Cricket España XL club travelled to Denmark for the Quadrangle Tournament, which is held annually in one of the four countries. The 12 players arrived from all around Spain to come together and try to defeat Holland, England and the Danish XL clubs in two tournaments held over five days at the absolutely fabulous Svanholm Park, Copenhagen.

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Play Started at 11:00 on Monday morning with CE taking on the very strong SGS team from Holland, Skipper Kevin Laundon won the toss, electing to bat first on the unknown wicket. The game went to and fro, the Holland bowlers enjoying a very deceptive wicket. CE went from 33 for 1 after 10 overs to 35 for 4 after 11, a super hat-trick on this tricky surface was the injection of knowledge CE players needed and the mental target altered from 200 + runs to anything over 130.

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Julian Hagger from Menorca CC, who had watched the tumble of wickets was joined by his Skipper Kevin Laundon of Sporting Alfas CC and the pair rethought the strategy and went along slowly until 15 overs and 30 runs later Laundon(16) was ran out by a very misplaced umpire who had his back to play. This bought Rajan to the crease, and the strategy stayed the same with very few exuberant shots being played, In the 35 over Rajan(20) missed one and had to leave with the score on a very low 108. Julian Hagger was given a licence to thrill and kept CE in the game reaching 85, CE XL club getting a well below par 165 from their 45 overs with the bat. Holland were more than pleased with their performance and expected to win in a hurry. Rajan bowled first and his over went for 2. Steve Parker started from the other end and got his first wicket on tour with his first ball. LBW, in his very next over he got his second again LBW, 2 for 8 from 4 overs. Proofing CE strategy correct.  Rajan bowled his first spell for CE with respectable figures of 13 for 0 from 5. He definitely picked the wrong end. Parker bowled his 9 over spell returning figures of 14 for 4 wickets a great start to his CE XL experience.

Hagger after having such a good knock replaced him, has a like for like left arm around bowler and found the wicket to his liking, his 9 overs going for 25 but taking another 4 wickets. with a run out in the middle of all this Holland were behind the asking rate and fell 32 runs short when finely a wicket, from Ibiza´s Danny Dawson at the other end, saw Harmer out for 63.  Wickets fell like this - bowled 5, LBW´s 4, and a runout, pretty well sums up this wicket today.
On the other pitch England beat Denmark.
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Tuesday

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Winning the toss CE XL captain decided to ask Denmark to bat first on the wicked wicket that had been rolled overnight and looked slightly better. The openers stayed on their chosen ends from the previous day and Rajan again bowled excellently for no reward. 9 overs for 24. Steve Parker proofed to the team that he was the man for the opposite end this time taking 5 for 30. Hagger 9 overs for 28 but only getting 1 wicket, Dawson getting 2 for 43 from 9, Waters 1 for 20 from 3.1, Shahid 1 for 13 from 4 together kept Denmark at the now known par score of 168. The roller had worked, and the wickets went down as 4 bowled 1 LBW 1 Runout and 3 caught. A huge difference to the previous day.

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With under 4 runs required per over CE batsmen were quietly confident. Openers - Pennick (18) and Everett (18) took the score to 31 before Everett fell caught. Hagger came and went for 1, Crompton (3) LBW and Shahid (7) bowled. Laundon and Rajan both new to the crease with the score on 62 came to the conclusion that safety first was the order of the day and took the runs slowly but surely. Knocking the good balls back and punishing the rare bad ball. 5 overs to go and wickets in the hut the run chase started 40 runs at 8 per over normally an easy task but not on this wicket. Laundon caught on the boundary with the score on 137 Rajan (76) nicked one. 3 needed from the last over. Waters and Dawson getting the job done in 2 balls, Two wins from two matches in the 45 over competition.
Holland beat England in a much discussed match in which the players ages were disputed.
Wednesday morning.

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T20 duty saw CE XL play Denmark XL and the introduction of the ever-green John Braithwaite to open the bowling. Laundon again asking Denmark to bat first on the other wicket. Braithwaite charging in from 2 paces is a sight that all batsmen fear and Danish centurion from past matches I Moore could only chip the first ball to Julian Hagger at mid on. JB finding the slippery mat a discomfort continued his quest and bravely took the 2 steps before releasing thunderbolts at the opposition. Just like lightning the ball never struck the same spot twice. Until his 18th ball, when Julian Hagger again caught. 2 for 28 from 4 overs - J Braithwaite, SACC legend. Ibiza´s Danny Dawson Bowled his mixture from the other end and ended with 4 overs for 37. Lionel Andrews got his first taste of action and returned 3 overs 28 runs for 1 wicket. Gary Crompton 3 overs 34 runs 1 wicket, Shahid Mahmood returned 3 overs 2 wickets for 20 runs. Denmark finishing on 179 from 20 overs on this our ´away´ pitch, The chase began with SACC pair Crompton and Everett producing a great start before Everett fell on 43 in the 6 over with the score on 62.

Hagger joined Crompton and carried on in the same vein, the runs coming rapidly and reaching 108 when Hagger fell also caught for 35. With the rain clouds closing quickly but with 117 on the board CE XL could relax with a massive DLS advantage. After several attempts to get the game played the umpires eventually called this match off with CE XL the winners by 19 runs and 8 wickets.
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Wednesday afternoon - All play abandoned.
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Thursday
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Spain take on the mighty England side with a two point advantage in the league so run rate could be the deciding factor.
Back on the ¨home¨ pitch Spain elected to bat first, the run rate difference helping the decision. On this low and slow wicket runs have been difficult to get so spluttering along at 2 or 3 an over did not worry the CE camp. Everett the first to be out playing a sweep shot and given LBW. Pennick and Hagger took the score to 34 before the fall of Pennick (18) Crompton and Hagger played well and took the score past the 100 mark when Crompton (34) mistimed one and was well caught. Rajan again showed his class and helped Hagger take the score to 157 before falling caught in the deep for 30. Hagger (72) carried on playing shots and finally walked by one to be stumped by Faulkner.  A flurry of wickets in the last 3 overs meant CE XL tally was a par 174.

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During tea CE XL found out that Holland had been expunged from the tournaments competition's, which basically but England and Spain on one win each, an absolute disgrace at this late stage. Neither the treasurer or I had noticed this happening this during the 2-hour meeting the day before, has far as we knew the proposal was to remove Holland from the T20 competition not the whole tournament for playing an underage players, which was the same punishment reached when England XL did the same thing a few years ago.

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Obviously shattered with the news over tea, CE XL set about the task of bowling but a certain feeling was in the camp and although we tried to overcome it the bowlers who had done such a great job to put us in the position we believed we were in could not overcome their disappointment and England XL knocked of the runs with ease.
Friday. T20 dead rubber vs a SGS banned 11.

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Not letting the previous days disappointment carry over to the final day against the SGS camp who represent Holland in this competition, Skipper Kevin Laundon from Sporting Alfas Cricket Club asked the opposing team to set a score and offered his condolences on a very harsh decision made behind Cricket España´s back.
Using 7 bowlers CE XL enjoyed success and disappointment during the 20 overs bowled, J Braithwaite going for 30 from his 3 overs, S Mahmood  1 for 22 from 4, L Andrews 1 for 27 from 4, D Dawson going the distance when a very fit Bharre took a liking to his deliveries, 56 from 4, Hagger feeling the weeks work 2 overs for 27, Everett deciding he would bowl after the retirement of Bharre, 2 overs for 11 runs bowling Nazim. Skipper Laundon claiming 2 for 0 from the penultimate over, clearly the pick of the bowlers.🤣.

Set 176 to win the batters went along at the required 8 runs an over Crompton 36. Everett 20, Hagger 79 retired hurt, Waters 32 not out and Lionel Andrews with his first innings 1 not out.

CE XL win the T20 competition. Great work by the organiser's and a massive thank you to the 12 players who managed to play 5 games in 5 days, Roll on 2025.

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