{"id":1579,"date":"2026-04-12T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:55:06","slug":"diary-d-2-day-1-match-vs-nraci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/2026\/04\/12\/diary-d-2-day-1-match-vs-nraci\/","title":{"rendered":"Day-2, Match vs NRACI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, that’s not a typo. We don’t actually leave until Monday, yet the team assembled on Friday evening for our final warm-up match on Saturday against the NRA team that tours to the Channel Islands in May. Hence, Day Minus Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving at the range at the appointed time, we found that although England had been arranged into two teams squadded across four targets, we were only allocated to use three of the six targets for the match (the others in use by the opposition). Some last minute resquadding was required, along with some gentle teasing of the Vice Captain. Conditions that had been carefully planned to give the best preparation for the tour: single-digit temperatures, a stiff breeze, and driving rain squalls. Amongst the various mutterings, one team member was heard noting that, touring to the West Indies, he had not packed a coat. The complaints only escalated when, during the afternoon, a shower of hailstones interrupted preparations for the final distance. The conditions did provide some useful training however: the strong and variable wind presenting the coaching team with a challenge. Brackets of between 1.5 and 9 minutes were seen at 600 yards for some firers, and at one stage there was genuine debate as to whether 4 or 8 was the right call. Nevertheless, the opportunity for a final practice before the tour was welcome, and a couple of final issues were ironed out before departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the conclusion of shooting, the team dispersed to clean rifles, and themselves, before dinner. Or at least, most of the team did. One person found that his car was lacking in electricity, and required a jumpstart to be able to drive off the range. This is the sort of problem that usually raises its head at the end of tours, not the beginning, so we await with trepidation any further issues. We then rendezvoused in the North London bar for sundowners, and the opportunity to mingle and chat with the opposition. The NRA Channel Islands tour is a rite of passage for many an up-and-coming shooter, and something that most of our team have done in our time. It’s very pleasing to see that, under the leadership of Ian Ashworth, that tradition continues and is developing as strongly as this team is. At the end of dinner, the results were announced, with England Red emerging victorious by just 1 point and 2 vees over the NRA A team. Full results will be available elsewhere on the website in due course. Trinkets were presented to the top scorers from the various teams, with a particular mention to the NRA’s Toby Little for his 292.33, the top score on the range. Martin awarded lollipops to those clever, or silly, enough to have earned one. Finally, we presented Ian with a special item of England team stash – a pair of our branded budgie smugglers. We await news of whether he chooses to wear them on tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lollipops awarded: 6
Lollipops to date: 6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No, that’s not a typo. We don’t actually leave until Monday, yet the team assembled on Friday evening for our final warm-up match on Saturday against the NRA team that tours to the Channel Islands in May. Hence, Day Minus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1579"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1585,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1579\/revisions\/1585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishtwenty.org.uk\/westindies2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}