After an early morning flight from Oslo followed by a drive west from Heathrow our tour properly began with several drinks in a local Bath pub watching the test match between WI and England. This was much spiced up by the arrival of Life member Vijai who now lives in Houston. Great that he could join us on the tour once again!

We then went to watch an English premiership Rugby Match between locals Bath and London Irish. An entertaining game despite the rainy weather which thankfully turned out to be the only real rain of the weekend.

Just to get our cultural points up we also visited the Roman baths for which the town is famous.

Sat 25 April 2015

Aliens 218 Def Tormarton 125

Aliens batted first on a pristine largish ground with a lovely aspect towards the town on one side and a farm on the other.

The pitch however was dead.

Clowes (31) and Eakin (0) opened the batting putting on a quickfire 27 from the first 3 overs, before both were out being deceived by balls that refused to bounce. Jamie (dropped 3 or 4 times) swished his bat around for 19 while Vijai applied himself for a grinding 50 which would have been a 100 if had connected with any of his flamboyantly manufactured shots aimed at the actual horse misplaced behind cow corner.

Mitch (31) looked good hit a six then got out.

Everyone else hit a boundary or two then got out, Waqar finished the innings with a glorious 6.

Tea was had and enjoyed.

Damon and Waqar opened the attack, after 9 tight overs Tormarton were 1-25 looking like they were going to block out the 40.

Enter Vijai, with a most amusing first ball.

After steaming in and bowling a slower ball Vijai turned hopped, jumped, squealed (and giggled) and then landed on his back with legs in the air much like a beetle that cant flip itself back over - after much mid pitch expert medical discussions (and tales of each players own injury past) someone (from the other team) actually helped Vijai. The cause was deemed to be a cramped calf muscle brought on by drink the night before in combination with batting too long.

Vijai’s squealing was in stark contrast to the tough opposition player who dislocated his middle finger (dropping one of the many catches Jamie hit) and then calmly and silently got it popped back into place by the wicketkeeper and kept fielding and batting without any untoward grunts.

Vijai was sent off the field to sort himself out.

Everyone had a bowl and the Aliens Won.

Sun 26 April 2015

Aliens 152 Def Stapleton 129

Some rain overnight moistened the pitch but when we arrive the sun was lavishing the ground. Aliens batted first on a bouncy pitch, the pitch was offset to the far side of the square resulting in a very short boundary on one side, local rules dictated that the ball had to clear the 10ft hedge to be a 6.

Eakin faced a barrage of short balls in the 1stover, one was defended with subtle use of the kidney, another was sent screaming over square leg, then off the last ball, he was out hitting a short ball in no particular direction.

Seeing that Stapleton had a number of fast, strong arm fielders Clowes and Cameron decided to limit the singles and see out the next 5 overs. 6 overs and 65 runs (3 were actually run) later Clowes (23) was out attempting to caress a rare half volley over the far boundary´s sight screen – he failed. Cameron (73) continued to pull and cut the ball over the hedge, one pull in particular was hit so hard that the opposition fielders made a collective “owhhhh” sound.

Aliens went from 2-95 to all out or 152. No one did anything useful nor amusing, apart from Damon, who managed to edge the slowest ball of all time to the keeper.

Jonathon Scudder took some nice photos

Tea was had and enjoyed

Stapleton started slow and their batsmen tended to get out every time they played a shot, which was not as often as you might think.

The sun continued to lavish the ground.

Wickets fell at regular intervals, our lethal bowling attack sharing them around in a decent and polite way. While the mood dictated that the Aliens would win for the better part of the innings, a late dash from one of Stapleton’s more experienced batsmen gave the Aliens a gentle fright. Ahmed hatched a plan (which, as with all good plans, was shared after the fact) and allowed this batsmen to take 22 from the first 4 deliveries of his over before dismissing him (C&B) with a special ball causing the batsmen to hit it quite high in the air.

Vijai threatened to cramp, but didn’t.

As is usual on tour – Aliens won.

Thanks to both host clubs Tormarton and Stapleton. We enjoyed both games and importantly they were played a great spirit.