A ring, a ring of Ringers

LCFC v KFC 09/02/2014

Such is the rivalry between these two clubs that by the time the first game of the day between Lima Indians and Eidegenossen had finished, both teams had completed their warm-ups and were waiting to get it on!  Normally we have to wait a few minutes while one person or other has to finish off a parenting duty or is stuck in one of the many non-existent Sunday traffic jams or extracting themselves from a lady of the night or something even more outlandish.  But no, 22 players muzzles unleashed, ready for the off.

Well anyway,  Hodgy, LCFC skipper won the toss and as tradition dictates, batted first.  Cracking start from the skipper, out first ball to a classic delivery from Buesst, he of happylandia, pitching outside off and cutting in destroying the stumps.  Myers, vice-captain for the season, went on the offensive immediately pulling and driving Spry of Underwaterlandia (the west country in UK is currently suffering from heavy flooding) before hooking onto his own stumps.  A solemn walk back to the boundary befell him also. 13-2, not a great start.  Tony the finger then came in and after a brief hit was caught behind beautifully of a great ball that cut away from him and Gav Breeze took a neck choker.  Konrad was soon out LBW to a straight ball 4m up the pitch. 

The trouble was that KFC’s powder had run dry.  After Buesst and Spry they simply did not have the bowling to keep the score down.  Hans and new boy Alex Farrar set about the remaining bowlers, Finn Mclelland whose wavering spin was too often too short, which is a cardinal sin on this pudding of a wicket, was soon dispatched.  Farrar was soon retired on 25+.  In came another new boy Paul Zonka.  What is it with Australians and their ability to choose surnames that go so well with cricket?  Last year we had Donkin now Zonka.  Journalists dream I say!  Well he truly zonked the ball and achieved something I have never seen before and will probably never see again.  He managed to hit 2 sixes onto the same car in consecutive balls.  I have a meeting with club sports liaison officer about that in about an hour……  Well he came and went hitting 25+ off about 8 balls.  Hans and Walter then continued the run scoring until De Witt was retired also.  Jorge Pancorovo and Walter continued until the score was 180ish.  Walter also retired, a first I think in the Apertura, would have to check the anals, sorry annals.  So score set at 205 off 20 overs, which was pretty good considering LCFC had been wavering at 49 for 4 off 7 overs and could quite easily have capitulated.  LCFC batted in a very non-ringerish way with 4 players completing the maximum and helped ably by KFC’s rather wanton ways with the ball.

KFC came into bat and were soon into the bowling, Buesst and Mclelland hitting De Witt and Zonka around.  Zonka was not the slowest bowler on the track.  It will be a shame that his 6 month sabbatical in Peru is completed in 3 weeks.  His star has shone bright.    Buesst then smacked LCFC everywhere and was soon retired bringing in the KFC middle order.  Sorry, don't have the score card and can’t tell you the names of the KFC players but they were not able to put up much of a fight as a combination of Tony Sanford and Julian Walter soon dismantled the much vaunted middle order  Sanford of straight lines and Walter of Blurred Lines.  One day they will whisper the words Sanford and Walter in the same way they talk of Laker and Lock….. as if!  Actually it was down to some pretty spectacular catching from the field that made both bowlers look good and two downright evil balls from Sanford that practically went underground to bowl the batsmen.  Back to the catching, that man Zonks, you can’t keep him down.  KFC batsman hits it high and wide to mid-on.  Zonks runs 20m in and dives a la Nick Farr Jones to take an unbelievable diving catch.  Myers an over later then does a similar diving catch to scoop an off drive and finally to finish off an Aussie hat trick of catches Konrad running back over his shoulder took an almighty steepler.  Walter had Spry LBW flush on a full toss and Breeze, bowled, deceived in the flight.  Myers then mopped up the rest, bowling Catchpole to finish off the job.

LCFC had won by 125 runs, massive!

We better not forget the skipper, Hodgy who did a magnificent job motivating and setting both an interesting batting lineup and field, in order to maximize the most input possible from all the players.  He did a standup job. 

What did we learn today?  Recruitment is key.  Zonka is an LCFC legend, beer is drunk afterwards.

Postscript:  Could not stay to enjoy the festivities at the club as I went to the theatre afterwards to watch a musical called Mentiras.  A an excellent performance of 80’s Spanish Popmusic, a parody of Mexican Soap Operas.  It was professionally produced with great choreography and much enjoyment by the performers.  She Who Must Be Obeyed, that's exactly how Lima Cricket played today.

Viv Ash Cuba Libre Invitational 2014

Another summer Sunday in Lima, grey skies lifting slothfully just in time for cricket.  Players of every denomination drifting through the doors of LCFC to indulge their passion. Setting their bags down, perusing the pitch and going off to shake hands with friends they have known for more than a decade or with some they have met just the previous weekend.  It´s always the same.  The hearty bonhomie they recognise from wherever they have played cricket before.  A chance to forget, to anticipate, to relax, to enjoy.  Just simply to be.  But enough of the reverie, on with the report.

An annual fixture in the calendar is the Viv Ash Cuba Libre Invitational, another opportunity to get one's eye in before the serious business of competitive cricket kicks in.  As so many players are involved these days it is a serious business trying to organise the cricket into a useful, meaningful, competitive practice.  So it was decided to split the 30odd arrivals into 3 teams, named Appleton, Bacardi and Cockspur. Originally it had been Cockburns but due to the alcohol not being rum related, the scorer, Juliet, decided to take it upon herself to change the name and she being from a rum making nation the organiser was not going to argue.  A v B, B v C, and A v C would be the equation.  The usual issue of the actual team not being the same as the team list obviously made for a slightly stressful beginning but some smudging of names and last minute adjustments made for 3 teams of 9 or 10 depending on the time of day. 

First off Appleton played Bacardi, Bacardi winning the toss and scoring 75 runs with Roughton and Mahoney receiving arguable decisions (more on this later).  Viv Ash, the trophy´s namesake, was playing for Appleton and, despite his advanced age of 127 he was still able to bowl Sargent, middle stump and then, while walking back to his fielding position took the most casual of catches – incontrovertible proof that cricket can be played by one and all.  I think extras was top scorer in this match.  Appleton faltered atrociously in response after Farook's quick fire 23 and no one else really deserves mention.  

What happened after though was really the news of the day.  Two players questioned the umpires decision after the game´, saying they ball had gone from the bat to pad not vice versa. Thereupon the umpire marched off the premises, uttering imprecations against upstart pipsqueeks (or words to that effect – language modified for GA rating) who question umpire´s decisions. Someone mentioned that this is always the case, the umpire is often not the happiest person on the pitch.  So the day was official umpireless.  The situation was resolved with the non-playing team provide two umpires and the scorers´ father, Denis was pressed into action.  A very correct square leg ump he was too, changing side with the change of left hand right hand bat, and at not too bad a canter either considering his dotage.

At around the same time, Spry, who had just returned from the West Country, managed the amazing trick of falling off the spectator bench while keeping his beer intact, well done that man.

On with the cricket. Bacardi then posted 97 runs with Buesst and Mahoney both being retired out after scoring more than 25 runs: 25 and 29 respectively. Bobby and Diego de la Puente took some beating with 18 off their one over respectively.  Jon 'Dementer' Heyman continues to impress with his slow, painfully accurate bowling (or should it be painfully slow, accurate bowling?) Somehow he manages to persuade the ball to go through a time distortion field after it pitches and many batsman's souls seemed to get sucked out of them as they lose their stumps.  Empty shells appear pitchside minutes later.   Cockspur were unable to reach that impressive score although James and Sonu did by reaching double figures. Bacardi had won the tournament with a game still to be played.

The final game was played between Appleton and Cockspur, Appleton scored 66, with Simon Parker the backbone of the batting with a solid 26, dropped twice on the way but carried on in an unhurried manner.  Dementer came into his own again with 3 wickets for 20.  Steve 'Hagrid' Hallett also fell victim to the Dementer who completed his soul-sucking with  Jaggi, who managed to make a typical quickfire 16 before meeting his fate.  Farook (3-7) Zulfi (1-10) and Jaggi (0-4) then bowled excellent spells, keeping Cockpsur to a below par 55, though Bobby managed to make amends for his wayward ways with an authoritative 30.

Bacardi were awarded one of the many football trophies that clutter up the cricket hut for their reward and Chris Mahoney was awarded man of the day and had to drink from a filthy, cup/box as his reward.

What was learnt?  Don't sit next to an alcoholic woman at a cricket match, you'll find yourself emigrating to Mexico. An umpire's patience is finite. Beer is drunk during and after the match.

Rob Champions Trophy 2014

So the 2014 Season has begun. The first game of the season was the Rob Champion Trophy, presented to Cricket Peru by Rob Champion, a longtime stalwart of the game, before his departure for more challenging cricket environments. The only stipulations attached to the trophy are that the game is to be played in a good mood with the teams to be named the Manics and the Depressives respectively. 

Originally advertised as a 9-a-side tournament and programmed to begin at 1pm with players to arrive at 12, only 16 players had turned up by 12:45. Team captains Steve Hallet and Julian Walter decided to start with 8-a-side, a 25 over match, 5 over maximum for bowlers and batters to retire after scoring 30 runs with the possibility of coming in again if the wickets ran out.  At 1:08:34 there were 11 players for each side. In keeping with the spirit of the Champion Trophy, it is promised that everyone who turns up gets a game. Despite the promised appearance of Harikrishna and 3 or 4 others who did not turn up, by 1:23:13 it was a 12-a-side game. 

The toss was won by the Manics who chose to bat first.  Diego de la Puente, darling of the South American under 13’s (who scored the winning runs – 12 in the final over – against Argentina in October 2013) and Henry Harris, a debutant to LCFC, opened the batting.  Henry was soon bamboozled by the pace, or lack thereof, of the pitch and was out caught off Jon Heyman’s bewildering medium-slow ball, as was Bobby a few balls later.  Diego opened with some intent but was later clean bowled by David Chaplin, another debutant who´s pace increased as his spell went on.  Alex Neufeld (eventually bowled by Jaggi – owner of the first and only maiden over of the match) and Suyash then pushed the score slowly on to 50. Suyash was then bowled by Zulfi, a skiddish fast bowler.  His pace also accounted for Sonu and Hiro, bowled and caught behind respectively.  Chris Mahoney, resplendent in his signature yellow batting shorts and on a high from enjoying Australia’s 5-0 drubbing of England, shone briefly with a massive six before being given out LBW.  Miles Buesst and Captain Walter then added 36 useful for the 9^th wicket,taking the score to 106 before Walter was run out well short by an accurate throw from Gerhard Buttner.  He appeared quite relieved to be out as the partnership had consisted of many quick singles.  This also brought in Tiagi, who made a splash by hitting 24 runs in an over. However, his tardy arrival due to a rather late night with a certain Johnny Walker may have contributed to him getting out soon after for a golden bowled by Tony Sanford.  Or it might have been the sandals he was wearing.  Miles and Farook added 18 runs before Miles was brilliantly run out by Tony Sanford from point.  Manics had scored 124 in 23 overs.  Not really near enough.

Depressives began their batting with Indar and Divyansh.  With just a few runs on the board Div was caught at point, flashing.  Gerhard was then caught by Julian the Kangaroo Walter, jumping 5 feet in the air at short mid-on. Atif and Indar tucked into some buffet bowling from Farook and Buesst, but soon Farook had Atif LBW.  Buesst was rather expensive with 13 going off his one over, and as runs were at a premium, he suggested Walter bowl. Walter, hit for four off his first ball, rallied and dismissed Jaggi LBW off his 3^rd ball, bowled the debutant Simon Parker second ball and had David Chaplin for a golden after moving Mahoney into a short mid-wicket position, taking a smart catch low down.  Depressives were in trouble. 

From 54-3 to 55 – 6.  Zulfi hung about a bit before some pressure bowling from Sonu brought about a catch for Farook at long on.  The cool and collected Indar retired after scoring a 6 to bring him to 33. Buesst then engineered some skipper –on-skipper  with Steve Hallet caught by the Julian Walter for a duck.  Mahoney was brought on to try his hand at his left arm specials, so promising in nets, yet rarely replicating on the pitch.  An over that brought  4 wides also brought 2 wickets, those of the spin factory: Sanford and Heyman.  Marcus Gee and Indar then tried to wrest back the initiative for the Depressives, but the target was just beyond them with Farook clearing up Gee’s wicket.  They were 21 runs short.

What was learnt?  Patience is a virtue, runs come.  There is no ex-county player here.  Matches can turn in an over.  Beer is drunk afterwards. 

Stock Take Under13's Cricket Bag to Brazil

Cricket Bats x3

County Envy Size 6 (Rodrigo)

County Reflex Rebel Size6 (Mauricio Rivas)

Gray Nicolls GN Twin Scoop (Signed Greg Chappell) Awesome bat (Club Bat)

1 x White Board for strategy and team news.

1 x Gray Nicolls enforcer fusion junior pads slightly broken one strap missing

1 x Gray Nicolls predator pads

1 x County Supreme pads belonging to Diego de la Puente

1 x Woodworm gloves

2 x County Hunts gloves

4 x Boxes

3 x stump (1 small)

3  leather cricket balls

3  pink balls rubber soft

2  plastic balls

1 bag of assorted cricket paraphernalia scorer bails tape measure bowling mark

5 8" rubber cones

12 plastic round markers

Under 13 Peru Cricket Team - Press Release - October 2013

On Thursday 10th October 2013, the Under 13's Cricket team will be going to Pocos de Caldas in the Brazilian hinterland to play in the Campeonato de Cricket Sundamericano Sub-13.  The other teams participating are Chile, Argentina and Brazil.  The team will be Captained by Luis Paredes, with Vice Captain Diego de la Puente.  The other team members include: Henry Dixon, Alexander Dixon, George Glynn, Rodrigo Carrion, Simon Quijano, Billy Halstead, Mariono Bottger, Jean Paul Duclos,Jade Rodriguez,  Mauricio Rivas.  On the Friday and Saturday all the teams will play each.  The top two teams will play in the final The other two teams will be playing to avoid the wooden spoon.  The team will be accompanied by parents of six of the students and coached by Nicholas Barsby and managed by Julian Walter.  Under 13's cricket is now in its fifth year.  Last year the team came second in the tournament.  This year they are hoping to go one step further.

Tim Bayly Sixes Tournament

There are times in your life when playing crickt becomes a matter of playing for the benefit of the game rather than just trying to win the game. Writing this sound like an excuse for playing shit! This is not really the case

Four teams turned up to play today at the Lima Cricket & Football Club (LCFC), Chak De, Eidegenossen, Kiteflyers and LCFC themselves. Order of play was as follows:

LCFC v Kite Flyers

Eidegenossen v Chak De

_____________________

Eidegenossen v LCFC

Kite Flyers v Chak De

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Eidegenossen v Kite Flyers

LCFC v Chak De

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This is a six a side tournament which if you watch as an innocent bystander seems like a complicated kids game but as an adult is a great version of cricket. As a batsman should you puncture the fielding team you are almost guaranteed a four or a six, a mishit a one or a two. As a bowler your aim is to minimize the damage to your team.

First game up and LCFC put on 47 for their five overs. Soulsby putting on the majority of the runs. In response KFC chased down the score with two balls to spare. The report does not really do damage to game and though the game should have been won easily it was not till Ed smacked a six from the penultimate ball did the game end. LCFC fought but to no avail. (Hodgy dodgey fielding....)

Eids dismantled Chak De fairly easily in the second game. Nick Jones smacking the ball all over the park. Chak De doing little.

When Eids played LCFC a score of 52 by LCFC was deemed another slightly below par score and so it proved with both Mike Soulsby and Rob Champion’s overs both going for 20. Nick Jones and Ian Roughton chased down the score with apparent ridiculous ease. The game finished in under 3 overs. LCFC discovered a new abyss…..

The penultimate game of the round robin was between Chak De and LCFC which proved to be humdinger of a game. LCFC scored with MS RC and CS all adding runs with a late rally from JW and JP to bring the score to 44. Not quite enough. Tony went for 15 in his over, JW took 2 wickets and pulled the score back to par. CS took a wicket but was pricey. MS bowled excellently for his over leaving 12 needed off the last over. A couple of wides assisted Chak De and needing 4 off the last ball managed to squeeze it past Tony, slightly inconsolable, and gifting LCFC with the wooden spork…..

In a dress rehearsal of the final David Sharples and Kenny Steen managed to provide a rather dull interlude to the day and put on 30 odd for the loss of no wickets. These were chased down rather easily by Eids.

In the final Eids scored 67 and the Flyers only hopes were dashed in the first and second overs with Barsby being caught and bowled by Mahoney and Skipper Baxter being run out by the occasional Jack in the second over. KFC ended on 45 odd.

It is a shame that words can not really describe such a day with just shy of 30 people enjoying themselves enormously. To Eids the spoils of victory but to the other teams the feeling of belonging. Come next year, new games, new players, new batting, new fielding and new bowlers. Sixes is a kids game but played oh so enthusiastically by adults

Live long Cricket Peru 2011

LCFC Secure Clausura for Second year running

Sunday 10^th April saw Lima Cricket retain the Clausura tournament for the second year running. After having a somewhat disappointing opening half of the seasons when the batting guns had refused to fire, this was certainly not the case in the clausura.

In the first game LCFC managed to post 130 odd thanks to Tony Sanford hitting his maiden fifty against Eids who was ably assisted by Seb Navarro, who was finally getting some time out in the middle, largely due to circumspect batting and running between the wickets at the top of the order. In reply Eids were pretty much done in by not really having enough players availbale and were bowled out for 70 odd with Walter pitching in with 3 for 15 and miserly bowling from Grandjean and Sanford.

The second game can really be defined by one innings, Louis Grandjean hit 112 from not many balls to secure a scoreline of 204 to ensure that the Kiteflyers would not be able to repeat the painful defeat they had inflicted on LCFC earlier in the season. What was more remarkable about this is that at the 13^th Wicket the score was only 60 odd for 1. Ed Baxter was hit for 31 in one over, including 5 sixes. Nick Myers watched amiably on (44 not out) as Louis crashed 13 sixes aound the ground almost managing to land the ball in all the tennis courts. This is his personal goal for next season he says. In reply Flyers managed to reach 150 with E Baxter hitting a half century to make up for his bowling figures in LCFC’s Batting (UNPRINTABLE). Again the bowling was tight by LCFC and with regular wickets the unlikely scoreline was calmly defended. The Guns of Lima Cricket had really fired this time.

So last Sunday saw LCFC having to win the game outright against Chak De as Flyers had defeated Eids by nearly 100 runs due mainly again to Eids having squad selection availability problems this year. Barsby outhit Grandjean with a score of 120 with the flyers putting on another double tonne score. LCFC Skipper Walter sent an email out to all and sundry to make sure they voted early and be at the game on time (The skipper himself was nearly ordered to remain at the voting booth to assist but was able to run away crying "I have a cricket match to Captain!", Surprisingly this fell on deaf ears here in Lima.). With a full squad and welcoming Mike Soulsby back from his beach sojourn on the Riviera they call Asia here and also Jorge Pancorvo our redoubtable keeper who had been on wedding mission in the States LCFC were looking up for the fight. On losing the toss LCFC were put into the field and were up against it fairly quickly with a steady six an over being hit by the confident Chak De with Kash putting up the greatest fight. But LGJ quickly put a stop to that and the wickets began to tumble. Walter came on and bowled his miasmic nonsense and during his spell four wickets fell, which allowed the LCFC to feel confident about chasing the target of a gettable 124. Gordon Hodgson and Desmond Soulsby went out to sort. Gordon was soon gone holing out to Kash at Long off and LGJ was soon LBW to VV. But the resolute Soulsby (50odd not out) steadied the ship with Myers until another blip at the end of the innings and with 30 left to hit he and the skipper saw the team home with 4 balls to spare.

No doubt LCFC will be plundered by other teams this year with players being tapped up by unmentionable teams....