AUTUMN TOURING SIDES 2005

 

Barkby United v Cyprus XI October 16th

This was the second occasion for the fledgeling Cyprus XI to try it wings. Barkby reserved their best players for this game, amoung them former test player Roland Butcher. Roland now coaches cricket at the University of Barbados and probably put on his whites again, or his black and reds as was Barkbys very colourful one day strip, with some trepidation.

Cyprus XI captain Dileepa choose to field. Barkby batting was soon in trouble with no 2, J.Pook, bowled by Chamara after only 4 balls.The opening bowling pair Chamara with bowling partner Chris Markides,served the Barkby batting a meal of bouncers and out swing which had even the best flailing as the ball passed their off stump. Roland Butcher showed his class, top scoring with 23, but mishit a Markides bouncing ball to be caught at square leg. With their star out the rather dispirited Barkby batsmen looked to defend, hoping for some wayward bowling later on. Opener Tebitt was caught at point by Chris Vassiledes taken high over his right shoulder off a searing cut. Tebitt was so convinced the ball had had gone to the boundary, that he could only stare in disbelief. Stolid defense by A.Raven (1) P.Grant (11), K. Flowers (0), R.Dutton (9) against some accurate medium pace bowling from Sunil, Sampath and Suri, mixed with tempting but dangerous off spin from Vishnu, did help much towards taking Barkley to a competitive total. No 8 R.Botting worked out the only way to play at Happy Valley, , and for a while looked dangerous, hitting two big sixes,but was soon caught off Cris Markides for 15. T.Harvey (16 no) took on the score as best he could, supported by M.Hall (1 no), but after their 35 overs Barkby had managed only 106 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Cyprus bowling Chamara 7 overs, 1 wicket for 25 runs. Chris Markides 7 overs 2 for 27. Sunil 5 overs 2 for 9.Sampath 5 overs 2 for 7. Vishnu 6 overs 1 for 10. Suri 5 overs 1 for 22.

Throughtout the Barkby innings the wind had picked up and the dark clouds rolled in from the mountains. Light stready rain made the playing difficult and when, on the third ball of the Cyprus innings, fast left hand bowler Harvey skidded and fell badly, fortunately not injuring himself, Umpire Norman Bailey abandoned the match before someone did.

This had been a chance for the Cyprus XI to play against a UK side who play a different kind of cricket to the furious game they are used to in the Island league. Although the game was defeated by the weather the experience and lessons learned will have done the Cyprus XI a lot of good.

Cheam Wanderers v WSBA Oct 5th

On Wednesday afternoon Cheam Wanderers opened their cricket tour with a 25 over match against league champions WSBA. The mid week schedule prevented many of the WSBA team from playing, but nevertheless there was a strong enough side to play against the type of team that we have become accustomed to on these autumn and spring tours. But Cheam Wanderers do not fit easily into that category.

Batting first it soon became obvious that WSBA were up against a very good side indeed.

The opening pair, Butcher brothers James and Graham, adapted gradually to the Cyprus conditions, a bouncy artificial pitch, longer than regulation grass in the large outfield, and the heat. Graham Buther soon realised that the only sure way of scoring was to go over the top and he had the ability to do so. When he was caught off Roshan for 27 he had hit 3 big sixes and had shown the rest of his team the way to go. Not all the batsmen were able to adapt so effectively and wickets fell as one mishit boundary after another fell into the hands of mid on. At fifteen overs Cheam were 66 for 6. In the last ten overs they added 112 runs thanks to a brutal demolition job performed on the hapless WSBA bowlers by Seadon. He started circumspectly but once he had the feel of the game he was unstoppable, sending the WSBA fielders again and again to search for the ball in the bushes yards over the mid on and mid off boundary. Supported by Mitchell at the other end Seaton was 97 not out after 25 overs, the score 178 for 7 and WSBA were on a hiding to nothing.

Best of WSBA bowling Roshan 3 for 17, Cox 2 for 17.

Openers Richie Williams and Mulkern lost their wickets in the opening overs to loose shots, and a bad situation was made even worse. Only Richard Cox managed to put up some resistance, with Richard Steenhuis religiously blocking at the other end. On 35 Richard Cox strode down the wicket to leg spinner Towse only to see his wicket politely disturbed. With no one else able to take the innings on, WSBA fell after 23 overs, all out for 93.

Best of Cheam bowlers Mitchell 2 for 11?, Towse 2 for 30 and Perkins 2 for 14

 

Cheam Wanderers V Fellows Oct 8th

Cheam took on a hastily strengthened Fellows team at Happy Valley on Saturday. Having overwhelmed WSBA Fellows needed the extra talents of Lion's Manju and Askar and Springbok's Kaskif to give themselves a chance against this very good UK touring side.

Cheam choose to bat first. If Fellows hoped that late nights and too much beer might have dulled Cheams batting, they were disappointed. Manju and Kashif struck early dismissing the two Butchers and no 3 Perkins for not very much.Cheams progress was slow but certain, and despite the loss of the top 5 wickets for only 34 runs they never looked to be troubled. In their previous game a big innings from Seadon secured victory. This time it was Yarnley who took control. Supported by Willis (24) and Towse(21) he carved out an innings that took his team to 206 for 8 after their 30 overs, with him still at the wicket on 91 runs.

The best of Fellows bowling Manju 3 for 25, Kashif 3 for 32.

In reply Fellows fell short. Batsmen brought in for the game Askar and Manju both failed. It was left to regular Fellows players Niroshan(40) and Vishnu(23) to give the team a little respectabiity. Fellows at least saw out their 30 overs finishing on 145 for 9, but the result of the game was never in doubt.

Best of Cheam bowling Towse 3 for 14, Mitchell 2 for 27, Willis 2 for 32.

 

Cheam Wanderers v Himalayans Oct 9th

Himalayans brought their regular side to play against Cheam. With limited expectations, given Cheam's previous results, they managed to make more of a fist of it than either WSBA or Fellows.

Cheam batted first once again, and once again put on a massive total. Sam scored 89 and captain Towse 59 in a total of 299 after 30 overs.

Playing for pride rather than a result Himalayans were all out for 180, with Coultara top scoring with 38. They had the the consolation of having managed the highest score against this undefeated Cheam side.

 

Barkby United v WSBA Oct 15th

Barkby Utd, a team made up of two or three teams from the Leicester area in the UK, have toured in Cyprus before. Two years ago they played a couple of games at Happy Valley and seemed ready to come back for more.

On Saturday they played against a mixed side of WSBA and Corfu Tavern players. This was an opportunityfor Barkby to give a game those players in their 16 man squad who would not be playing in the Sunday game against the Cyprus XI.

WSBA batted first and opening pair, Quaseer and Vishnu got off to a flyer. Quaseer was regularly finding the boundary with Vishnu supporting. When Quaseer lost his wicket on 24, Vishnu picked up the pace with no 3 bat Roshan supporting. When Roshan was out for 32, Schwabi picked up where he left off. Man of the match V ishnu was eventually out for 38, Schwabi for 33, and it was left to Andy Malkern to hit some big shots in the last overs to bring his score up to 26 and the WSBA scote to 192 for 8 after their 35 overs.

The run rate was steady throughout the 35 overs, 43 after 10, 91 after 20, 154 after 30 and an attack in the last overs adding 38 runs. The best of Barkby's bowlers were R.Bottind taking 2 wickets for 53, T.Harvey 2 for 30 and P. Grant 3 for 23.

Barkby batsmen were slightly confounded by the conditions. Stroking shots that might glide to the boundary on theirs close cut Leicester outfields just stuck in the coarse Haqppy Valley grass. They didnt have the big shots needed to find the boundary and very quickly Barby were falling short of the required run rate. Despite a rally by A.Raven(34) and M.Skinner (40)in the middle order, the required run rate just kept on growing. Both batsmen were out stumped trying to hoik spinner Richard S over the boundary. With their demise Barkbys hopes faded. Needing over 12 a over from their last 5 overs with too many wickets lost they could only bat out for what in the UK would be an honorable draw, but in this 35 over game was a defeat, 152 runs for 8.

The scoring rate for Barkby was 19 after 10 overs, 47 after 20, 121 after 30 and 152 after 35. WSBA bowling Rob B uckley bowled 4 overs for only 5 runs, Vishnu 4 overs for 8, Roshan 3 overs for 12 runs, Schwabi 4 overs for 10 and Derbyshire 3 for 15. Wicket takers were Tipu 2 for 34 and R.Steenhuis 2 for 20.

Berkby v Cyprus XI October 16th

This was the second occasion for the fledgeling Cyprus XI to try it wings. Berkby reserved their best players for this game, amoung them former test player Roland Butcher. Roland now coaches cricket at the University of Barbados and probably put on his whites again, or his black and reds as was Barkbys very colourful one day strip, with some trepidation.

Cyprus XI captain Dileepa choose to field. Barkby batting was soon in trouble with no 2, J.Pook, bowled by Chamara after only 4 balls.The opening bowling pair Chamara with bowling partner Chris Markides,served the Barkby batting a meal of bouncers and out swing which had even the best flailing as the ball passed their off stump. Roland Butcher showed his class, top scoring with 23, but mishit a Markides bouncing ball to be caught at square leg. With their star out the rather dispirited Barkby batsmen looked to defend, hoping for some wayward bowling later on. Opener Tebitt was caught at point by Chris Vassiledes taken high over his right shoulder off a searing cut. Tebitt was so convinced the ball had had gone to the boundary, that he could only stare in disbelief. Stolid defense by A.Raven (1) P.Grant (11), K. Flowers (0), R.Dutton (9) against some accurate medium pace bowling from Sunil, Sampath and Suri, mixed with tempting but dangerous off spin from Vishnu, did not help much in taking Barkby towards a competitive total. No 8 R.Botting worked out the only way to play at Happy Valley, , and for a while looked dangerous, but was soon caught off Cris Markides for 15. T.Harvey (16 no) took on the score as best he could, supported by M.Hall (1 no), but after their 35 overs Barkby had managed only 106 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Cyprus bowling Chamara 7 overs, 1 wicket for 25 runs. Chris Markides 7 overs 2 for 27. Sunil 5 overs 2 for 9.Sampath 5 overs 2 for 7. Vishnu 6 overs 1 for 10. Suri 5 overs 1 for 22.

Throughtout the Barkby innings the wind had picked up and the dark clouds rolled in from the mountains. Light stready rain made the playing difficult and when, on the third ball of the Cyprus innings, fast left hand bowler Harvey skidded and fell badly, fortunately not injuring himself, Umpire Norman Bailey abandoned the match before someone did.

This had been a chance for the Cyprus XI to play against a UK side who play a different kind of cricket to the furious game they are used to in the Island league. Although the game was defeated by the weather the experience and lessons learned will have done the Cyprus XI a lot of good.

SPRING TOURING SIDES 2005

Coblington CC visiting April 16th to April 19th

Sat April 16th v Fellows 13.00 start,

Sunday April 17th v Himalayans 11.00 start

Tuesday April 19th v WSBA 2.00 start

WSBA V CUBLINGTON

In the last game of the touring season two evenly matched teams were involved in a last ball thriller. Even though Cublington go home without a win, they cannot say that their tour has been uneventful.

WSBA batted first and looked to be heading for a undefendable total, 99 for 8 wickets after 20 overs, when no 10 and 11 bats, Pete Taylor and Tony Degg stuck in their heels, batting through the remaining overs to take WSBA score up to a respectable 148 all out.

Cublington's centurion, P.Rice put in another impressive performance making 71 and putting Cublington into an impregnable position, needing 11 runs with four wickets to spare. What happened next?

HIMALAYANS V CUBLINGTON

A Sunday morning game after long Saturday night saw Cublington suffering from the now familiar touring sides complaint. Bravely they went in to bat against the Himalayan's familiar procession of medium pace bowlers and found themselves unprepared for the task.Centurion of the previous day S.George fell third ball to Bala, who with Sunil was responsible for most of Cublington's wickets. By the 32nd over Cublington were all out for only 92 runs.

Himalayans overtook the Cublington score after only 14 overs. Anil scored 35 and Amit 29.

FELLOWS V CUBLINGTON

The third and the last of the sides to tour Cyprus, Cubligton played against Fellows in the first game of their tour. Cublington batted first loosing quick wickets to some very aggressive outswing and inswing bowling from Den Wright and Chris Markides. But opener S.George battled through to find his rhythm,and a fine rhythm he found, scoring 127 undefeated in Cobligton's innings of 187 for 4 after 35 overs.

Fellows started slowly and were only 72 for 2 at half way, but accelerated in the second half with a swashbukling 75 from Bazeeg and a match winning final overs partnership from father and son, Bede and Max Grossmith who put on 50 in the last five overs to take the match for Fellows in the last over. Fellows were 193 for 3 after 34.3 overs. B. Grossmith 36 no and M.Grossmith 21no.

WSBA v TOTON SYCAMORE

WSBA batted first in a 35 over match. Past form would indicate that this would be a close run contest. WSBA progressed to a total of 149 for seven, which has been an average score on this smaller outfield. WSBA batsmen Tim Rice with 35 and Ritchie Williams with 40 lead the batting averages. Toton Sycamore bowlers D.Fawcett with 3 for 15 and D Pezzolla 3 for 36 led the bowling.

Toton Sycamore's reply had signs of touring side's complaint, too many late nights and too much celebration. They started off bravely but had no answer to the off spin of WSBA's Tim Rice who took 5 wickets for 18. With Robert Buckley in support, taking 2 for 19, Toton Sycamore slumped to 96 all out, only D. Fawcett scoring above 20. Toton go home with one good victory and three defeats. see Robert Buckley"s report for more details

MOUFFLONS v TOTON SYCAMORE

Now more acclimatized to Cyprus conditions Toton Sycamore met Moufflons the first second division side offered to the tourists. Moufflons fielded first and from the outset the tourists felt more confident of a smoother ride than their previous game. Moufflons opening bowling partnership was quite impressive, but old knees and lack of exercise took a toll on pace and accuracy, and the Toton openers took full advantage. Boundaries were flowing fairly freely. Youth took over with teenagers Mathew and Joss bringing the run rate under control .By the time the openers lost their wickets most of the damage had been done .But no 4 Donny Pezzoola made sure with a swift 50, with some beautiful drives for four and six off the front foot. Dave Marshall made 41 and Dennis Wright 33.

Moufflons were asked to get 209 off their 30 overs, a task that would have tested the best in the league. Richard testily defended his wicket for a slow motion 34, and Bazeeg blasted away for a wired 50, but nothing could help Moufflons to the Toton Sycamore total. After 30 overs Moufflons reached a respectable 145 for 4.

LADYMEAD v TOTON SYCAMORE

Two UK touring teams played each other on Friday !8th April. This was Ladymead's last match before flying back to their Sussex homes on Saturday, and, fresh out from Nottingham, Toton Sycamore's first. Toton Sycamore batted first reaching a modest 155 for 4 wickets off 35 overs. Cunningham got a determined 44 and Lee Morley 31. It must have been difficult to gauge a good score in these untested Cyprus conditions. Ladymead having already played two games on the Happy Valley pitch knew that 150 was very getable. And indeed get it they did after 31 overs. L Hamman hit a fierce 74 in a defining first wicket partnership of 85 with partner W.Gooda 39. Oldest man on the field, B Paye, who toured in Cyprus last year with the Sussex over 50's, hit the fastest innings, 29 undefeated. Ladymeade 155 for 4 after 31 overs.

WSBA v LADYMEAD

Better weather for WSBA's game saw tee shirts a shorts back in fashion. WSBA batted first and got off to a very solid start with openers Jon Craig and Ian Cuthbert both scoring half centuries. But when extra momentum was needed wickets fell. Ritchie Williams. the motor behind WSBA's batting, fell cheaply. None of the batsmen who followed could find the acceleration necessary to pull WSBA up to the score promised by their early batting success. After 30 overs they were 131 for 5.

The early loss of their opening batsmen gave Ladymead pause for thought. One ran himself out and the other fell victim to Robert Buckley's medium pace, revenge for the six he had hit the ball before. While Buckley and Ritchie were bowling in tandem Ladymead's batting was contained and wickets were falling. But once R.Smith, Ladymead's no.5 bat found his rhythm, hitting fours and big sixes, it was just a matter of time before Ladymead overtook WSBA's total. Ladymead 132 for 4 after 22 overs. Thanks to Ron and Barry for umpiring. See Rob Buckley's report for more detailed analysis.

HIMALAYANS V LADYMEAD

Himalayans gained a narrow victory over Ladymead on Sunday April 3rd at Happy Valley. The day started with heavy rain but Ladymead had not traveled over one thousand miles to watch the rain fall. So the game went ahead in difficult conditions, overcast sky with with occasional showers, a wet outfield and a very heavy wet cricket ball. Himalayans batted first in a 30 over match. Anil. Himalayan captain in Amit's absence, picked up where he left off last season with a half century, three big sixes and five fours. Charanjit kept him company with 31, two fours and one six. .Himalayans were 165 for 7 after their 30 overs.

Ladymead, who looked to be a strong side, kept up with the scoring rate. Their captain W.Gooda looked like matching Anil's innings stroke for stroke but fell for 30 runs before he could do real damage. Hannun outscored his captain with 34, but neither innings was quite long enough to catch up with the Himalayans score, Ladymead reaching 151 for 8 after their 30 overs. Himalayan's scorer with the bat, Charanjit, doing equal damage with the ball taking 4 wickets for 21 runs. Thanks to Barry for umpiring.

Ladymead CC visiting April 3rd to April 8th Saturday

April 2nd v Himalayans 11.00 start,

Tuesday April 5th v WSBA 2.00 start

Friday April 8th v Toton Sycamore. 11.00 start

Ladymead history

Ladymead is the name of Tony Gooda's previous house. Part of that property was a three acrefield. In the late seventies his friend Barry Jarman was staying. Barry, you may recall played and captained Australia and until recently was a Test Match referee. He challengedTony to produce a wicket and in 1980, when there was a centenary test match against the Aussies, at Lords, he came down with a side to celebrate the inaugural game against Ladymead C.C. His side was Barry, Doug Walters, Bob Cowper, John Inverarity, Alan Connolly and a number of state players. We had a wonderful weekend. Tony continued to play five or six games a year against touring sides and local villages. The team had a few schoolboy games while tony's two were growing up and they now produce the players from their friends - they all mostly play in village league cricket in West Sussex. Tony still runs a couple of games locally but the team is now mainly a touring side. We have travelled to Ireland, Minorca, Majorca, Portugal and France. This year we are celebrating our tenth tour abroad and intend to make the most of it. The team is unusual in that they have the girls along. Their standard is village league. Most of the guys play regularly but no doubt will be a bit rusty in Cyprus. They have a couple of enthusiastic no-hopers but the social activities will probably be the judge.

Toton Sycamore CC visiting April 8th to April 12th

Friday April 8th v Ladymead 11.00 start

Saturday April 9th v Moufflons 12.00 start

Sunday April 10th v Sri lankan CC 11.00 start

Tuesday April 12th v WSBA 2.00 start

Toton Sycamore history

Toton Sycamore was formed in 1928 and has maintained the social element to the club through out. They are based in Nottingham and play in the Gunn & Moore South Nottinghamshire Cricket. There are two league sides and a Sunday friendly XI. Although the club in recent years reached its highest position in the country's 4th biggest league they slipped back the following season. There is no junior set up at the club as the facilities and location work against the club developing a local youth set up. We do however have a strong element of cricket lovers who are not necessarily cricketers. The club maintains a strong loyal base of players; in fact 9 of the 1st XI were playing for the club 10 years previous. The Sunday side is the envy of most clubs as we bring a game to all 11 players and a social drink to our host. The club are to tour abroad for the 3rd time this April and are hopeful that they will grow in strength as indeed they have from previous tours. The squad age ranges from 23 to 60. We can boast 3 quality players that could hold there own in a reasonable standard whilst the rest can be relied on to give all in their own fashion. We also include a player who is a demon at the indoor game but has never played out doors. One thing is for certain when Toton Sycamore arrives, the bar takings raise but never the aggression.

SRI LANKAN CC v TOTON SYCAMORE

Toton Sycamore, batting first, had a rude awakening after the benign bowling attack of Mouflons the day before. They now had to face the aggressive bowling duo of Niroshan and Charama. This time there were no easy runs and wickets fell with unsettling regularity. The highest score was 36 from John Cunningham in a total score of 140 for 9 wickets after 30 overs. Niroshan and Charama took two wickets each, captain Sampath a single wicket and Santha mopping up with 4 wickets.

Sri Lankan CC did not find the Toton Sycamore bowling easy either. A combination of spin and medium pace swing took seven of the Sri Lankan wickets before they overtook the Toton Sycamore score. Niroshan scored 43 and Janaka 30 in the Sri Lankan total of 142 after 21 overs. For Toton Sycamore wickets were shared between Pat, Morley and David, each taking two wickets.