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International Tour |
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Early September and the highlight of the year – the international tour. For the first time, BBB CC visited Spain – Albir, near Benidorm, courtesy of John Hunt who has a holiday home nearby. The tour started with a the routine ‘Egg & Bacon Buttie’ failure by Midge, and continued with Boothy’s bag not arriving at Alicante – only important because it had all the BBB bats. Of course our two strike bowlers ignored the Captains strictures about ‘no drinking and in bed by 12’ and stumbled home just before dawn. |
| The rest of the team, i.e. the geriatrics, weren’t capable of staying out beyond 12. However all the team collected together at lunchtime, ready for the big game, Boothy and Martin Brown with red eyes. Sporting Alfas play on a ground which doubles as a golf driving range, on which they have invested in a good quality artificial wicket. The tractor collected the golf balls, and we were ready to start. John Hunt, captain for the day, won the toss and put Sporting Alfas in to bat. |  |
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BBB started well. Boothy and Martin bowled with pace and accuracy and both openers (including Jimmy Morgan) played and missed. One opener hit a slashing shot to point off Martin, but Stephen Mercer was up to it and held an excellent catch. Sadly the promise of this early spell could not be maintained, and BBB settled down to a long hot afternoon in the field. The lack of another strike bowler or two showed as the Alfas batsmen showed their appreciation of our gentle medium pace attack. |
| Young Jimmy Morgan, the 14 year old opener and obviously a class player,
scored 151 before walking to give other batsmen a game. It might have
been different if one of the balls he had played at and missed in the
early spell had caught an edge. Later in the innings a missed stumping
(Wood) when he was 96 and a missed catch (Hunt) in the ‘00s did
not detract from a superb innings. Thus Alfas reached 295 in their 40
overs. Martin’s figures of 2 for 43 were very creditable and Boothy
deserved better than his 0 for 25. |
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So only 296 to get, in 40 overs. Mick Stott and Paul Levet, our openers, matched the Alfas early run rate despite aggressive bowling. Sadly Mick succumbed, and a procession started. John Hunt & Martin Brown going in short order. Only Levet batted doggedly on – fending off the good balls and hitting the few bad balls. After a good innings, he was disappointed to be out top a relatively soft delivery. Boothy also got a few, but at 47 for 5, it was looking like a disaster. Then Stephen Brown came in and showed some flowing shots – however the procession was continuing. |
| Stephen Mercer and Nick Holden did not trouble the scorers. This brought in John Hill at number 9 and for a while he and Brown looked good together until Stephen went to a soft shot. Hill continued with Roger Wood, and the two took BBB through the 100 barrier (relief from everyone) and up to the 120s before Wood holed out in the covers. |  |
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Colin Darlington, concerned that his roommate Hill might get 50, solved
that with a spooned catch off his third ball, and the game was over. Sadly we had not made the 296, nor anything like it. But the game was good fun played in good heart and sport by both sides. |
| John Hill was BBB man of the match and our presentation of caps to Sporting Alfas was matched by a plaque from then. |  |
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Other items of interest: banking hooligan Levet fell off a chair twice in the restaurant (after an extended ‘refreshment’ period with the Alfas team), the second time smashing the chair to pieces; Wood sneaked off to his two women early Sunday morning; and the ‘Bowlers Name? Trophy’ was won by Martin Brown (the competition wasn't there this year). As for the rest, what goes on tour stays on tour. |
BBB innings:
Player
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How out
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Score
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| Stott | 6
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| Levet | 15
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| Hunt | 1
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| Brown M | 1
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| Booth | 14
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| Holden | 0
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| Brown S | 15
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| Mercer | 0
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| Hill | not out | 36
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| Wood | 8
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| Darlington | 0
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| Extras | ||
| Total | 124
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Sporting Alfas Batting: 295 for 4 off 40 overs
Bowling
Bowler
|
Overs
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Maidens
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Runs
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Wickets
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| Booth | 8
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1
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25
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0
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| Brown M | 8
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0
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43
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2
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| Hill | 8
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0
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58
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0
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| Stott | 8
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0
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55
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0
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| Hunt | 7
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0
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86
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1
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| Darlington | 1
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0
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19
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0
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Apologies to any whose actual score doesn't match the reported score.
