It’s a hot one in Abu Dhabi. Barely 7am and its touching 20 degrees already.

Immigration took forever and we arrived at Chelsea Towers at 10am. Provisions bought, it was time to hit the pool and top up the tans.

A 25 minute minibus journey brought us to an impressive Repton School Campus. Former England footballer Carlton Palmer has an academy here as well as Kevin Keegan dropping in on a regular basis.

The sun was getting stronger while our boys were wilting. The game hadn’t started yet. No sleep was fighting back.

An astroturf outfield and a wicket with more bounce than a Perth wicket in its pomp, did not bode well for the bleary eyed Cobras. A decent start from Matt Neilson and Liam Kellington kept things tight but a series of fielding lapses due to sleep deficiency allowed Repton to wrack up a challenging 140 in their 20 overs.

Cobras were never in the hunt despite a few lower order hits from Omar, Tom Stones and finished well short. Tom Stones was awarded man of the match and given a Repton shirt for him to treasure as we headed home for some much needed food and sleep.

A visit to the healthy sandwich outlets, a trip to the Dubai Fountains and a sampling of low fat ice cream rounded off a hectic first day. But not all even made it that far, as the casualties were still being counted as this went to print