In 1066 the Battle of Hastings took place in which King Harold the Second defeated William of Normandy from France; in 2008 the Phoenix ship with Jason the First at its helm comes to its shore for another re-enactment.
Contemporary accounts of our Tour of Hastings from the origins of the conflict, the battle itself and its aftermath have been written down as legend dictates. The introduction of the Red Afro Wig & Duck Hat were an inspiration as cheers and other funny sounding noises went around for no one wanted to wear the wig due to bad fielding and sounds of quack quack could be heard echoing loudly across the ground as everyone tried to get off the mark so to ensure the duck hat went to someone else. Phoenix lost the opening game against Hastings, drew the next against Crowhurst and won the last against Battle. Read more in the match reports.
Although descriptions (and life-span) vary, the Phoenix (Bennu bird) became popular in early Christian art, literature and Christian symbolism, as a symbol of Christ representing His resurrection, immortality, and life-after-death.
One of the Early Church Fathers, Clement, related the following regarding the Phoenix in chapter twenty five of The First Epistle of Clement:
‘Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. From the remains of this bird is then a new phoenix born.’
Also the Phoenix is represented across the world with differing cultures and faiths, it is known as:
Fenghuang, commonly referred to as the Chinese phoenix.
Firebird (Russian folklore), an equivalent of phoenix in Russian mythology.
Bennu, an Egyptian correspondence to the phoenix.
Angha, a Huma, Simurgh, Persian phoenixes.
Adarna, a Philippine version of the phoenix.
Garuda, an Indian version of the phoenix.
This similarity can also be found across the Phoenix leadership as Jason with his fiery temperament makes him the Russian Firebird, Fabian with his parsi blood makes him the Persian Angha and Sanj with his punjabi blood makes him the Indian Garuda.
Anyway we are Phoenix and our strength is in our diversity. Our diverse faiths and cultures allow us to be individual as well as open-minded and accepting. This provides us with the ability to bring festivities and entertainment to all those we play against.
The Hastings Tour was an occasion for feasting and celebration during both the day and night as we excited all and sundry with our cultural performances, exhibitions and games. As entertainment is defined we gave performances that were designed to give pleasure to an audience. The audience participated in the entertainment both passively as in those watching/supporting and actively as in those playing.
The Phoenix settled in Hastings with ease and built their own nest but with a concoction and amalgamation of several herbs and juices. In these times the well known rapper Afroman is remembered as his song ‘BECAUSE I GOT HIGH’ is chanted with religious zeal with a few minor alterations to the lyrics.
So lets sing:
I was gonna make some runs, until I got high
I was gonna get up and hit the boundaries, But then I got high
I am now wearing the duck hat and I know why, (why man) 'cuz I got high
Because I got high
Because I got high
Phoenix's Tour Highlights
Batting - Fabian's exquisite one hundred and eight not out (highest individual score and most runs scored), Tushar’s improved performances and Indi’s highest score for Phoenix.
Bowling – Vishal & Farhan’s opening spell and Rahul’s famous five & most wickets taken (seven).
Catching – Sanj’s spectacular one handed catch in the slips and Amrit’s acrobatics at short leg.
Fielding - The teams efforts versus Crowhurst and Indi’s & Imran’s keeping.
'The Face of Peace' award goes to Nad for his Mahatma Gandhi look.
'The Face of Terrorism' award goes to Sanj when he was asked ‘where’s your rucksack’.
‘Where’s my mummy’ award goes to Fabian as he was dressed up like a small child when walking along the beach.
‘The Lenor Freshness’ award goes to Yazdan.
'Howdy Doody' award goes to Shiv for his cowboy clothing.
'The Amrit & Imran' award goes to Zee and Rowdy who never left each others side.
‘Thanks for Coming!’ award goes to Jason who didn’t face a ball on tour.
'I’m in the 70’s' award goes to Jason for his out-dated dance moves.
'Kite Award' award goes to Zee for we didn’t know who was higher.
'KingPin' award goes to Anup for the highest score in the tenpin bowling contest.
'Chris Rock' award goes Indi as he always had the last & funniest joke/comeback.
'Sri Lankan Appealing' award goes Vishal as he appealed for a caught behind even though the batsman missed the ball by a mile.
'Sleeping Beauty' award goes to Imran as he was a sight for sore eyes that Saturday morning.
'Disco Dancing' award goes to the boys on their night on the town.
'Free Will' award goes to Anup for comments that can not be written here.
'Phoenix Dance Off' award goes to Rowdy for his one move wonder.
'Three Amigos’ award goes to Anup, Rahul and Tushar since they were stuck like glue.
'Warsaw Pact’ award goes to Rahul and Tushar for trying to make the polish girls understand indian culture.
'We are not Spanish’ award goes to Yazdan for speaking spanish to the polish girls.
We are not Spanish’ award goes to Yazdan for speaking spanish to the polish girls.
'Where the F*ck is he' ward goes to Varun for not turning up.
'My Cousin Vinny' award goes to Amrit as his cousin Ha~Sting Toor provided much joke and was the slogan of the tour.
Phoenix on tour were a team full of fun and laughter. To quote Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971 - publisher and co-founder of Random House), "The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed."
So another tour came & passed and yet again Phoenix showed their true colours and infected everyone involved with laughter, spirit and the sense of being a family.