Munich Cricket Club

And so it was that twelve good men began to descend upon the marina at Bradford on Avon, in the west of England. Veith, brother Nick, Davids Llewellyn and Carr, Hazza, Scotty, Pierre, Arun, Naveen and I loaded up the two vessels we were to call home for the next four days, with cricket paraphernalia, breakfast foods and plenty of beer. Only Jonty and Wembo were missing from the start, their flights having arrived in London earlier that day. Both planned to catch up with us along the towpath of the canal later on.

 Canal boating is a leisurely affair, according to the brochures. Chugging, as you do, at no more than 3 mph. Stopping to refuel at the cleverly spread out pubs along the way, a lock, maybe a swing bridge? Catching up on foot is easy.

 Loaded, briefed on all things canal boat/safety related and raring to go, we split in to two crews and headed downstream to wards Bath. No sooner had we discovered that 19m long canal boats are a bastard to steer than we were confronted by the only lock on our journey. A whopping 4M drop height.

 The MCC crews did a sterling job of getting through this first obstacle (With the help of volunteer canal enthusiasts who man the lock for fun… A special breed.). On exiting the lock we were rewarded by a far more alluring sight. Our first Pub.

 Hungry and exhausted from our first 20 minutes not the water the unanimous decision was made to pull over for refreshments. This was when it all started to go horribly wrong…

A 62ft canal boat weighs roughly 20 tonnes and in the hands of beginners, has a mind of its own. Think “Elephant” and “China shop”.

The lead boat, named “Sacha” managed to dock next to some handily placed white bollards. “Taras” crew were not so fortunate to find a clear place and instead attempted to moor a 19m long craft in to a 14m long space. 20 tonnes of iron is not the most flexible of items, no matter how optimistic you are. An angry barge dweller was quick to spot the approaching danger as Veith attempted the undoable! This later resulted in phone call and an insurance claim.

In the meantime the pub had emptied and a sea of cameras were recording our every calamity. Things were only becalmed when a hulking great Yorkshireman came over and offered his helping hand. “What the F*@% do you call that!. That’s not a F*@%ing knot!” Etc. He was well in to his 70’s and lived on the river. He knew exactly what he was doing and eventually we ended up with Tara being lashed to the side of Sacha and cheers the amused onlookers.

Settling in to our first pints, my phone rang. It was the company we had hired the boats from. Apparently they had a report that we had moored on to the white bollards that are reserved for canal boats waiting to go through the locks.  We had to move. Instantly.

No problem. Tara’s crew untied the ropes and as I stood on the deck of Sacha, watching Captain Veith drift away I said “Why haven’t you started the engine?” “I don’t have the key.” Came the reply! It transpired that Hazza had the key and Hazza was off shopping the village! The cameras were back out in force and the Yorkshireman, vocal.

The first game was due to start at 11:00 hrs on Friday. Both crews had managed to get their vessels far enough down stream before the 8pm curfew, which signals “No more travel on the canal”. This to allow people to settle down for the evening and get a good nights sleep. There are lots of little bylaws relating to the waterways, much like the great game itself.

The morning was celebrated with breakfast aboard Tara, with Tara’s crew cooking up a storm of beans, eggs, sausages, mushrooms, you name it. Everyone chipped it and there were kettles whistling as the morning mist was burnt off by the sun to reveal a beautiful summers day.

Both boats chugged on for an hour and moored up outside the The George Inn. From here it was a yomp across fields, a railway line and the river Avon to our first venue, Bathford CC.

Bathford’s ground is on a sloping field. The pavilion is on the high ground and from there everything falls away with the furthest boundary some six meters lower that the top. Midway, the square is more level though somewhat less level than Lords, let’s say! The strip is side on to the pavilion and from the veranda you can see across the valley and over to the famed Solsbury Hill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OO2PuGz-H8

Bathford Skipper, Martin made a convincing argument for MCC batting first in what was a 45 over match. Things started well with openers Karthik and Scott ticking along until Scotty fell in the 7th over, caught for 5 with the score on 19.

At the start of the tour a small ceremony had seen everyone select their tour shirt by pulling it blind from a box. Each shirt had a nautical name on the back and it was a Hogwarts type “The shirt will choose you” scenario. Naveen had serendipitously pulled out “The Navvy”. Now batting, he was having no trouble navigating the ball until one got through to the stumps and he was back in the pavilion, bowled for 8. MCC 24/2.

Wembo had hardly played all year and when he had, was fast developing a knack of running himself out! He reversed his fortunes by immediately running out the hapless Karthik instead. Arun had looked to be adapting to English conditions well, but was thwarted by a direct hit from one of the oldest fielders in the Bathford side. We later found that Mr Moggridge was no slouch at skittles. Arun-“But not fast enough” gone for 18. MCC 33/3 after 10.1 overs.

Nick De La Rey was surely the man to right the ship? The ball was meeting his bat nicely, when on a run-a-ball 8 he was cleaned up. MCC 44/4 after 12.4

Wembo was finding his mojo and although Deverill should have been caught without scoring, he too was starting to make use of his lives. Bathford, seeing  the possibility of bowling out their visitors all too cheaply, kindly took their foot off the pedal. But maybe too soon?

The score had rattled on to 133 when Deverill was caught behind on 40. Only Paul Scott (Officiating at square leg) had heard the knick and the opposition keeper was bemused when the batsman had headed for the pavilion having informed him “You should appeal for that!”

Wembridge followed not long afterwards, claiming a hamstring was preventing him improving on his 51 Not Out.

Dave Carr and Harit Khanna pushed the score along at a fair lick. Hazza played some of the most cultured drives of the day and Dave matching his rate with some lusty shots of his own. A cracking partnership that ended with Hazza’s poles no longer being able to support the bails, due to impact. Hazza gone for 18, MCC 189\6 after 42.2 overs.

Veith jogged out, smote a couple and jogged back, stumped on 5. Pierre walloped two boundaries and was adjudged LBW on 8 and Dave Llewelyn punched a four of his own before 45 overs were done and the MCC scored 218/8 Dave Carr on a much celebrated  27 Not Out and Dave Llewelyn happy to be 4 Not Out.

Lunch was a deluxe affair. There was no way we could eat everything. We were utterly spoilt.

We waddled out to field with he strong August sun still beating. A fair totall had been set and both barrels were blazing with Paul Scott using seniority to take the preferred end from Pierre, who charged in from the other.

The heat was certainly on as both bowlers took wickets early BCC 3/2 after three overs. The pair kept up the barrage for 13 overs, at the end of which Bathford had managed 47/3.

If the batsman had sighed in relief when the ball was finally prized from Pierre’s hand, it was short lived as The Navigator piled in with two wickets in two overs. Veith achieving the same tally off four overs from Scotty’s end. MCC were well on top BCC 68/7 after 19.

Dave Carr was enjoying himself with the ball too. Barely a run was taken from his three overs and he picked up the prize wicket of the opposition skipper.

Nick De La Rey Foxed the #8 in to missing one he needed to hit and it was all over when Dave Llewelyn chalked up the last wicket with his first and only ball! BCC all out for 74, MCC romped home by 144 runs!

What followed was an evening to remember. Bathford provided plenty of entertainment, holding court over the days events and various drinking fines being awarded. There was a BBQ followed by skittles (A traditional west country pub game much like ten-pin-bowling, but better). MCC were totally out-gunned at skittles, but provided entertainment of their own when Paul Scott got everyone involved in a game of role-play, which required several people sitting in chairs, pretending to be a WW2 Lancaster bomber while others flew in-between them, depicting mechasmit fighters. Eventually Arun Karthik, who was playing the role of “Engine Number Three” caught fire and was put out using two buckets of water. Neither of which he saw coming.

Boisterous and rousing singing followed the skittles and it was well in to Saturday before the last of us fell headlong in to our bunks.

Saturday morning went much the same way as the previous one. There is something very bonding about cooking up breakfast. Especially when you are cooking one meal on two different boats! Pots, pans and plates migrated along the tow path between the two. Everyone fed, washed and fettled, we were ready to chug to the gleaming city of Bath. The day was ours to do as we pleased.

Bath is one of the more gentrified cities in England. Every building is built from the same oolitic limestone, known as Bath Stone. Georgian grandeur, layered over the once Roman city where the famous thermal baths are still flowing. The ancient Britons had been using the springs for bathing, long before the Romans brought their architecture to glorify them. Bath is a place of legends and myth.

Some of the party chose to spend the day investigating the City to the full, others chose to return to the boats sooner and start the long chug back upstream and moore the boats near the ground for the game on Sunday. Everyone reconvened at The Crossed Guns Inn for dinner, where we were joined by my son, Oliver as Paul Scott and Nick De La Rey were having to leave early the next day.

While sitting outside the pub the neighbouring table became occupied by none other than the huge Yorkshireman and his crew, all of whom fell about laughing when they saw us. “We haven’t stopped talking about you lot!”

Our evenings were basically spent in a boozy miasma onboard the boats, with various games being played. The favourite of which was a set of cards which demanded rapid, lucid responses and generally resulted in a great deal of swearing!

I can’t tell you just how lucky we were with the weather. It was the one uncontrollable element that could have turned this tour in to a miserable few days, trapped inside two large cans. As it was, it was glorious. Sunday was the best of them.

The boats were moored up, just along from the pub which sits to one side of the Avoncliff Aqueduct. This can only be described in pictures.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=avoncliff+aqueduct&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHiaW9zu7kAhXKesAKHRniBhsQ_AUIEygC&biw=1444&bih=780

Crossing the aqueduct you follow a path that leads you up the hill, through a field and then on to an ancient trade path, used for millennia. These paths are characterised by being between two hedgerows or banks. They were once the commercial trade routes of the country, before horse and cart. Though many have gone for good, some like this one still exist. The steep walk in the footsteps of the ancients ends atop the hill, where a break in the wall leads you out in to the open field that becomes Winsley Cricket Ground.

There are many pretty grounds in England. Bathampton had told us that there were over 90 grounds within a 50 mile radius of them. Every village has a church, a pub and a cricket pitch. If there were a beauty contest among those 90 grounds, Winsley would be a finalist.

The ground is on the gentle dome that is the crown of the hill. The views from the top are of the lush and rolling hills of Somerset and Wiltshire and the tranquil valley where our boats quietly bobbed. The facilities included a clubhouse and bar, a permanent net, one mobile net and a ten pitch square that had seen plenty of use that summer. We were greeted by their full time groundsman.

Winsley are the champions of their league and put out many sides including several youth sides and next year they will have a Womens team too. Bathampton had told us we were likely to get a good stuffing!

The Winsley skipper informed us that they were a mixed bag of all of their sides and not to worry. They were probably more of a bowling side than batting. MCC won the toss and batted.

Tours are a true test of manly resilience (Raised eyebrow. Sergeant majors voice). Not only do we fly out at inconvenient times to secure the best prices, but we then force ourselves to remain awake until the wee small hours, whilst consuming volumes of local intoxications, only to trudge to our games while recovering and then expect to play our A game on the day. We are geniuses!

Father Pike and his son Pike junior opened the bowling for Winsley. Jonty and Arun opened for MCC. It is possible that both batsmen were seeing both sets of Pike arms come over at any given delivery and two balls leaving the hand, only to merge in to one as it neared. Whatever the malady, scoring from the bat looked tricky!

Father and son may have had a good night also, as they were keeping MCC supplied with the some handy extras.

Jonty lost his head and was caught for three off Father Pike. Pike Jnr. then bowled Arun around his legs for 5. Arun, unsure how this could have happened? MCC 21/2

Wembo and Deverill (Snr) were back in rescue mode, but this time in a more classical mode. The pitch was truer than the most faithful dog and the outfield ran just as fast. Both batsmen were able to play through the line and be rewarded.

The appearance of Winsley Club Chairman Nail Dougal unnerved Deverill, who hates a loopy slow bowling. He eventually lost his cool with delusions of smoteing the ball to the canal and was handsomely caught by the chairmans son on the boundary. Gone again on 40.

Wembo, meanwhile was playing within himself while scoring at a fair lick, much as the surface allowed. Only the occurrence of the same injury that had cut him so short at Bathampton prevented him from passing beyond his 53. Retired hurt, again.

The Navvy punched his way to 31 before being bowled. Oli (Deverill Jnr.) didn’t trouble the scorers. Meanwhile, Pierre Du Plessis had romped to 41 (ignominiously plundering sixes from one of the two young ladies playing fro WCC) and Hazza continued his good form with the bat, also Not Out at the end on 18. MCC had made 219 from 40 overs.

Tea was another splendid spread and also a chance to catch up with the Test score. England were  well behind at the start of the fifth day at Headingly. Bowled out for just 67 in their first innings, the match was over before it had barely started. A chap called Ben Stokes had made a painfully slow fifty and was still there when Jack Leach joined him, last man standing with 73 still needed. Game over.

Deverill Snr and The Navvy got things underway with the ball. Winsley’s opening bat, being the league top scorer as well as the chairmans son took no time in plundering the gentle pace of Deverill Snr. A risk-free straight drive back over his head and then a Kevin Pietersen-esq shot off one knee over midwicket, thank you very much!

Nav was hitting perfect lines and lengths, essential on such a good deck. Eventually both bowlers got in to their stride and both struck, removing the openers clean bowled.

That signalled the end of their spells and Deverill Jnr took over from Pops and Dave Carr from Naveen. Dave was on fire! He was getting good turn from the otherwise very honest surface. Four balls in and the stumps were clattered!

Oli (Who does not play as much as he should) got in to rhythm and was bowling beautifully when he was taken off after just three overs. He got his wicket, pouched by a proud Dad at short midwicket. “Time to come off, son.”

Not everyone had got to bat and MCC were well on top. It was time to get everyone a game. Veith joined Carr and the two bowled well in harness. Dave collected his second, caught Wembo at gully. Jonty came on for his maiden spell of the tour and pouched two in his 5 overs.

Veith bowled so well, but somehow a wicket eluded him. Dave Llewelyn was brought on in the hope that he might repeat his trick of a wicket with one ball, but instead it took a little longer. He  trapped the Winsley skipper plumb LBW, having made a cultured 63. The final wicket also went to Dave Llewelyn, WCC lights out on 156 after 33 overs.

MCC had achieved that rarest of things, a clean sweep on tour! Dave Carr joint man of the series, along with the Not Out Wembo.

We sat outside and enjoyed the setting of the sun, celebrating Englands remarkable success in the Test. Wembo, Hazza, Jonty and Carr talking about almost anything else.

The ancient path served to keep us on the straight and narrow all the way back to the waiting boats, where another game of “swearing in tandem” followed the customary tour votes and summaries.

Pizzas were ordered and then delivered by none other than one of the young ladies we had been playing against a few hours earlier. Whether it is fact or legend that she enquired as to which pizza was for Pierre before handing them over, we will never know? All I can say is that mine was fine!

The tour ended as it had begun. Sacha and Tara made it back up the lock and in to the marina, unscathed. Both were piloted as if by professionals, so good had the crews become at steering them.

 Much thanks should go out to all those involved in the tour. It was an unusual concept and required everybody to pull their weight on and off the boats. It was a unique experience and I thank you for making it happen in such good spirits.

 The greater thanks needs to go out to both Bathampton and Winsley Cricket Clubs, who were so welcoming. We couldn’t have picked two finer clubs to visit.

 JD

Freiburg Nomads CC vs Munich Cricket Club, Grumpy Cup Home Fixture, 40 Over Friendly,  Saturday 17 Aug. 2019

Freiburg Nomads CC 205/7 (40 overs) (A. Wembridge 3-15, P. Thakur 2-31) defeated Munich CC 176 all out (37 overs) (J. Altmann 80, C. Barrett 35)

Man of the match: J. Altmann

Gallery 1: Freiburg Nomads CC back at the Hirsch frothing with confidence after their recent home victory, bringing a delightful spectator and picking up two stray Münchner en route (Picture: M. Zuckerberg)

Gallery 2: Captains Naveen Arunachalam and Craig Barrett ready to do battle to avoid (that) horrible head (Picture: M. Zuckerberg)

Gallery 3: Enjoying that lovely feel of real grass underfoot after the toss (Picture: M. Zuckerberg)

IN FREIBURG STEHT KEIN HOFBRÄUHAUS. Oder doch? It’s a moot point in any case as the Freiburg boys, still grinning from their win against the MCC touring team a few weeks earlier, were looking forward to a big Bavarian weekend for a chance to play in the English Gardens again like last year when that horrible Easter Island head thing was still a miserable grey. ‘Nav Man‘ Naveen Arunachalam had returned from England and the Englishmen there only to find himself facing off against yet another Englishman in Craig Barrett for the coin toss, of which your author is unsure exactly who won.

Anywho, Freiburg headed out to bat first represented by Messrs. Gangurde and Chemudupaty who put on an opening stance of 24 of which 12 were off Jonty Altmann’s impressive opening over with four wides and two fours.  Our fellow with Holiday Dreadlocks did however manage to break through in the fifth over, with Gangurde being caught by Captain Craig. Nick Colling, opening from the other end, remained wicketless and the batting pair managed to reach 70 before the second wicket fell, caught Jonathan Deverill, bowled Maiwand Khan. (Who also managed an impressive four wides in his first over.)

JD and CB both suffered wicketless spells themselves, despite Deverill’s tight bowling earning him 2 maidens in a six over spell for a mere 14 runs. It was all left to Pratik Thakur for a breakthrough and break through he did, dismissing Batsmen 3 and 4 (bowled and caught Obaid Mushtaq respectively) to put the brakes on an inning starting to get out of control. The ‘Personal Trainer’ finished with 31 for 2 from his five overs.

Soon enough, another threat had presented itself rather fiercely as Nic de la Rey, perhaps-too-kindly loaned out to the Nomads for the day, had started to belt everyone around the Hirsch without the slightest hint of remorse. And rightly so! This included smashing yet another New Zealander in James Kantor around who bowled 2 overs for an unfortunately less than economic 19 runs.

Barrett tossed the ball to Wembridge who managed to bowl ‘The General’ with his very first ball as he chopped one on to his stumps. Parekh’s edge to Barrett at slip the next over gave the Australian his second wicket and, with his sights now firmly set on this-time-opposition-player Nav, (knowing very well just how much he despises shitty, slow bowling) was confident of picking up a third wicket. And this he did after a sort of dab shot fell in the safe hands of ‘Ohh Badd’ to give the fieldsman his second catch of the day; Nav departing with 26 from 15 deliveries.

Gallery 4: Collo fires one down from the Chinese Tower end to the ever-careful Arunachalam while Wembridge, bowling from the City end, appears to unintentionally impersonate an amputee

Freiburger A. Kovvali and former-Freiburger Vishv Bhatia wrapped up the innings for the Nomads undefeated despite the best efforts of Philip Bowes and Prafulla Toke who each rolled their arms over for an over; the team appearing to be reasonably pleased with their total of 205/7.

Fully aware that the dangerous Captain Sat Nav would be charging in to open the bowling, Captain Barrett inspected his troops and decided that Wembridge and Bowes would be the best candidates for a rip-snorting start. It was indeed all action from the get-go where the scorecard registers a Wembridge single off the first ball then a Bowes single two balls later. This may not appear to be in any way remarkable, however an irregularity here lay with the fact that this Bowes’ single was actually an attempted two and his particularly foolish partner was run out at the bowlers’ end. ‘Rocket Arm’ Raviteja Chemudupaty and his bright red cap sizzled in a direct hit from mid-onish mid-wicket with such precise timing that Wembridge was able to watch both bails spins before his eyes before continuing the run all the way to the showers without so much as a glance over the shoulder. LöL.

They say in every cloud there is a silver lining and in this case, it was a heavily dreadlocked lining who decided that today was going to be his day for a big score. Altmann established himself as the fortress of dependability as he anchored the crease with Bowes (b. Nav for 2), Ohh Badd (b. for 0), JD (Flicxd and smacked in the face, attended to by Dr Spieß, retiring hurt on 6*), Jabez (b. for 0) and Barrett (on 4 off roughly 45 balls when JA was eventually dismissed after a partnership of 55)

This wasn’t just a half-century, rather a HUGE half-century comprising 10 fours and 2 sixes off what appears to be only 70 or so balls. Needless to say, this was exactly the sort of middle-order strength the MCC needed to have any chance of exceeding 200. With but the cruelest of fates it was none other than usual-touring-teammate Nav who managed to finally remove Altmann on a grand total of eighty, just a few good hoicks away from a three-digit score. Well. There’s always next year.

Once Collo had been bowled for just five with the score on 124, JD appeared to have stopped bleeding and thus decided to join Barrett to see if they could knock off the 80 runs or so in the remaining 14 overs. Certainly doable, Craig started to up his runrate with the introduction of the odd two. Deverill added a further 13 to his 6* before being caught at mid-off. Maiwand knocked up a reasonable 9 from 15 balls and was bowled by Dev G bringing Pratik to the  crease to accompany Barrett who had now collected two fours in his 35 from around an impressive 88 deliveries.

Eventually being bowled shortly thereafter by Aditya (yes, that was now seven MCC batsmen dismissed bowled), Toke and Thakur only managed to contribute one further single before Pratik was caught in a mixup and run out; Praf  stranded on 0*. MCC had finished with 176 all out in the 36th over, just 29 runs short of victory.

After a brief awards ceremony, Captain Craig was returned that same bloody head he had thrown in the car that morning with a special appendage as gifted by Captain Nav, with both of these trophies now cementing their place in Munich for what will probably be a year.

Many thanks to Nav and his Freiburg Nomads for coming all that way for our third battle for ‘The Grumpy Cup’. We can’t wait for the follow up in 2020!

Gallery 6: MCC congratulate the Freiburg on winning the second encounter of the year, Captain Barrett lets it all hang out and club physician Dr. Franz Spieß supervises the prescription of a third Kiste of Augustine Helles (Pictures: M. Zuckerberg)

Wendi-Meg Breward

Freiburg Nomads CC vs Munich Cricket Club, Grumpy Cup Away Fixture, 40 Over Friendly, Sunday 04 Aug 2019, Seeparkstadion, Freiburg im Breisgau

Munich CC 189/8 (40 overs) (A. Wembridge 41, O. Davies 38*) defeated by Freiburg Nomads CC 195/1 (28.1 overs) (N. Colling 1-34)

Man of the match: O. Davies

Munich Cricket Club was delighted to accept the invitation from former Münchner but-still-fully-committed-MCC-cricket-tourist Naveen Arunachalam to make our way over to his neck of the woods in Baden-Württemberg, where the smell of crepes wafts across the perilously close French border. Having been defeated on Bavarian soil the previous September (and thus remaining in possession of that horrible head anti-trophy), the Freiburg Nomads were only too keen to have the chance to get their own back on their turf.

To try and counter this hometown advantage, the MCC proudly nominated former Freiburger Vishv Bhatia as captain for the day to apply his valuable local knowledge and take charge against his old team. The knowledge was used particularly well in finding local accommodation during Schulferien as it turned out Nav wasn’t even around and his flat was empty. Allegedly in England doing some sort of training course, it wasn’t that he was simply trying to avoid us embarrassing him in his own hood as we first assumed. (Incidentally this worked out very nicely for him as he didn’t have to fork out for another visa for the Bath Tour later that month.)

So, with every hotel and hostel in the country booked out (and in neighbouring Frankreich), the MCC players unable to snag someone else’s empty bedroom decided to bust out whatever camping gear we could lay our hands on and try our luck in the forest.

Gallery 1: The determined tourists successfully circumvented the effects of Schulferien and consequential Unterkunftsmangel by uncovering a load of camping gear. (Pictures: W-M. Breward, MFP Records)

Nick Colling commandeered one vehicle for the big five hour drive with passengers Andrew Wembridge, Bhatia and Simrat Pal Singh while the ‘Cruise Brothers’ Veith Gattinger and Nic de la Rey made their way across as a family unit complete with their mother. Despite his best intentions, Phil Bowes’ voracious appetite for cricket after a week in La Manga was forced to remain unsated after a series of hassles with delayed flights and lost baggage resulted in a subsequent decision not to attend. 

With the team looking in a bit of trouble to make the numbers, it was Adrian Brooks to the rescue after he apparently bumped into a bloke named Steve Salthouse in Munich somewhere. Even more fortunate was that ‘Stefan Salzhaus’ for whatever reason had some sort of campervan thus (seemingly) solving both transport and accommodation hurdles. Pierre du Plessis decided to travel by train from relatively nearby Heidelberg thus securing an eleventh man.

Indeed, although one may have thought taking all that camping gear would immediately solve all accommodation problems, that unfortunately wasn’t the case at all given the fines you can theoretically cop for Wildcampen and that all the decent camping grounds were, perhaps unsurprisingly, booked out. Salthouse and Brooks made enquiries at six totally ausgebuchte places before finally settling for one that appeared to be solely there for those too disorganised to book in advance. But this was of no consequence as the MCC made themselves very comfortable with a delectable impromptu lakeside dinner with the camping stoves and grills searing the garlic bread, sausages, wraps, a few ribs and Dr. Simrat’s prize-winning chicken masala cooked to perfection.

Gallery 2: Salthouse and Singh were the masterchefs in command of the dinner fit for kings (including Chester at the back there) am Tunisee as Captain Vishv Bhatia salutes the serenity. (Pictures: W-M. Breward)

Joining us for dinner and a few Hacker Pschorrs was the charming Freiburger Chester who had very kindly offered to accommodate ALL of us in his apartment should we really have been stuck without anywhere for the night. So, many thanks to him for such a considerate (and brave) offer. In any case, the one night for those under canvas resulted in nothing more than a teensy bit of neck stiffness for a few that had well and truly subsided by the time we’d had an invigorating butane-boosted cooked breakfast of eggs, toast and tea.

The tourists made it to the Freiburg cricket ground bright and early to greet our hosts, most of whom were familiar faces from our previous encounter. We offered a hand where we could with a few sentimental memories being evoked when rolling out the Nomads’ Gen-1 Flicx. This old girl had definitely seen many a match in her lifetime, boasting more holes than a Swiss cheese – incidentally only 135 km south from there. Lying flat on the astroturf football field, the bounce was quite low but despite imperfections the pitch played quite true, certainly truer than the MCC Gen-2 Flicx on water-logged, insufficiently rolled earth.

Gallery 4: Steve Salthouse kindly volunteers to make up the numbers for the MCC after Brooksy discovered him wafting randomly around Munich in a campervan. (Picture: W-M. Breward)

Captain Vish won the toss, elected to bat and threw Salthouse (who claimed to have not played in 20 years) and ‘the General’ de la Rey over his left shoulder to face the opening salvos. They put on an opening partnership of 20 before Old Salty was bowled in the sixth over. De la Rey unfortunately suffered the same fate the very next over after compiling 15 (including three nice fours), allowing Wembridge the opportunity to join the good Doctor at the crease.

A steadying 48-run partnership ensued with both Simrat and Andrew attempting to make the most of the short straight boundaries, especially that concrete lip on the edge of the running track that allowed for some highly amusing ball launching over the heads of both mid-off and -on. Freiburger Deepak finally managed to dismiss the Singh on 19 after he skyed one straight up trying to work it away on the leg side. This was followed up by the bowler’s former teammate Captain VB being caught and bowled from a leading edge in an almost identical fashion a few overs later for a total of two.

Gallery 5: Seeparkstadion, Freiburg im Breisgau where a sun-smart Owen Davies prepares for what would be a shining, undefeated performance (Pictures: W-M. Breward)

With the MCC at 88/4 in the 23rd over, Owen Davies joined the Australian to begin what would be a fine innings; the Welshman making it clear from the start that he wasn’t going to to drive all the way to fecking Freiburg to bat for just 5 balls. He and Wembridge continued to work the ball around the field before the latter was caught at long on in the 28th over quite literally just one ball after announcing he would now ‘shift into third gear’. (Evidently with a fecked clutch or something.)

Accompanied briefly by Messrs. Colling and Gattinger, Davies continued on his merry way ticking over the singles with the odd boundary until the ‘drinks’ break was finally taken at 13:15. This happened to be a generic ‘everything’ break; drinks, tea and and drinks again all mashed into one. Turns out that the Freiburg boys were taking great care not to upset members of the local community after having been previously burnt by residents’ interpretation of the gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Mittagsruhe and subsequent fist-slamming by the authorities.

Freiburg’s provision of a huge delivery of delicious, very healthy looking pizzas went down a treat with the team enjoying the wonderful weather with a refreshing dip at the nearby Flückigersee. The General challenged Wembridge to the 1500 m Freestyle title around the lake and back which was flückig exhausting but equally as refreshing on such a lovely warm day – though they both returned gleichzeitig together so the result was in many ways a dead heat. (Geddit??)

Gallery 6: The lovely Flückigersee with Seepark Stadion in the foreground (Picture: N. Blau)

Resuming at 15:05, Gattinger was bowled shortly after for ten (including a ferocious flat six over mid-off) while Brooks and du Plessis accompanied Davies to the end of the forty overs; Owen seeing the team through to a decent target of 189 with an undefeated 38*.

With all accumulated break time already exhausted, Ravi and Vijay were out there facing the first ball within minutes, with Pierre and Brooksy opening the attack. Full credit is due to the Freiburg lads who displayed a mastery of skill and knowledge of their home ground, adapting their game appropriately to the shorter boundaries, quick outfield (and our less agile fieldsmen) to their advantage. With a decent handful of missed opportunities in the field from the MCC (excluding an edge in the direction of first slip that bounced at least two full feet in front of the always low-crouching slipper who then prevented a boundary with that swift foot twist) the opening bowlers remained wicketless, as did those leading the first change attack of Wembridge and pal Pal Singh.

The Freiburg scorecard shows ‘Pollock’ finally getting the first breakthrough, bowling Vijay to break the 100+ opening partnership, later determined to be his non-South African bro Nick ‘Colling’. Surviving a handful of further clangers in the field, in addition to a ball well-caught at long-on that was invalidated by the rubber-band-like rebound of a lanky frame against a steel boundary fence, Jamsteid continued on with Vijay, eventually hitting the winning runs in the 29th over despite further attempts from de la Rey, Salthouse and Gattinger to stem the flow with the ball.

Gallery 7: Keeping the scoreboard ticking over; the Freiburger who two weeks later would be immortalised as Elton John’s ‘Rocket Arm’. (Picture: W-M. Breward)

Captain Vishv graciously reclaimed the sacred anti-trophy in the post-match ceremony which had been judiciously painted by supporters of the Freiburg Nomads, no doubt expecting to get it straight back in the return fixture scheduled in Munich in the following weeks. (Spoiler alert: They didn’t)

Our heartiest thanks and congratulations to the Freiburg Nomads for the entertaining us and of course to Nick Colling and Steve Salthouse for carting everyone across the country and back. We look forward to giving the Freiburg boys a much better run for their money in our return-fixture in Munich in a few weeks’ time. 

Gallery 8: Captain Vishv proudly accepting the return of that bloody horrible head-thing in good cheer before the lads cooled off with a delightful alternative to Augustiner Helles thanks to the Nomads. (Pictures: W-M. Breward)

Wendi-Meg Breward 

Following the demise of match reporting, deemed so vital to the growth of the organisation, it seems only fitting that we finally publish one following the successful organisation of a social fixture.

‘Twas a glorious Saturday morning at the Hirschanger, upon which the sun beat its rays upon luscious green grasses where two of Munich’s oldest sporting (real sports) establishments met to do battle.

Before you read the remainder of this report it is worth noting that MCC are, apparently, the cricket team. The Roos, a group of uncouth, football playing, Antipodeans deemed to have little to no cricketing ability. They also had a German chap called Eddie.

Winning the toss, captain for the day Craig, made the rather ludicrous assumption that our opposition, bolstered by the return of former Test legend, Rick McCosker, would not be able to hold their own for 30 overs and elected to bat first.

Figure 1 – The Hirschanger in all its splendour and glory with cricketers in whites!

Opening the batting were Messers Altmann and Bowes, the latter who upon seeing one ball bowled by Roo’s veteran Julian during the warm up, decided that wearing a helmet would greatly benefit his own wellbeing. A strong opening partnership consisting of 1’s, 2’s and even a 3 brought the MCC to 50/0 at 10 overs, before Rick McCosker was invited to thrown down a few meat pies and had Bowes caught at deep cover for 16. At 55/1 MCC were looking to build, however we had better ideas. Messer Carr fell for a 3-ball duck, before Altmann holed out to Eddie, taking a catch in his first ever game of cricket, again, off Messer McCosker for a well battled 37. There was a short interlude whilst the entire team piled on Eddie!

In went Messer Barrett, who played the most sumptuous of cover drives, that would have put Ian Bell to shame. It really was glorious. He then edged a horrific wide one to the keeper a few balls later and went from looking like a true cricketer, to being just about village. Messer Khan, Mai., played 4 fantastic cricket shots, scored a single before also losing his wicket, for a quick fire 17.

Messer Kantor struck the MCC shot of the day, a mow to cow corner off McCosker for 6, and was holding steady, pumping runs and making up for Messer Khanna, who decided that he didn’t like the shorter form of the game and in protest finished with 3* off 26 deliveries.

MCC finished with 127 from their 30 overs. Worth noting that the innings lasted 2 hours and 8 minutes – a solid 14.5 overs per hour.

Teas, provided by Messer Barrett were very good. Bread rolls, cakes and I believe there was a curry provided by Messer Carr.

Figure 2 – MCC and Munich Roos players enjoying their teas

Roos then came out to bat and what happened next nobody could believe. Their opener Jarrett, who hadn’t played for over 3 years took us to the cleaners. There were a few dropped catches (namely 3 from your truly). I don’t remember all the wickets, due to our half time frivolities. Wickets were taken by Messer Cross (beautiful outswinger taken at 1^st slip by Messer Barrett), Messer Bowes took a wicket (stumped), Messer Carr appealed rather loudly for one that struck the batsman 9 foot outside his crease, however umpire Joel decided it would have hit the stumps and claimed him a wicket. At the other end Jarrett was in his own world and reached 70 before being bowled by Messer Sandhu, a rank full toss that should have been hit into the Chinese Tower.

The Roos snuck over the line in the end and finished with 128/7 off 24 overs.

We finished the evening having drunk 6 crates of beer and took a wander down by the Isar where Messe McCosker was found feeding the local swimmers with left over pieces of ham and chicken, before making our way to the Chinese Tower for a last beer.

A wonderful social occasion which we shall be repeating for years to come! Thanks to Jules, Hazza and Craig for the organisation!

Author: Phil Bowes

Of all the English language’s most welcome word pairings, including “cut price”,  “extra strength” and “insufficient evidence”, the one most like to raise a smile among MCC folks might just be “Philipp Bowes”. So joy welled in more than a few bleary eyes when dear ol‘ Phil celebrated his birthday at the Hirsch. Happy 68th birthday, mate! Good on ya!
Parallel to the main event, another decider event was being organised at the Hirsch, 40 over league between the MCC and Serendib (SSC). With mercury oozing out of many thermometers that noon, coupled with MCC doning ever so popular black clothings for the game, the home captain decided to bat first after winning the toss. The plan was rather simple, as the skip explained, save the best for the last. He wanted to save the sight of 11 men wearing Batman suit in the open till the last part of the afternoon.
Wayne and Vishv went in to face the opening bowlers. Vishv being hot on the heals of not getting much done lately, continued the streak and perished after playing a few decent drives. Wayne at the other end was clobbering the bowlers to every sector of the ground. MCC were 40 after 8 overs
when the first wicket fell. Macca came and went before anyone had a chance to breathe. The game spun into a broadway afterwards, with Bazza reenecting scenes from “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest”, and the umpire delivering an academy award winning performance for his role as “Nurse Ratched”. JD won the best supporting actor award for playing Adam Gilchrist in a totally unrelated incident. Intermission – 80/4 after 20 overs.
Second half of the innings began with captain Varun spanking the first ball for 4. After Wayne’s dismissal, Varun took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored a legendary 64. Getting flogged and whipped seemed to be the new in for the bowlers with him at the crease. Massive contributions from Nav and Mishi, running like monks to save themselves from horny nuns, conceiving any non existing singles into multiple runs.

MCC ended the innings with 198/8 after 40 overs, leaving the
opposition barbecued under the scorching sun.

Morally depleted SSC came in to bat against a morally augmented bowling and fielding attack. Some like it hot stars Waqas and Mishi began the onslaught with sweltering pace and sizzling lines and lengths. Mishi nicked both the opening batsmen with his in and out-swingers, dismantling their off-
stumps in both cases. Smooth operator had their number 3 batsman smartly caught at point, with Macca taking a smart catch. Khan Ali, though hit Mishi for a six, was set up skillfully by the captain with his new field. He took the bait a few balls later to sky one into the air, with Wayne judging the catch to perfection.
SSC captain Milan came in at number 6 with little plan but to be aggressive save his head from flying off against the knife sharp bouncers. He got a few hard earned runs while snicking the balls masterly over the stranded slip cordon. Finally deciding to attack, he swept one off Adi’s for six over cow corner, straight down Mishi’s throat. Nav and Mishi are hellbent on making every captain’s dream come true by making fielding look so effortless. Half the SSC’s batsmen got caught , half of them had their stumps uprooted, rest of them were lucky enough not to be playing. Good job by Macca in the end, who was asked to bowl spin by the captain, for wrapping up the tailenders. Special shout to Imti, Bazza, JD, Adi and Nav too for getting their bits and bobs during the field correct.

Serendib were all out 73 in just 19 overs, left some bowlers unnoticed the reason they didn’t get to bowl.

Match celebrations began with a bottle of champagne in the dressing room. Everyone had a toast to the enthralling victory, encapsulating every bit of emotion, that MCC is slowly but surely realizing it’s vast potential. It was a fitting birthday gift for Phil, who had been left disappointed so many times
with our team performances, whose devotion to the club exemplifies what it means to be a part of a club like ours. Happy birthday mate, good on ya! Jonty joined in with his new trousers, so did sexy Mäxi with his new bir…erhh… acquaintance. It was nice to see one MCC family being merry in unison.

Players of the day

• Phil, for not being 27 anymore. Happy birthday mate, good on ya!
• Wembo, for diligently getting the MCC furniture refurbished over the last few weeks. And keeping us all entertained with his trombone.
• Varun, for another captain’s knock, hardly any words in my thesouaouareous to describe.
• Mishi, for not bowling against MCC this season. His scintillating performance on the day involved taking three wickets and grabbing two catches at the boundary. He is adjudged Man of the Match for his efforts. Congrats!

Quotes of the day:

• “Could you walk a bit faster old woman?”, Wayne’s words of wisdom to SSC’s square leg umpire having a walkabout in between the overs.
• “Happy birthday dear Philipp”, everyone.
• ”                                                                 “, said Usman when enquired about his travel plans for the friendly game in Freiburg.
• “aaaaaahhhh aaaahhhhhhhh aahhh”, chirped some absolute legend getting fellated at the Hirsch after the game.
• “MCC goes in Bundesliga. No it stays”.
• “That’s all folks!”, me.

A Comprehensive win for MCC against MIC, leading to promising start for the Bundesliga Season 2019

On 27^th April 2019, Saturday, MCC started the Bundesliga Season 2019 on its home ground. Varun the captain leading the MCC for the first time lost the toss and MIC surprising choose to bat first, considering the conditions favourable to bowling.

I would have loved to start the report, saying it was a sunny day and clear blue skies…blah blah…but it wasn’t. It was cold, passing showers and some gracious sunlight. Yes its April in Munich and German saying supports it: “April macht was er will”: April does what it likes)

But one thing was special, the BCV umpire did not turn up for our first long version league game. Apparently, he was late as his car tyres burst…hmm…thank god he didn’t say that elephants on the road blocked him.

MIC innings

So, we started the game for first 10 overs without the BCV umpire. MCC opened the bowling with Waqas and Naveen. Though one of the opening batsmen was trying to hit every ball out of the park, they stuck with their good line and length. MCC was rewarded for their disciplined bowling. Naveen, the new MCC speedster, got the first breakthrough. Of course, supported by the vice-captain Macca’s astonishing one hand catch at mid-off, felt like he had some special super powers to attract the ball to his hand. Later Arun took a good catch who was told to stand right under nose of the batsmen. MIC was struggling with 26 for 2. The opening bowlers kept the pressure and the pressure was maintained throughout the innings by the next change of bowlers, Jonty, Macca, Aditya and Imtiaz. MIC was trying to build partnership until Macca spoiled it. Macca was the pick of the bowlers who took the crucial wicket of the only settled batsmen, by bowling a pitch of delivery, drawing the batsmen and rest was completed by Sumeet, the run saver keeper. He ran though the tail and finished with an amazing bowling figures of 4 wickets in 6 overs conceding only 17 runs. Overall the bowling department did their part very well and was well-supported by sharp fielding, restricted MIC for a low score of 106.

MCC innings

Vishv and Arun opened the innings to chase down the mediocre total. Vishv was out trying to pull which lead to a top edge. In came the vice-captain Macca. Consistently rotating the strike and occasional boundaries,  MCC was safely placed at 40 for 1. Just when things were settling down, Arun perished on a poor shot selection to spinner and Macca was later bowled. With two new batsmen at the crease, the score read 54 for 3. Paul Busby and Varun had the responsibility to build a solid partnership and take MCC home.

And they did with style. Led by Paul Busby who handsomely hit two sixes back-to-back, just took the game away. He was simply unstoppable. Varun at the non-strike, lucky enough to enjoy the Busby power hitting, got inspired and hit a classy flick towards square leg. The experienced batsmen lead MCC to a thumping win by 7 wickets and achieved the target in 22.3 overs. MCC team cherished the win by with good cold German Helles beers.

Arun

Match Overview:

CCB Batting XI – 177/10 – Bharath 50 (77) P.Bowes 3-8, J. Kantors Foot 1 Run Out

MCC XI – 162/9 – M.Hoeck 51 (64), V.Bhatia 36 (70)

On a cold, 9-degree, April afternoon the MCC were to be pitted against CCB, two teams who had fought it out last season in the Verbandsliga for a vital position in the Bundesliga. MCC had been victorious, ergo ‘Grudge match’. As usual, only 4 members of the MCC team were punctual at 1130 with the remainder stumbling in in dribs and drabs, the collective XI finally coming together circa 1155. During the set up we had been informed that the T20 XI playing to the west of Munich had been victorious in their first game, Glückwünsch!

Captain for the day, Prafulla ‘Praf’ Toke, sporting a new line of ‘Customised Sports Trousers’ lost the toss and was asked to bowl first. It was at this point we realised we were up against 16 players from CCB, who clearly were pulling out all the stops to assure themselves of victory. They would be inserting their batting XI first.

Warm up completed, MCC took to the field and aroused, sorry ROUSED by Prafs team talk were in position for the first ball to be bowled by Maiwand ‘M One’ Khan, consisting of 2 wides and a single. From the other end the MCC had the pleasure of witnessing the return of Maximillian ‘Maxi’ Hoeck, who proceeded to take a bit of a hammering, conceding 30 from his 2 overs. He was swiftly replaced by new member Avinash ‘Mishi’ Mishra who was an absolute delight to watch. Line, length, customisation to the flicx, it was lovely to watch, made even better by the fact that he had turned up and played in full whites. It tugged at the heartstrings of this writer. Mishi and M One bowled extremely well together, with the first wicket of the day coming from a run out. The CCB batsman hit the ball straight to Owen ‘Can’t be stumped off a no-ball’ Davies, with the on-strike batsman deciding that there was a single on his arm. CCB non-striking batsman (BCV Vice President Sharique) was not of the same opinion and instead of calling no, elected to save himself and very quickly turned around to get back in his crease, selling his team mate down the river (thanks to Praf for this eloquent paraphrasing). Owen didn’t even need to throw the ball over the stumps, instead walking to the crease and whipping off the bails himself. Upon later reflection he was heard stating ‘I wish I had done a Jonty Rhodes’.

In his next over karma however struck for Sharique, as Mishi clean bowled him, his first wicket for the MCC! Mishi bowled 2 spells, was a pleasure to keep wicket to and finished the day with figures of 8-4-16-1 AND he came out for a curry afterwards (which he didn’t really enjoy as it wasn’t spicy enough). Welcome to the club young man!

After a great burst from M One, Jonathan ‘Bionic Man’ Deverill was programmed to bowl and after needing some readjustment after his first 2 wide deliveries, bowled CCB’s number 4 who inexplicably (especially after being advised against it) tried to play a late cut off the back foot (IN APRIL) and was deservedly clean bowled. The Bionic Man was doing such a great job of scaring the life into the opposition that they again had a brain fade and tried to take a quick single to short square leg, where Mishi collected the ball and, trying to be a hero, attempted to throw down one stump. Fortunately, Phil ‘Iron Gloves’ Bowes was able to collect the throw and whip off the bails with the batsman very short of his crease.

James ‘Jemas’ Kantor was warming up at the other end and although wicket-less during his spell, had one of his deliveries pumped straight back at him and in true cricketing fashion, stuck out his foot and manage to deflect the ball onto the stumps catching the batsman out of his crease. It is worth noting that the umpire was not paying any attention, so thank you to the opposition batsman (Padhu) who did indeed walk. Jemas later informed us that his life partner Julia was in Stuttgart playing football (he called it ‘Soccer’ but I ignored him) and had lost 7-0 and 6-0 allowing us to conclude that there is finally a sport in which he is better than her at!

Craig ‘Bluey’ Barrett bowled a very tight 8 over spell during which he was rewarded with a wicket (caught Jemas) and finished with figures of 8-0-35-1.

Owen ‘can’t be stumped off a no-ball’ Davies, well he enticed the batsman to run down the wicket, Iron Gloves whipped off the balls, only for it to be called a no-ball. You could not have predicted it better. True gold. That batsman went on to hit a 50 of the highest calibre so well done to him (Bharath). Owen did also have a chance dropped by Iron Gloves, and after changing ends upon the instance of the Bionic Man (not successful sadly) he was taken out of the attack after 3 overs.

The most bizarre incident happened earlier in the innings whilst we were fielding. Debutant Vishv ‘Vishi’ Bhatia ran over to the boundary to collect a ball that had been hit for 4 and whilst attempting to return the ball to the wicketkeeper, managed to thrown the ball so far backwards that it ended up in the Isar!! He was therefore handed the gloves so that he couldn’t cause any further damage.

Last up, Phil ‘Pie Man’ Bowes was thrown the ball and bowling some of the slowest deliveries anyone has seen since the legend of Harit Khanna, finished with figures of 1.5-0-8-3 with 2 catches in the covers and one on the boundary.

CCB’s batting XI finished with 177 off 39.5 overs.

Anyway, I have just realised how much I have written so far so I will keep the batting short and sweet.

Vishi batted really well, applying himself on the flicx, playing some glorious pulls and cover drives, taking his chances when they came and running really hard between the wickets. He got 36 very hard earned runs. Well done mate!

Arun ‘The Secretary’ Karthik batted well for his 10 runs, contributing to an opening partnership of 45 runs with Vishi.

The Bionic Man got a peach of a delivery, Iron Gloves missed a straight one, Davies was triggered by Bowes (it was out), Mishi and Jemas both batted well focussing on getting the strike back to Maxi, but both got bowled.

Praf topped off a great day of cricket, having injured his knee and not bowled a single ball, by swinging wildly at his first ball and getting his off stump removed – he was doing it for the team though, so good on you Praf, you could have done a Craig!!

Maxi almost carried us over the line, playing a sensational knock, reminding us that he is more of a batsman than a bowler. Some really powerful hitting down the ground, including almost decapitating umpire Karthik who had to immediately leave the field sporting a war wound on the chin, Maxi got to 50 before being sacrificed by Craig who decided against running a 2 to get the dangerman back on strike. Craig, along with Maiwand, required 19 from the last over, so Craig very admirably blocked the last 2 balls of the game, defending his average.

All in all it was a great day out, MCC being the true winners because we only had 11 players and CCB had 16. We went to Fraulein Grüneis for a beer and fines (details on this to follow later) and then a few of us headed for a curry.

Scorecard: https://ecn.cricket/match/131491-5574663/scorecard/?period=559705&fbclid=IwAR1rBmg3_Japd-FC1TwQPeBGcA62DwjOwWP5zltPqw8SY3VU6_2bn958JXk

On a beautiful Sunday morning the touring party assembled at the Hirschhanger ground for yet another one day tour match against SCV which has now become a season opening tradition for both the clubs involved.  Bhatia and Toke were supposed to join the touring party directly at the match grounds. However Toke had to rush to Munich from his weekend break in Stuttgart for “car emergency” and therefore joined his teammates on their way to Stuttgart.
After reaching Stuttgart both Toke and car expert Shaikh disappeared to cater to the ailing Toke’s car which meant MCC were left with 9 players at the start of the game.
MCC lost the toss and was inserted in the field. Openers Khan and Khan bowled in good areas and kept the run rate in check. At 10 overs the host team had carefully amassed 35 runs without any casualty. Both the SCV openers played with caution and respected the good deliveries from the MCC pace duo. As soon the first change bowlers (Naveen and Toke respectively) positive intent was made by the SCV openers to increase the scoring rate. Whilst Toke was unlucky for not dismissing the clear caught behind of opener Kohli , Naveen on the other end dropped regulation catch of opposition skipper who went on to score 56. At the 20 over drinks break the batting team was cruising at 104 for 0.  First breakthrough came for MCC in form of runout when MCC skipper Deshpande ran out his opposite number. The other opener decided to retire as well with score 124 for 1. MCC bowlers Karthik and Zeeshan were given the bowl to give breakthrough which they did. Karthik got rid of the number four batsman for a well made nought. Skipper Deshpande affected another runout leaving SCV with score of 181 for 4 after 30 overs. MCC pulled the breaks and bowled some good spells. Shaikh and Toke got the breakthroughs of their main hitters with Shaikh ending with 3 scalps against his name. SCV were restricted to 229 after 40 overs on a good batting surface.

MCC openers Toke and Karthik started cautiously and withered good spell of fast bowling from SCV seamers. Karthik slashed a wide delivery which was caught well at backward point. Debutant Vishy Bhatia was rightly adjudicated LBW for 0 on a good in swinging delivery from bowler Sharir who has managed to copy Indian star Bumrah to perfection.
Obaid fell for 1 bowled playing a very rash shot leaving MCC 16 for 3 after 8 overs. Skipper Deshpande walked in and played two lovely drives and gave MCC a bit of hope of a good partnership however he was force to return to the changing rooms thanks to yet another rash shot leaving MCC 47 for 4 after 13. Shaikh, Toke, Naveen and Nag soon returned to the pavilion out to rather forgettable shots. MCC was reeling at 61 for 8 after 20 overs. An early close to the match was looking highly probable. Bhatia and Imtiaz Khan however had other ideas. In an amazing partnership of counter attack both the batsman played some very good shots to give some respectability to the score. While Bhatia was playing his usual lofted drives and sub continental wrists shots, Imtiaz was determined to hit the ball out of Stuttgart. Both the batsmen stitched a 78 run partnership and ensured that MCC had something to rejoice after long day in the field. Imtiaz took one risk too many and was bowled for a well made 26. Waqas Khan was caught napping on the field when he was runout where the MCC chase ended at 142 after 29 overs. Bhatia Khan partnership definitely made the top order think what if we would have hung around a bit more!! Typical MCC top order collapse!

After having some friendly beers with the opposition, the group sat together and recounted the funny moments of the game. There was a close contest between Toke for his late arrival, Karthik for his amazing throw attempt (the throw travelled the entire distance of 2 cm) and Vishy’s hilarious drop behind the stump. Despite the defeat the touring party had some good laughs at the end and returned home.

MCC vs SCV in Stuttgart
Toss SCV
SCV won by 87 runs
Zeeshan Shaikh 5-0-41-3
Waqas Khan 8-0-25-1
Arun Karthik 3-0-14-1
Prafull Toke 8-0-53-1

Batting
Ankur Bhatia 33 not out
Imtiaz Khan 26 bowled
Prafull Toke 14 caught
Varun Deshpande 11 bowled

MOM : Ankur Bhatia

Best Regards,
PT

On a brilliant spring afternoon, a friendly XI made its way to the edge of the Innenraum. The beautifully quiet village of Planegg is home to DJK Würmtal, who are incidentally going to be hosting the first round of the Pokal T20 competition in a couple of weeks.

What was scheduled to be 30 overs a side, following a football induced delayed start time, we turned up to the ground excited to get going. There was only one problem, there was no pitch laid!

Only 45 minutes following the anticipated start time, Shashi was the successful tosser and MCC had elected to bat first. The game was reduced to 25 overs, giving rise to the question of whether Würmtal had delayed the start to have a closer look at MCCs T20 capability.

Mudi and Wembo were chosen to open the batting with Wembo being on the back of a successful knock in Malta and Mudi high on confidence after his Lions trial.

Würmtal opened the bowling with a slingy left arm pace bowler, hooping it around. After a couple of attempted cut shots to balls that didn’t get up, Wembo got one that came back into him, there was allegedly an edge, the fielders passionately appealed and following a short consultation with Maiwand at square leg, Shahzad gave Wembo out Caught Behind.

Macca arrived at the crease to join Mudi and they went about trying to build a strong base for the MCC innings. Macca, in typical fashion, pushed the good ball into space and punishing anything too straight or too wide. Mudi at the other end was at his destructive best. When he’s on form he is fun to watch and watch you must… especially as an umpire or non-striker. Mudi started taking aim at Macca and there were repeated missiles hit straight causing permanent damage to the stumps at the bowlers, with the off stump cleanly split in half. Macca found himself ducking or hitting the deck on at least three separate occasions. The score was racing along, until there was one too many “Yes, no, shit, sorry” calls between the two of them and Macca found himself being sold down the Würm and run out by about 6ft.

Busby joined Mudi at the crease and struggled to get going with a number of dots and a was dropped at long off early on. Thankfully Mudi was seeing it like a beach ball and started targeting a leg spinner bowling consistent leg stump half volleys. He hadn’t learnt from Mudassir repeatedly putting him onto the adjacent football pitch. After both batsmen had hit him for 6s in an over, he moved to bowling seam up. It didn’t change the outcome as Mudi came down the wicket and launched him for a monster 6 into the nearby factory. That brought up a drinks break after 17 overs, which may seem slightly generous on a comfortably warm day, but those 17 overs had taken 2 hours.

Shortly after the drinks break, Paul chipped a tame cut shot to cover for 12, bringing Mr Barrett to the crease. After nurdeling his way to 9 and beginning to look comfortable, he played all around a straight ball much to the delight of the bowler.

Shashi came to the wicket and looked to keep the scorecard moving. Timing wasn’t quite on his side but thankfully the Mudi train kept on rolling, stopping only when the fielding side had to go fetch the ball. After a flurry of boundaries, including another massive 6, Mudi went for another big hit straight. A shot that had it carried would have brought up his hundred, ended up being pouched by long off running in. A disappointing end to a fine innings that deserved a hundred.

The runs didn’t dry up with Mudi’s departure as Shashi hit his stride and Pratik, in his first game for MCC, showed the kind of power hitting that was evident in the indoor training. Between the two of them, they put on about 40, with Pratik accounting for ‘around’ 30 of them . As well as his power hitting, he’s also an accomplished scorer, so it’s no surprise that when he was batting the recording of his runs was a little unclear.

MCC finished on a very strong 222-5 off their 25 overs. It was deemed a defendable total but the ground isn’t the biggest and it still required discipline to keep them at bay.

‘Powel’ Scott and Maiwand were chosen to open the bowling. As ever, the miserly Scott honed in on a length and took advantage of the natural variation you get with boards and coconut matting. Maiwand bowled a floaty first over but once he blew the cobwebs out he found pace and bounce off a length with the ball moving away nicely. The opening batsman’s Kashmir willow was no match as a chunk flew off after a particularly full delivery.

The first wicket was generated by a solid piece of fielding from Craig, turning and throwing, whilst simultaneously shouting for Busby to take the bails off. The batsman was short of his ground and MCC were on their way.

Shahzad was brought on to replace an unlucky Maiwand and was unlucky to not finish with at least two wickets. Srikant, Würmtal’s leg spinner was brought in at number 3 to try and close his personal deficit of around 50. He edged through first, second and third slips repeated as well as being dropped by Busby on his way to 10.

Pratik was brought on to replace the ever consistent Paul Scott, who was unlucky to see a thin edge dropped by the other Paul stood up to the stumps. Pratik, a self proclaimed “medium fast” bowler, took a wicket on his first delivery, beating the batsman with pace or lack thereof. A gentle inducker saw the batsman trapped on the crease, giving Pratik his first MCC wicket.

He followed up his first wicket with his second a few balls later, having Srikant caught by Shahzad at backward point.

A change of bowlers saw spin twins, Shashi and Usman brought on. A brave decision with short straight and leg side boundaries, they would need to be on their line and lengths. As always with a pre season game, there was still some rust in the fingers and a few loose balls found their way clearing the boundary.

With Würmtal starting to gather momentum and MCC only having 10 fielders, the gaps in the field were starting to widen as balls were squirted away, flying over the quick outfield for 4. Mudi, fresh off his jug avoiding 94, was diving and sliding around at cover to make up for the missing fielder. Clearly his runs had shaken off the injury he’d sustained the day before. A push to wide mid off, saw him swoop round, off balance on one foot and facing the wrong way, throw the ball under his armpit straight over the stumps. What would have been an easy single anywhere else on the field ended with the batsman 2 feet short of the crease.

Craig ‘moon ball’ Barrett was brought on to really tighten the flow of runs. His ‘flighted’ off breaks excited the Würmtal batsman and they duly took on the challenge of clearing the front leg and swiping at every ball. After a couple of slogs found their way to the fence, he cleaned up Rohit with one that turned and took the stumps.

Pratik shortly followed that wicket with another one, his third, with another gentle inducker flummoxing the well set Suraj. The procession continued as Craig enticed another swing, this time being caught by Paul Scott at a floating slip, gully, third man kind of position.

The skipper brought back Maiwand, who had stayed loose through the innings by patrolling the cow corner boundary. When the batsman finally made contact, he squirted a ball out to cover and took on the arm of Mudi. With two and a half stumps to aim at the non-strikers end he picked the ball up on the turn and hit the stumps with ease. The batsman again a long way short of his ground.

Maiwand finished off by getting a well deserved wicket with a sharp full ball that the batsman didn’t see and the final overs passed by without much of note happening.

Würmtal finished on 168-9, MCC winning the game by 54 runs.

Overall a successful run out for the players involved, against what won’t be the strongest side we’ll face this year. Still, everyone will take away things they need to work on as we swiftly move towards the season start.

MOM – Mudi – For his 94 and two spectacular run outs

TFC – Busby – For my 4 dropped catches and 1 shit shot

Paul Busby