World Tour 2007 - Results

Played: 18.

Won: 15

Lost: 3

Highest Score: 743-10

Lowest Score: 18-4

And here are the batting and bowling tables:

WORLD TOUR – Match 18

We arrived in the Netherlands for the last match in our world tour.

Complacent, I have to say, seemed to be your attitude. Having won the toss, and elected to bat, I heard several of you boasting (last week seems to have gone to a few people’s heads) that you would be achieving your best scores of the series here.

Well, their bowling attack wasn’t bad. Only Richard and I managed to get into double figures.

All out for 81 really didn’t impress anyone.

Tea (cheese sandwiches and glasses of beer) seemed to go to some of your heads too. I heard all sorts of claims about your bowling ability – so decided to let each of you have one over, starting with the recognised bowlers, while I plodded in at the other end, tying them up with my spin.

That seemed to work. They could bowl OK, but they certainly aren’t batsmen. All out for 12 was, I suppose I would have to say, not a bad result.

The full result of our tour, batting averages etc will be posted here and at my own site, tomorrow.

WORLD TOUR – Match 17

Well, that was an interesting match. Canada aren’t renowned as world-leaders in the field of cricket, so we expected a fairly easy game. When we arrived at the ground, though, and saw how small it was, I could see several of you practising extravagant strokes – obviously with sixes in mind.

We weren’t disappointed. Most of us who managed to make a start (and didn’t just swing away at the first ball they saw) were well rewarded. The runs certainly flowed. I’d like to pay particular respect to Richard for his long-overdue half-century, and our vice-captain, Frangelita for her century. Both of them scored entirely in boundaries – look at the score-sheet: 124 runs off just 30 balls!

We were all guilty, though, of greediness – in looking for too many sixes. Even I (I’ve only ever hit a six once in real life – my normal selection of shots keeps the ball low) was tempted into the odd aired shot. Seven of us caught out tells its own story. Who knows how much we could have gone on to score, had we just been a little more cautious.

Even so, I believe our total of 743 all out is a club record.

Tea was pleasant. If you like moose fritters, that is.

I think our score completely demoralised the Canadian team – and Tom bowling their opener with the first ball of their innings didn’t help them either.

We fairly quickly ran through them – as usual, I found that tail-end batsmen just don’t know how to play spin, and so Phil and I picked up a few wickets between us.

So, we win again.

Next week we’re off to the Netherlands, for the last match in our world tour.

WORLD TOUR – Match 16

Well, after the last few matches, I suspect we all thought this was going to be a stroll in the park. The USA aren’t, after all, noted for their cricketing prowess.

They won the toss, and elected to bat. I said I’d try to give you all at least one over to bowl at them, provided they lasted that long – and I’d start with those of you who don’t normally bowl.

Call me selfish, if you like, but it’s my game, and I’m captain, so I did reserve the right to take one end as mine from the start, and bowl all my overs in one go. Sadly, you didn’t all get a chance to bowl, as we knocked them over fairly quickly.

I took the last four wickets with the first four balls of my final over. My only slight disappointment is that Carol and Vicus between them managed to stop me getting a ten-wicket haul for the first time in my life. Still, I think 9 wickets for one run (and that was a no-ball) is still probably my lifetime best (so far, anyway).

We had time to play our innings before tea; Phil was urging us to get it over with as soon as possible, as he’d seen the size of the burgers we were having. I had intended to put myself down at number eleven, to give the rest of you a chance to bat, but a slip of the finger put me in at number one instead – so I quite deliberately lifted my bat, and allowed myself to be clean bowled (although even then it took them three balls to do it).

It was not my intention that the rest of our top order batspeople should follow that example – but that’s what happened. Finally, Richard (who has been working hard to improve his batting, I know) came to the crease with Frangelita, and they knocked-off the runs very easily – Fran finishing with a stylish six to win the match for us.

Next week Canada.

WORLD TOUR – Match 15

Not as easy as the summary makes it look. I’ve played Sri Lanka before, and they are very good bowlers, so when they won the toss and elected to bat, I knew we would have to work really hard to keep their score down, to give us any chance of scoring the necessary runs ourselves before they bowled us out.

Fortunately, you all played your part well, no catches were dropped, and they ended up only scoring a measly 17.

We managed to score the 18 runs needed – mainly due to a fine six from Jona – although we did lose a few wickets on the way. Sadly I’ve lost the photo of our score card – but Jona ended on 9 not out and Carol and Frangelita scored 4 each – the other run was a wide.

Next week we’re off to the USA.

WORLD TOUR – Match 14

Pakistan won the toss, and elected to bat. Tom got a couple of early wickets, but they battled on more strongly in the middle order, and eventually put on 73 runs.

Having seen a lot of catches dropped in previous matches, we did have a long session of catching practice before this match. I also moved the field around a lot, putting Fran in at second slip – an inspired choice, it turned out, as her gymnastic ability was displayed to the full as she held three catches. Disappointingly, two were dropped deeper in the field, off my bowling – so once again, I had to resort to getting the bulk of my wickets by bowling men out.

Unfortunately I’ve lost the picture showing our bowling stats. The key figures are: 3 catches for Frangelita; Phil 1-17, Tom 4-14, RealDoc 1-12 and me 4-9.

Tea was, I’m told by the rest of you, very tasty. I had a splitting headache, and really didn’t want to bat.

Perhaps that was a premonition, as it turned out that their two opening bowlers were very, very fast. They tore through our opening batsmen, and it was only when the Doc and I came to the wicket that we managed to put in some solid defensive play, and just block and block (with the occasional swing at a loose ball). As an indication of how tough it was, only one boundary was scored in the whole of our team’s innings – a six which Medusa stole off a no ball.

Anyway, I managed to block them (for 66 balls in total) long enough for some slower bowlers to be brought on, from whom we finally managed to pinch a few runs. They very kindly gave us 33 runs in extras, which made a huge difference, and we just crept home, at 74-7.

Never mind, a win is a win.

Next week we’re off to Sri Lanka.

WORLD TOUR – Match 13

We played Bangladesh, at full International level.

I’d realised, as we arrived in India, that I haven’t used Medusa in the team very much this tour, so I asked her to open the batting, as I suspected the playing conditions might suit her. I think the result justified my decision – she was our top scorer, with 31. Apart from a few starts higher up the order, which we unable to convert into a decent score, we suffered our usual middle-order collapse. A slight fight-back by the tail took us to a grand total of 127 – nowhere near good enough, we all felt.

Tea was a very subdued affair. I’m sorry, I have no idea what I ate. It was ashes in my mouth, as I sat there with my head in my hands – I couldn’t see how we could possible contain an international side to such a low score.

I hadn’t realised what a hard wicket we were playing on, until Tom thundered in, and with his first over dispatched three of their batsmen.

I knew, from having seen their bowlers, that the wicket was also taking spin, so I tried my hand.

Amazingly, Tom and I were all that was needed, as we ripped through them, with a five-fer each. All out for just 18 runs! We win!

Next week’s match, against Pakistan, will, I suspect, be considerably harder.

WORLD TOUR – Match 12

A full international match against India.

They won the toss and elected to bat. Our defensive play was hindered by a terrible display in the field. In all, twelve catches were dropped. Seven of them came off my bowling – I was particularly annoyed by one over, in which I tempted them to hit the ball in the air – the first four flew straight to fielders, and were dropped; the next two flew over the boundary rope, and rather mucked-up my figures.

We all struggled in the heat, but nevertheless, six catches were finally held, and I polished off the tail (being fed-up at seeing so many dropped catches, I bowled them out). We were lucky, frankly, to get them out for as little as 175.

We enjoyed the many dishes we tasted for tea, although I fear some of you may have overdone things.

Our batting, frankly, in the last few weeks has been letting us down. One or two individuals may shine, but the majority surrender their wickets far too readily.

So they bowled us out for 67, and we lost another match.

Next week we play Bangladesh.

WORLD TOUR – Match 11

We arrived in India somewhat subdued after last week’s defeat. Then several key players complained of upset tummies. I persuaded our hosts to delay the international match to next week, and play us at county level this week. With only four players indicating they felt up to batting a long innings, those of us who were still fit really had to stay at the crease as long as we could.

I felt I had no choice but to open the batting (well, it was my birthday) and I did my best to stay in. I’m sorry that I managed such a derisory score before being bowled, particularly as once Frangelita was out (magnificent 85 by the way – well done!) our tail collapsed – it was quite obvious that you felt more comfortable in the pavilion than outside. Fortunately our local player hadn’t been affected by the bug, so Mincat and Lisa managed to see out our 50 overs, and we posted a magnificent total of 411-9.

Most of you hardly touched the tea. I do hope our hosts weren’t offended.

Bowling was going to be a problem. Very few bowlers managed more than one over before having to hurry from the pitch, so short spells were all we could put together.

I bowled straight through my ten overs, being reasonably economical, and knocking-off another five wicket haul. The rest of you did what you could, and we eventually bowled them out for 159, and won.

Next week we shall be playing them at International level, and things will not be so smooth.

WORLD TOUR – Match 10

Unlike last week, this was an International level match against New Zealand.

They won the toss, and decided to bat. The wicket was playing very oddly, and we managed to contain them to a mere 79 all out (with another five wicket haul for me – it could have been more, had not six catches been dropped off my bowling). Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of our full bowling figures. The summary, however, shows that our three best bowlers were me (5-14), Tom (3-7) and Vicus (2-17).

Kiwi soup made an interesting variation at tea-time.

We felt reasonably confident, with a target of just 80 to win.

We soon found that confidence to be misplaced. They skittled us out. Three ducks, three players scoring just one run each, and my miserable 14 being the only double-figure score for our side.

We finished all out for 43, and so leave the Antipodes with a rather mixed record.

Our ship sails tonight for the Indian sub-continent.

WORLD TOUR – Match 9

Having played such a tough series in Australia, I asked our hosts in New Zealand if we could play a county side, for a bit of relaxation. I am concerned that we never manage to bat through our entire allowance of 40 overs, so I did suggest that we try to play ourselves in this time, not go for wild and rash shots.

You may note I’ve been putting myself down the batting order recently, as my reflexes are a bit shot at the moment. Today I decided I’d try opening again – and was moderately successful.

We used up all our 40 overs (I had at least managed to stay in for the entire innings) scoring a magnificent 284-9.

Tea was another inspiring choice by our hosts. It’s amazing what you can do with a kiwi.

With such a decent target to play with, I let you all have one over to bowl, just in case any new stars appeared, and then I concentrated on our main bowlers, particularly giving them a chance to try out a few tricks, like reverse swing.

We skittled them out, eventually, for 75, and so we won – oh, and a hat trick with the last three balls of the match rather rounded off the game for me.

Next week we’ll play them at international level, which I suspect will be somewhat harder.

WORLD TOUR – Match 8

Well, we won the toss, and I decided to bat. They really are a good side, and none of us managed to score freely, but we did manage to knock up a few more runs than last week, finishing all out for 97.

Tea was delightful. Cucumber sandwiches (with the edges cut off) and china cups of tea, followed by fairy cakes. I think our hosts were trying to make a special effort to make us feel at home.

I could see that keeping them, over a whole 40 overs, to below 98 was going to be a real problem - if our bowlers could contain them to just 2 runs an over, we’d win. 2½ runs, however, and we’d lose. I kept a very careful eye on the bowling figures (which you too can see at the foot of this post) and took bowlers off as soon as they started to become expensive.

Fortunately, most of you managed to stick to game-plan, although it was getting very tight towards the end – they had reached 89-4 with four overs still to be bowled, and the match looked lost. Vicus and I bowled three tight overs, however…

…and so we reached the last over of the match, with everything still in the balance. They needed just 4 runs to win. Rather than any of you having to take the blame for allowing them to beat us, I decided to bowl the over myself. 5 dot balls followed. I knew they’d go for a big hit on the last ball of the match – one boundary and they would win - so I set the field back a bit, spun the ball, and allowed it to drift slightly – just enough to catch an edge – the ball flew up…

…straight into Phil’s hands.

And straight out again. Still, they didn’t score a run, and so we won the match (and the 3 match mini-series) by 3 runs!!

And now we pop over to New Zealand, for the next leg of our world tour.

WORLD TOUR – Match 7

Thrashed, is, I think a suitable word to describe this match.

Knowing we were playing the full Australian team at international level, I packed our team with batsmen, to ensure that we would at least get a few runs on the board.

We scored a magnificent 44 – and they kindly gave us an extra 10 in no-balls and wides. Most of our runs came off accidental nicks – their bowling was so fast that the tiniest edge sent the ball flying to the boundary, or (more often) into a fielder’s waiting hands.

Only as the match wore on did I manage to persuade some players to try blocking, or indeed leaving, and wait for an easier ball. As you will see, I (for instance) managed to last 40 balls before being out.

Tea was interesting. Kangaroo sandwiches. I’ll say no more.

It seemed unlikely that we would be able to defend such a low score. I tried out most bowling styles, to see which was having most effect. Spin bowling seemed to be the best option – we were at least beating the bat occasionally, and being reasonably economic. Sadly, in the end, nothing we could do was enough, and with the only smile being raised by my heavily flighted ball drifting very slightly (a new trick, I’ve just learned) and managing to fool an opener into playing outside the line (Richard kindly took this photo of the moment) they cantered past our score.

So, the series stands at 1-1, with the final match being played next week. It will be another international level game, so stand by for a similar result, unless our batsmen spend a lot of time in the nets this week.

WORLD TOUR – Match 6

The first of a three-match series against Australia. This was against a sub-strength team (i.e. we played them at county standard) – the next two will be harder (i.e. full international).

I won the toss and decided to bat. I knew their bowling and fielding would be tough, so Richard and I tried to stay in for as long as we could, without worrying too much about the runs. Sadly, after we were out, the usual collapse followed, only Fran and Medusa getting into double figures.

We ended up with a very modest 101 all out.

Tea was a very pleasant barbie (is that how Australians spell it?).

I was very conscious that the Australians might well bat within themselves, and then, as they would probably have plenty of wickets in hand, go for a real slog at the end; playing a hunch I decided to reserve spin for the end, in the hope that this might surprise and contain them.

Tom did his usual trick of getting a caught and bowled in the first over; thereafter they played more defensively, as I had predicted, with their numbers 2 and 3 between them facing 16 overs before Tom and Doc managed to winkle them out.

Vicus and Mincat bowled reasonably tightly, before Phil and I came on to bowl the last 11 overs (yes, I’d miscounted, so didn’t get my full potential spell of 6 overs). Phil played his part, only costing us 16 runs from his 6 overs, but it was, I have to admit, my bowling which really frustrated them – two runs came off the first over, and then I bowled four maiden overs.

Their annoyance showed towards the end, when they tried to hit me out of the ground, and four of them fell to my crafty slower balls. I was particularly pleased with the wicket of Shane Worde, probably the best spin bowler in the world, who was himself deceived by my spin, out for a duck on his second ball.

In the end we restricted them to just 46-8, and so we won.

We go one up in the three match mini-series. Having three matches, I will be able to ensure that every player in the squad gets at least one game against Australia.

Next week will be harder.

WORLD TOUR – Match 5

Our final match in Africa was against Namibia.

This international level cricket is tough. We won the toss and batted, and saw Richard bowled first ball. I’m sorry Richard, but I’m not sure the experiment of an opening-bat-wicket-keeper has paid off. We’ll give it one more try next week, but if you don’t get at least a half-century, I think we’ll have to consider a move to no. 7.

Mind you, the rest of us did little better, on a very interesting wicket. With Lisa and Steg also bowled for ducks, we had scored an impressive total of just 2 runs for the loss of 3 wickets when I arrived at the crease.

A couple of quick boundaries from me soon multiplied our total by 5, before my wicket too fell.

Fran and Doc made a bit of a stand (10 whole runs) but when Doc’s wicket fell we were standing at a dismal 20-6.

Phil managed to hit the ball twice – but both times the ball ran to the boundary (his 8 runs made him, with me, our top scorers).

We were all out for 35, which seemed an impossibly low target to defend.

Tea was very pleasant. ILTV had brought us some pastries back from France. Vicus seemed quite disappointed to discover the French tarts he’d been promised were in fact filled with apricot.

The wicket had been taking spin quite well, and I thought that we could perhaps stop them scoring too fast by using our slower bowlers, so I decided to open with Phil and myself for the first spell, and review the situation after that.

The wicket did indeed suit my style of bowling, something the Namibians had clearly never met before. At the end of our spell their score stood at a mere 23 runs, but more importantly, they had also lost 8 wickets.

Three of Fran’s slow balls polished-off the tail, and they were all out for 23, and so we won again.

So it’s off to Australasia, for the next leg of our tour.