The true ‘Spirit of Cricket’ is in Austria

It was Thursday, 25th July 2009 and, after all the preparation and organization, we were off once again to Austria for our 9th Overseas Tour and our 4th to beautiful Velden.

Bearing in mind our destination, it was bound to be that our flights and coaches were exactly on time and everything went like clockwork. They were and it did.

Upon our arrival on Thursday afternoon, Elisabeth, Rudi and Verena gave us the perfect welcome at The Erlenheim, our favourite Austrian hotel, with hugs and kisses aplenty before checking in to our rooms and then into the pool!

With cricket starting the very next day, a relaxing evening was had by one and all before we set off to Velden, our hosts and opponents for the first of two 40 over matches.

When we arrived at the cricket ground on Friday morning we were stunned by the amazing new pavilion that we were confronted with. It was absolutely fantastic and an awesome achievement by Michael, Stefan, Eric and all at Cricket Club Velden 91. With a cleverly designed semi-outside changing room with lovely showers inside the building and a bar area that would not disgrace a top-class bistro, we were well set for the tour.

Cricket Club Velden 91’s superb new pavilion

Cricket Club Velden 91: Gagan, Bharat, Uday, Mark, Franzi, Paul, Bhana, Bala, Sumith, Eric Bananaman.

Beechwood Cricket Club: Freeman, Warner, Johnson, Brown, Jim, Robinson, Baba, Patel, Rege, Bates, Savory.

Tony lost the toss and Velden skipper Mark decided to bat first. Important note; any leg-side deliveries would be called ‘wide’ - this would become evident later!

With Jim disposed for an hour or so with homework, we were kindly offered a substitute fielder (Raul) and also allowed to bowl him!  A steady start was made by opening batsmen Gagan & Bharat with Alok taking the first over from the Mountain End and Raul bowling from the Pavilion End.  Alok made the breakthrough with 53 on the board taking the wicket of Bharat courtesy of a tidy catch from Raul in the covers. A similar dismissal followed with the score at 64!  The score then moved on steadily with new batsmen Mark and Uday at the crease, but tidy bowling from our guest Baba along with Dodgy (Prashant – 3/43) kept Beechwood in the game.  Enter the Savory!  Without any cricket for 3 or more weeks due to his injured hand, Chris (3/13) came on late in the day from his favoured Mountain End, and immediately bowled Mark with a flipper that surprised us all, even Chris, but none more than Mark! A Champagne moment! This vital breakthrough of perhaps Velden’s steadiest bat lead to wickets falling at regular intervals with Emlyn (1/32) supporting Chris from the new Pavilion End. Velden were bowled out within 33 overs for 170, Alok taking a well judged catch at long on to dismiss Eric the Bananaman (don’t ask me!) to close Velden’s innings!

Freeman & Warner set off in search of 170, a target thought well within our reach; however, wickets fell at regular intervals with the Velden bowlers sharing out the spoils.  Tim, batting at No 3 had got to 34 when Franzi took his second wicket, and at 110/7 things looked bleak.  Jim then took on the Boycott role (not sure if there is an Australian alternative; there is certainly no Greek alternative) and nudged us along to 136 ably assisted by Dodgy. All very tense stuff and, when Jim fell, Emlyn came to the crease to partner Dodgy with our last wicket with The Savory standing by with his injured hand!  As runs were carefully taken and leg-side wides were given (top score with 46!), both Emlyn (17 n.o.) & Dodge (26 n.o.) batted with accomplishment and cool heads, enabling Beechwood to reach their target 8 down with overs to spare (172/8).  We had won a very close and enjoyable game to the delight of us all. Particular congratulations to Emlyn, who surpassed his best ever score with the bat, a feat he was to repeat twice during the tour.

Drinks were then had at the bar, stories were being told, Dodgy had his (well-deserved) audience and the sun was starting to go down with the mountains in clear view. It just seemed perfect. After all the hard work it was a fitting way to end to a great day.

After match drinks and an audience with Dodgy!

The Velden Sixes

Alarm bells were set as six of us were off once again to the ground for a 9.00 am start to the appropriately named Velden Sixes, the annual 6-a-Side competition, one of the most prestigious cricket tournaments in mainland Europe. For the first (but hopefully not last) time, Beechwood had been invited to play. We were representing Blighty in a truly inter-continental tournament that included teams from Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia!

Prague would be our opponents with Adrian Sadler (the second Adrian in the touring party and nicknamed Ade as opposed to Hhhhhhhwwwweeeeeeeeennn) acting as the Captain of Beechwood. Due to the late addition of a seventh team (there are normally SIX) in the competition, it was to be 8 overs per side. Batting first, Prague hit 103 all out with Tim taking 3 wickets and both Jim and I taking one each!  It was to be a total beyond us after Tim, Alok and Ade fell both cheaply and early; Emlyn (22) & Freeman (19) chipped away at the target but all to no avail.  Unfortunately we completed our innings at 56/4.  Not a great start but better things were sure to come!

With a fair wait until our next match that afternoon, off we went back to the hotel for a swim and a light lunch but, due to a heavy downpour, the rain had delayed the competition by an hour, therefore, when we returned to Velden in the afternoon it was always going to be unlikely that we would get our final 3rd game in.

Ljubljana, however, were to be our next opponents and what a nice bunch they were.  This time Emlyn was to Captain the side and after winning the toss he decided that we would bat first.  This time Tim got off to a flyer (57 n.o.) and with Ade at No 3 scoring 24 n.o. Beechwood set a decent target of 102/1, the one being me and caught on camera!  Alok, Emlyn, Tim and Ade all took a wicket a piece as Ljubljana were never in the hunt finishing on 67/4; we were getting in to this six-a-side now and were looking forward to playing Milan!  Beechwood Cricket Club playing Prague, Ljubljana and Milan, I would never have thought this possible a few years back, brilliant stuff.

Time was clearly running out and if we were to play our final game of the day then it would not start until 8.00pm!  Hence we re-set our alarms and were prepared for a 9.30 am start on the Sunday morning!

However, the rains came down and, whilst enjoying our breakfast, we decided to pop down to the ground and see what was ‘occurring’?  Not much really, as soon as the rain stopped it then started again and time was running out on a tight schedule for the final day’s order of play.  The equivalent of a Penalty Shootout was the choice and got the thumbs up by the Beechwood lads as, surely, hitting a set of stumps from one end with no batsman at the other end was ‘a piece of cake’!

Ade, captaining the side for the day, won the toss and invited Milan (Kingsgrove) Cricket Club to bowl first; 5 balls to be bowled by the 5 outfield players, simple eh?  The pitch was now crowded with officials, both teams and spectators, thrilling stuff!  The Milan skipper was an extremely amiable chap and it was good to chat with him about cricket in Italy during the rain interval.  However, I digress; both teams had extremely near misses but, after 5 deliveries each the score was nil-nil!  A change of ends made little difference although the wickets were now starting to be broken, a 2-2 draw with Tim and Emlyn taking the plaudits.  A third change and if no result was to be made this time then it was sudden death!  Milan got off to a good start taking a 2-1 lead but then a quick turn of events saw Beechwood turn the tables and we were through to the Semi-Finals, 3-2 with a ball to spare!  Bowl Off’s were definitely the ‘in thing’ for us although we sympathised with Milan on their cruel luck (but not much) as it would have been nice to play them in what would probably have been a fair contest.

With the weather still looking dodgy and ‘Bowl Outs’ all the rage, both Semi-Finals were to be played in the now familiar manner and, bearing in mind that our next opponents were Castellucchio, this was the only chance we had! 

Prague had beaten Velden and were awaiting their opponents in the Final.  Winning the toss, Ade again stuck with his choice of bowling second and, again, ‘wickets’ were hard to come by!  Nil-nil after 5 deliveries with Beechwood shaving the stumps on a number of occasions, perhaps these ‘bowl outs’ are the way forward for some of us ‘old uns’!

With Alok taking the final delivery, the tenth ball, the score sheet was still clean!  No worries here though as the perfect delivery hit middle stump and that was it, we were in the final!  Amazing stuff.

Although we were keen for just one more ‘Bowl Out’, the sun was now shining and a full 10 over per side match was to be had.

The Final!  Oh dear, a match too far or a ‘Bowl Out’ too few?  Having played Prague in our opening match we knew that we were going to be up against it.  Ade won the toss and elected to bat with Tim & I opening up.  Tim got us off to a good start with 21 on the board when he departed, shortly to be followed by our skipper Ade.  From then on both Emlyn (24 n.o.) and I (22 n.o.) did our best to push the score along against some tight Prague bowling but we could not quite push on and set a decent target, we finished on 73 which was a little better than last time.

With me looking forward to my bowling, we took to the field in hope rather than anticipation and our bowling was dispatched to all parts of the ground with Prague reaching their target in 5 overs!  Myers (33 n.o.) and Rogers (36 n.o.) did the damage.  Good Czech Republic names those boys!  The last over went for 25 thus preventing me from turning my arm and the game in our favour!  Our congratulations went to Prague who were worthy winners of the competition in what was a superb event. 

The Beechwood Six

After the final we were due a long-deserved rest, but instead decided to instigate an epic encounter with the little Veldeners. Our hosts’ children each took it in turns to dispatch the bowling to all corners. A tour highlight came during one of the rare occasions when the adults had a go. Muk took guard and proceeded to smash a long hop into Umpire Colin fielding at silly, no, ridiculous short leg. Beware kids; we’ll be back next year for a rematch.

Muk was to present the awards and said many a nice words about Beechwood whilst, at the same time, quoting the local paper report in which Beechwood were noted as being the Noblest Cricket Team in England!  Not a bad CV eh?  Adrian Sadler then was asked to accept the Runners Up trophy and kindly asked yours truly to take the presentation; nice one Ade.  Then the Prague skipper, who spoke very well, then said a few words in congratulations to Muk and Cricket Club Velden for their superb event, their hospitality and friendship, hear-hear to that.

What a day, and now it was just one match left to play, our final 40 over match v Velden on the Monday and then we could hang our boots up.

Cricket Club Velden 91: Varasi, Much, Uday, Mark, Franzi, Makesh, Baba, Raul, Maneish, Rakesh, Michi, Wally.

Beechwood Cricket Club: Freeman, Warner, Sadler, Johnson, Brown, Jim, Robinson, Jitu, Patel, Rege, Bates, Savory.

With plenty of people available to play in our last match on Tour it was agreed that we would play a 12 a side 40 over match with only 11 fielders on the pitch at any one time.

Again, Mark skippered Velden but this time lost the toss and Beechwood opted to bat. The two Ade’s opened up but not for long as, after 5 overs, we were 25/3.  A repair job was needed and Jim came in to support Treve who was, by now, adjusted to the slow pace of the pitch and the bowlers.  The ‘pull’ shot proved to be most successful as the run rate accelerated to 80 in 14 overs when Jim fell to the bowling of Maneish (3/26).  Treve continued to amass quick runs with some magnificent drives before falling victim to Baba (2/10 - our player on Friday!) after scoring a superb 80.  A late flurry of runs by the ever-steady Dodgy (21) saw Beechwood reach 213 for 10 at tea with both Mark (2/40) and Franzi (3/27) the pick of the other Velden bowlers.  Lunch/tea was provided in the form of a delicious plate of pasta that had us all looking for more!

Out we went for our final fielding session of the Tour, Alok taking the Mountain End and Tim the Pavilion End.  Tim had his eye on the dangerous Varasi and, off the 5th delivery of his first over, yours truly faced a ‘skier’ at long off and, after not thinking it was coming ‘my way’ quickly adjusted and gratefully held on to the catch.  This set the tone of the afternoon as some decent chances were snuffled up by the Beechwood boys in Velden’s pursuit of 213.  Wickets fell at regular intervals and Velden were looking down the barrel at 56/5 with Alok (3/31) and Emlyn (2/39) amongst the early wickets.  All was not lost though as Mark (52) and Raul (58) took the attack to Beechwood’s bowlers causing some concern that the game had not been won yet.  With runs now flowing freely The Savory was introduced in order to stem the flow of runs and get us back amongst the wickets.  In sensational style and with only 3 balls to complete his 8 over spell Chris bowled Mark his now famous flipper which, to our surprise and joy had the same affect as on Friday – bowled him!  Mark had batted with assuredness and class, but Chris was to be his nemesis yet again, a wonderful piece of cricket. However, the game was not over….

Raul continued to plunder runs until Dodgy (2/23) had Colin to thank for taking a steep skier at square leg with Jim bearing down on him before looking directly into his eyes and then ‘backing off Dude’!  Colin fielded superbly over the weekend and rightly got the recognition for this from his fellow players.  The extra player we had meant that we could rotate the field and give some of us a well earned break and, this time, our guest was Jitu who came on to bowl when the score was 170/8.  a tidy spell of bowling by Jitu earned him his first Beechwood wicket at 179/10 we were nearly home and dry!  Rakesh & Wally had other ideas and edged ever closer to our score; plenty of overs remained so nerves were now creeping into our game.  With the score on 194 and with 4 overs remaining Alok was brought back into the attack and, with his first delivery, a beautiful full toss outside off stump enticed Wally to hit the ball straight down my throat at mid off!  The catch was taken and the rush was then on to catch up with me who was running around like a headless chicken.  What a brilliant game of cricket, superb batting, bowling and fielding performances from both teams, another really excellent day; one of the most memorable and enjoyable weekends of cricket.

To end our day we had the customary speeches and awards to present, Michi presented me with a much needed new Velden cap as my cap was looking in a state rather like Steve Waugh’s old ‘Baggy Green’ whilst Dodgy was given his cap in recognition of his excellent performances over the two games.

My turn and, I could not say enough in praise of Michi and all those involved at Velden for their friendship, superb hospitality and their amazing efforts in designing and building this magnificent pavilion; Cricket Club Velden 91 will surely now go on from strength to strength with these facilities behind them.  As the beers were being sunk a few mementos were presented with Michi accepting our 2009 Tour medal on behalf of CC Velden 91, he also was glad to wear the Tour cap presented to him.  Colin & Larry were then thanked for their umpiring with the presentation of their Gold Medallions, (Larry wears his all the time!) whilst Ron the ever present and Jo were also appreciated and awarded their medallions.  Stefan was, unfortunately, missing so Eric accepted a cap on his behalf.  Mark was the Velden Player of the Series for scoring a total of 81 runs 2 wickets and fair minded captaincy which set the tone for the whole weekend.

The evening went on in style with cricketing stories being told and retold by….guess who! The beer was also going down well as the sun was still shining bright on us and some of us were wishing that we were starting all over again.  The cricket was good with exceptionally close games but the comradeship was the best thing of all. We are coming back next year, that is, if we are invited!

As we made our sad departures and look forward to next year it occurred to us that some of us had not yet been into the town of Velden! With only 2½  days to go that had to be rectified, but not tomorrow as we were off to Bled, Slovenia for our Day-trip and wander around the beautiful lake, visit the island and just take in the scenery.  Believe it or not, I found my perfect new cricket bat leaning against a boat on Lake Bled; unfortunately it was too big to pack away in the kitbag!

Perfect for the ‘paddle sweep' shot!

Congratulations to Treve & Hannah who got engaged on this trip, we wish them both health and happiness in the years ahead.

Treve and Hannah

Due to a sudden illness, Lyn our fund raising partner with Tina, sadly had to miss the trip to Bled which she was so looking forward to and, after all the efforts that these girls had made it was a shame that she should miss out.  Over the recent years Tina & Lyn have managed to raise about £2,000 towards our Austrian Tours, a monumental sum of money that we can’t thank them enough for.

With one full day remaining it was time to venture of into Velden and just enjoy the surroundings. Michi bumped into us in town and stopped for a chat whilst expressing his enjoyment of the weekend just past.  This was good to hear and appreciated by us Beechwood lads.

Mini Golf was organised for a 4pm Tee off and with 12 of us set to play it was the ‘odds’ versus the ‘evens’ (ticket Nos).  I am not sure exactly of the scores but the evens won by a comfortable margin. Anyway, it was good to get back to playing sport after a days rest!

Off we went, back to the pool, damp-room & sauna before one last Schnitzel!

Tony is looking for a new job as a barman!

And that was that really. We had a relaxing morning before our return flight, said our goodbyes and wished that we were staying for a few more days!  Oh, by the way, don’t forget to pay for that final Schnitzel Ade!

Thanks again to The Erlenheim Hotel, Elisabeth, Rudi and Verena for making our stay most welcome and to also Velden Cricket Club 91 for a superb cricket tour amongst friends and family. Same again in 2010!

Written by Tony Freeman with the assistance of Tim Johnson