LANZAROTE CRICKET CONTINUES TO MOVE ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
Lanzarote Cricket Association recently held their annual Gala Dinner and also hosted a special guest, Gill Ingham, who is attempting to get cricket kickstarted on Lanzarote´s sister island Gran Canaria.
The weekend included a visit to the Puerto Del Carmen ground and the practice nets that Cricket Espana provided for the LCA through last years “wish list” scheme. Then followed a tour of Collegio Hispano Britanico, the hub for youth development on the island. The day concluded with a visit to the Sports Bar with the LCA cricket captain to discuss the possibility of touring and inter-island competitions. The Sports Bar, is in effect, were the Lanzarote Cricket Association was founded in 2004.
On return to the Gran Canarias Gill touched based with several contacts given to her by the LCA chairman Jack Talbot and she has produced flyers and targeted schools and the local Indian community to stimulate interest. It is proposed to have a friendly match on the beach before the end of the year to publicise the game and in June 2011 a GCCA match is tentatively scheduled with Lanzarote Cricket Association providing umpires, equipment,etc.
Anyone living in Gran Canarias who is interested in further information on cricket and how to get involved can contact Gill on grancanariacricket@hotmail.com
A further development for the LCA saw the island host another touring team Nationwide House Cricket Club. The report of the tour comes courtesy of the LCA Chairman, Jack Talbot.
NHCC certainly made their mark on the Lanzarote cricketers and supporters during their recent brief tour.Three matches played in four days provided some of the most heart stopping cricketing moments seen on this island.
Their first match was 30/30 playing against LCA 2nd X1.NHCC had a slow start and by the 7th over had lost 2 wickets for 44 runs.Simon Marlow came to the rescue hitting 7×4’s & a 6 before Joe took his wicket on 43 runs.At the 15 over break the score was 91 for 5,all but the first wicket were taken by the bowlers.The remaining batsmen added another respectful 100 runs between them,Darren Milne caught and bowled by Danny Collins with 45 runs to his credit,including 9×4’s,Joe Perkins caught on 33,once again an excellent catch by Danny Collins from Dan Thumpers bowling.Steve Lewis was the final wicket to go,caught by Deepu,bowled,once again by the day’s secret weapon,young Mr.Collins whose efinal bowling figures were 1.3-0-9-2,Joe also had a great bowling spell with 6-1(wicket maiden)-29-2.Final score 191 all out.
NHCC had a terrible start in the field with David Coates missing a high catch in the first few overs,in his defence,I will say he was looking straight into the sun,not something they see too much of in Swindon!!The first LCA wicket went with 91 on the board,Neil French,41(runs,not age!!)bowled by Nathan Shepherd.The 15 over break showed LCA 95 for 2,very much on par for the runs but with a few extra wickets in hand.The second 15 overs were brilliant to watch,David’s bowling making up for his earlier fielding error & assisted by Darren MilnerLCA needed 29 off 30 balls.From then on you could see the calculators emerging from everybody’s head as they were working out how many runs needed,how many balls left.By the end of the 29th over LCA were 186 for 6,aided by 3 sixes from (out of form)Danny Bagley.I have no idea how many players & spectators were holding their breath in the last over but the silence was overwhelming.Last ball,3 runs required by the home team,somehow,Paul Stenson clipped the ball over the boundary for 4,and,for that,we’ll forgive your victory slide!!!
Onto Sunday,with two T/20 matches being played,the first against LCA 1st X1.Once again NHCC went into bat and began steadily until opening bowler Eleazar bowled David Coates,then,a couple of balls later took a low catch on the outfield to dismiss Gareth Davies off Craig Trapps bowling.Stopping briefly at 10 overs NHCC were 72-4.Darren Milne was having an excellent bat until a silly run out on 54.Matthew Evans had the best bowling figures taking 2 wickets for 22 in 3 overs.NHCC,final score 166 for 7.
LCA opener Dave Smith was on good form,which was just as well as his opening partners went quite cheaply despite NHCC dropping 4 catches,at 10 overs LCA were 65 for 4,once again roughly on par with the visitors.Frankie Kishnani came in to bat with Dave and the partnership was happily knocking 4’s & 6’s.LCA was on a winning streak,then,then Simon Brown (NHCC scorer)commented,at 20 runs needed off 3 overs,”do you think we would get a repeat of Friday’s match?” ever had a sense of deja vu ??? Frankie caught on 67…153 for 6,Dave Smith run out on 62…154 for 7,the last over LCA needed 12 off 6 balls. Once again the runs were being counted off,Matthew had a brilliant final over,but the winning run with 1 ball spare went to Darryl.LCA 1st X1 still have a clean sheet against overseas opponents (just).
The final match of the tour was a bit of an anti climax,probably not advisable to play 2 matches in one day.Once again LCA were victorious,special mention must go to the bowling ability of Sam Gooding 4-0-16-3,& Niresh 1-0-4-2.
As I mentioned before,this was a wonderful tour to watch with excellent cricket from both the visitors & the home team,the relaxed banter from NHCC certainly kept a number of spectators laughing.
On behalf of the Lanzarote Cricket Association I would like to take this opportunity to thank,firstly,our visitors for great cricket,and obviously everyone who took time to promote our island’s cricket,from officials,spectators and sandwich makers/beer pourers(& there were quite a few beers sunk)& finally…before I begin to sound like Gwyneth Paltrow receiving an oscar..Rob & Jo at the Inn Place for their hospitality.