that they hadn´t booked Monday off work! They certainly had a great time which was interspersed with the odd game of cricket, but now need to head back and dry out their livers! Thats the problem with Benidorm they said, so much cheap beer and booze that you just can´t resist. Probably a good job that it was only a 1 week tour I think! So will they come back... yes definately at some point. But they did have one criticism of the hotel, where they were on half board - breakfast and evening meal. They found that the buffet was the same every night and so went out to eat twice - next time they would just go bed & breakfast. As for the thought of All Inclusive, definitely not. There is so much choice and excellent value in Benidorm it a shame to be restricted to the same place day in day out. Have a safe flight back boys....