2016 - Spain
Tour reviews - the good, the bad and the ugly
15th-18th April. A Voyage of Cultural Exploration (and Cricket)
Bright and (too) early on Friday morning Aliens assembled for our first official event of the year. The pre-season tour to Alfas del Pi in Spain. Featuring 3 tour debutants, and one club debutant, Simon, Benan and Matt.
Despite the 5am meet up at Rygge airport, arrival in Alfas went quite smoothly, despite a minor issue with an irate Spanish taxi driver who clearly didn’t like the ECB´s new helmet rule holding up one group, and others in the rental car taking very much the scenic route.
Club de Golf Don Cayo was the first stop, for a quick 18 holes. With such an early start it wasn’t long before a few of the part started struggling (At hole 9.5 half the group wasn’t strong enough to avoid the lure of some tasty Bocadillos and cold Cervezas, the others after some quick hydration got back out for the back 9) so the golf was best described as inconsistent, the highlights package on the other hand was pro-standard.
Highlights include Sunil´s golf debut, Dave hitting the day´s only birdie after chipping in from 15m off the green and Matt´s ability to have every ball into the trees (and there were a lot) rebound miraculously back onto the fairway- thus becoming Tommy the Pinball Wizard.
After the golf it was onwards to meet our hosts for a quick beer and a BBQ. After a few hello’s and a couple of shandies the group was rapidly fading and an early night was on the cards. However, on the way into the hotel Simon discovered the possibility of Karaoke. The highlight of that being split between him borrowing the hat from the special needs kid on his way to do his Freddy Mercury impression OR the standing ovation from the 80 yr. olds in the front row. Signed limited edition DVD’s of his performance will be available at the awards night.
After such excitement most headed to bed, but not before a late night kebab where Matt decided he didn’t like his earlier nickname, so viciously stubbed his toe earning the new moniker- Rambo:First Blood.
Next morning the Australian contingent were still struggling with their homework and all managed to miss the team breakfast, but in another logistical miracle all 11 Aliens were ready to go at Woodbridge Oval in Alfas for the first match.
Dennis who travelled something like 20hrs and took 4 flights to get to Alfas (some dedication from the new captain!) won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a high scoring ground.
Rambo/Tommy/Matt walked out on debut to open the batting with Dave, and quickly showed he wasn’t going to fit in at the club by crunching the opening bowlers to all corners. Kuhlwilm was reduced to a spectator before a well-directed full toss caught him by surprise to leave Aliens on 44-1 after 6. The pitch and outfield was proving to the batsmen’s liking as Damien joined Matt and the two quickly put on 60 before Damien had a rare concentration failure to depart for 33. Having looked odds on for a ton on debut big Matt followed him shortly afterwards for a blistering 74. President Crawford and Kuhlwilm jr. began the rebuilding job with a sensible partnership of 30 before the former gently punted one back to the bowler, perhaps trying too hard to restrain his attacking instincts. With talk of 400 now thoroughly forgotten, Mitch joined Fraser as the Aliens looked to at least make sure they posted a competitive score on a ground where any shot that didn’t hit a fielder was virtually a guaranteed four. The two started conservatively with Fraser admitting he had no idea which way their wrist spinner was turning the ball. Eventually he decided this was of little consequence and proceeded to launch said leg spinner for four 6’s in the space of 8 balls. With 218 on the board a inform looking Mitchell did what he does best and hit two glorious boundaries in successive balls before picking out mid-off with a tame drive the ball after for a well-made 30. Dennis came and went for 4 as most of the strike went to Fraser as we headed towards the end of the innings. A first ever 100 looked possible but unlikely until he launched the returning opening bowler for a flurry of boundaries to leave Aliens on 285 and himself on 96* heading into the final over. Ahmad managed to bunt the first ball of the over down the ground for a single leaving Fraser 5 balls to give it his best shot. The second ball of the over was short and his tired looking baseball slug a long way from connecting, the third ball was shorter and even further from the bat. Fortunately a generous bowler then pitched a couple up which he got enough bat on to allow Ahmad to scamper back for the second and the hundred was up, leaving at least 9 members wondering if they had got the wrong brother! With the milestone reached there was still one ball of the innings left to be faced, which was again short and again escaped a tired looking swat. Innings over. 290 the target to defend.
Obviously used to the ball racing over a lightning outfield the Alfas openers went off like they planned to chase the target inside 20 overs, with both Benan and Damon finding out quickly that it was not a ground for the bowlers. They raced to 50 inside 7 overs before Damon took a sharp catch from the skippers bowling to remove Crompton for 24, shortly afterwards Brook followed to an ever better catch from Mitch off Benan’s bowling. From there Alfas continues to lose regular wickets at one end, while Alger ticked them along fast enough to just about stay in touch. Aliens spinners Sahota and Kuhlwilm then came into the attack and put the breaks on the Alfas chase, before finally removing Alger for 92 to all but end the hosts chances. We’ve all yet to decide if Simon telling the batsman ‘Oh, you were so close to a hundred’ makes him the nicest or nastiest man at the club! Alfa’s eventually ended their innings on 222-9 after their 40 overs, giving Aliens their first win on Spanish soil by 68 runs.
Match Highlights
Fraser getting on the honours board before David
Simons Mr nice guy act
Sat Night
A nice dinner at a Greek restaurant proved to be the cultural high point of the evening. Post dinner Aliens headed off to the nearby bright lights of Benidorm. First sight was some scantily clad ladies riding a mechanical bull and it didn’t get any more highbrow from there. The night can be summed up in some ways by Sunil's quote "this is what my mum thinks white people do".
Sunday morning
The Sunday morning breakfast had a number of absentees who were seeking treatment for injuries occurred during the previous days play. Never the less, all made it to the start line for the second match of the tour. With the exception of Benan who had to return to Oslo to begin editing his forthcoming documentary that is rumoured to be based on the reproductive lives of Spanish ducks.
Highlights
Not the Aliens fielding.
Damien’s 99* retired, Simon's maiden fifty
Big thanks!
We would like to thanks all at Sporting Alfas Cricket Club for being great hosts. Both matches were played in good spirits and the hospitality around both matches was top notch. Particular thanks go to Geoff and Katie from the host club for organising the games and accommodation. The weather really delivered with sunny 25-27 degrees for the whole trip.
Above all, a great tour thanks to the Aliens who attended. Lots of laughs, no one got arrested, and everything went pretty smoothly despite constant possibilities of it going completely pear shaped!