Tour Begins

The feeling I get each time I'm at the Club on the morning of tour is incredible. It's like being a little kid again on the morning of your birthday or Christmas, having woken too early, just sitting there waiting for everyone else to get up so that you can open your presents. It's one of those moments where you know that you're going to have some great laughs with your best friends.

Herman jumped in with me, the car stocked up with all our clothes, cricket gear and beers. The journey down took just over 2 hours with Bandai trailing us. He was carrying Dazza who had made a welcome return to England just to come on tour with us (admittedly he had only been in Scotland seeing family and friends). Dazza had come over from Tasmania to play with us back in 1998 along with Minty. They were both great cricketers and top blokes too. In fact I had travelled out to Tassie that Winter and stayed with Minty for about a month.

Our usual meet in Bickleigh at the Fisherman's Cot started with an attempt to fix the faulty passenger window. Pritts lent me a screwdriver and I tried to get it sorted, eventually leaving it wound up never to be opened again. Oh the woes of owning a classic car. As ever the food at the pub was tremendous and the views fantastic, marred only very slightly by a few spits of rain.

Onward to Thorverton for the first game of the tour. I had been pencilled in to play this match but as Bro was coming down just for the one day I sat it out so that he could get at least one game in. Thorverton are a fun side and we have played this game first on tour for as long as I can remember. As ever the game was played in great spirits and when they heard that tomorrow's game against Filleigh had been called off they offered us another match to fill the gap in. We obviously accepted their generous offer and after a few beers with them all we made for the hotel.


A shower and a quick settle in to the rooms and we were ready to hit the town hard. The plan was to converge on the local Aussie theme bar and then stagger onto Rococos, possibly the cheesiest nightclub in Exeter but the scene of some cracking times on previous tours. A few shots later and we dragged ourselves out of the Walkabout bar and made for the nightclub. It wasn't as busy as it usually gets when we first arrived so we sat at the bar and started on some more drinks. Taffy and Herman were practicing their model poses made famous in the comedy Zoolander, the latter using this as his "pull story." The night improved as more and more of the locals arrived and the place was soon pumping to the sounds of dance music and we were all gracing the floor and the blocks with our presence.

As is always the case with Roccocos the best place to pick up is in the Golden Horn kebab house on the corner having just left; Bandai and Robins obliged picking up two of the most horrendous specimens of the female form. I'm not prepared to go into details, not because I'm a prude but simply because I may vomit over the keyboard as I type. I'm feeling a little queasy at the thought so I'll sign off. See you tomorrow.

3rd XI Day

I finally had a day where the things I needed to get done were possible. For sometime now the car had been without a CD Player, only because I didn't have the time or skills to fit the one I had taken out of the previous car :S Pritts kindly offered to help me with it when time permitted so I had arranged to meet with him in the afternoon to try and get it done.

Today was also our club's 3rd XI day. The 1st and 2nd XI's did not have a fixture and so arrangements were made for the 3rd XI to play at the home ground with the support of both the senior sides. It also happened to be the day before our annual cricket tour which made sure that everyone was in party mood!

Finally, one of previous overseas players was making a return to the club so that he could come on tour with us. DL hadn't changed a bit and was soon the life and soul of the day necking lagers with the rest of us and watching the cricket which was a surprisingly interesting match.

Pritts and I had actually missed almost an entire innings whilst we had gone off to work on the car. 9 wickets had fallen in the hour and half that we had spent fitting the CD player and fixing the dodgy passenger window, respectively.

Our lads had bowled the opposition out for 125 and when we got back Teed had made 27 of the 30 runs on the board with the other 3 having been byes! He went on to made a solid half century and saw the team home to victory. Another valuable 20 points for the 3rds and more reason to drink!

The excitement about the pending tour was clear to see on the faces spread around the clubrooms, new players yet to experience it, older lags that had been on numerous trips and those of us that had missed out on what tour was all about for one reason or another. I was brimming, this was the first tour for quite some time where I would be able to enjoy myself properly. I would also get to sample what sharing a place with Herman was going to be like prior to spending 6 months living side-by-side.

For what is likely to be the best week of the summer, read on over the coming posts...

President's Day

Our club has always held a cricket match where the peers of a former great player combine to play against the current 1st XI for a trophy in memory of his wife. Unfortunately last season saw a decline in the numbers of players still living let alone able to play. So this year it was a nice touch by the President to combine his day with that of the memorial match so that the winner of the President's Day would win the aforementioned trophy.

The day began early as a number of the club members got together for a big fry-up. Bacon, Eggs, Beans, Hash Browns, Mushrooms, Sausages and Black Pudding left us all satisfied.

It has traditionally been a day where we meet some of our antipodean friends that aren't playing at Frimley. Jarv has been down before and returned this year a little more sober than last, smashing 85 along with Scotty who was playing up North with him. Suffice to say that Frimley got a good hiding at the hands of our illustrious President and made for the bar with our tails between our legs (we had been giving El Presidente some stick since winning last seasons contest).

The night went off as usual and beers flowed aplenty. Squidly joined us at the club and we all made for town hearing of a Joe Bananas reunion night. At first we couldn't get in as the bouncers were being less than helpful but Jarv worked some magic on the door and we were finally making our way upstairs...
...only to find that our group had doubled the amount of people in the club! They were prepared to turn us away when there were only 7 people in the place! We decided to stay and make the best of the night which in all honesty turned out to be a bit of a laugh. There was a tragic hen's party consisting of just two girls and a sparsely populated dancefloor but as the night progressed more people showed up and a good night was had by all. Believe me when you go out with Jarv you'll always enjoy yourself!

Woe is the day when there is no competition...

A 30 run victory against a local side was much more comfortable than the stats suggest. They had dropped out of the league at the last minute but maintained the same fixtures as friendly matches. They complained that the league was now too competitive for bringing youth players through to the senior setup and decided that friendlies were the way forward. In my eyes, if they are good enough to play then they are old enough to play and that limiting them to friendly village cricket is simply going to bore them away from the game or end up producing soft cricketers.
It seems this country's need to wrap kids in cotton wool will be the downfall of national sporting success. Our rugby team is in tatters ahead of the defense of their world cup crown and I wonder if that is because the next generation of player has come from a smaller crop of kids because of the turgid matches fought... ...sorry pranced out by instilling 'touch' rugby in schools?
It wasn't long ago that I heard of a school banning sports day because it meant that some poor soul would have to come last and it might their pride. It's ridiculous notions like that which will produce pansies out of these potential winners. What is going to happen to these kids when they finally hit the real world and suddenly there is no prize for coming last?

That said it seems that benefits and housing are often given to the underachievers of this country so perhaps that school is just preparing their kids for life in the real world.

It's disappointing to lose but it's those times that stick in your memory and act as the catalyst for victory the following week and the week after that. It's easy to be a part of a winning team but standing up and being counted when everything is going against you is what marks competitors out against the rest and earns you respect from your team-mates and opposition. Why, oh why, deny that opportunity to the kids of today?

Ladies Day!

Last year this event was probably the best to be held at the Club. This year it didn't quite live up to it's illustrious beginnings. With only four of the lads prepared to don women's clothing it was always going to be a bit of a let down but those that did got cheap beer and proceeded to make the most of it!
The match had been lost so the mood wasn't great and the numbers dwindled pretty quickly. Thankfully Webby, Robins and Skip all made the effort with me so I didn't look a total plumb.
But on a brighter note it was Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary today. They had a lovely day. I had always greatly respected the way in which they had made their marriage work. It's a shame that in this day and age a couple who are prepared to commit to each other for life and stick to that commitment appear to be in the minority.

Slasher

They are top of the league and the table never lies.

They approached the game with an attacking mentality and each of their batsmen came to crease and smashed the ball to all parts from the word go. This cavalier attitude can often be the downfall of a good side but their position in the league proves that it has paid off more often then not for them.

Watching some of them bat was like watching one of those American teen horror movies with some type of slasher bad guy hacking the group of friends up one by one. Each of our bowlers that tried to stand up to this intimidating bowling got short shrift as the was sent careering to the boundary.

As is always the case when we play against this lot there was a lot of bad feeling and words were shouted from the boundary. On a better day during a more successful season we might have been able to let it flow like water off a duck's back but this day and this season I feel that we let our frustrations get to us and crumbled in the face of a side that we could have upset had we approached things in a more professional way.

Our response to their target of 255 was laughable, we managed just 125 before being bowled out. Back to the drawing board methinks.

Let Down By An Old Foe

This evening was supposed to be a match for our under 13 side against a team that we have always had problems with at senior level.

I received a call from their manager very early to state that the pitch was waterlogged and that we would not be able to play. Given that the weather was uncharacteristically dry this week (we managed to play on Wednesday evening) I asked him why he couldn't leave it until later in the day to check the pitch again. He never gave a decent response, rather he just flatly refused to play the game.


This has happened a couple of times during the season and it makes me wonder whether they are unable to field a strong or even complete side and so make up some story to legitimately call the game off rather than forfeit the result.


I'm all for the kids playing as much cricket as they can but in our first season with kids that have never picked up a bat and ball before it woulod have been nice for them to have played in some scheduled matches where they might achieve something.

"I'll eat my hat..."

I had to e-mail the council today to book up 3 home cricket pitches for matches during next week for the colts at very short notice. Given their normal turnaround for any type of business I was expecting the council to drag their feet, um and ah and generally act like the solicitors managing our house sale.

She responded in just over an hour confirming that all 3 pitches had been booked as requested.

So now it is time to eat my hat...

Not A Problem!

For once the rain did us a favour this weekend. Our opposition were flying away at the top end of the league and had convincingly beaten us last season when we had a stronger side. Rain prevented a start and we shared the points. Not a problem for us, maybe for them...

Race(y) Night

Cricket was doomed before we even set off for the opposition ground. The rain was falling pretty hard where we were the away ground was at best only 30 minutes away but we had to travel and give it the best shot of playing. This after all was a match we fancied ourselves to win.

As we arrived Pritts let us know that there had just been a huge downpour there and the track was looking decidedly dodgy. We all wandered out to the square and knew straight away that the game would be called off without a ball being bowled...

...we hadn't accounted for their eccentric umpire though. "It'll drain in 30 minutes, give it until the hour and we'll make a start."

"Umps, there is water soaking into my boots when I tread on the track!" Skip retorted but to no avail. He was dead set on a start so at 2pm we took to the field and bowled. 2 overs and 2 balls went by before SemiPro slipped through his delivery stride and landed flat on his ar5e. At this point the game was stopped until conditions improved.

As the minutes ticked by and a couple more rain clouds dropped their payload onto the sodden wicket, we waited and still the umpire believed we would resume. To break the monotiny we took to their outfield in what was a rare dry spell and started some catching practice. We played a game called "Kings and Sluts" where the catcher on the hook is the king and the catchter on the cover drive is the slut, these grades are relevant to the difficulty in catching from these positions. A dropped catch sends you to the end of the semi-cirle and you become the slut in turn promoting each of the other players by one. A missfeild on a grounded ball costs you one place to the catcher's left. We each took out turns as king and slut, our catching is atrocious, before we moved onto some big outfield catches.

Finally the game was abandoned at almost 5pm. We had a few beers at their clubhouse (on the toilet floor of which we had found a sample of human faeces) and then made a move home to get ready for our annual Race Night.

If you have never been to one of these nights I can thoroughly recommend them. It a bit of harmless gambling and a great social event rounded off with plenty of alchohol amongst great friends. SemiPro's housmate had brought with her a good looking friend who quickly found her feet amongst the welcoming pack that we must have appeared. The beers flowed freely and when they were running low we moved onto Malibu, or should I say all but Nayling and me. No, we had some very cheap vodka which I'm sure is normally used to strip back paint. A punt on 'Beef-Eater' at the end of the night saw C-Bear, Nayling and me rake in some big winnings so jugs of beer and more shots were called for.

As people started to leave the hardcore turned their thoughts to a round of poker, with money not an option the currency was clothing. Now, I am not the best poker player in the world so starting the round with only 4 pieces of clothing on, and that included my necklace, was not the best idea. 4 hands later and I was stark bo**ock naked!

Fortunately the others started to lose some hands too and I was soon joined in the "free" world by Bandai, SemiPro, Robins, C-Bear and Nayling with Herman and Pritts fighting it out at the end. For those of us that made the naked state early forfeits were ordered for a failed hand.

Before the end of the night SemiPro and I took on the role of naked barmen!

"Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps? Certainly sir! Can I get you anything else?"

Victory!

Our Under 15 side were victorious tonight, having bowled the opposition out for just 74 they plndered the runs in just 12 overs. Our star in that age range made 54 before being forced to retire, which was a monumental effort considering that there were only 75 runs available at the beginning of the innings.

I never hoped that any of our sides would win a match this year given that they all had never played a game of cricket in their lives before. So to achieve a win and in the Under 15 age group was such a fantastic result. It's moments like this that make the slog of organising and coaching the sides worth it. The elation on their faces said it all and every credit to them. They went out and approached this match in the right manner and deserved the victory.

That evening I had dinner at Mum and Dad's. My brothers and sister-in-law were there too so it was a bit of a family affair. They had all been down at the ground watching as the boys had won so our family meal included a bit of a celebration for the team too. A number of vinos later and I was sparko on their couch.

Run Fest

Today was like lambs to the slaughter. One by one we went to the crease and smashed the opposition bowling into oblivion. Bandai opened in explosive form with a quickfire 60 ably supported by Pritts making 40 odd. I batted conservatively compared to the others and finished on 65 not out but plaudits go to Herman who dismissed the oppo's bowling attack as he stormed to 85.

With a big run chase staring them in the face the opposition took to the crease and to be fair made a pretty good fist of it all things considered. Laugh of the day though was following his dismissal a young batsman who had looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights turned to our keeper and said "Cheers" in what was the most sincere voice possible.

Weather lends a hand...

We drew today against a fairly strong side. We were helped in the main by the weather which gave forced us to leave the field of play when the opposition had us where they wanted us. Thankfully the downpour was vehement enought that it was in fact the oppo that took the decision out of our hands. We had played enough overs to make it a game rather than an abandonment so we shared the points.
This is in stark contrast to a previous post where our opposition deliberately called the game off denying us a certain victory when conditions were not unplayable.

Pair

My second duck of the weekend completed the dreaded "pair" that every batsman fears. All the lads were as supportive as would expect from teamates and friends that always look out for their own...

"So Casp, whats your favourite fruit?"

...was the line that seemed to raise the most laughs.

The game was won quite comfortably in the end. We were playing a local side and we knew 2 or 3 of their team, they being past players at our club. It was at least something that it wasn't one of those guys that had got me out :)

My average has now plummeted from a healthy 43 to just 21. Oopsie!

Stand and Deliver

That is exactly what their number 4 bat did today.

Having got in amongst some wickets early on we all felt bouyed. We had defeated this side in the league cup at the beginning of the season and now were confident of making it 2 nil. When someone like that comes to the crease in that kind of form though you just have to accept it. He's a better player than us and I can honestly say that it was a pleasure to watch him bat. He couldn't be a nicer guy either which is why you find it hard to dislike him even though he is setting about our bowling attack with aplomb. A quickfire century was well deserved and he had pretty much dragged his side into a position that they should win from. As the same guy took the ball at the beginning of their innings you started to realise that without him the opposition would have been destroyed. His left arm spin was bowled with guile and after a 23 over spell his figures were pretty impressive.

We had been comprehensively beaten by one man. Cricket is funny like that, its one of the only sports I can think of that it is made up almost exclusively of one on one battles between individuals and yet can be affected in such a huge way by a strong team spirit and work ethic.

Victory denied

On one of the worst days of the year so far we comprehensively outplayed the opposition only to have our victory swiped away from us by a sour groundsman/player/arsehole!
We had worked hard in the field to bowl them out for 141, a total which they would probably not have reached had it not been for some dubious umpiring decisions and some of our players getting carried away with an on field argument. Once this had been calmed over a drinks break we got back to the business of seeing them off in a constant drizzle.
Tea came and went with the weather still gloomy and wet but they took to the field awaiting me and Skip to come to the crease. We had in the region of 45 overs to get the 142 target and set about their bowling with promise. Although we survived a couple of chances each our partnership grew and soon Skip was celebrating his half century. Before long we had passed the 100 mark and the target was easily attainable given the time and the number of wickets in hand. That's when it started...
...the opposition had approached this game in the way it should have been. They wanted to play on regardless of the weather and see it through to a result, all bar two of them that is. Their two most senior players, people that you would normally expect to have had the polar opinion, began moaning about the conditions and arguing that the weather was causing them problems in the field. To be fair to the rest of their team they just wanted to get the game finished and get back into the bar, whilst these two were clearly trying to use the weather to call the game off in order to deny us what was a certain victory.
In the end we needed 26 runs to win having faced only 21 overs and still had 10 wickets to get them with. Skip and I had put on a 116 run partnership and I was close to joining him on 50, finishing with 43 not out. One of the opposition fielders had slipped slightly on the wicket whilst trying to retrieve a ball and their groundsman (who was also playing) insisted that the game be called off due to safety and damage to the ground that he had to tend to. Skip's opposite number had been harangued by these two protesters for some 5 or 6 overs and eventually gave in pulling us all off when it had got so close. He cannot be blamed, he had tried everything in his power to get the game completed and he deserves to be applauded for that. If only ever team we played against was made of people that approached the game in the way he did.

Best yet

This evening's youth match for the under 9 age group proved to be their strongest display yet. Playing against a strong side who made no bones about approaching the game to win rather than give everyone a go we managed to restrict them to an attainable target and were unlucky to fall short. Some strong bowling spells from each pair in the first innings made me proud as their coach whilst the best batting score that they have so far achieved was the icing on the cake. A good deal of their parents were able to come along and support them in their venture which I'm sure helped them. It's matches like this; the excitement on the kids faces and the pride displayed by their parents that makes all this worthwhile.

Heat ! ! !

It's the only way to describe today.

Sunburnt whilst umpiring a colts match, dehydrated whilst legging it round the field and pinned by a bowler of serious pace!

MG Owner

I bought a Damask red MGB GT today! I love it!

The deal was struck fairly smoothly mainly thanks to the gentleman (and here I mean the term gentleman sincerely) on the other end of the deal.

It purred all the way home and then onto the away match where Pritts got to see it first, running round to the car park to have an ogle and congratulate me. Although not in the same class as his MkII Jensen Interceptor, it's my pride and joy!

A hard fought knock of 33 saw us post 150 odd before dismissing the opposition for just 140. Handing us our first league win of the season. That will teach them to sledge SemiPro with the fated line, "You're the worst cricket team that I have seen in 10 years!".

They must be feeling pretty sick :-)

Home Improvements

Tonight saw a massive improvement in the fortunes of our colts sides. Not only did we bowl and field well and leaving a target far more reasonable than before, but our batsmen stepped up to the mark producing the best performance I have yet seen.
The young captain led the way with a fine knock of 23, which had not long ago been a team score, ably assisted by the others reaching 66 in reply. Although defeated our boys can stand proud of their efforts today. Having only had 6 batsmen dismissed was also a personal best for the lads who once again managed to use up the overs.