Aliens Tour to Surrey, England – 2017

by Damon, Dave and Sunil.

More photos available online

Assorted pics, Game 1, Game 2

Aliens assembled in Gatwick and due to their athletic nature set the theme for the tour early by having a fruit salad and a low fat granola.

We then set off to London to watch some real cricket at Lords. Well at least some people did. Others were off buying handbags and other fashion accessories at selected high fashion outlets then showing up at Lords, paying the entry fee then seeing 2 overs before the rain ended play! Good times.

With consideration towards the next couple days play we then retired to a local establishment for some electrolyte replenishment.

The Aliens athletes then returned to Reigate to meet ex-Alien Geoff Liddell who these days resides in Surrey. Geoff quickly became the ringleader of the evening. He started well by corralling us to a great local Nepalese curry house. So far so good. The cosmopolitan Aliens were however unaccustomed to the backwards ways of the English Countryside and were then shunted off to the only open establishment – the local nightclub. Many words could describe the horrible music, expensive drinks and enthusiastic dancing from Geoff Liddell. However a picture will do-

Bright and early Aliens arose to another athletes breakfast jumping out of their skins.

Game 1 as penned by Dave – 22nd April 2017, Headley Cricket Club 

With club captain Dennis having pulled out late on with some wishy washy excuse, former captain and all round Dubbo legend Damien stepped up for the day. His first act as stand in skipper was to win the toss, and his second was to declare that he was opening the batting, and that we could sort the rest of the order ourselves!

The hosts opened with a couple of relatively tidy seamers and ACC rattled along to 50-0 inside 11 overs as everyone blew away a few cobwebs. First to fall was Marcus (23), undone by a cunning short ball that plugged a bit, before evading his attempted pull shot on the second pirouette to ‘crash’ into middle stump. Que embarrassed looks all round.

Mitch joined Damien at the crease and they set off in much the same way as before, guiding us to a solid 90-1 in 19 overs before wicket two fell with Mitch mitching one to mid off for a solid 10. With 21 overs left to put up a defendable score, talk in the pavilion turned to whether 300 would be enough, and had anyone ever scored a 200 for the club before, meanwhile in the middle David and Damien rattled along, taking the score to 149-2 in the 30th over before disaster struck.

Having never previously been dismissed for the club for a score between 10 and 100, Damien(68) proceeded to - for the first time ever - give his wicket away with a 100 in his grasp, playing a limp wristed sort of a flick to send the ball floating into the hands of mid on. As if shocked at this turn of events the rest of the side departed in double quick time.

Geoff - popped one to mid on for 3 on his comeback game

Jamie – duck number 1, cleaned up by a 12 year old

David (49) - missed a big turner from their mystery spinner (think Markus) having been nearly stumped the previous delivery

Don – Duck number 2 was gunned down LBW

Chris -Duck number 3 was bowled by the Kopke spinner

Sunil – Duck number 4, see above

Loanee – Duck number 5, bowled by his younger brother.

While most of this was happening a bemused Damon was left stranded at the non-strikers end as we folded from 14-2 in 31 overs to 180ao in 36.

This proved very very quickly to be too small a target on such a hard true pitch as the locals – and one in particular – took a liking to the Aliens bowling. The score races to 31 from just 4 overs before Damon’s  (8-2-40-2) slower ball produced the first wicket of 2017, but that brief glimmer of hope soon faded as Hunter (76 retired) continued to despatch all comers. A late rally saw 4 more wickets fall before the target was reached, lending some air of respectability to the final result.

After the game thirsts were quenched on the outfield in glorious weather and with friendly hosts who were keen to invite us back, perhaps nobody at their club has ever scored a 200 before!

Game 2 written by Sunil- 23rd April 2017- Reigate Pilgrims Cricket Club,Betchworth

With hours left for the start of the second game, Aliens decided to bring the dragon out of Damon Crawford by taking him to the only castle around. Taking a long drive to the middle of nowhere and walking past a few bentleys, jaguars and cougars, literally through a posh golf course, the aliens saw what used to be a castle once.

With disapointed Damon in the car and a "castle-ish" feeling in the air, the aliens arrived at the ground an hour early for the game and refused to warm up.

A clear yet overcast english weather welcomed us to a nicely trimmed ground that was lopsided, cutting down the work to chase the ball from one end. After the usual customary handshakes and toss, Aliens were put to bat first with Lessy and Jamie opening. A good start from both openers was shaping up with Jamie refusing anything that sounded close to a two. Lessy looked tall and strong and wacked anything that was thrown at him. Jamie was bowled cheaply for 25 in the 8 over, bringing in the dragon slayer (Damon).

With some quick running between the wickets and a couple of flashy boundaries, Aliens were 91 in 18 overs when Damon was caught for 25ish. In came the chocolate man Chris and out went Lessy judged LBW by his best friend (Dave) for 26. Sunil came in and Sunil came out. The kind hearted man did not want to disturb the old scorer lady or the score board. Chris who looked solid for his debut batting performance for aliens was joined by Mitch in the middle. Mitch looked uncomfortable holding a bat and tried to scope one when being stumped. Some score was put on board by Chris, when Dave was judged LBW in revenge by Lessy.

Furious Dave was recalled by the opposition who thought the ball was nowhere near the stumps. However, Dave had no intentions to stay long and was caught for 5. Chris was too keen to score in his debut and forgot that he has to reach the crease before the ball does leaving Aliens at 127 for 6 by the end of the 27th over. Marcus (the legend) and Dubbo Damien were in the middle to show the opposition that some of us can actually play the game. Some real fine batting and big shots from Damien was able to get Aliens past 200 by the 37th Over.

In an effort to score a 100 quicker than Jamie can run a double, Damien only dealt with boundaries.However, Aliens declared for 212 in the 38th over with Marcus still unbeaten for 26* and Damien on 63*.

After a quick lunch break and banter, the opposition walked in with a target of 213 to win from "No one knew how many" overs (the game was played in a format called Timed Game) with Damon and Sunil opening the bowling for Aliens.

Some tight bowling from Damon from one end, Sunil trapped one of the openers for a Leg before proving once and for all why is called "the Spydhodet". With some smart bowling from aliens and chirpy Norwegian banter Aliens had the opposition at 59 for 2 in the 14th over. Aliens had a secret weapon on thier side - Arnold, who plays for the opposition regularly bowled for Aliens due to shortage of players on the side.

Armed with insiders knowledge, he mumbled 'Hasta la Vista, baby' to a few of his friends and picked 2 quick wickets. Big partnership was built by one of the openers and number 4 when Dave spun a web around and cleared the opener. The opposition were 146 by the end of 30th Over with 4 casualties. Marcus and Mitch rotated their arms in the intention to bowl and delivered a few overs each, while Dave was causing enough trouble by himself at one end. Aliens looked decent on the field catching pretty much anything that went up in the air. A few TV dives were in place from Dave, Sunil and Damien which even inspired Marcus to do a legendary falling in installments dive in the slip.

With time closing 1800, Damon and Sunil were brought back into attack to put an end to the game. And so they did. The opposition was bowled out for 202 in 42 overs and Aliens marked their first victory for the upcoming season. Aliens bowlers did well with Sunil and Dave taking 3 scalps each, while Arnold took 2, Damon and Mitch each getting one.

The opposition called the tab at the bar and Aliens handed customary Aliens cap in appreciation to the hosts. Aliens also handed a cap and welcomed Mani (Dennis's mate) who played for Aliens in Dennis's absence and spewed a few secrets about Dennis's past. The hosts responded back with few rounds on all while Damien was working his magic on the scorer and showing he is still a player.

The Tour finished with Damien collecting yet more digits at a local Thai restaurant. After regaling the poor diners with tales of his glorious 60 odd and complaints about the captain denying him a century.

A special mention must go to ex member Geoff Liddell who joined us on this trip along with Jamie who came out of retirement especially. Also to our Club Captain Dennis who had the annoyance of his wife giving birth to his first child which cruelly prevented him from attending. Never the less he did arrange for Marcus to come in his place and arranged for his mate Don to join us. Thanks Dennis.

Yet again we were inexplicably blessed by good weather in the English spring. We had a great time both on and off the field. As always a highlight of the Aliens Season.

Another successful tour. Thanks all.