Cow Corner Magazine

COWCORNER ZAMI ARMY GLOSSY MAGAZINE

2009 EDITION

WHAT A SEASON UNOFFICIAL ESSEX TOUR OFFICIAL DERBY TOUR 20TWENTY

PARTIES SEAFOOD GALA

HOLLAND BEAT ENGLAND CROCOMANIA INJURIES GALORE ENGLAND WIN THE ASHES

ZAMAIIAN FESTIVAL JOHN McGINLEY’S STAG MATCH THE MUG MAN AND HIS CPCC

DAMES

ZAMI2CHAMPIONS Page 1

CONTENTS DICTATOR’S MESSAGE4.WHAT A SEASON6.

CRICKET ON THE ICE10. RUTH AND PATRICK12.

MATCH REPORTS19. INJURIES GALORES14.

20TWENTY23. JOHN McGINLEY’S STAG MATCH36.

HOLLAND BEAT ENGLAND42. DERBY TOUR60.

ZAMAIIAN FESTIVAL70. MUGMANIA 74.

CROCMANIA86. SEAFOOD GALA90. ENGLAND WIN THE ASHES92. ZAMI 2 CHAMPIONS92. SPEECHES. SPEECHES.SPE...

Kindly Sponsored by Theo Lindemann

Special thanks to all the photographers: especially Toon Hintzen, Paul McPhillimy, Lucs Evans and Phil Yisreal Page

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COWCORNER

“MOO-VELLOUS” Magazine created by John Richardson and Nick Fowler Page 3

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VRA, November 27th, 2009

VRA ZAMI 2009 Another Magical Season!

by Floris Kappelle

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here is always another fish to fry. This was the challenge at the start of the VRA Zami 2009 season: not to re-create the glorious 2008 season, but to make it a brand new experience with about the same ingredients. And yes, we succeeded, no doubt about that: another quite successful season with lots of typical Zami gezelligheid, which will be celebrated this evening with our Annual Game Night.

And what a season it was. Apart from all the well-tempered rendezvous’ and exciting matches with old as well as new cricket friends from all over the planet, the best teas in the land by Ruth, the speeches, the glittering prizes, the close games, the personal flops and glory, and much more of which this booklet itself is the spiffing precipitation.

Relive the 2009 season with what is in it, a prosaical array of photos, 26 well written match reports from no less than 21 players, omni-reveiling statistics, refreshers on some of the laws of cricket that came into question in 2009, reports from our official and unofficial tours to the UK, and a list of the wounded.

All cunningly assembled by the unsurpassed John Richardson and Nick Fowler.

Great work, gents!

Indeed, one would easily ascertain the healthy state of the Zami department of our beloved club. More than 40 players have been fielded by our selection committee — many thanks Spoon—and the meaning of this extent to which that has grown in recent years is clear. Not to mention the embracing of players varying in age from 15 to 55. Even females and Rotterdammers. We treat all positive cricketers alike.

But the story has another chapter. It is about the general interest in our dear club VRA. Many people may think things happen automatically. Painting the benches. Coaching the U7’s.

Clearing away the tea things. Finding sponsors. Cheering at the First XI. Umpiring another game. Mustering new players. Doing the umpire course and stand. Helping with maintenance.

Taking up dirty work. Spending time at the club. Executing good ideas. Supporting the Committee. Helping the groundsman. Putting up the boarding. Clearing other people’s garbage.

Etcetera. It will only work when we ALL help, do our thing and consider our club our property.

To create an even more pleasant atmosphere and even better bonding and club feeling.

Yes, the club is also yours. Do not just consummate. Because when we all paddle a little faster, we might hear banjos!

Nuf said.

Enjoy now this fine evening with around 40 Zamisti and friends! And already we look forward to you joining the Driekoningen Dinner at VRA in January. Plus of course the Zami season-opening party hosted by Jackie and Nick Fowler in April.

Finally, a massive word of thanks to Richo and Nicky for putting in so much work on the booklet, and to Theo for sponsoring it.

Here’s to friendship, buddies! §

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“So, how was the

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Zami Army 2009 Season

2009 Season?”

This Last year was a golden year for the

Zamis, so expectations were high when we emerged from hibernation in the Spring to begin the 2009 season.

We kicked off in early April with what was supposed to be a low-key early evening borrel at Nick Fowler’s house, but which turned into an allnight party with the last guests (Floris and Sanne) leaving at 4.30am.

The evening was a harbinger – with the emphasis on binge – of the months of cricket, beer and gezelligheid to come.

by Nick ‘Howler’ Fowler Page 7

THE ZAMI ARMY 2009 CRICKET SEASON DIGEST

We all agreed back in April that 2009 couldn’t possibly be as good as 2008.

We were so wrong

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W

e all agreed back in April that 2009 couldn’t possibly be as good as 2008, the year when our finely balanced teams jointly won our poule of the Zami league.

We were all wrong.

2009 turned out to be just as rewarding as 2008, not only because our teams again topped the league, but because of the thrills and spills along the way that came with league and nonleague matches, the official and unofficial tours, the parties and seafood galas, the now legendary Ruth and Patrick teas and dinners, the eternal post match speeches, and the overwhelming vibrant spirit of Zami gezelligheid.

2009 saw some exceptional individual performances.

On the batting front, Paul Michaelides and Jeroen “SoS” Mulder both made unbeaten centuries.

Anthony Lynch was well on track for a ton before running out of time with 82 not out against the Crocs, as was Phil Yisrael who was 80 not out in the first Zami 1 vs Zami 2 showdown.

On the bowling front, Tommy Spits had a seven wicket haul before breaking his finger to end his season prematurely. Sir Jonny “Shane” Richardson span his way to become Zami 2’s leading wicket taker.

In the field, Bob Jan Spits took seven catches and made seven stumpings, while Dave Geensen earned himself the moniker of “Dangerous Dave” from Bob Jan for his legendary catching and near lethal throwing. Finally, on the all-rounder front, Neil “Bruine Nelis” Browning ended the season with by far the best VRA Zami league batting average (61) and took the most wickets (21) of any VRA Zami player, stats that gave him the number two batting and bowling rank of all players in the league.

To extend his all-round breadth he also wrote more match reports than anyone else (3).

There were two Zami tours in 2009.

The first unofficial tour was to Essex in June. It centered around the 20/20 world cup and of course the Netherlands’ sensational win against England at Lords under the captaincy of VRA’s very own Pete Borren. In July, Floris led the official Zami tour to Derbyshire and Staffordshire to take on teams organized by Nobby and Keith Farman. Despite the British weather’s efforts to the contrary, both tours were a resounding success.

Injuries.

One of the defining facets of 2009 was the number of injuries. Both Sanne Salomons and Nick Fowler broke their collarbones being over-zealous in the field. Tommy Spits didn’t want to be left out of the

X-ray party, so broke his magic wicket-taking finger. Mike George missed the last month of the season because of a gammy knee that eventually had to be operated on. By August, eight Zami players were unavailable to play due to injury.

Fresh Blood.

Fortunately, as older Zamis dropped like flies, 2009 also saw a healthy injection of fresh new Zami blood. Players like JJ Sobti, Jason Hall, Swaroop Bantwal, Anthony Ford, Nicholas Whitworth, Nick Bertholet, Sander Kempen and Evan Lucas all added spice to the Zami sauce and ensured that we have a strong future.

Down to the wire Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of 2009 was the number of matches that came right down to the wire. Week after week, team fortunes completely reversed in the closing minutes of matches. For example, the Netherlands didn’t look like they would beat England on June 5th, but they did on the final ball. On July 4th, Zami 1’s match with Groen Geel was tied on the final ball, a result that cost Zami 1 dearly. Weeks later, Zami 1 pulled off a sensational victory against HCC who, were 133 for 2 needing 5.5 an over off the last seven overs. HCC then lost eight wickets for 28 runs, and with them, the match. The Zami 1 vs Zami 2 end-of-season showdown was similar: Zami 2, were 125 for 4 needing just 4.3 runs per over off the last six overs. Zami 2 then lost their last six wickets for 23 runs, and with them, the match. The list goes on: when batting together in a combined Zami team, Nobby and Louis put on an eighth wicket stand of 132 to beat the Crocs, including scoring 31 off the last 17 balls.

ZAMI 2 Champs Congratulations are due to Zami 2 for winning our poule of the league, and also to Zami 1 for coming second. It is a Zami paradox - a paVRAdox if you will- that Zami 2 won the league, yet lost both its matches against Zami 1.

As we know, it’s not all about winning. The spirit of Zami is about enjoying the game of cricket. In that sense, 2009 was a massive success: the Zami army of brothers (and now some sisters too) is a more strongly bound network than ever. What is clear from the 21 different voices that contributed the 26 match reports in this booklet is the extent of genuine enjoyment of cricket, the club and its camaraderie. Thanks to all who contributed reports, and I hope you enjoy reminiscing over them to get you through the dark cricket-less days of winter.

Roll on 2010! §

by Nick Fowler Page 9

ZAMABLE MOMENTS 2009

CRICKET ON THE ICE Saturday January 13, 2009

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Penguins stopped play

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tiny THANKS T0 RU

2009 turned out to be just as rewarding as 2008, not only because our teams again topped the league, but because of the thrills and spills along the way that came with league and non-league matches, the official and unofficial tours, the parties and seafood galas, the now legendary Ruth and Patrick teas and dinners, the eternal post match speeches, and the overwhelming vibrant spirit of Zami gezelligheid.

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UTH AND PATRICK

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season of sana-

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-horrific injuries

One of the defining facets of 2009 was the number

of injuries. Both Sanne Salomons and Nick Fowler broke their collarbones being over-zealous in the field.

Tommy Spits didn’t want to be left out of the X-ray party, so broke his magic wicket-taking finger. Mike George missed the last month of the season because of a gammy knee that eventually had to be operated on. By August, eight Zami players were unavailable to play due to injury.

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It all started early one May morning at CafĂŠ Wildschut

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The calm before the big 2009 storm

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ZAMI MATCH REPORTS 2009

Big Zami thanks to everyone who volunteered to write match reports this year. And those unsung heros, the scorers. Love your work.

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 25 April 2009

VRA Zami 1 - VRA Zomi Optiver VRA Zami 1 lost by 3 wickets

by Paul Michaelides

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fine spring day greeted the players as all and sundry turned up to host the players of Optiver. Well once the sundry were cast aside, Toon Hintzen and Ruurt Schreuder, kindly opting for table sanding, we were almost ready to begin. Optiva, an Amsterdam based financial trading house, captained by Matt McKeogh fielded a team of largely Indian origin, Will an enthusiastic American from Tampa Florida making his cricketing debut, a South African named Deon Veldtman, and Sandeep. With the kind offering of Jeroen Mulder to Optiver we were ready to begin.

VRA elected to bat and John Reardon and Nick Fowler made an enterprising start off some lively bowling. Fowler having played a number of lovely strokes was first to fall for 15 and Reardon was joined at the crease by Tim Ellerton. He and John Reardon put together a partnership of 47 before Ellerton (32) fell to the all too smashable bowling of Matt. Michaelides came to the crease and soon after Reardon was sent back to the pavilion for 44, bowled by the accurate JJ.

Michaelides went for 17, and the dashing Aussie Neil Browning took over the mantle compiling an entertaining 42, in the process taking on the bowling which had been lifted by the introduction of Rashid. The innings was capably finished off by Louis Collignon and Captain Anthony Lynch. Louis nearly managed to end the promising career of Nick Fowler as a concert pianist by sending a heat seeker straight back down the wicket collecting umpire Fowler’s hand in the process. Lynch preferred to inflict his damage on the opposition with a towering six and a quick fire 18. The total of 199 was achieved.

A fantastic lunch of sandwiches, cakes and cantaloupe got the players ready for the Optiver innings. The lunch sat well with the opening batsmen and they were off to a flier as VRA struggled for line. After 8 overs Optiver already had 50 on the board and the VRA was in dire need of a break. Michaelides was given the ball and broke the partnership ably assisted by an excellent catch from Neil Browning. Browning bowling from the other end then did all the work to dismiss the number 3 with another excellent catch. Out came the American and looking for his first runs in cricket, but it wasn’t to be as he played on a tame Michaelides delivery and collected a golden duck.

Rashid from VRA seconds followed next ball LBW and despite missing the hatrick, it was three in an over as the last of the openers fell for a well made 24. The Greek Freak had the golden arm and picked up another in his next over claiming 5/15 and Optiva were reeling at 6/71. With the match looking like VRA’s for the taking, they were unable to finish off Optiver.

With the medium pacers almost out of overs, VRA turned to their spin options. With the exception of Venkat Sarma, the spinners lacked penetration and Deon and JJ punished some often short and wayward bowling. When JJ went for 29 caught by Sander, Optiver still needed 83 to win. Well Jeroen Mulder was the man for the job and put together a match winning innings of 50 (retired) and was ably assisted by Deon with 28. The final runs we knocked off by Matt and Sandeep as they held their nerve to win with 2 overs to spare. §

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ZAMI 1/2 REPORT, Saturday 2 May 2009

Zami Army Derby ZAMI 1 v ZAMI 2

by Neil Browning

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ormally the Zami Army Derby attracts much attention, past and present, far and wide. From Sydney in the South (Mugsy and Angel) to Stockholm in the North (Jamie Johnson). However, given the events that unfolded in the final game last season and the fact that this was also the Season Opener for 2009, I was somewhat suprised at the lack of prematch banter and sledging one would half expect for such an event.

Given the fact that training during the week for most players was for the post-match celebrations (following a limited overs Koninginnedag Day/Nighter), perhaps the sweet taste of victory from last season’s final still lingering in the Zami 1’s mouths had been somewhat dampened by copious amounts of beer, a ‘Bitter’ taste Zami 2’s would be all too familiar with.

For those unfamiliar to the Zami Army Derby, to put things in perspective, i suggest you also read Mugsy’s brilliant Match Report ‘Battle of the Woods’, 30 August 2008).

So, what unfolded (to the best of my recollection): With some regular stalwarts either away in the UK (Fowler, Spoon) or pooping their pants in Las Vegas (Nobby, Tim) and some new faces stepping up to the podium in their place (Welcome: Sander ‘Mini Me’ Kempen, Nick ‘The New Fowler Howler’ Whitworth and Mijndert ‘Minehead from the Bacon’ Van Der Spek), starting only my third tour of duty in the Zami Army, I kind of felt like a seasoned veteran for this one.

I have no idea who won the toss or if there even was one, but the sun was shining and we (Zami 1) looking to retain the glory, were thrown into the field under the command of Captain Louis Collignon. On a more important note: a minute silence was taken by the players before starting the match, to commemorate the memory of Maruits van Nierop. Opening pair for Zami 2 was an interesting contradiction in terms, the young and very expensive Bob-Jan Spits and the one and only iron-fisted “Mein Fuhrer !” corpse with pads Dictator.

Paul McPhillimy (Phil McPaulimy) bowling from the Kalfjeslaan street end (red. Mulder end) and Phil Yisrael from the scoreboard end (red. City end) were given the honours with the new ball.

Suprisingly, BJ was the first to go and early, (the man who scored over 600 runs last season at an average of over 50) caught napping at the crease to a low in-swinger from >>

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ZAMI 1/2 REPORT, Saturday 2 May 2009

McPaulimy, bowled off his pads for 4 and the Zami 1’s in raptures (again).

Up steps Rohan ‘Rohanatunga’ Lianayage to the crease (the number 3 specialist who spent the off-season producing little Rohanatungas), looked to force the issue. However tight bowling from Yisrael and Paul, forced Rohan into a pressure scoring shot off a McPhillimy slow ball which he skied trying to hit over the infield, a confident catch taken by Michaelides at Midoff.

In next comes Philip Deelen, the man who smashed 10 sixes (and a car window in the process) in a 20/20 match last year. If he got going i knew it could be a long afternoon in the field. Again some tidy spells of bowling from Michaelides and Browning as first changes, scoring was kept to a minimum (albeit with some lovely cover drives from Floris Kapelle mind you). The prize wicket of Deelen fell just before drinks when his leg stump was rattled by a Browning inswinger. Zami 2, 70 for 3 half way through the innings.

Not much else to report about in the batting that was to follow (noughty quackers for number 9,10 and 11), some nice leg glancers from Toon ‘The Statue’ Hintzen and an unlucky “YES ....NO....err....SORRY !” run out for Jereon Mulder (coming off a retired 50 in a warm up match last week). Kappelle finally went out on 32, a solid anchorish knock from the Dicatator, showing some glimpses of his glory days.

Some other Bowling contributions to mention. A 1st ball wicket from debtant Sander striding in off a 20 metre 2 step run up and worthy spells from Whitworth (also on debut) and Louis. Even Mike George chipped in at some point with a cheeky 2 wickets for no runs off 1.4 overs. Yes you read that correctly. But, the accolades of the innings go to the Zami 1 fielding.

A big thumbs up to Michel Blokland for his enthusiaism and energy, diving onto the grass at every opportunity and a direct hit Ponting style run-out to finish off the innings by Browning.

Zami 2, all out for 137 and going in for the usual outstanding tea at the break, Zami 1 were licking their lips. The second innings included some fine bowling displays, especially from Geensen and Lobach (who earned himself a controversial wicket when Michaelides was caught behind by Bob-Jan off a full toss), but it was basically a 1 man batting show.

Louis and Mike got things moving nicely to 30 odd for none, until Mike copped a jaffa off-cutter from a speedy Geensen delivery, however first drop Phil Yisrael who was abnormally quiet before the match (and whilst fielding actually), took matters into his own hands with an outstanding, agressive but controlled all-round innings, sealing the victory for Zami 1 in style with a boundary in the 29th over and walking off on 80 not out.

MAN OF THE MATCH Phil Yisrael

PLAY OF THE DAY

Once again goes to our sometimes over exuberant ‘My cricket bag is a camoflauged back pack’ commando Sanne Salomons, who, taking the term ‘Zami Army’ quite literally, broke his collar bone whilst diving to stop a boundary as if he was diving onto a grenade.

SPECIAL THANKS To Patrick and Ruth for another sterling tea and post-match dinner. I’m sure Rood and Wit and HCC will be begging to host another match at VRA. §

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ZAMI ARMY REPORT, Thursday 7 May 2009

Zami Army vs. QuiVive Zami is a machine finely tuned to perform in the Zami league.

by Nick Fowler

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008’s results show that we have mastered that format: Saturday afternoons, 35 six-over-ball- innings per-side, leisurely gutsy teas from Ruth, and where the batsman that is on form that week can accumulate runs to his heart’s content.

So when you mess with the format you mess with the machine and Zami heroes become Zami zeroes overnight.

That’s what happened when we played not on a Saturday afternoon but on a Thursday evening. Shifting the innings from 35 six over balls to sixteen eight over balls placed too much stress on the Zami engine.

The ten minute break left us short of fuel. The lack of drinks break rendered our pistons un-oiled. Only the “declare on 25” rule didn’t affect us because, already psychologically destroyed by these other changes, no Zami made it past 20.

Neil Browning graciously assumed the captaincy mantle because Anthony “deep throat” Lynch had picked up a rash in his oesophagus watching Ricky Hatton get pummeled in Vegas. We were pleased to note that the voice of Tim Ellerton, who accompanied Nobby to the global mecca of adult entertainment, was still in perfect working order. Timmy had no problems uttering his trademark politically incorrect comments throughout the match.

Mike George and Martin Slagter opened the Zami account setting the tone for the evening: both were run out and neither made double figures. John Reardon was one of only three Zami batsmen to score double figures, and achieved an impressive 10 for 3 (ten runs, three team-mates run out.) Horseman of the apocalypse Reardon was clean bowled when he mistook his bat for a scythe, and having scored the cricketing equivalent of three own goals he rode his horse home grateful that he didn’t live in a Latin American country.

Paul Michaelides showed that are more ways of humiliating yourself than being senselessly run out, as was the fate of Mike George (3), Martin Slagter (9), Nick Fowler (0) and Phillip Deleen (3). Paul was clean bowled first ball, inspiring Ellerton (4) and Geensen (0) to lose their wickets in the same way, albeit not quite as quickly.

Neil Browning (19) and Leon Turmaine (15) topped the Zami batting scores, yet the contributions of both were still less than the contribution of the extras (33) which were >>

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ZAMI ARMY REPORT, Thursday 7 May 2009

helped along by the two-runs-per-wide rule. Otto Storm (5 not out) valiantly tried to help Zami past the 100 mark, but alas Zami fell short with a rather pitiful total of 97.

Being a well-balanced machine, Zami’s bowling was as bad its batting. Only one batsman was dislodged by our bowling, the wicket going to captain Neil Browning who, as with the bat, was one of the few to uphold our usual standards. Remaining batsmen either retired as they effortlessly passed 25, or were not out because the game ended before they could effortlessly pass 25. QuiVive effortlessly passed the Zami total with three eight ball overs to spare.

Despite the lack of wickets, there were some notable bowling performances. Martin Slagter called into question Newtonian Physics with his gravity-defying deliveries that hung motionlessly in a three dimensional space described by the batsman, bowler and wicket.

John Richardson - who is to be congratulated and thanked for putting in all the effort to arrange the match - delivered balls adjacent to the Slagterian space-time continuum, although Richo’s deliveries differed because they visibly moved forward, and then bamboozled the batsmen by spinning nicely in both directions.

Geensen, MIchaelides, Fowler and Turmaine were, however, shadows of their Saturday afternoon selves, and were grateful to get their psychological demons out of their systems before a real league match.

Conclusion: we appreciated the practice match and all the work that went into it. But to the extent that we care about winning, we should stick to playing the format that are tuned for.

After all, we are the Zamis, not the Dondas. §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 9 May 2009

VRA Zami 1 – HCC 1 Hoe zoet smaakt de victorie/

by Theo Lindemann

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nice late Saturday morning and the crème de la crème of the Zami gathered for the first time at Wildschut. Waitresses were still looking nervously and timidly over their shoulder every time they heard the warm welcome for yet another fit and able body. Who could blame them after last season slaughter campaign of the victorious amsterdamse bos militia. They didn’t need to worry too much this time as our dear Captain Nobby, master of the 2nd battalion was still in bed with the Swine Flu, freshly caught from a Mexican chambermaid in LasVegas.

Both teams went south bound to do battle in the Haagsche Duinen. The second team to Groen&Geel, but that story would only reach the annals of Dutch Cricket as a footnote, and whilst our glorious battle is a story worthy to be captured by a great poet.

But we in it shall be remembered

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother for seasons to come And what a prize we brought home my friends.

The heads of the Royal HCC. Those abject mindless followers of the Haagsche Kliek.

Firstly the bare and cold figures:

HCC 1 Batting 179 for 7 off 35 overs with only Tops (58), Lee (36) and de Molvan Otterloo (31) putting up a resistance worth mentioning.

Zami 1 Bowling Phil Ysrael 7 – 31 – 2w Neil Browning 7 – 25 – 2w

Zami 1 Batting 180 for 4 in 34.3 Mike George 26 (10 overs) Louis Collignon 36 (33 overs) Phil Ysrael 34 (15 overs) Mister wide 45

HCC Bowling 2 run outs >> Page 25

ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 9 May 2009

But that, my friends, doesn’t do justice to the story to be told to our grandchildren. A battle fought at one of the most rugged grounds of Dutch cricket, a true football pitch unfit for any noble sport. The preliminary skirmishes were not in our favor, as our brave captain Louis ‘lionheart’ Collignon lost the toss again. Perilous on foreign ground and one of the weak points of the Kolenjong. The team is considering sending him on the renowned training course of Mufti Kapeldevski to finally learn how to toss around. We’ll see next Saturday.

HCC were convinced to stun us by building a nice total on their deep-pile carpet but our deep penetrating offence was too heavy for them. Browning an Ysrael scalped their openers within 6 overs for a meager total of 14. we were dreaming of a total annihilation of the Hague forces, but the overconfidence of a good start and the “sleepy time” batting style, some missed stumpings and inaccuracy in our bowling suddenly made us aware that the 3rd wicket only fell in the 25th over for 97 and the 4th for 116 in 27th. Some nice catching of Phil took their away nr 3 & 4 of HCC who together brought hcc back in the game.

The forces flowed away from our untrained bodies and despite a good team effort in the field; leg side catch in the pink gloves, two catches of Paul the Greek and two excellent run outs (? & ?/sorry) the Hagenezen brought their total to an unexpected 179.

A total which would normally not make us blink, but the Diepput has seen lesser parties struggle and perish in reaching those figures. We had let the royals get back their confidence by not keeping the pressure on and now after a haags bakje tea, they were ready to suppress our hopes for victory.

Their confidence was smitten though by our opening pair. A true captain’s innings with the support of our old Man and the man from the old People we had given us a strong position to humiliate the royals. 52 in 9 when our dear Mike had himself run out because his eyes and brain are not working that quickly anymore. A straight shot to the only hcc player (a youngster of mere 17) who would hit the wicket in a straight throw was not properly processed by the grey matter of the Welshman.

Some proper running firstly with Phil and later with Kalashnikov brought us to a nice 100 in the 20th but then again our forces weakened, their bowling improved and our tempo dropped.

Phil was bowled for 34 in the 24th brought some pressure on the shoulders of Browning to speed some things up and the running between the wickets became bullit like. Perhaps a bit too much for our brave captain at that point of the battle as he was run out in the 33rd over at a stand of 162. We found ourselves in desperate straits. 18 in the remaining overs is a task of mythical proportion in the Diepput when the HCC full force of sledging and body line bowling is on again. Neil was out of ammo after 19 quick runs in and support of his captain.

So it was up to our loyal forces from abroad. And Paul and Nick rose to the occasion and like true mercenaries finished of the last resistance of the yellow&blacks. Trashed their hopes of an unlike outcome of the classic battle between the VRA and HCC. Some quick running and a mighty four of the fowler howler in the last over brought the final and well deserved victory home to Mokum.

A victory well deserved with some excellent fielding of Blokland , agent Mulder and some unconventional bowling of Willem (no son of) van Mierlo gave the wicketkeeper a glorious occasion to make up for his fumbling behind the wicket with an stunning leg side catch.

And Sander Kempen is not only making an impression just with his appearance. Two overs of steady bowling (keep looking at the pink gloves) and some breathtaking throwing to the wicketkeeper shows promise for Merv Hughes-like dimensions.

Ruurt needs special mentioning for making good Johnny R’s lack of concentration in the morning by supplying us with the scorebook. Thanks R. And other thanks go to our dear Sanne for supporting the 1st Zami team on a hostile ground. With his erratic comments he was confusing everybody again. Keep the good spirit in there mate. §

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 9 May 2009

Zami 2 v Groen & Geel So the Zami Army congregated at the fine hostelry that is the Wildschut.

by Tim Ellerton

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ome earlier than others and some with fresher heads than others. However, all filled with excitement and anticipation of the first away game of the season. Floris’s recruitment drive at Schipol Airport has worked well and hours of standing outside the arrivals gate with a sign saying “Cricket Players Wanted” have paid off as we welcomed Deon Veldtman (more of him later), JJ Sobti and Linton van Zyl into the team. Linton was very much in the good books of the dictator during the car journey to the match when he was heard to ask Floris: “So for how long did you used to play professional cricket?”

On arrival to the Groen & Geel ground we were welcome by some familiar faces (notably their very friendly and likeable captain Peter) and also our very own Ruurt Schreuder who, despite being injured and unable to play, still came along to support his friends and help out with some scoring and umpiring. What a man. What a team player. What a legend.

Fresh from his adulation at the hands of the new boy Floris and Tommy Spits set about getting the requested 200 runs that our captain Bob-Jan had set us before the start of play.

Whilst not exactly scoring with the pace of Gilchrist and Hayden in their opening 10 overs or so they helped soften up the hard ball on what was clearly a very difficult wicket to bat on. In a move that seemed to defy physics the slower the bowling was the higher the bounce was – a scenario that was to become the undoing of the middle order as the innings progressed.

Floris was first to go after an industrious 10 runs and John Reardon entered the fray. A man of his experience and class must have been licking his lips at the more than friendly bowling and average (at best) fielding so it was a surprise to all, and especially himself, that he was soon walking back 3 balls later after the ball looped off his bat quicker than Usain Bolt on drugs. Ellerton was next in and with the fortune of seeing his predecessor go out to an extraordinary bouncing delivery he reminded himself to play back on what was clearly becoming a very unpredictable wicket. This advice lasted all of 3 balls and he too was back in the hutch. Bob Jan pushed himself up the order and joined his brother who must have been wondering what on earth was going on as he hadn’t so much had given half a chance away.

Bob Jan looked in fine form but then from nowhere he walked back onto his wickets the responsibility of being captain and wanting as many of his team to bat as possible was obviously at the front of his mind. What a sacrifice he made. Joost Deckers was next in and faired only 1 run better than Reardon and Ellerton as he too was caught.

The G&G smelt blood and threw on their secret weapon – a gentleman who hadn’t played cricket for 10 years who bowled a 17 ball over! >>

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 9 May 2009

With the advantage back with the Zami 2, Spits and new boy JJ Sobti (a schoolboy minor counties player who used to be in the same team as a one Monty Panesar) took the game to the G&G attack and soon the runs started to flow. The busiest fielder was Joost Deckers – signed by G& on a loan basis for 3 sandwiches and a cup of tea. Sobti went to a great catch on the boundary and the icon that is Toon Hintzen joined Spits.

The partnership didn’t last long and Tommy was back in the pavilion after a valiant 44.

Hintzen and our South African import Deon, who had only arrived in the country that morning and was playing under special dispensation by the Dutch Immigration officials who were on hand to whisk him back for more questioning after the game, were the Zami 2’s last real hope of getting the total somewhere near the 150 mark. And boy did they deliver! Both played with beautiful timing and panache on what was a difficult pitch for batting – 4 was followed by 6 and followed by some great running between the wickets and soon the score ticked along at a rapid rate. The 150 which looked so difficult to achieve when the middle order were skittled out was not surpassed but totally smashed and now they had 200 in their sights.

Hintzen’s 38 runs was his highest score in the 21st century and helped by a dropped catch by Ellerton, fielding for the opposition, he played a starring role in the 90+ partnership they put on. Special mention to Deon who batted with patience, class and style. No care for the bouncy pitch that had taken many of his colleagues earlier in the innings - he just got on it in a good old fashioned manner. The makings of a long and successful Zami career had begun. So it was with great enthusiasm that the Zami 2’s headed towards the pavilion (or should that be golf course clubhouse?) for tea after taking their total to a very respectable 189. Conversations of “what flavor the sandwiches would be” or “I wonder how many different types of cakes they have” were soon dispersed as the reality of what can only be described as the worlds worst cricket tea in history. Some pathetic looking biscuits and only a few slices of cake were presented. Not acceptable for a bunch of athletes like the Zami 2 if have strick nutrional requirements when playing active sport. A letter of complaint has been sent to G&G and we await their feedback.

The tea that had done so much to deflate the Zami 2 spirit now provided the inspiration for our leaders team talk with Bob Jan getting the boys into a huddle and saying “Lets kick these guys butts for giving us such a f***ing awful tea”. With added enthusiasm and a spring in their step the Zami 2 looked like the professionals they once were (Floris) and prepared to mastermind the defence of their 189 runs. It became clear very early on that not only was the 189 safe but infact 50 runs would be safe as well. Linton and JJ Soti’s opening partnership proved too strong for the weak G&G batting lineup and soon the top four were back in the pavilion. Deon couldn’t stay out of the action even when in the field and took a Collingwoodesque catch at mid off to remove their one and only hald decent batsman. The game was all but over. With the score at 13-5 it was time to let a few others have a go and Richardson and Deckers came to the party.

Concentration was always going to be tough when it was so early on in the innings that the game was all but over but the Zami 2 stuck to their task and reduced the G&G to less than 50 for their innings. Not only were they helped by the fact G&G only had 8 players (clearly they do not adopt the Schipol recruitment drive that Floris does) but the brutal pace of Sir Richo’s bowling rendered one of them in hospital and 3 stitches were required to heal the gaping wound. OUCH!

With the game over the boys enjoyed some Dommelsh (filthy lager) in the sunshine and true to form even the G&G post match snacks were pitiful….when will they learn? Its times like this we must mention how lucky we are to have the lovely Ruth & Patrick as hosts….great food, great company and great passion for the Zami. Remember how lucky we are gents – take the time to thank them next Saturday. We must be the envy of all Dutch cricket. §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 16 May 2009

VRA Zami 1 – Rood & Wit VRA hosted 3 games on this 3rd weekend of cricket.

Zami 1 faced Rood & Wit on the ABN AMRO pitch, Zami 2 faced Kampong on the main pitch and VRA ladies team played on the second pitch.

by Paul McPhilimy

O

ur glorious dictator, Mr. Floris Kappelle was composing what I am sure will be a literary masterpiece for Cricketers Magazine and to accompany this all ZAMI team members lined up for a team photo before departing our separate ways to do battle.

Maybe battle was the wrong word to use in describing our batting that afternoon. Mike George fell without troubling the scorers in the second over of the game, followed shortly there-after by Louis Collingnon. Then with Neil Browning and Nick Fowler at the crease things started to look up for VRA. Neil especially seemed to be in very good touch early on and Nick after settling in found his touch also. The pair put on a very well hit 45 before Neil was out LBW for 23.

Then in the 19th over Nick fell to an ill timed attempted pull shot and was caught at square leg for a very well crafted 40. The only real contribution from the remaining batsmen and very much deserving of special mention here was Mr. Michael Blokland who managed two milestones in his cricketing career. Firstly he managed his first ever boundary and secondly notched up double figures for the first time. And it must be said with some good cricketing shots ending up 13 no. He did mention that just a day of so before he had been studying a DVD of Glenn McGrath batting, not quite sure that he is a good role model for batsmen, but whatever works!

So after a rather gloomy batting performance VRA ended up all out for 131 runs after 31.1 over’s. After another lovely tea back at the main pavilion it was back to the ABM pitch to try and defend a low total. The attack was spearheaded by Jeroen (SOS) Mulder and Piotr Pasirowski both bowling good line and length troubling the batsmen early on, both picked up a wicket each. Neil Browning then continued the good economical bowling picking up another wicket limiting R&W to 32/3 but a stand of 53 between the number 4 and 5 batsmen saw R&W inch closer to the target. The 50 partnership was broken by Paul McPhillimy and in the next 4 over’s VRA took a further 3 wickets for 8 runs but was not enough to stop R&W hitting the winning runs with a couple over’s to spare. All VRA bowlers bowled good line and length and economical but in the end VRA were 20 – 30 runs short and R&W ran out deserved winners on the day.§

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LBW

Y/N

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Spirit of the Game sponsored by Collignon.

Comrade Nilski Browning whined for weeks when Louis gave him out LBW against HCC on May 9.

According to 2009 Wisden (p1441-2), the preamble to the laws of cricket on “the Spirit of Cricket” say the following: “Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws, but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself... ...4. The Spirit of the Game involves respect for • • • •

Your opponents Your own captain and team The role of the umpires The game’s traditional values

5. It is against the Spirit of the Game • To dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture • To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire • Etc, etc.”

Page 31

ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 16 May 2009

VRA Zami 2 – Kampong VRA Zami 2 won by forfeit

by Joost Dekkers

O

n a cloudy Saturday the Zami 2-gentlemen welcomed Kampong, who were very short of players and only managed to bring 8 people to the Amsterdamse Bos.

Because of the amount of VRA Zamienthusiastics we were still able to play a proper game of cricket (even 12 a side) while Tim Ellerton, JJ Sobti (Zomi Optiver), Jamie Johnson (all the way from Sweden; bowling figures 3/23/7) and Jason Hall (firsttimer) were so kind to play for Kampong.

After taking a professional teamphoto to accompany a self-proclaimed “prosaic poetry” on VRA Zami-cricket by Floris Kappelle for the next Cricketers Magazine, we could finally start our 3rd game of the season. We were playing on the grass wicket, while our dearest friends of Zami 1 (played and lost to R&W mostly because Bruine Nelis -being halfway the pitch!- was dismissed LBW by his captain Loes…) went to the ABN-ground and the ladies played on the second pitch.

Captain Anthony Lynch (back in charge after 2 weeks of Mexican swine flu) chose to bat first and Bob-Jan Spits and Floris Kappelle made their way to the middle. Bob-Jan was caught & bowled in the first over and scored a duck (again; where last year in this stage of the season he already scored about 300 runs…). In came his younger brother Thomas Spits, who built an impressive partnership with The Dictator of 75 runs filled with beautiful strokes and good running between the wickets, before getting caught at mid-off scoring 40. Opener Floris Kappelle ended on 37 runs in the 27th over after a steady batting innings. We crossed the 100-mark in over 25 and we were trying to speed up the runrate. John Reardon (caught behind Ellerton - bowled Johnson!) and Huib Bier just added 4 and 1 runs to the score. After them Toon Hintzen (21 not out), Rohan Liyanage (11) and Joost Dekkers (8) brought us to a final score of 142 after 35 overs; a modest but defendable total on this big field and tricky wicket. Anthony Lynch, Sir John Richardson, Dave Geensen and Ruurt Schreuder did not bat.

After tea our pace-duo Dave Geensen (0/9/5) and Anthony Lynch (2/9/4.3) started bowling. Accuracy, tight fielding and an excellent team spirit put the Kampong-batsmen under pressure. Rohan Liyanage (2/11/6) and Joost Dekkers (3/22/7) took over the ball and after 17 overs Kampong had already lost 6 wickets and just scored 35 runs. Thomas Spits (2/12/4) and Sir John Richardson (0/18/3) secured the easy victory and Kampong were all out in the 30th over on 83.

Note: Tim Ellerton (playing for Kampong) was intimidated by our bowling, faked an injury and went to the hospital. Spectator Jan Balk batted in his place and scored a duck (one handed reflex catch Bob-Jan).

After the match we had a great diner; well prepared and served by Patrick, Ruth and her son Stanley and abundantly enjoyed by our opponents R&W and Kampong, the ladies of the first team and the VRA Zami Army. The clubhouse was filled with one big drinking (Sanne, what was in those nasty drinks?!?), feasting and speeching cricket family. Later that night after even more drinks the karaoke-set was plugged in and led by the lovely vocalists Nathalie Hennis and her sister Tanya we sang and drank until de kleine uurtjes…§

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 23 May 2009

VCC-ZAMI 1 It was an excellent day, with the sun up and the grounds looking nice.

Louis lost the toss (again?!):

by Willem van Mierlo

W

e started fielding. A good team effort with good bowling of Paul and Phil and tight fielding positions kept the run rate very low for about 20 overs. Nick Bertholet prevented quite some ‘fours’ getting his body behind the ball, keeping his eyes on the ball and taking the ball into his hands. Also taking an excellent catch at the boundary unfortunately with one foot on the rope...

In a great team effort we managed to get a run out with the ball passing about nine pairs of hands to Nick B. who tossed the ball to bowlers’ end, resulting in a run out.

Neil and Nick F. took the team through with bowling good line and length, supported by their fielders and taking 6 wickets between them (3 each).

Mike George had a great Friday night (and Saturday morning) and only was able to worry about the distance between his eyes and his sunglasses. He promised not to say anything in the field. We could not see whether he was asleep but at the moment we needed it he took a very good catch of the Slugger of VCC and their highest scorer: 82 runs. The same for Neil Browing: he took a catch of the Butcher of VCC.

Also Willem seems to be finding his line and length again. Phil and Paul McPhilimy took over for the last overs. The total of VCC came to 183 all out. §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 30 May 2009

VRA Zami 1 vs Groen en Geel A match filled with injuries.

VRA Zami 1: 157 all out.

Groen en Geel: 87 all out.

by Michiel Blokland

A

ll the signs were there for a great game of cricket: great weather, good pitch and eleven very fit players. VRA was batting first and the stand in captain Phil Yisrael changed the order, giving some of the less experienced players a chance. Marc de Kruijff pulled a muscle before even facing a ball and needed a runner.

Michiel Blokland, being bowled out for one (which affected his batting-average of infinity), stepped up and ran his heart out. Together with Paul McPhillimy they put on a partnership of 55. After a bit of confusion Paul McPhillimy was run out after having scored 37 runs. All the other batsman eventually fell to the vicious bowling of Groen en Geel. Together with Mr. Wide (31 runs) VRA came to a total of 157 runs.

Groen en Geel started the batting with a new VRA-member, Jacob Ekkers. He scored 15 runs and annihilated Mike George’s bowling figures. Mike George was bowling because Paul McPhillimy pulled a muscle in the back in his first over. Also Floris Kappelle didn’t make it to the end of the game. After a lethal blow from Jacob Ekkers the ball hit Floris’ knee and he limped off the field. He then sprinted to the clubhouse faster than Usain Bolt to get an icepack.

Nick Bertholet was in trouble when an old injury started to affect his fielding. VRA needed extra fielders from Groen en Geel and could rely on good old Michiel Blokland to save a lot of balls that would have gone over the boundary. \

Thanks to some good bowling by Nick Fowler, Phil Yisrael (almost a hattrick), Neil Browning (almost a hattrick), Mike George and Jeroen SOS Mulder Groen en Geel were all out for 87 runs. The G&G smelt blood and threw on their secret weapon – a gentleman who hadn’t played cricket for 10 years who bowled a 17 ball over! §

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John McGinley’s Stag M

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Match: Zami 2 vs VCC

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warm welcome back from Cambodia to Sir John McGinley, who A very decided to spend his stag day on the cricket field: an excellent and correct choice for an upstanding cricket gentleman like himself.

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30 May 2009

VCC 195 for 6 in 35 overs VRA ZAMI II 196 for 2 in 28 overs – won by 8 wickets

Well... the score line tells the story!

Some bowlers did not enjoy the day while most batters did. Yet we were never behind at any point of the game.

It was a perfect day for cricket – except for the walk all the way to the ABN ground.

A late start allowed a few guys on either side extra time for a bit of a tan, after which we started bowling first.

This went pretty much according to plan as Dave and Nobby shared the new ball and had their openers wondering where the ball was.

The first wicket fell early to Dave who had an excellent day with the ball.

1 for 20 in 7 overs figures do not do justice – it would have been 3 or 4 on another day. VCC had to go slow with Nobby and Dave going well and had to pace their innings. Joost came in at the first change and kept things in check.

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THE ZAMI 2 REPORT, 30 May 2009

ABN-AMRO

ground T

Dave bowled out his spell from one end and the runs were drying up, VCC had no option other than underestimating the flight & guile of Joost, looking for runs.

his resulted in two quick stumpings, both a Joost - Bob Jan combination. VCC had a more than decent batting lineup all the way to no 8, they showed some experience as they ran the early middle overs with singles, aiming to build a good total. They were 80 for 3 after 20 overs. From there onwards we did head south as a unit, with a mix of misfields and a lack of energy in field.

Our bowlers (Thomas, Rohan, Pete, Richo and man of the day Johnny McGinley) all started well and went down hill, conceding a lot of runs in the latter overs. In the mean time Nobby came back to finish his spell with some exceptional bowling – taking two in two (with one of them being a superb one handed caught behind by BJ), it might have been a three in three if the LBW law was applied properly by our expert umpires.

With 3 bowlers (Dave, Nobby and Joost) conceding 75 runs in 21 overs and the rest of the bowlers conceding 120 in 14 overs, VCC somehow got to 195 for 6, with the no 5 batsman batting to the end with 81 not out.

Our openers Bob Jan and Thomas batted the opening overs sensibly, and after assessing the

opening attack punished the loose balls with some delightful straight drives from both brothers. After 12 overs we were around 70, and Thomas (20 i think) and followed by Bob Jan (40 some thing) fell within the space of a few deliveries. Despite the double blow we had a solid start to work from and were ahead of the rate. John Reardon (no 3) and Rohan (no 4) came together at this point, and VCC had one eye on the result hoping to see a couple more wickets. Both John and Rohan kept the singles and twos going and VCC did not get a chance to apply pressure on the two new batters.

The next 16 overs resulted in 120 runs with John and Rohan sharing a 120 run stand for the third wicket. We were victorious in the 29th over.

There were fours, sixes, doggy 3rd runs, walked singles, 5 fielders in the leg side boundary, obstruction appeals from the fielders – but the best moment of the innings was John’s Nadal style ‘serve’ off a beamer that went over his head, which disappeared to the cow corner! John was 33 not out, Rohan had 65 not out, and we won with 6 overs to go and were back early in the VRA clubhouse to celebrate.

by Rohan Liyanage Page

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Superb Netherland Humiliating the English in style.

England vs Netherland Lords T20 WC 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Group B, Lord’s: Netherlands 163-6 beat England 162-5 by four wickets

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Memorable Moments from Zami Season, June 5, 2009

ds shock England Cricket’s rich history of thrilling upsets was given another chapter as Netherlands sensationally beat England by four wickets in the opening match of the ICC World Twenty20 at Lord’s.

Needing seven off the last over Ryan ten Doeschate and Edgar Schiferli ran for their lives and with two needed off the last delivery Stuart Broad missed a run-out from his follow through and the resulting overthrow set off wild scenes of celebration.

>>

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“it’s a candidate for “shot of the day” as Borren launches an absolutely enormous, Albie Morkel-style six over mid-wicket and into an executive box in the middle tier of the Grandstand which is measured at 94 metres.

A huge hit!”

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T

om de Grooth played the innings of his life to hit 49 off 30 balls and Netherlands paced their pursuit of 163 so expertly that they were always ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis when steady rain began to fall to add to the drama. But the game deserved to be played to a finish and crucially Netherlands had the experience of ten Doeschate, who plays professionally for Essex, up their sleeve as he didn’t come in until No. 6.

Each time England nipped out a wicket the next Netherlands batsman held their nerve until the final-over equation with seven needed. England missed three chances off the first three balls as the fielding crumbled under pressure in the closing stages, with two run out opportunities and a dropped catch as ten Doeschate cracked a chance back to Broad.

When Schiferli, who had injured his shoulder diving to make his ground earlier in the over, clubbed the ball to the on side Broad collected in his follow-through. A direct hit would have given England the win, but even allowing the single would have sent the game to a Super Over - however Broad went for the win and he missed. Almost before the second run was complete the Dutch were sprinting from the dug-out.

Once again, Twenty20 had shown its capacity to produce the most incredible upsets. But this wasn’t about the gap being narrowed, this victory was all about the superior skill level of Netherlands on the night. The intent with which they went about the chase was thrilling in its freedom and confidence.

Darron Reekers set the tone with thumping sixes over midwicket off Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson a stark comparison to England who didn’t manage a single six throughout their innings. Netherlands were nervous for the first 10 overs and didn’t appear to have a pray as Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright opened with a stand of 102, yet England managed just 73 in the second half of the innings.

The confidence Netherlands gained from their strong finish in the field - where, notably, they held their chances - showed in the batting performance. When Alexei Kervezee pulled to mid-on and Reekers’ brief dash was ended by Broad it appeared England would have too much fire power.

However de Grooth took 16 off the sixth over, including a straight six, and England knew they were in a battle.

Adil Rashid, on his international debut, produced a neat legspinner to have Bas Zuiderent stumped, only for Peter Borren to open his account with a thumping pull over midwicket. de Grooth continued to play one of those innings that amateur

Memorable Moments from Zami Season, June 5 2009 cricketers dream of and each boundary gave him another story to regale with in the years to come.

Paul Collingwood opted for his medium-pacers rather than returning to the strike bowlers as the runs were whittled down. de Grooth launched the England captain over midwicket for a flat six, but two balls later got a leading edge against a slower ball that looped to extra cover. The celebrations, though, were muted; this wasn’t what the hosts had expected.

Borren top-edged to short fine-leg and Daan van Bunge picked out Wright on the cover boundary with a powerful drive that lodged in the fielders’ elbow, but ten Doeschate found a crucial four in the 19th over with a sliced drive that was parried over the rope by an airborne Eoin Morgan.

This was going to be Netherlands’ moment.

It was the type of start the event desperately needed on a cold, grey, damp day which forced the opening ceremony to be cancelled amid memories of the inglorious beginning to the 1999 World Cup. It didn’t seem the most astute scheduling to open with a game involving a minnow, but now the tournament is alive.

England will want to forget the evening.

It started badly when Kevin Pietersen was ruled out with a recurrence of his Achilles problem and Rob Key was drafted in having not played during the warm-ups, and finished batting down at No. 6 where he never plays in county cricket.

That was partly down to an excellent opening stand between Bopara and Wright, a continuation of their effort against West Indies, which made it appear that England would have a routine few hours of cricket. Their partnership of 102 equalled England’s best in Twenty20 internationals, but the middle order couldn’t build on the foundation and showed a worrying lack of striking power. Huge credit must go to the Netherlands attack who got their game together after a slow start.

Still, at the half-way stage, most pundits and a large proportion of the crowd will have thought England had enough.

No one told the men wearing orange - a motley crew from a country where football is king and cricket barely rates a mention - who less than two hours later and put some of the highest paid players in the world firmly in their place.

Say what you like about Twenty20, this was a sporting drama at its very best.

Andrew McGlashan is assistant editor of Cricinfo Page 45

ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 13 June 2009

VRA Zami 1 – Kampong Zami 1 won by 60? runs

by Nick Fowler

F

resh from celebrating the Netherlands’ sensational 20/20 victory over England at Lords last week and then Tommy Spits’ birthday the night before, a more than usually hung-over Zami squad took to the field.

Zami 1 batted first. Veterans Mike George and Floris Kappelle opened the account.

Mike was the first to fall, given out LBW by umpire Neil Browning. As Neil has spent the last four weeks scrutinizing and e-mailing everyone about the LBW law, we presume he knew what he was doing. Floris also fell early, as did cricketing newby Jakob Ekkers, making way for Phil Yisrael and Paul Michaelides to lay the foundation for the Zami innings.

Their spadework was steady at first, but before long they had laid a granite bedrock of a partnership of [97?] runs. Phil was cruising for a century despite trying to throw his wicket away to enable one of the other seven established batsmen a turn. Phil finally succeeded in his mission to commit batting suicide and left the field even more red faced and sweaty than usual on [67?]. Paul soon followed his partner back to the pavilion with 34 under his belt, equally red faced and sweaty.

A brief slog from Nick Fowler who has clearly been watching too much 20/20 ended after just 8 runs, thereby continuing his howler of a batting streak into a fourth week. Paul McPhillimy on the other hand continued his hot streak, creaming in the runs to ending with [38?] not out, accompanied at the end by Neil Browning. The Aussie from Perth clearly still had so much pent up frustration from that LBW decision back in May and from being asked to bat number 8 today that in the words of Mr. Michaelides “he just went ape-shit” hitting two Gayle-esque sixes off Kampong’s best and fastest bowler in the final over. Neil scored 40 not out about seven overs, and left the field much relieved, albeit commenting that he could have scored more if he’d batted higher up the order. Zami ended up with [234?] runs on the board, almost 7 runs an over.

Our big friendly giant Sander Kempen reluctantly opened the bowling after a gentle reminder that real bowlers wear neither a hat nor sunglasses when in action. Shades-less Sander proceeded to bowl with his unique two-step Trebouchet sling action that generated pace and bounce reminiscent of Joel Garner.

From the other end to complete the bowling bamboozlement was birthday boy Nicholas Whitworth. The Kempen-Whitworth combination was not without its share of wides, and provided a sporting start for Kampong to get going. Mr Whitworth retired to attend his own birthday party at the Westergasfabriek.

Lang zal hij leven. >>

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 13 June 2009

That man Browning again, and Jeroen SoS Mulder took over from the openers. Both bowled well, with man-of-the-match Neil picking up 4 wickets, and Jeroen clean bowling [3?] with excellent line, length and pace.

Phil Yisrael, Nick Fowler and even Floris Kapelle also took their turns, though none had the same impact. Paul and Paul were not in the attack: Michael Paulimides was still exorcising the psychological demons that plagued his eighteen minute over (or so it seemed) at HCC earlier in the season, declaring that when it comes to bowling he most enjoys playing when he doesn’t have to play.

Phil McPaulimy on the other hand was suffering from blood poisoning. He claimed to be too hungover from Tommy Spits’ party to be able to run in. So he decided instead to rest up at first slip and watch six or so edges go flying by him, through him, under him, and over him depending on the bowler in question.

Despite a valiant batting attempt by Kampong, and a valiant attempt by Captain Phil not to bowl them out, Kampong never really looked like making the runs and indeed the match ended with Kampong 60? or so short of the target. §

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 13 June 2009

VRA ZAMI 2 – Rood en Wit. ZAMI 1 199/9 – 171/11.

VRA wins with 28 runs

by Bob-Jan Spits

L

ike some matches, this match started on Friday evening rather than on the Saturday morning.

Thomas Spits became 21 and give a birthday party at his student club at the Leidse plein and some of the players joined him for just a couple of drinks, nothing fancy and big of course, since the next day we had an important match and everyone knows that we ZAMI people take our cricket quite seriously.

So after everyone had a nice soft drink and we got through the team strategy for the next game, we all went to bed early and left our birthday boy in the hands of dozen student girls and a bar were beer was so cheap you could actually call it free beers.

At Saturday morning everyone was at the field on time and our captain Anthony Lynch won the toss and elected to bat first, and only at that moment we found out that we actually missed our opening batsmen, Thomas Spits, who was still in bed after his birthday party from the night before. Very un-ZAMI like from our youngster but I guess he learned from it, and this gave Joost Dekker the chance to show off his batting skills as an opener for the first time this season.

So with Bob-Jan and Joost getting to the middle to face the first balls of the day, we actually looked to get a score of about 200, to make sure that Rood en Wit never would be able to make that total. In the first overs the scoring did not go very quickly but Rood en Wit chipped in with a couple of whites and Bob-Jan and Joost were pushing the balls in the gaps for some singles and doubles and we were proceeding just as planned the night before. After about ten overs Bob-Jan and Joost decided that they would have to push the run-rate up a bit, and after some good boundaries from Bob-Jan, Joost unfortunately found his off-drive from the up, caught at extra cover and was dismissed with a nice amount of 20 runs behind hid name. This brought John Reardon at the crease, although not for long, because Bob-Jan tried to push John for a second run after he hit it to the outfield and a superb throw of one of the Rood en Wit guys dismissed John without having 1 ball faced.

This brought Huib Heineken to the crease batting as a number 4, and Huib immediately took his chance and batted alongside Bob-Jan and trying to get him on strike for >> most of the time and just contributing with some singles. This resulted in a nice partnership of 57 runs and when Huib Heineken was finally set and decided to go after the Rood en Wit bowlers he tries a pool-shot and was a bit too slow with his footwork resulting in an easy catch for the square-leg fielder. Bob-Jan already got his fifty and was looking to score his first century of the season, had a nice partnership with JJ, and thereafter with Thomas Spits, unfortunately did not get his century but was dismissed for 94 runs, getting bowled. The final ten overs Thomas Spits and Anthony Lynch both had some cracking boundaries and VRA ZAMI 2 eventually got to a nice total of 199 runs for the last wicket.

After lunch we started the bowling with our two openers, Dangerous Dave and Anthony Page

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 13 June 2009

Lynch, who both had a nice spell resulting in an early wicket for Dave and we were looking to demolish the Rood en Wit side. To get some pace of the ball, Tim Ellerton got a chance to bowl, and although Tim had a hangover (again very un-ZAMI like) resulting in some full-tosses which were dispatched for six, he still managed to a wicket that we really needed. Rood en Wit was batting quite well and builded up a nice partnership for the third wicket and actually was looking to really go after our score.

Their number one bat, made a nice fifty, and things were looking good for them. Johnny Richardson had a couple of good overs and so did JJ, our first change bowler but nothing resulted in a wicket which we really needed. This got Anthony Lynch deciding to try it with our leg-spinner Thomas Spits, who was finally seeing the ball clearly again, and Thomas got his chance to show why drinking on a Friday nigh might work for ZAMI players. In his first over Thomas dismissed their opening bat, going out for a nice total of 67, caught be Dangerous Dave at gully. I believe Rood en Wit didn’t know why we actually call Dave the Dangerous One, but that’s because in the field Dave can be dangerous for both teams when fielding, since you never know what he does with the ball. Sometimes he takes brilliant catches and sometimes he nearly misses the head of his own wicket-keeper trying to hit the stumps with nobody backing up, resulting in an overthrow of four runs. Dangerous he is.

This day Dave was dangerous to Rood en Wit, with Thomas bowling extremely well, Dangerous Dave was yielding as a real Dutch lion at gully and Thomas and Dave completely took over the game and every batsmen found Dave on their way trying to hit Thomas for a big one. Dave took four good catches at gully on Thomas his bowling, and Thomas took the brilliant amount of 7 wickets in total. His figures were 7-42 in 8, yes he actually bowled 8 overs because some scorer wasn’t paying attention and took two wickets on his final two balls, meaning he is also on a hat-trick for the next match. Eventually Rood en Wit was bowled out for 172 resulting in a very good win for VRA ZAMI 2. §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 20 June 2009

VRA Zami 1 - VCC VRA Zami 1 lost by 2 wickets

by Paul Michaelides

I

t seems every time it comes my time to write the match report I am writing about strong batting, and bowling performance that is a little off the mark.

And that was the story of the match for both VCC and VRA ZAMI 1. A match that had 2 century makers is a testament as much to the inability of the bowling to penetrate or contain as much as to the resolve of the batsmen. This is probably not an uncommon story within ZAMI ranks and so on with the report.

Perfect cool and overcast conditions greeted the players as VRA elected to bat on the VRA 2 field. Nick Fowler and Louis Collignon opened the batting and it became apparent that a slow pitch and outfield would require some adjustments to find some timing and runs. The adjustment did not come quick enough for the struggling Nick Fowler as his batting woes continued. Paul Michaelides joined Louis at the crease and after a slow beginning the partnership picked up pace with a couple of lofted drives from Collignon. Well just as Louis looked good he got out for 16. Mike George (6) came and went attempting an ambitious clip to midwicket off middle stump.

When Neil Browning strode to the crease in the 15th over to join his countryman the score was 3/78. The Aussies took control of some average bowling and kept the score ticking over; only M.Nota containing the batsmen returning figures of 1/28 off 7 overs. Michaelides went past 50 and Browning was motoring along and with the score at 155 after 29 overs, the batsmen went into overdrive smashing 78 off the last six overs. Well if you allow me to indulge myself for a minute I’ll tell you how Michaelides got to his century.

With 1 over to go Browning asks the scorers what Michaelides is on, when the response is 93, Browning declares that he is going to get Michaelides to the century. Browning starts by getting Michaelides on strike and they run a series of 2s until the last ball of the innings where on 99 it is clear that pretty much any contact with the bat will take him to the century. With the field encroaching the bowler throws up a juicy ball outside off and simple cut takes him to the century, 100 not out. Browning finished a great innings 72 n.o. and a seemingly more than competitive total of 233 took us to lunch.

Well VCC started brightly against the quicks of VRA. Enjoying the pace of SOS Mulder and a man only known as Adrian the VCC Page

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 20 June 2009

openers got off to a flyer. Mulder got the breakthrough splitting the bail of the opener Neuerbury. Adrian, a man that came out of the bush to do a law degree in the Netherlands showed promise in his ZAMI 1 debut and looks like a contributor of the future (0/47 off 7).

The introduction of the spinners was welcomed by the now entrenched batsmen and they took control of the match moving the score to 1/147 off 21 overs. Introduce Browning and Mike George (2/21 off 4) and a bit of focused fielding and VRA were back in the match.

Mike George got the breakthrough of A.Nota for a well compiled 40 and then followed up with a wicket very next ball. Browning got into the action with wicket to wicket bowling and top catch from Michiel Blokland to remove the big danger M.Nota and at 5/184 VCC still needed 7 an over. More tight bowling from SOS (2/38 off 7) and Rocky’s wife (Adrian) led to the final 4 overs and still 33 required.

Despite Mike George’s declaration that he wanted to ease Taco (another Kiwi / Aussie debutant without a surname) into the match he lets him bowl the death with Neil Browning.

Meanwhile, opener Molenbuur has remained at the crease, and although slowed by some good bowling had reached a critical century for his team.

Some calm batting took VCC to the brink of victory with 4 balls remaining. Browning held them off and an unlikely tie was on the cards, but a good connection to mid on and the winning single was conceded, VCC taking victory. Browning finished a good all round performance with 2/37 off 7. §

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 20 June 2009

VRA Zami 2 - Beating Bats VRA Zami 2 lost by 6 wickets.

by John Richardson

V

RA ZAMI 2 142/10 (34.4) BEATING BATS 146/5 (23.5)

Our opening bats Thomas Spits (4) and Floris Kappelle (19) got off to a cracking start with a magnificent partnership of 8 off the first 5 overs before Thomas ‘7-wickets’ Spits was caught and sent off packing to the dugout.

Sensing an early victory we sent in Timmy ‘Darling’ Ellerton (20) to partner up with the Lord of the Willow... Might Mufty the Magnificent...

Children’s Book Emperor...Mr Piet Police himself...

Floris whatsisname?

A short-lived yet magnificent 20 runs off 6 innings from Timmy Darling included two encouraging sixes and a beastly four. But it was not to be.

‘Darling’ was controversially dismissed off a ball that sneaked under his willow’s radar and skittled him back to the dugout for some rudimentary swearing and general throwing of toys from the proverbial pram.

The helmeted Joost Dekkers came in next and proved yet again that even though he looks like someone who has just been fired out of a circus canon, he can fire off his bat when it counts and score a handsome 27 runs. Having graced the field with his sartorial elegance and played some magnificent cover drives, sweeps and face pulls, Floris the Magnificent reached his milestone 19 runs and decided to retire for a pleasant and soothing puff on his nico pipe.

It was good to see Marnix Hazewiejer (14) back at the crease after his dreadful period of forced exile in which he was forced to study maths every Saturday in his Piet Police Pyjamas (PPP’s). Naturally he is reluctant to talk about this dark period in his life.

B.J. Spits came back in to the rapidly filling dugout with the best score of the day with a thrilling 29 runs that included a monster six. They’re thinking of making a cartoon horror movie out of this to scare the women and children.

Then I’m afraid our batting more or less lost consciousness. Keeling over first was Huib Bier for a golden quack. Toon Hintzen crumpled next with a threesome, but at least Page

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he was bowled out like a man rather than his customary girly LBW. Both Ruurt Schreuder and Dave Geenson got one each before they blacked out.

Always able to be relied upon to take a humiliating collapse and turn it into a magnificent fizzle, Johnny Richardson took home the bacon with a career boosting six.

Looking on the bright side, we all had a bat, which is what it’s all about in a friendly.

And 142/10 off 34.4 overs is not bad given our lack of `Lube n Spoon’ (Anthony Lynch and John Reardon).

Beating Bats had four very good bowlers who where on form compared with our one good fired up seam bowler, Dave Geenson (1 for 7 off 5). Luckily for Beating Bats we had a bunch of out of form spin bowlers. Anything remotely down leg was severely punished, resulting in four of our spin bowlers with 21, 25, 26 and 29 runs against off their first three overs.

Thomas Spits came in to bowl to hopefully score a hat trick from last week’s game where he got 7 wickets and 2 in a row from his last 2 balls. Alas his first ball went for 4, which just about summed up the day.

Positives included Johnny Richardson who made a breakthrough with a run out off his bowling and Tim Ellerton who hoisted a wicket off his first ball. Huib Beir also contributed a wicket via a lovely catch by Toon ‘fingers’ Hintzen.

‘Fingers’ made a rare appearance at the popping crease and bowled a tidy 0 for 29 off 2.5 overs. His last ball, the fifth ball of the 23rd over, found a boundary 4 and signaled the end of the game.§

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 27 June 2009

VRA Zami 2 - HCC 1 VRA Zami 2 won by 25 runs HCC Zami vs V.R.A. Zami 2: 139 all out, 164 for 8

by Huib Bier

C

atches win matches.

Most of the team arrived just in time, about 13.25 hours at a sweltering “Diepput”. Special compliments for our captain Nobby Lynch who did not get a wink of sleep after practicing one of the most ancient sports for most of the night. He managed that we could bat first as he thought we were having a pretty strong batting side, even without the Spits brothers, who were dancing on a totally other place on the planet.

Our opening couple Paul McPhillimy en Mr Kapelle himself were sound and solid but a bit slow, but with these temperatures everybody is a bit slower than normal, even Floris.

Unfortunatly he was taken by surprise by a low full toss for a couple of runs. MCPhillimy however stood as big rock scoring a lovely 31 runs before he got out.

Nobby contributed with a quick 11. But thanks to the heat we sufferd a little colaps in the middel order. So we were about 70 for 6 after 20 overs, still 15 overs to go.

After some inspiring words of our captain the rest of the batsmen knew what to do: Scoring runs and not to go out. How simple can it be!

So at numbers 7 and 8 came in Jeroen Agent Mulder en Huib Bier, good for a partnership of 30 runs, Huib contributed with 10 beautifully crafted runs.

But it was not over yet, Neil Browning came in and what follows was an other great partnership with Jeroen Mulder of 40. So we came from 100 for 7, to an acceptable total of 164 for 8. Jeroen Agent Mulder 29 runs, Neil Nelis Browing 20 not out.

But the best was yet to come.

After a decent lunch (not to compare with the delicious food Ruth and Patrick serve, but still ), we went out in the field, sharp as knives: Crouching tiger hidden dragon!

On the field it was still tropical and the outfield was getting faster by the minute, but athletes as we are it did not bother us one bit, even when the pavilion got fuller and louder, we did not lose our concentration.

It still took a while to get their dangerous opening batsmen out. After a few more wickets, 2 nice catches of Paul McP and 1 of Dave Geensen, there where still two six hitting batsmen out in the field, crawling towards our run rate. But tidy bowling: Neil 3-20 and Joost Shane Dekkers 5-40!!! (fantastic, well deserved man of the match) did the trick!

Off course with some help of the fielders, Huib Bier took a blistering catch of the day at mid-wicket and Paul Michaelides took a very cool catch straight at is troath saving six runs!

A good win thanks to the great atmosphere in (and out) the field! Toon get well soon!

Vertaling/translation: Het was een mooie warme dag, we hebben gewonnen omdat wij meer runs hadden dan de tegenpartij, Toon beterschap! §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 4 July 2009

VRA Zami 1 - Groen Geel Tie

by Jeroen SoS Mulder

W

ith both ZAMI teams scheduled to play away we started the day at Wildschut.

Captain Louis Collignon build a team with familiar faces, but also invited Swaroop Bantwal to debute for ZAMI 1. After a much needed cup of coffee and exchanging good luck wishes with ZAMI 2 we went off to Wassenaar to play ZAMI 1 from Groen Geel.

On a beautiful ground surrounded with golfing greens ZAMI 1 went out to bat first.

Groen Geel’s pitch is notorious for its ability to surprise the batsmen with incredible bounce on slower balls. Regardless of Groen Geel’s interesting choice to start the bowling with the number three and four ‘slower’ bowlers, opening batsmen Louis Collignon and Paul McPhillimy were off to a great start with good running between the wickets and a good chunk of extras.

Unluckily, just as Paul McPhillimy (18 runs) was getting warmed up he was surprised by the bounce and handed an easy catch to one of Groen Geel’s fielders.

In next was Mike George (17 runs) who continued a steady run rate with Louis Collignon before being caught while looking for the boundaries. Jeroen “SOS” Mulder entered the middle looking to continue the pace and support the remaining opener Louis Collignon chasing his half-century which he reached soon after. Meanwhile Groen Geel had found it necessary to bring back their best bowlers early to finish their spells hoping to cause some problems for the batsmen. Unfortunately for them the bit of extra pace ensured boundaries were found more easily by both batsmen along with three sixes by Jeroen “SOS” Mulder.

Just as the plan was made to increase the run rate for the last 7 overs Jeroen “SOS” Mulder was bowled having added 37 runs to the board.

The next three batsmen, Jeroen “Agent” Mulder (5 runs), Nick Fowler (0 runs) and Jacob Ekkers (3 run) struggled with the bounce and were caught either looking for a boundary or defending the shorter ball.

Similarly opener Louis Collignon was caught

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 4 July 2009

but left the middle with a great innings of 64 runs. With only a few overs left it was up to Neil Browning (11 runs, n.o.) and Nick Bertholet (0 runs, n.o.) to bring the score to a seemingly defendable total of 185 for 7 out of 35 overs.

In the next inning bowling was opened by Jeroen “SOS” Mulder (3/22/7) and Nick Fowler (0/14/7). Being hit for six on the fourth ball of the first over reminded us that we were going to need to work for it. Both opening bowlers continued with economical bowling making use of the bounce of pitch for Neil Browning to catch the first wicket.

Following the opening bowlers Neil Browning (2/29/7) continued the attack with a great display of spin bowling -- he did not want to risk a knee injury and not making the fitness selection criteria for next week’s ZAMI tour -- picking up two important wickets. Medium-pace bowling by Paul McPhillimy (1/47/7) and Swaroop Bantwal (2/36/6) kept the pressure on the batsmen. Paul received the help of Jacob Ekkers’ steady hands to dismiss one and Swaroop deemed it necessary to send another one back as a duck. Nick Bertholet’s (0/13/2) bowling should have earned him at least one wicket, but defensive fielding by ZAMI 1 meant some catches instead became boundaries.

Groen Geel’s opening batsmen P. Smulders (supported by number seven M. Luyten) continued adding runs to the score board which eventually earned P. Smulders a well played 54 before being caught by Willem van Mierlo on Swaroop’s bowling. At some point in the game Groen Geel’s batsmen realized they had been on the target run rate all the time and victory for them was a realistic possibility. M. Luyten from Groen Geel had no problem hitting fours and sixes contributing a total of 42 runs before being bowled by Jeroen “SOS” Mulder.

Groen Geel’s batsmen (B. Bueger and N. ter Marsch) knew how to find the singles along with several boundaries and eventually only needed 10 runs of the last over.

Swaroop Bantwel was given the heavy task to bowl this last over and bowl it well. The batsmen previously played ‘hockey’ shots on the leg side deceived field captain Mike George and unfortunate field placement allowed them to hit a four through the covers on the first ball of the over. The remaining five balls were well played by both batsmen and so it all came down to two runs on the last ball for a win. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for us, Louis Collignon paid attention when he was at Lords’ watching Netherlands beat England and steadily threw the ball in the keeper’s hands after a single run. Tied.

Very well played by Groen Geel, but a bit disappointing for ZAMI 1. But in the end of the day we all want a great and exciting game and that was exactly what both got. §

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 4 July 2009

VRA Zami 2 - VCC VRA Zami 2 won by 107 runs

by Marnix Hazeweijer

W

aar te beginnen over deze dag zaterdagmiddag cricket, het weer, het verzamelen, de rit naar Voorburg, de terugkeer van Edzard Koole of de avond ervoor.

We beginnen maar op het terras van Wildschut. Waar een klein wonder gebeurde, iedereen was binnen het academisch kwartiertje aanwezig. De verhalen van de avond ervoor, laat doorgehaald, een bed was mij vreemd, moet nog douchen en meer van dat soort praat, stemde mij niet hoopvol op een goede afloop voor de dag. Vlug vertrokken wij van het terras richting Voorburg.

Na een aangename rit met een hoog “Old school� inslag (beastie boys) kwamen wij meer dan zeer op tijd aan bij VCC. Verbazing alom daar. Immers wij staan erom bekend om niet op tijd te komen.

Na de verloren toss mochten wij toch gaan batten. Daar diende het eerste probleem zich al aan. Van de 12 man kunnen er maar 11 batten & fielden. Floris Kappelle bood zeer genereus aan zijn fielding plek aan. Dave Geensen apprecieerde deze zeer grote geste van de heer Kappelle door onmiddellijk zijn plek in de batting order aan Flo te geven. Probleem opgelost voor de captain.

Reardon en Kappelle hadden een aardige opening. Waar de meeste runs van het bat van de heer Kappelle kwamen had Reardon minder geluk aan zijn zijde en werd hij vrij snel LBW geven. Geheel terecht maar Reardon dacht weer eens duidelijk anders over. JJ verblijf in het midden was voorbij voordat je met je ogen kon knipperen. De man in vorm, Joost Dekkers, kwam in. Samen met Kappelle bouwde hij een mooie partner schip op. Kappelle die ze vandaag als meloenen zag zat vrij snel op de 40. Echter de laatste 10 runs weg altijd het zwaarst en nervous 40ties duurde langer dan normaal. Vol ongeduld zaten wij langs de kant te wachten totdat Kappelle dan eindelijk de 50vol maakte. Jawel, het wonder geschiede: KAPPELLE 50 RUNS. Een slak maakt ze sneller maar toch, Kappelle maakte ze wel.

Het geheim van Kappelle was de avond

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 4 July 2009

ervoor vroeg naar bed, niet te veel drinken en een goede maaltijd. Kappelle is de lulligste niet, wilde de rest ook een kans geven, daardoor blijf hij steken op 52 na eerst VCC wat vang training geven te hebben. Joost Dekkers was helemaal van slag hierdoor ook hij was snel weg uit midden met 30 runs achter zijn naam.

Wat volgde was een executie in efficiënt batten. Het duo Spits – ELLERTON scoorde rap een 90 partnership waarbij Ellerton liet zien dat een 50 ook snel gemaakt kan worden en dat je binnen drie ballen van 40 zo op 50 zit. Geheel in stijl maakt hij zijn 50 vol met een 6.

Resultaat 214 v 5 na 35.

Na een lunch die je geen lunch mag noemen. Het is een goedbedoelde padvinderij lunch waarbij bij je ouderwets ellebogen werk moet toepassen om een lekker broodje voor je zelf te maken.

Wij het veld in. De wickets vielen als broodjes. Door super bowlen van DAVE GEENSEN en JJ. Comeback Kid Edzard Koole besliste de wedstrijd voor ons. Koole pakte het wicket van de danger man van VCC: Marc Nota. Marc Nota de man die alle regels van het cricket kent en daardoor op de shortlist staat van de ICC elite umpire panel. Gerucht gaat dat deze man binnenkort zijn eerste test gaat staan tijdens de Ashes vanwege zijn kennis van het spel en de manier waarop hij de regels overbrengt . Deze man is de rust zelve en zal het ver gaan schoppen binnen de Elite umpires.

De westrijd was in de pocket. Verder hoogpunten van de fieldingsessie zijn. Een super vang van Toon Hintzen (was weer geheel hersteld van zijn ziekte, maar heeft de sleutel van de ziekenboeg overgedragen aan Huib Bier. Huib beterschap bloemetje is onderweg) op backward square leg. En de running catch van Ruurt Schreuder. Sprint van midwicket naar backward square leg en plukt de bal uit de lucht met een dolfijnduik. VCC 107 ao.

ENGLISH

We won. FLORIST KAPPELLE makes 52. TIM ‘that’s not a pitcher but a jug’ ELLERTON maiden Dutch 50 n.o..

DAVE Geensen with new run up takes wickets. Richo the Magnificent bowls and also takes wickets. Edzard Koole takes wicket danger man VCC. Ruurt and Toon both take a test level catch. The rest of the team: thanks for coming. §

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VRA Magical Mystery Tour 2009

Derbyshire – Staffordshire Here are the stories about the men, boys and women who spent a week together playing and sharing cricket. I dare to say it was one of the best cricket tours ever. We lost all our matches, but our team spirit won. Much of the good spirit was thanks to the excellent preparation of the tour and the disciplinary behavior when necessary of all participants.

The Georgian House Hotel in Derby was the center of events in Derbyshire.

The Participants were in alphabetic order : Neil Browning, Keith Farman, Nick Fowler, Dave Geensen, Mike George, Jelger Gustafsson, Nathalie Hennis, Tanja, Hennis, Hannah Hofman, Floris Kappelle, Theo Lindemann, Anthony Lynch, Jeroen Mulder, Jeroen Oskam, Thoma Pasierowski, John Reardon, Mike Rier, Sanne Salomons, Ruurt Page 61

Zami vs. Elvasto

Date: Sunday July 12, 2009.

Format: timed cricket: 20 overs after 6pm Location: Elvaston Cricket Club, Derbyshire, Englan Result: Elvaston CC won by 2 wickets

A

lean and mean VRA-Zami army had assembled the previous day at the Mike Georgian House Flo’tel to take on the local clubs of Derbyshire. Some arrived by sea, some by land, some by air, some not until later (Tom, Jelger), and some not at all (Jason Hall). Some arrived with their luggage, some with someone else’s luggage (Ruurt), and some with no luggage (SoS).

The night before, the appropriate pre-war preparations had been made: bets were betted, rules were read, speeches were speeched, dinner was dined, drinks were drunk, and ladies were laid… as Sanne’s dreams were dreamt. Rimmo the driver had arranged “protection” through his legion of bouncers as the Zami army partied in the quasi war zone that is inner-city Derby on a Saturday night.

The night before melted seamlessly into the morning after for the tours’ first patrons of “Bar Flo”, so named because the door is barred to prevent guests from escaping and the drinks floweth until well after breakfast time.

Others with lighter constitutions and heavier heads awoke to find a remarkably perky albeit gruff-voiced pajama-clad Floris dictating orders to the novice waitress in the breakfast room. >>

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on Cricket Club

Page 63

Twenty minutes after breakfast we assem-

bled for lunch, which would be at The Harrington Arms. Rimmo managed to keep the van on the road despite the glaring distraction that was Ruurt dressed in his heart-patterned cotton shorts, pale blue socks and brown shoes. We continued to experience great British service from the waitress who dropped a full pint into Sanne’s lap, liberally splashing SoS’ only items of clean clothing this side of the North Sea. Brimming with anticipation, we climbed into the van as Rimmo started the engine, only to wait another fifteen minutes for Floris to finish his post lunch cigarettes. A dictator never rushes.

Elvaston CC, nestling in the grounds of a castle, was the picture-perfect location to hold the first match of the tour. VRA batted first, with Mikey George and Floris opening the account. Mike was bowled for a duck, thereby continuing his annus horribilis, and I’m not referring to the effects of the bad pint that he’d had the night before. His partner at the crease soon followed, run out by a direct throw that was returned too quickly even for Floris (5). It was up to Jelger and Neil to build a foundation, and that they did. Some fine stroke play from both converted a sorry scorecard to a stable one, until Jelger was caught (41). Spoon continued the fine stroke-play, while Neil (30) succumbed to a catch as

he tried to hit the spin-bowling a little too hard.

A priceless moment came when a boundary hit disturbed a wasps’ nest, resulting in all eleven of the fielding team, both umpires and both batsmen hitting the deck face-down as if they were being bombed by overhead helicopters. The angry swarm of wasps went from one side of the field to the other while the batting team took cover in the pavilion.

Needless to say, Sanne was unmoved and continued taking photos until the wasps finally dispersed.

Shortly after normal play resumed Captain Jeroen Oskam (8) also fell to spin, as did Nick Fowler (0), who has proved to be the most reliable of batsmen this year: he can be completely relied upon not to score. SoS (11) accompanied Spoon (36) until both also fell prematurely, paving the way for Tom Passierowski (23) the youngest of the squad to show everyone else how to hit a cricket ball. Ruurt (0) joined ducklings Fowler and George. At least Ruurt could blame the long drive, which also appeared to have affected his normally sound dress sense earlier that morning. Dave carried his bat after making one run, albeit a stylish one. After extras the Zami total was 179: respectable but somewhat short of the desired total.

Tea was what you’d hope for in the middle of rural England: sandwiches, crisps, pizza slices,

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cakes, fruit, sticky buns, tea, squash: exactly what you should serve the opposition before they take to the field to slow them down.

Tom and SoS opened the bowling. However, SoS was troubled by the hill, not to mention his missing luggage which the airline had no information about even when SoS was finally able to get through to the helpdesk. So Dave Geensen took over and adjusted to the hill by adding a funky little shuffle into his run up. The opening pair clearly knew their home wicket, effortlessly finding the boundary that had eluded so many Zami batsmen.

It was up to Neil’s Kaloznikov fielding arm to break the first wicket stand with an exceptional direct hit from 25 yards with one stump to aim at. His golden Aussie arm (1-30) claimed another wicket as his offspin benefited from the English grass wicket.

Jeroen Oskam (0-3) and Nick Fowler (2-23) continued the spin attack, halting the rapid scoring rate that had accrued from the earlier spell of seam.

From starting with a reasonable chance of winning, in the next hour and a half VRA went to feeling first that they had no chance to feeling that they had a chance again, then to feeling they had a real chance, then finally to feeling all chances slip slowly away.

SoS (0-26) bowled well down the hill, as did Tom (0-35), while Dave supplied moments of optimism

from the other end with his 2-23. However, the opposition were in the end just too good. With two wickets to spare they reached the target of 179.

Post-match beers were drunk by twilight as Floris dispatched specially commissioned gift tablemats that commemorated that great day of battle: June 5th 2009, when the Netherlands’ beat England at Lords. Our hosts were gracious as they accepted their presents giving shorter speeches in return.

The evening was closed as Floris proposed that we would buy the local castle just so we could turn it into a hotel called EL-VRA-STON. After this masterful stroke of Euro-zone cricketing diplomacy there was only one thing left for the team to do: go and have a curry and more beers. §

t match, clusion: firs

Con

RA

a loss for V

but a win for cricket and touring tradition.

by Nick Fowler

THE RIMMO MAN After having arrived at East Midlands airport on the 11th of July 2009, the Zami

touring army party was met by our people transporter, and it’s driver. This was when we had our first acquaintance with the legendary philanthropist, captain of industry, and networking Guru and all-round source of inspiration, Steve Rimmington, generally known as “Rimmo”. Rimmo was to be our guide for the week, helping with our travels, and organizing a lot of things for us, such as the VIP treatment at Derby’s finest establishment, Limes, amongst others.

Apart from being a larger than life personality, Rimmo is also big guy, about 6 foot 5 inches, and built like a tank. On looks alone, not the type of guy you’d want to meet in a dark alley, although he is a gentle giant at heart. His size got me wondering what would a guy like that weigh? So whilst having a pint with Rimmo in the Derbyshire sunshine, Rimmo came up with the brilliant idea of letting the VRA tourists have a guess at what his weight would be. We decided to take wagers of £1 and after collecting bets from about 27 or so people (also non VRA players), we had bets ranging from 111kg to 178kg. I’m not exactly sure how anyone could have thought he weighed only 111kg, but at the same time also not sure how someone could have thought he weighed 178kg, but anyway.

Before announcing the winner of the “What is Rimmo’s weight?” contest, after Wednesday’s cricket match, Rimmo had told me that he had already gained 3.5 kg’s in the week so far, this was one more confirmation that the week was eat, eat, eat, drink, drink, drink and a bit of cricket as well. Fortunately the winning guess was made by one of our own, with our tour photographer and Queen of bowling, Nathalie Hennis, making the correct call of 146kg. Nathalie won the cash jackpot, as well as a night out with Rimmo.§ Page 65

THE ENFIELD REPORT, Monday 8 June 2009

enfield B

Near the center of Enfield, Middlesex, amidst houses lies the pretty ground of Enfield CC. We can call it Andrew Clarke’s cricket ground, since he is the main groundsman there.

ut of course Enfield CC belongs to the people of Enfield, who own the grounds since 1854

Their clubhouse is used for multi purposes, for instance when we arrived it was a kinder garden. There are two bars a big one in the clubhouse and a small one in a kind of living room setting.

The outset is clear. It’s not only a sports club, but it can also be used as a meeting room, course room or as a bar for the local community.

The president, Ken Parker, told me when he was elected the small ground next to the cricket ground was used as a sort of private members area.

He did away with that and installed pick nick tables and a low wooden fence, thus making it a perfect facility for families with small children, who can play and enjoy safely while attending a cricket match.

Interesting options for VRA perhaps, to use our club as a kinder garden ?

We played a time cricket match against a team which had 4 Australian exchange players.

Enfield bat first and they, mainly the Australians, fooled around with us for 35 overs after which 220 runs were on the bowled. The only bowler who did not suffer under their batting display was Neil

Browning who bowled 3 for 40 in 10 overs.

They left us about 45 overs to reach the 220 which was a challenging target. Louis Collignon and Floris Kappelle opened solidly, a highlight was the back foot cover drive from Louis.

After they were gone we lost a couple of wickets in quick succession, among who Neil Browning who admitted he threw his wicket away because he wanted to watch the Australians against Sri Lanka on TV. Well Neil, if you let your interest in your country prefer to that of VRA you are not yet ingeburgerd. Don’t ask what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for VRA as John F Kennedy so rightly put it in 1961.

Paul McPhillimy and Willem van Mierlo shared a nice wicket stand of about 70 but it wasn’t enough and it was curtains closed on 170. Although the opposition was too strong I believe we all enjoyed the match and after a couple pints we soon went afpilsen in the hotel bar, where the weird night waitress served us drinks until….I don’t know I was already sound asleep.§

By Maarten Slagter Page

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Alrewas CC

June 17th 2009

D

e laatste wedstrijddag van de Magical Mystery Tour 2009 begaf het team zich na een heerlijke lunch met vermakelijke, oprechte en mooie speeches en afscheidswoorden richting de Alrewas Cricket Club te Burton upon Trent. Helaas hielden onze waarde teamgenoten Mike George en Theo Lindeman het voor gezien voor deze tour en gingen zij terug naar het thuisfront.

Op Alrewas CC aangekomen en nadat ook Jeroen “SOS” Mulder zich weer bij de groep had gevoegd (hij was bij de lunchgelegenheid achtergebleven) kon deze laatste speeldag echt beginnen.

Ondanks dat de lucht rondom het veld grijs en dreigend was, werden we vriendelijk verwelkomd. Na een verrasde blik bij het tossen toen bleek dat onze captain een vrouw was, werd het tossen zelf overgeslagen en mochten wij kiezen waar we mee wilden beginnen, dat werd dus batten.

Tijdens het omkleden en voorbereiden op de wedstrijd in het clubhuis zagen wij een prachtig geplastificeerde aankondiging hangen waarop stond dat Alrewas CC die dag, 17 juli 2009, een wedstrijd zou spelen tegen het ware 1e team van VRA met een aantal topspelers van de club. Dat wij eigenlijk een mengelmoes van ZAMI 1, 2, Heren en Dames waren met een grote dosis liefde voor het touren was niet helemaal bekend bij Alrewas CC. Wij krabten ons even achter ons oor maar uiteraard heeft dit mooie bericht verder geen enkele invloed gehad op onze zin om te spelen en dus gingen onze eerste batsmen (M. Rier en J. Oskam) het veld op. Helaas begon het al snel te regenen, waar we deze tour wel een beetje gewend aan waren geraakt, maar toch zorgde het ervoor dat de gezelligheid langs het veld om de spelers aan te moedigen, zich half naar binnen en half naar buiten verplaatste. De batsmen hebben het een tijd volgehouden in de regen toen na 24 overs (87/3) besloten werd een vervroegde Tea te houden om de grasmat enigszins te sparen. Op dat moment had Mike Rier 17 en Jeroen Oskam een mooie 41 runs.

Tijdens de Tea bleek maar weer hoe gastvrij Alrewas CC was. Naast het feit dat deze club als eerste had gereageerd op ons verzoek om een touring match te spelen, wilden zij ons in deze wedstrijd ook de kans geven te fielden. En dat ondanks dat de mat al flink had geleden onder de weersomstandigheden. Dit gebaar werd natuurlijk erg gewaardeerd door ons en na uitgebreid overleg tussen ondergetekende, coaching committee Floris “cricketator” Kapelle en Maarten “Slaughter” Slagter en de groundsman werd besloten dat we nog maximaal 15 overs zouden spelen. Dit zou de pitch nog wel overleven.

Het veld was nat en bumpy, zoals de meeste velden in de UK, en de run ups waren modderig.

Met een buitje nu en dan probeerden verschillende bowlers de battingcijfers laag te houden maar de wickets wilden maar niet vallen en de runs helaas wel. De batsmen zagen de ballen goed aankomen en sloegen in ... overs 88 voor 1 met S. Watson 52 not out en J. Burton 20 not out. Bowlingcijfers waren A. Lynch ..., T. Pasierowski ... en ...

In het clubhuis konden we tijdens de afsluiting opwarmen en hebben we Alrewas CC hartelijk bedankt voor de gastvrijheid van de club, de spelers en tea ladies. Uiteraard hebben we een mooi aandenken achtergelaten voor het clubhuis (aan June 5th 2009...Lords, overwinning NL op UK) en deze korte maar toch geslaagde wedstrijd.§

by Hannah

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VRA vs. Tutbury Cri

The name Tutbury probably derives from a Scandinavian settler and subsequent chief of the hillfort, Totta.

Burg is a medieval structure of military significance, and because the English can’t pronounce the g as good as we can, they soon renamed Totta Burg into Tutbury.

The cricket ground was at the bottom of one of the slopes of the hill and a stream was flowing on the other side. The site has been inhabited for over 3000 years, with Iron Age defensive ditches encircling the main defensive hill. Floris of course sensed the enormity of it’s history and as the match proPage

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icket Club gressed we took a stroll along the fences of the hill. “I want to go up there”, Floris said and he looked up to the hill, although we could only see the remains of what was once a medieval castle and a couple of cows (from Dutch descendant, someone said, why ? because they are black and white), Floris

Date: Monday 13 july 2009.

Format: timed cricket: 20 overs after 6pm Result: Tutbury CC won by 5 wickets

looked dreamy. Meanwhile the opening pair Mike and Mike, as in Mike George and Mike Rier were up against it, because the bowlers were finding some unusual extra bounce in the pitch. Mike G became the first victim.§

by Maarten Slagter Page 69

Zamaiian Festival

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THE QUICK HAAG FESTIBAL OF CRICKET REPORT, Saturday 11 July 2009

Zami Five-O

H

aving arranged to meet everyone at Amsterdam Central Station at some ungodly hour on a Saturday morning dressed in Hawaiian shirts it was not a total surprise to be the only one, apart from Bob Jan, to turn up.

Still, we arrived at the Quick Haag ground, met up with the rest of Zami Five-O (named after Hawaii Five-O, the fictional Hawaii state police department TV series) and decided immediately to get pissed. This seemed like a good idea to begin with,

and sure enough we cruised to our first victory.

The next game was supposed to be back to back, but there was a delay of two hours. This proved to be our downfall.

Try as we might to temper our alcohol intake, it was becoming rapidly clear, and a little fuzzy, that we would struggle to play a decent game of cricket in this heightened state of Hawaiian-style blotto-ness. Which turned out to be the case and we were royally thrashed in the second game of the day.

Bladdered and pie-eyed and, therefore, having no common sense whatsoever, combined with our brave anything-goes state of mind, what

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happened next can only be described as a cross dresser’s nightmare. For the final game on the main ground in front of everyone we thought it would be a marvellous idea to exchange our white socks with the pink socks belonging to the girls hockey team.

With the domino effect of being both worse for wear and in the presence of girls, we... well... these photographs tell the rest of the story.

It was a truly great day ‘cos I can’t remember a thing. Except that Nobby turned up early evening fresh from some exotic adventure.

Paaaarrrrrtyyyy!

Half remembered by John Richardson

, Quick Haag, 2009.

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Cricket is what we at COW CORNER Magazine like to call “one of the more amiable forms of an incurable madness”.

And we especially love to share with you those mad yarns told by incurable cricket storytellers from down under.

Ladies and Gentleman I give you...

Adrian “Mugsy”

Collaroy Plateau Cricket C Page

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C

ricket is a wonderful game.

Being able to travel the globe in pursuit of the little red ball - be it in the grandstands or on the velvet outfields - is one of the joys of life.

Unfortunately residing on the bottom side of the globe means when you tour, you have to TOUR and so Collaroy Plateau Cricket Club (CPCC) embarked in 2009 on a tour up to Europe to sample cricketing delights. Hailing from the northern beaches of Sydney, a hardened crew of cricket tragics left Sydney for a month that was not going to be forgotten for a very long time.

the York races in full tour regalia – much to the delight of several well lubricated Yorkshire fillies! Our journey took us through Nottingham and down to north of London for more matches where one of the highlights of the tour (especially for our pommie friends) was attending the final day of the Lords test in brilliant sunshine. This was where the fearless Freddie Flintoff ripped the Aussies apart. Not being able

What is the point of a stopover if cricket wasn’t involved? Singapore proved an exotic and humid venue for our first match which naturally was played on the back of a collective hangover to make any touring party proud. No respite, 4 hours after the match we were on a plane to Manchester to take on our old enemy – the pommies.

Molloy.

While we might have lacked serious cricketing ability on the field, we certainly made up for it with our off field exploits. Manchester was no easy task and we played teams like Roe Green, West Leigh and Earby before moving to the wonderful city of York. There we played clubs like Yorkshire Gentlemen, Ingleby Greenhow, Ossett as well as having a scream of a day at

to help themselves, the English after the match were very happy to tell us the series score was 1-0 to the Engerland, however we were also quick to remind them of how the men in orange a month earlier had ensured our tour drinking kitty was well and truly stocked.

Club (CPCC) vs VRA, 2009 Page 75

THE CPCC V VRA REPORT, Friday 24 July 2009

Flat like a tyre

The best was to come in the lowlands.

Amsterdam, the VRA Cricket Club - places close to my heart. This was something that my fellow Aussies HAD to experience. The madness, the passion, the characters, the gezelligheid……..the cricket.

You haven’t played cricket on this earth until you have played at VRA and against Zami. That’s cricket. So with the utmost pleasure I was able to bring CPCC across the channel and into the wonderful old Dutch capital for four days of fun and of

course…….the Dirk Hartog Plate. As Australians we wanted to honour our true founding fathers and the new cricketing powerhouses…..the Dutch! Armed with our newly designed flag, we were welcomed with open arms as two wonderful cricketing communities came together in what turned out to be a remarkable day/evening in the Amsterdamse Bos. The CPCC touring party were blown away by the hospitality of the natives before the one act of war played itself out of the field. Needless to say the Dutch Presidents Select XI beat the CPCC Aussies with one of the highlights for all and sundry was seeing Dutch Vice Captain and

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VRA skipper Peter Borren come to the crease.

He gave us a glimpse of his awesome strokeplay, as we all saw on that magnificent night at Lords in the Twenty20 match vs England. It was a massive thrill for the CPCC to play against such a world renowned player and the whole experience playing in Holland against a remarkable cricketing community was one to cherish for a long time.

The beers post matched flowed like the Amstel and there was such a great crowd on hand to join us for a Ruth and Patrick rijstafel epic in grand surroundings.

Needless to say the food was superb, as was the speeching and we ALL know that no one can...

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...speech like the Zami or their fearless dictator leader, Floris Kapelle.

As a former VRA player and ‘mercenary’ it gave me such satisfaction to be able to introduce my Aussie cricketing colleagues to the Zami Army, whom were so, so generous in their contribution to the bar and on the day, and with the injection from the winnings on the Holland vs England match also finding their way behind the bar, records were broken and new benchmarks were established.

I think two comments best sum up how the night panned out: Patrick at around 1am when another 500 euros went behind the bar ‘..there is no way you will drink that, no way’.

By 4.45am the tally was actually 713 Euros, so it blew Patricks theory away!

The final word goes to Peter Borren though, whom said to several HCC and VRA players after the Hoofdklasse match at VRA the following weekend: “I have been in Holland for 7 years and that was the biggest night I have ever had”.

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“I have been in Holland for 7 years and that was the biggest night I have ever had”.

A huge debt of gratitude goes out to Toon ‘statue’ Hintzen for his exceptional work to make the day and evening go so well.

He truly is a mate for life.

It was large and has whetted the appetite so in 4 years time, CPCC are seriously contemplating a tour of Holland with a stopover in the UK.

Icing on the cake.

To my VRA and Zami colleagues this was the icing on the cake. Dutch cricket has expanded its horizons and VRA is well and truly on the map in the Sydney cricketing circles.

We look to the future and welcoming our VRA fiends to Sydney in the future, especially the 2015 World Cup so start saving your Euros and start making plans.

In the meantime we will see you in 2013 for the Aussie invasion of Holland!§

by Mugsy

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 25 July 2009

VRA Zami 1 - HCC 1 VRA Zami 1 won by 9 runs

by Neil Browning

A

fter a huge Friday night of drinking, debaucherous shenanigans and unorthodox dance moves, to celebrate the presence of Adrian “Mugsy” Molloy and his Aussie touring squad from Collaroy Plateau Cricket Club at VRA, some of the players for this one were feeling a bit under the weather after going to bed at sunrise.

Luckily the real weather was still sunny at 1pm and the main pitch had just about dried out following the last two weeks of atypical Dutch July weather.

Ironically this sort of off-field Friday night form at club VRA seems to be a necessary evil for good Saturday on-field form and on the 25th July 2009 this was proved once again.

With the new Dutch style Aussie flag flying high on its pole, our debutant ZAMI 1 Captain Jeroen “SOS” Mulder won the toss and (much to the delight of all VRA players alike) elected to bat first.

Opening pair was the left and right handed combination of Nick (I am told has 4 ducks this season) “Howler” Fowler, looking to exorcise the batting demons with his Newberry Molijner toothpick and Paul “Phil McPaullimy” McPhillimy the Geinochologist (or was that Geologist?).

The opposition bowling was pretty tidy all round, but these two Pommie lads put on an opening partnership that Strauss and Cook could be proud of and surprisingly with most of the runs coming from Fowler, they put on an opening stance of just over 60. Unfortunately Nick Fowler fell 15 short of his half century at around the 15 over mark, but a more Nickesque innings from Nick and good to see his name back on the runs chart.

With this sort of foundation and a strong batting line up still to come, a total of 200 plus looked likely on the cards. However this was not to be, as the middle order capitulated to the HCC bowling. Willem van Mierlo (back in the side after recently tying the knot), stood prouder than a honeymooner’s ‘you know what’ when he got the nod to bat at number 3, but fell early trying to square cut a ball, which he edged to gully.

Paul “The Greek Freak” Michaelides then started to build a partnership with anchorman of the innings Paul McPhillimy until McPaullimy finally got out in the 25th over after a sturdy knock of 53.

The big man Sander Kampen came and went in 1 ball for a very efficient quacker and Neil “Bruine Nelis” Browning was walking back to the Pavilion two overs later after a daisy cutter went under his bat and onto the base of his middle stump.

Paul Michaelides, Jakob Ekkers and Jeroen “Agent” Mulder got the runs flowing again and Jeroen “SOS” Mulder finished off the innings with a handy Captains knock. Some big hitting from him in the final overs (including a big six over mid-on) to finish on 23 not out and leaving us a defendable total of 172.

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 25 July 2009

The next three batsmen, Jeroen “Agent” Mulder (5 runs), Nick Fowler (0 runs) and Jacob Ekkers (3 run) struggled with the bounce and were caught either looking for a boundary or defending the shorter ball. Similarly opener Louis Collignon was caught .

After an unexpected hot meal at the tea interval (it goes without saying it was excellent) we were now well sober and ready for action on the field. Jeroen “SOS” Mulder and Swaroop Bantwal took the honours with the new ball and although both bowled tight opening spells, did not get any reward. A few drop catches early on off HCC’s unconventional Hockey style opening batsmen (one of which made us pay by eventually going on to make 64), it was not until the 15th or so over when Neil Browning bowled a bouncy off cutter outside off stump that the first break-through came. A miscued square-cut and a fine catch by Willem van Mierlo at forward point.

Another wicket fell shortly after, but even though we bowled well in the middle overs and applied pressure to their run rate, the unconventional batting style got the better of us.

Nothing seemed to be going our way, with mistimed shots just flying into the gaps or just beating the fielders to the boundary. However we stuck to our game plan of attacking fielding and it was not until the 28th over at 133-2, when seemingly dead and buried, the game took a 180 degree turn and we got our just rewards.

Nick Fowler got the ball rolling again, bowling a loose half volley and their number three unable to resist, tried to smash it over the long off boundary. Fortunately for us, it fell just short of that mark and into the safe hands of Jeroen “SOS” Mulder. This was followed shortly after by catch from Sander Kempen at Point, followed by a ‘Ponting style’ direct hit run out by Browning. The pressure was building on HCC, now 5/140 something after 30.

Browning finished his 7 over spell with a well deserved wicket off his last ball to finally dismiss their frustrating top scoring batsman (a great catch by Paul Michaelides at deep square leg) and then after a C&B by Fowler and a clean bowled by Jeroen “SOS” Mulder next over, Paul McPhillimy bowled a superb double wicket maiden in the penultimate over.

With the score at 8/161 after 34 and HCC needing 12 for victory, it was the responsibility of the debutant Captain Jeroen “SOS” Mulder to bowl the final over. Keeping the ball nice and full, the batsman could not get the left arm seamer away and after two suicide runs equating into two run outs we amazingly won the match to the sound of rapturous applause from the Pavilion.

This was without a doubt the best turn around victory in cricket I have had the pleasure to be involved in. Not just because we seemingly stole the game from the hands of defeat, but because we won by sticking to our game plan of attacking fielding and finally getting rewarded for it. Just to put things in perspective, we took 8 wickets for 28 runs in about 7 overs.

Despite some outstanding individual performances with bat and ball, this was a great team effort. Everyone put in a fantastic fielding effort in the final overs. In the fine words of a well known 10CC song “Dreadlock Holiday”, played at VRA the night before: “We don’t like cricket OH NO! We love it YEAH!” Special thanks once again to Patrick and Ruth for another outstanding post-match dinner on the terrace.

Gezellig! §

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 25 July 2009

VRA Zami 2 - Groen Geel VRA Zami 2 win with 13 overs to spare

by Jason Hall

M

aking our slow entrance towards to the VRA battlefield 2 after a long hefty “last Night”, Groen Geel prepares to bat first.

The weather circumstances are fantastic, comparable the most weekends of this season. The ZAMI captain sets up the amazing bowlers line-up, giving Groen Geel not one moment to excel with making hardly any runs.

True bowler master Andy “The” Ozi 3-7 off 7 overs, Thomas Paziowski, 1-14 off 7 overs, Jonny “Warney” Richo, 3-32 runs over 6 overs, JJ, 1-10 and to finish of the delights of Mr. Huib with 1 wicket, 14 runs against.

Cooperation between bowlers and fielding makes it almost impossible for Groen Geel to approach the 100 runs, with especially JJ in front of the boundary, making the most beautiful stops and return throws towards the crease.

Groen Geel ends with 85 runs all out.

The VRA King Mr. Floris takes up number 1 hot spot on the field warning Groen Geel on what’s to come.

With full Gentlemen’s flair, VRA starts on the winning inning with Floris Kapelle and Rohan as the largest cooperates. With a relaxing start Floris build up towards a total of 21 runs with in between partnership with Jason ‘The hard hitting’ Hall with 2 runs.

Rohan steps in the field with big victory on his mind, focusing solely on 4 and 6s, totaling his score to 36 runs.

In between a Duck for the other Ozi Mr. Brendan. The second inning was short and sweet for VRA ZAMI with 13 overs left to spare. §

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 1 Aug 2009

VRA Zami 1 - Kampong 1 VRA Zami 1 win: but it’s painful Collarbone Before Wicket

by Anthony Ford

E

very once in a while something appears that’s so big it takes some distance to adequately view the entirety, the epic proportions can be too vast in magnitude for the immediate eye to gaze.

And so it is, a week after the game, that we can sit back and reflect on the box-grabbing enormity of a cricket match that defined the strength of character that make up the Zami 1 team.

There was an air of focus and drive in the air as the as the Zamis gathered at Wildschut Café that morning. It was as though the cricketing gods had gracefully stroked each team-member as he went to bed early the previous night. The signs were there for a truly remarkable day of cricket: the cappuccinos had a particularly resilient froth; the abrupt waitress worked the Zami table over like a feisty Curtly Ambrose; and flocks of nearby girls giggled nervously as though in the presence of immortal Gods.

The VRA Zami 1 arrival in Utrecht was greeted with much fanfare and publicity. A large crowd of some 80,000 had gathered for the welcoming ticker-tape parade. This, however, was not to distract the VRA’s whose captain of the day, Jeroen SoS Mulder, had wisely decided not to attend the pre-match press conference. A job had to be done.

The match kicked of like good cricket matches should: slow and steady. VRA had elected to bat first – heeding the call from the cloudless heavens to set a strong score and work Utrecht to their knobbly bones in their chase. All was not to go as planned though. After a promising start, Nick Fowler - after what looked like what would become a workhorse-like innings and a textbook display in how to open - was bowled by a perfect in-swinger for four runs in the fifth over.

The VRA machine was to plough on though. A job had to be done. Paul McPhillimy fell prey to a cunning psychological trap set by Utrecht - the old “bowl some peaches, get hit for a few boundaries, then run him out while he basks in glory”.

The top of the order saw some strong and some weak partnerships, as though brought together in a series of blind dates. All of which kept the fielders shuffling their toes while bowlers scratched their heads. Phil Yisrael with Neil Browning, and Neil with Swaroop Bantwal were two highlights.

By the end of the innings VRA had posted 150 and Swaroop had blazed his way to 30odd, complete with 5 fours (there’s something special about watching a tiny man hit boundaries on a huge outfield). A hamstring problem for Neil prior to capturing his 50 saw Phil coming on again, this time as a runner.

VRA having to accommodate Utrecht’s demands for the runner to talk with same Aussie swagger and have the same make of watch. Where his body had given up, Neil’s brain was now obviously working overtime as he struggled to understand the concept of having a runner – often setting off to run then stopping and running back.

When Utrecht came into bat the large crowd was becoming drunk and disorderly. This

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ZAMI 1 REPORT, Saturday 1 Aug 2009

clearly rattled VRA with kiwi opening bowler Anthony Ford struggling to achieve the consistency demanded of such a grand stage. His excuses of not having played in 6 years were wearing thin. Thomas down the other end bowled well and peppered the batsmen without relent.

Both bowlers were unlucky not to get a wicket with a few chances falling near fielders.

It was in Anthony’s fifth over that VRA’s steam train of victory was to derail: an uncontrolled drive went skyward off a rare but superb ball from Anthony, Nick “Flyer” Fowler leapt metres through the muggy Utrecht air to grasp the half chance. He lost his bearings mid-flight and shockingly fell to his death. He didn’t hold the catch. R.I.P.

But, the job had to be done and the captains decided to play around his mangled and decomposing corpse. Inspired by the mortality of this hellish scene, a Utrecht player leapt at the chance to replace Nick and play alongside his boyhood heroes. This devilish substitute fielder quickly made 10 new friends as he caught two members of his own team out (while losing 10 old friends in the process).

Following the wicketless opening bowlers, a strong lineup of Jeroen “Son of Sieb” Mulder, Jeroen “Agent” Mulder, Swaroop and Phil Yisrael to the bowling crease meant Utrecht were not going to get anything easily. This pressure caused Utrecht’s openers to crumble and it wasn’t long before wickets began falling. Two batsmen offered strong and aggressive resistance but some heroic fielding (Jason Hall) and safe hands (Jeroen “Son of Sieb” Mulder – except for the quickly forgotten outfield drop) meant the VRA machine marched to a historical victory.§

Nick “Flyer” Fowler leapt metres through the muggy Utrecht air to grasp the half chance. He lost his bearings mid-flight and shockingly fell to his death. He didn’t hold the catch. R.I.P.

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ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 1 Aug 2009

VRA Zami 2 - Rood en Wit VRA Zami 2 win by 2 runs

by JJ Sobti

S

o another Saturday morning and we rock up to Wildschut slightly late and most definitely hungover.

As always though we don’t let this stop us, the sun is shining and there is a game to be won so we head on down for the short drive to Rood en Wit. On the way I hear some great stories about the ground that many of us have named ‘The Stamp’ for it’s short square boundaries. But as we arrive to our pleasant surprise we realise we are playing on the main ground - Yippee!

So here we go we are all set to continue our title run in.. the final month of the season and if we can make it that one final showdown against the Zami 1’s. Bob-Jan as always never lets us down when its required and wins the toss.

We bat first. Reardon (2) and Dekkers (17) open up, but unfortunately it doesn’t last too long. JJ(55) then arrives at the crease to join Dekkers and they put on a solid albeit not very pretty partnership of 36. This gave a nice platform for the team to build off with 8 wickets in hand and 20 overs to go. Rohan(54*) was the next man at the crease and again there was a good stand (70) giving the innings good momentum going into the final overs. With 10 overs to spare JJ got out, but Rohan kept his head and with some good contributions from Bob Jan, Marnix, Ellerton and Slaagter (who was unfortunately run out sacrificing his wicket for the team). We ended on a respectable total of 189-6.

After one of the best lunches we have had on the road this season we set about our task of closing out the match. The captain and some other senior players had some inspiring words to say and then we were on our way. Marnix(2-18) and JJ(2-36) opened up with some tight bowling and after a little patience Marnix delivered the early breakthrough that we needed. The seemers were swiftly removed from the attack and in came the relatively unknown (even to himself) spin talent of Ellerton (1-42) who bowled a very impressive spell dismissing one of their better batsman with a beautifully flighted delivery.. Credit also to Bob Jan for taking a sharp stumping.

Rohan (1-29), Dekkers (0-10) and Richardson (0-24) added to the spin attack, however we didn’t really manage to get through the opposition batting lineup as fast as we would like and ended up with the need to take wickets as we approached the final overs with 2 of their batsmen well set on 40’s. Cometh the hour cometh the man, John Reardon that is… steps up the plate with a heroic piece of fielding, lighting fast to the ball, pick up and throw from the boundary right over the stumps and there it is… the breakthrough we desperately needed. We are still in the game…just.

We get it down to the last 3 overs at a pretty balanced game 21 needed with one batsman on 54... JJ bowls the first over and finally we get the danger man.. Bowled. The team goes wild celebrating as if it’s a win…we continued 2 more wickets in the next 8 balls (Marnix finishes a superb spell with economy of only 2.5 per over and 2 good wickets)… so 9 to win off the last over… the batsman swing hard but only manage 6 of the first 5 balls… so with one ball to go its 3 to win.. Anything can happen… there are intense discussions about the field for a few minutes and then in comes JJ to bowl… full length batsman misses and Bob Jan collects and effects the run out…. VRA Zami 2 wins by 2 runs.

WHAT A GAME! It’s days like this that make you want to be cricketer, especially when you are on the winning side. All in all this was a fantastic day and we are one step closer to the title and for me on a personal note it was the day I felt like I became a proper member of this awesome team. § Page 85

Crocs 240-10 dec:

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VRA Zami 244-7

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ith the sun shining ever so brightly on the VRA ArenA, the highly anticipated ‘International’ between two heavy weight clubs started with a change of tact, as both captains agreed to a very English tradition of a “timed” match.

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THE CROCS REPORT, Saturday 15 Aug 2009

crocville

Having lost the toss, Zamis were thrown into the field under the sweltering Amsterdam sun.

With the sun shining ever so brightly on the VRA ArenA, the highly anticipated ‘International’ between two heavy weight clubs started with a change of tact, as both captains agreed to a very English tradition of a “timed” match. With Play to start a 2pm, dinner at ‘4:35’ and after 6:15 a maximum of 20 over would be bowled.

Having lost the toss, Zamis were thrown into the field under the sweltering Amsterdam sun. A good decision by the Crocs as Floris ‘the Enforcer’ Kappelle took full advantage of the quicker wayward bowling with ‘great susses’ to make a quick firer 25 before Zami’s ‘Captain fantastic’ removed his middle Peg. With the departure of the ‘Enforcer’ runs started to slow for the Crocs and bowling improved as the Croc meandered to 40-1 after 18 overs.

After the Drinks break, wickets and runs started to increase with the introduction of Ellerton, Rohan, Louis and Mark taking a combined bag of 7 but found the beautifully manicured outfield a ‘curse’ as the balls continued to find the boundary with minimal effort as the Crocs raced towards 170 in very little time. Finally the umpires mercifully offered up a second drinks break to allow some very

tired outfielders a chance to quench their thirst (and stretch their legs).

Enter ‘English’ cricket etiquette. With time approaching 4:15, Captain fantastic continued with his off-spinners expecting the ‘time’ declaration with in minutes and allowed the Crocs to move towards a positive total, and expected tea to be had at the agreed time of 4:35. However in his four years of Dutch cricket A. Lynch has been slightly affected by the translation of the word ‘time’. 4:35pm came and went as the total started to push towards 230 thanks to some fine hit and run batting by Marnix and the Quote: ‘Curly haired player with a beard’: J. Reardon.

Releasing that ‘time’ actually translates as dismissed in English cricket language The Skipper opted to revert to some slightly faster bowling and found the declaration finally came after a few quick wickets with the Crocs declaring 240-10 after 43 overs. During the very well prepared tea break of Asian cuisine (hats off to the VRA chiefs). The Captains agreed to extend the introduction of the 20 over period to 6:25pm, with play to start at 5:35.

BJ and John opened to take the fight up to

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Captain Fantastic Lynchy 1-21 off 9 the Crocs. BJ did this with his bat John with his mouth, as Zamis raced to 48-0 of 9 over (40 of those runs where BJ, 4 were leg byes and 4 runs were John’s). But with the start of the 10 over a mini collapse occurred with BJ caught by a very good catch by Manix at mid-wicket, John was caught by his opposing mouth at cover, Rohan lost his leg stump and Tim proclaiming his ‘heart is trying to jump out of his chest’ loss his middle stump to make it 3 golden quakers in a row while in the presents of Captain Nobby.

Finally resistance came as Mark ‘Seaford Master’ Kruyft and Huib built a good solid partnership to help Zami limp towards 100-5. However after the lost of his rock partner Huib for 18, Mark was unable to get to that ever elusive 50 and was dismissed for 48 leaving the Zamies in a very precarious position of 110-7.

ENTER: Captain Fantastic and his brilliant Side-kick Louis. Having blown a gasket over the Crocs declaration tactic at tea, one A. Lynch (Nobby, Captain Fantastic) entered the VRA ArenA with Zami at 112-7, full of rage at the ‘timed declaration’ Nobby proceed to physical assault the poor little red ball to all corners of the of ground to illustrate his frustration.

Showcasing some of the finest, cleanest hitting ever seen in Zami cricket Captain Fantastic proceed to clobber the Crocs bowlers with no remorse and added to J Reardon day of woe after JR offer ‘5 beers for every six’ (A Lynch: 8 6’s at 5 beer a 6, 8x6=48, ‘expensive’).

Not to be out done by his captain Louis started to chime in with his on version of clean hitting finding the boundary on several occasions.

This brilliant display batting had Zami now in the position of being 210-7 with 4 overs to go requiring a 31 from 24 balls for an ever unlikely win. ‘Unlikely’ – Never in Doubt with Captain Fantastic and Louis Side-Kick at the crease; the two continued to send the ball to Schiphol, Amsterdam Centrale, Amstelveen using just 17 of the 24 balls to reach the Crocodiles’ 240 for an emphatic victory.

They finished with Nobby: 82*, Louis: 35* both with ‘red ink’ (not out) for a partnership of 132 for the eight wicket. The post-match entertainment was just inspiring, as the VRA Chiefs continued their good form after the tea performance to put on a fantastic seafood gala with just the right amounts of Amber fluid and music.

A big thank you again to Mark for supplying the food and the VRA staff for making the night run very smoothly.

All in all a truly brilliant day for Zami Cricket!

Man of the Match: Anthony Lynch (82*, 1-21 of 9)§

By Evan Lucas

Page 89

ZAMI ZOMI REPORT, Saturday 15 Aug 2009

Zami Xll vs Zomi Xll Zami: 255/5 Zomi: 169 all out Man of the match: Jeroen SoS Mulder

by Neil Browning

A

ugust 15 was a day many of us had marked in our calendar this year. No, Shane Warne wasn’t coming to VRA to conduct his one off clinic, “Texting while fielding - the new cricket etiquette” - it was in fact the annual Seafood Gala!

But as a prelude to this fine event, VRA Zami 1 played host to a VRA Zomi Xl - which after such enthusiastic enrollment meant 12 would play 12 on the no.2 field as the VRA Zami 2 team tackled the touring Crocs on the no.1 field. A toin coss was not required as Zomi captain Matt McKeogh indicated his fear of batting first and would do almost anything to take the ball first - unfortunately the gorilla and the 200 pound dominatrix were fully booked that afternoon, so a big let off for Matt!!

Zami 1 opted for a unique batting lineup, hoping to surprise/bewilder their opponents with such a diverse range of shot making that traditional field placements would become futile - opening with Neil Browning and Agent Mulder. “The Mulder Experiment”, as it’s become known, failed dismally, although after one scintilating swat/drive straight down the ground for 4, had the Zami boys quietly chuckling to themselves, thinking “this may actually work!” But alas, an edge to the keeper saw him on his way cheaply.

To the crease strode the ever confident Martijn Groenewegen - aka “Experiment no.2” or more simply, “The 2nd Experiment”. Martijn looked a picture of concentration as he took his guard, before being bowled through the gulf/gate first ball.

Thankfully Browning was holding up his end of the bargain and scoring freely. And to join him at the crease was fellow Aussie Paul Michaliedes. These two combatants are no strangers to demolishing bowling attacks together, as some witnessed a few weeks back. But still Matt and his Zomi boys were bouncing around with their tails up at this stage.

Nevertheless, Browning piled on the runs and posted his 50 before being removed, making way for one Jeroen SoS Mulder, or “SOS”, or “Sausage”, or “Sosmeister” to his beloved team mates.

Here started an innings for the ages. Coming in at no.5 with instructions to “get some practice for the Zami v Zami game next week”, SoS showed everyone how to build an innings.

And build he did. Despite losing Michaliedes not long after arriving, SoS carved out the easy 1’s and 2’s and was never troubled. Joined by captain Phillip Yisrael, the two built a nice partnership of over 100 without offering chances. But it was destined to be Jeroen’s day, notching up 50 with ease. Not until over no.25 did SoS and Yisrael decide to start to hit out.

Yisrael made way for Jason Hall after making 36, and SoS increased his tempo to charge towards his first century for VRA in the 33rd over. The crowd stood as one and applauded an allrounder

SEAFOOD GALA Page

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ZAMI ZOMI REPORT, Saturday 15 Aug 2009 who was long overdue his time in the middle - journalists scurried to record the feat on their iPhones and before long the innings was being talked about across the cricketing world - The Punjab Daily ran with the headline “Which IPL Franchise Will Snap Up Dutch Star?” Facebook “Friend Requests” have peaked at a record high for the SoSmeister since what’s being labelled “The steady demolition”. All of this despite his head changing colour over the course of his innings - cherry red comes to mind.

With the help of Jason Hall, who was timing the ball beautifully, and Paul McPhillimy, Jeroen ended the innings at 109 n.o. (11x4’s, 3x6’s) and a total of 255 off their 35 overs.

Bowling honours went to Michael Bryant (2-30) and he was assisted by JJ (1-30) and Abhishek Gaur (2-56). Special mention of Matt’s one and only over going for...wait for it...25!

This was a difficult target for Matt and his Zomi team, needing roughly 7.5 runs per over, but nobody told Peter van Gulik and Harold Horsmann. These two openers had the Zami boys running around fetching a cricket ball from all corners of field no.2 and were comfortably on target. It was clear van Gulik was a danger man and he was batting like he was keen to get an early seat at the Seafood Gala, as close to the lobster tray as possible.

Both Paul McPhillimy and Maarten Slaagter were made to pay by van Gulik, who crunched some lovely boundaries and failed to succumb to the relentless “chit chat” by the opposition skipper. Willem van Mierlo (0/23) was brought on to the cheers of the crowd.

Yisrael (0/12) came on at the other end, but it was really only one man the crowd (and Zami) wanted/needed - than man SoS!

The saline drip during the break had obviously done the trick and he re-entered the fray as the van Gulik charge was gaining more and more momentum. SoS marked his run up and with a normal pink hue in his cheeks, charged in and immediately had van Gulik thinking twice about his 8/over antics up to this point. With just a few balls from SoS, something had changed - the wicketkeeper Taco Bosman was finally in the game, as van Gulik struggled to get bat on ball. And it ended with his middle stump cart wheeling away. Van Gulik gone for a superb 39 including 5 boundaries. SoS with figures of 2/11 from 4 overs.

The batting support came in the shape of Deon Veldtman, who smashed 6 boundaries on his way to 31 and Chris Tazelaar, whp provided the much needed backbone for the Zomi boys (retired 29), but gradually the Zami boys were able to cut off the boundaries and pile on the pressure. Slaagter (2/46) and McPhillimy (1/31) came back for second spells and one wonders if they didn’t nip off during the drinks break for a bit of whatever SoS was taking because they really bowled well and bagged some wickets.

Finally, “The experiment” Agent Mulder was thrown the ball at one end (which drew a huge roar from the watching hockey girls that were constantly flashing him while he was fielding at 3rd man (we realize now why he didn’t mind staying down there at the over changes to cover long on!), and Sander Kampen took control of the other end with his, dare we say, slightly more than 15 degrees bent at the elbow deliveries.

Agent Mulder struck first, clean bowling his first victim and the skipper received the “why wasn’t I bowling earlier” look. Then Sander (2/2) stepped up and left his mark on this game with two quick wickets and Zami bowling depth just got a whole lot deeper. Mulder, with a greedy lust in his eyes, lined up the final two Zomi combatants (one of which looked remarkably like “The 2nd Experiment” Groenewegen) and finished with figures of 3 for 4 from 3 overs.

Zomi finished on 169. In the end it was a comfortable victory for the Zami boys, in a game that was played in a wondeful mixed spirit of fun and bloodthirsty competitiveness - a perfect appetizer for a seafood gala! §

I SEE FOOD AND I WANT TO EAT IT Page 91

MR LUBE CELEBTRATES

“WE REALLY NOBBED THOSE NOBS”, SAID NOBBY Page

92

S WINNING THE ASHES

Sunday, 23 August 2009 17:59 UK

Victorious England regain Ashes

Fifth Ashes Test, The Oval, day four: England 332 & 373-9d bt Australia 160 & 348 by 197 runs

After losing 5-0 in Australia in 2007, victory in The Oval sun was reminiscent of England’s famous 2005 Ashes win. Australia resumed on 80-0 needing a further 466 for a world record win but twice lost two wickets in two overs.

Andrew Flintoff, in his final Test, brilliantly ran out Ricky Ponting (66) and Mike Hussey was last out at 1749 BST on day four after a defiant 121. Some said this series did not match the tension of 2005 but the continual fluctuations made it highly absorbing. After their final wicket pair held on against the odds for a draw in the first Test, England took a 1-0 lead with their first Test win at Lord’s for 75 years.

Page 93

LubeMANIA Page

94

Mr Mouse presents the Zami Cup 2009 to Mr Lube and his Zami 2 team VRA Zami 2 - HCC Zami VRA Zami 2 win by 58 runs Page 95

ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 29 Aug 2009

Season Finale – The All or Nothing Match

by Dave Geenson

A

fter last week’s slightly “bitter tasting” defeat to our Zami I compatriots, the Zami II team of legends arrived at the club for this season’s final match against HCC.

With the Zami I side having amounted 17 points from their 12 matches and the Zami II side on 16 points from 11 matches, this was the game to decide the Zami Championship, the all important season finale. A draw would see the Zami sides sharing the title, a loss and the title would go to ZI and victory meaning the title would go to ZII.

After Zami II captain, Anthony “Nobby” Lynch won the toss, he decided we would bat first. With a small crowd of Zami I supporters on the sidelines (this time supporting (?) HCC) the game was underway, with Floris “Mufti” Kappelle and Rohan “Living it Large” Liyanage opening the ZII batting innings. Unfortunately Flo’s innings was abruptly ended before it started, when he was run out for nought, without having have faced a delivery.

A disappointing end of the season for Floris personally, but he came to the sidelines in good spirits, knowing that he has had a good, productive season. John “Spoon” Reardon (28 runs) came in to bat, and built a nice partnership with Rohan (20 runs), both playing some nice shots. Next in was JJ Sobti, who spanked the HCC bowling, mixing up quick singles with elegant boundaries, scoring exactly 50 before getting out (unfortunately this only came to our attention after JJ was out, so sorry about not clapping for your 50 JJ).

Marnix “Marni” Hazeweijer then came in and also managed to connect, scoring 20 good runs, before our skip, “Nobby” came in and played a nice cameo innings of 15, hitting the days’ only ‘6’. We were looking to get a total of 180+ , but unfortunately the final 5 overs only gave us 10 more runs, with the ZII side posting a total of 161 for 9 from the allotted 35 overs, a good total, but definitely a few runs short of an easily defendable total.

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96

ZAMI 2 REPORT, Saturday 29 Aug 2009

After a short, but satisfying lunch, the ZII side huddled together and prepared for our fielding innings, we definitely weren’t planning to give this one away, and the team spirit was great as it’s been all season long. The guns were drawn with Nobby (5–20 –2) and Evan Lucas ( 4-12-2) taking the new ball.

Both Nobby and Evan were getting some mean swing and Nobby was the first to get the breakthrough.

He was also to get the 2nd wicket, with our keeper, JJ taking a tremendous one handed diving catch, low to his right side. Dave “Geeza” Geensen (5-20-1) got the first change and also took a deserved wicket. Marnix bowled his first spell, from his less preferred end, but still managed a tight first spell.

Rohan also bowled some really great stuff, taking 2 for 16 in his over (of which there were some really harsh wides given, but he wasn’t the only one who suffered from harsh calls).

Marni came back on from his preferred end, and it showed, immediately getting his rhythm, bowling a superb spell with many unplayable deliveries. Nobby took a 1 handed catch off of Marni’s, jumping at full stretch and holding on to an absolute blinder. The second great catch of the day.

Up step, John “The Magnificent” Richardson, bowling some real beauties and deservedly taking 3 for 15. Richo has taught all of us a great lesson in perseverance, with his bowling really improving this season, and ending up as the top wicket taker for ZII this season, well done Richo!!!

Tim Ellerton bowled 1 over and also got a wicket, with Geeza taking the catch. By now the game was all but done, and Richo took the final wicket of the season, with Evan Lucas taking a great catch at deep mid wicket. HCC all out for 103! We all crowded together and the celebrations were under way.

Zami II CHAMPIONS!

We went back to the clubhouse with smiles on our faces, knowing we had achieved our goals of retaining the Zami championship. Champagne was drunk, speeches were made and the trophy was lifted.

I’d like to mention that the Zami I team could’ve easily won the title if it weren’t for a couple of muck up’s against Groen Geel and I think Kampong. I really look forward to playing them again next season, as we did end up losing both matches this season (although how we lost last weeks game still remains a mystery).

Last but not least, it is important to mention that every Zami II player contributed to the championship.

The team spirit was excellent, both on and off the pitch. It was a true pleasure, and yes we made the magic happen!

Thanks for a truly memorable season!

Page 97

CAPTIAN LUBE AND HIS MERRY MEN

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98

“If you ain’t the lead dog the view is the same”

Page 99

ZAMI Batting Statistics 2009

CLUB

LAST NAME

INITIALS

PLAYED

INNS

N.O.

RUNS

H.SC

AVG.

61.2

VRA

Browning

N

13

13

8

306

72

VRA

Yisrael

P

8

8

2

288

80

VRA

McPhilimy

P.

11

11

1

232

53

23.2

VRA

Michaelides

P

8

8

2

231

100

38.5

VRA

Liyanage

R

8

8

3

226

65

45.2

VRA

Collignon

L.J.

8

8

0

210

64

26.25

VRA

Spits, BJ

BJ

6

6

0

181

94

30.17

VRA

Kappelle

F

10

10

0

151

52

15.1

VRA

Sobti

J

5

5

0

120

55

24

VRA

Fowler

N

9

8

1

101

40

14.43

VRA

Reardon

7

7

1

100

32

16.67

VRA

Mulder

S.P.J

9

7

1

86

37

14.33

VRA

Dekkers

J

8

7

0

82

30

11.71

VRA

Spits T

T

3

3

0

80

44

26.67

VRA

George

M

9

8

0

74

26

9.25

VRA

Ellerton

T

6

5

1

70

50

17.5

VRA

Mulder JAG

JAG

7

7

0

65

29

9.29

VRA

Slagter

M

2

2

0

62

61

31

VRA

Hazeweijer

MM

6

5

2

58

23

19.33

VRA

Akkerman

3

3

0

55

41

18.33

VRA

Hintzen

T

3

5

3

52

30

26

VRA

Mierlo

W

7

5

1

48

27

12

VRA

Bartels

S

2

1

1

46

46

VRA

Lynch

A

5

3

0

46

20

VRA

Bantwal

S

3

2

2

26

26

VRA

Deelen

F

3

2

1

23

22

23

VRA

Bier

H

5

4

0

23

10

5.75

VRA

Lindemann

ThJ

6

2

0

19

10

9.5

VRA

Kruijff

M

2

1

0

18

18

18

VRA

Lobach

HL

2

2

1

16

16

16

VRA

Blokland

5

2

1

14

13

14

J

48

15.33

Page

100

ZAMI Batting Statistics 2009

CLUB

LAST NAME

INITIALS

PLAYED

INNS

N.O.

RUNS

H.SC

AVG.

VRA

Geensen

D

8

6

2

12

8

3

VRA

Hall

J

2

2

0

11

10

5.5

VRA

Ekkers

J

5

3

0

9

4

3

VRA

Bertholet

N

4

2

1

6

6

6

VRA

Bosman

T

2

1

0

5

5

5

VRA

Spek

M

1

1

0

5

5

5

VRA

Schreuder

F

6

1

0

3

3

3

VRA

Pasierowski

PS

1

1

0

3

3

3

VRA

Richardson

J.C.

10

2

1

1

1

1

VRA

Kempen

S

3

1

0

0

0

0

VRA

Hennis

1

0

0

0

0

VRA

Salomons

S

1

1

1

0

0

0

VRA

Bown

R

1

0

0

0

0

0

VRA

Bown

R

1

1

0

0

0

0

VRA

Wentworth

N

1

0

0

0

0

0

Page 101

ZAMI Bowling Statistics 2009

CLUB

LAST NAME

INITIALS

OVERS

BALLS

WICKETS

RUNS

AVG

EC.RATE

N

65

0

21

272

12.95

4.185

VRA

Browning

VRA

Mulder

SPJ

52

4

20

158

7.9

3

VRA

Richardson

JC

30

1

13

160

12.31

5.304

VRA

McPhilimy

P

49

0

12

231

19.25

4.714

VRA

Hazeweijer

M.M

24

0

11

67

6.09

2.792

VRA

Ysrael

P

44

5

11

161

14.64

3.591

VRA

Geenson

D

41

0

10

165

16.5

4.024

VRA

Dekkers

J

36

0

10

189

18.9

5.25

VRA

Lynch

A

25

0

8

58

7.25

2.32

VRA

Spits

T

14

0

8

84

10.5

6

VRA

Fowler

N

37

0

8

25.75

5.568

VRA

Liyanage

27

0

7

162

23.14

6

VRA

Ellerton

T

9

0

4

50

12.5

5.556

VRA

Sobti

J

23

0

4

93

23.25

4.043

VRA

Collignon

LJ

27

2

4

145

36.25

5.305

VRA

Deelen

F

9

0

3

53

17.67

5.889

VRA

Bantwal

S

15

0

3

81

27

5.4

VRA

Mierlo

W

11

0

3

92

30.67

8.364

VRA

Mulder

JAG

4

0

2

18

9

4.5

VRA

Bartels

S

5

5

2

28

14

4.8

VRA

George

MJ

9

4

2

34

17

3.517

VRA

Lobach

H

13

0

2

35

17.5

2.692

VRA

Wentworth

N

2

0

1

9

9

4.5

VRA

Pasierowski

PS

7

0

1

17

17

2.429

VRA

Schreuder

4

0

1

17

17

4.25

VRA

Kampen

S

5

0

1

31

31

6.2

VRA

Reardon

J

4

0

1

35

35

8.75

VRA

Slagter

M

5

0

1

40

40

8

VRA

Bertholet

N

2

0

0

13

VRA

Ekkers

J

2

0

0

20

-

10

VRA

Hall

J

2

0

0

18

-

9

VRA

Hennis

3

0

0

19

-

6.333

R

6.5

Page

102

ZAMI Bowling Statistics 2009

CLUB

LAST NAME

INITIALS

OVERS

BALLS

WICKETS

RUNS

AVG

EC.RATE

VRA

Hintzen

AHJ

2

0

0

18

-

9

VRA

Kappelle

F

2

0

0

17

-

8.5

VRA

Lindemann

Th.J.

5

0

0

33

-

6.6

VRA

Michaelides

p

7

0

0

49

-

7

VRA

Spek

M

2

0

0

16

-

8

Page 103

ZAMI Fielding Statistics 2009 CLUB

LAST NAME

INITIALS

CAUGHT

STUMPED

TOTAL

VRA

Spits

BJ

7

7

14

VRA

Geenson

D

7

0

7

VRA

McPhilimy

P

6

0

6

VRA

Browning

N

5

0

5

VRA

Michaelides

P

4

0

4

VRA

Lynch

A

4

0

4

VRA

Mulder

SPJ

3

0

3

VRA

Fowler

N

3

0

3

VRA

Sobti

J

3

0

3

VRA

Lindemann

3

0

3

VRA

Yisrael

2

1

3

VRA

Kempen

2

0

2

VRA

Collignon

2

0

2

VRA

Mierlo

2

0

2

VRA

George

M

2

0

2

VRA

Dekkers

J

2

0

2

VRA

Hazeweijer

M

2

0

2

VRA

Bier

H

1

0

1

VRA

Deelen

1

0

1

VRA

Schreuder

1

0

1

VRA

Akkerman

1

0

1

VRA

Ekkers

1

0

1

VRA

Hintzen

T

1

0

1

VRA

Liyanage

R

1

0

1

P L

Page

104

Page 105

Page

106

Page 107

Bon Voyage Rohan Liyanage

Page

108

My Way And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain.

My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.

I’ve traveled each and ev’ry highway; But more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Regrets, I’ve had a few; But then again, too few to mention.

I did what I had to do And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course; Each careful step along the byway, But more, much more than this, I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew.

But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out.

I faced it all and I stood tall; And did it my way.

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried.

I’ve had my fill; my share of losing.

And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that; And may I say - not in a shy way, “No, oh no not me, I did it my way”.

For what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has naught.

To say the things he truly feels; And not the words of one who kneels.

The record shows I took the blows And did it my way!

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