ZUOZ 2011
Idle CC
BiCiampiùn de la Engiadina
Un
soddisfatto capitano (ma cosa avrà detto allo
speech?)
The
draw
The 9.15 first round draw at Zuoz is always a moment of
high tension. Firstly, one wants to avoid being drawn on
pitch 4; always a bit of a lottery whoever you play.
Secondly, there is the wish to avoid one of the big names
in the first round, such as Munich and Basel given their
recent record of making finals and winning the competition.
This year avoiding the traditional first round pairing with
Winterthur would also be a bonus considering the severe
double drubbing they gave us in Lodi only 3 weeks
previously. Thirdly, and perhaps the greatest cause for
concern, is the ominous absence of 8 members of the squad.
The draw starts. Game one pairs Munich with a local rival
on the notorious pitch 4, while match 2 sees Basel pitted
against another Bavarian outfit. Wintherthur are drawn
against George Campbell's XI, which leaves Idle a match on
pitch 1 against the hosts Lyceum Zuoz. Thus far, we could
not have wished for a more favourable outcome.
However, we still only had 5 players.
Owing to the poor weather conditions (it was already
drizzling) and the even worse forecast for the rest of
Saturday, it was agreed that first and second round matches
would be twenty overs a side. Following a break for lunch
at the school, afternoon matches would begin at 2.30, with
the hope of completing at least one innings of round two
matches before the weather turned nasty. Matches not
completed on Saturday would be brought to a conclusion on
Sunday morning with an earlier than usual start time.
So, Lyceum Zuoz skipper Mark Jones tracks me down for the
toss. Embarrassingly I have to confess that I only have
five players and an 11 year old. We wait for a few minutes
and I receive news that our players are in 'la zona'. We
agree to toss in 5 minutes. Other games have started; 5
minutes pass but our team is still not at the ground. Mark
Jones says that he would field if he wins the toss anyway
so why don't we bat and start now. I have no option but to
agree, and the menacing batting quintet of Vittorio, Marco,
Carlo, Rob and Stiff, prepare to bat.
18 giugno: Quarter Final
Lyceum
Zuoz v Idle CC 20 overs a side Pitch 1
Toss - An agreed loss.
Idle 149 for 5, Lyceum Zuoz 49 all out (17 overs)
Idle - Marco, Vittorio, Indika (wk), Sunny 1, Angelo,
Shanta, Ravi 1, Dusantha, Carlo, Umair, Stiff (c)
Best in show - Sunny 1, 60 not out and 2 for 2.
Worst in show - Sunny 1, who left the scorebook in the b+b.
Batting in wet conditions in intermittent drizzle was never
going to be easy, while a school bowling attack including
Jones, Schmitt, new cricket assistant David Harding, and
Anderson was not to be underrated. The early loss of Landi
led to a period of consolidation with Vittorio and Indika
putting on solid 40 + partnership at a steady 6 an over. A
respectable start given the lack of speed in the outfield
and the relatively long boundaries. However, the
introduction of Anderson into the attack heralded the loss
of both Vittorio and Indika in quick succession, in what
was to prove a repeating pattern in the matches to come.
Sunny 1, sporting a rather bizarre hand knitted short
sleeved sweater, came to the crease and simply batted to
his strengths. Anything with width disappeared to the
boundary in a flash. Anything short with width got there
even quicker. Sunny 1 concluded the Idle innings unbeaten
on 60 as a comforting total of 149 for 5 was posted.
While 149 was a pleasing total considering our solid
bowling attack, Captain Stiff was wary of the explosive
potential of Anderson and concerned about the batting
abilities of the new cricket assistant. Still fresh in
Stiff's mind was a previous cricket assistant, Grubby, who
launched the Idle attack (including Quick Nick) to all
parts of Engadina in the final in 2007 on his way to 96. He
was replaced by a batsman who, not content with Engadina,
launched an attack that endangered neighbouring cantons on
his way to a super quick 50. Yes, it was the very same
Anderson.
The innings commenced and Idle quickly established a
stranglehold on the match. Shanta and Ravi opened the
bowling and Zuoz soon found themselves behind the run-rate
required and losing wickets. Cricket assistant Dave Harding
looked a good bat, but when he fell lbw to Ravi for 10, and
Stiff bowled Anderson for 9 the Zuoz challenge ended.
Dusantha finished the innings off in the 17th over with 2
wickets in 2 balls and is looking forward to completing his
hat-trick during the President's XI weekend. Despite the
heavy defeat in poor weather conditions Lyceum Zuoz never
threw in the towel. A towel, however, would have been handy
considering the conditions in which the afternoon semi
final was played in.
18
giugno: Semi Final
Idle CC v Winterthur 20 overs a side Pitch
1
Toss - Lost
Winterthur 82 all out (17.2) overs Idle 85 for 6 (18.2
overs)
Idle - Vittorio, Umair, Indika (wk), Sunny 1, Angelo,
Shanta, Ravi, Dusantha, Carlo, Marco, Stiff (c)
Best in show - Sunny 1, 4 for 11.
Worst in show - Sunny 1, still no scorebook and a
disappointing duck.
At the beginning of lunch time this match was unlikely to
take place. Rain was still falling on and off, the weather
forecast predicted heavier rain, players were happily
having lunch at the school, when a meeting of organisers
and captains (Marco representing Idle) revealed that all
matches would start at 2.30.
Back at pitch 1, both captains and umpires agreed that if
this semi final started in the rain it would finish in the
rain unless there was a serious deterioration in
conditions. The toss was lost and Winterhur elected to bat.
This game was never going to be easy; a month earlier
Winterthur had come to Lodi and had convincingly won both
games. If anything, this Winterthur team was even stronger
on paper. Our adversary of many previous battles, Pieter
Swanepoel was added to their team, while Rohit Grover, who
had scored 85 in Lodi, had scored a century in Winterthur's
quarter final, during a partnership of 196. In
compensation, Idle had added Angelo and Shanta to the
bowling attack from that weekend.
Once again Shanta opened the bowling, and struck a double
blow in his 2nd over. Swanepoel batted sensibly and held
the Winterthur innings together at one end, while a
combination of straight bowling, reckless shot selection,
and 4 LBW decisions led to carnage at the other. Swanepoel
eventually fell for a splendid 38, but with only one other
batsman reaching double figures, the innings concluded on
82, a total that was probably far lower than the Swiss had
anticipated. All bowlers were economical, with Sunny taking
4 for 11, Shanta 3 for 14, and Angelo 3 for 20.
By this stage there was no further play in any of the other
3 matches, all deciding to come back and finish early the
next morning.
The batting started steadily with Umair and Vittorio
putting on 12 for the first wicket. Vittorio and Indika
then took the score to 54 in the 11th over. Surely nothing
could go wrong. 29 to win in 9 overs with 9 wickets in hand
and 2 batsmen well established. Or could it? 12th over, 2nd
ball Vittorio is out. 3 balls later, Sunny 1, modelling a
hand knitted short sleeved diamond patterned designer
cricket sweater, is out. 2 balls later Indika departs. 6
balls, 3 wickets, no runs. Angelo and Shanta steadied the
ship with an important 19 run partnership, before both
being out with the score on 74, Shanta the victim of a
comedy run-out. It was left to Ravi and Dusantha to get
Idle over the line with 10 balls to spare amid much relief.
So, we reach our 3rd final in 5 seasons but it's odd not
knowing who the adversary will be. Munich and Basel will
finish their match the next day. We return to our B+B for
hot showers, aspirin, a few beers, and the customary team
meal, excellent as always. Our hostess washes and dries all
our kit. How good is that! The evening proceeds with a Nerf
gun battle, a table tennis competition, and the traditional
BPS.
Best in Evening - 1. Our hosts, Max and Eva. 2. All the
chefs. 3. Robert Hasson - table tennis champion. A real
dark horse.
Worst in Evening - Sunny 1, for making Umair copy up the
scorebook.
19
giugno: FINAL
Idle CC v Basel CC 30 overs a side Pitch
1
Toss WON
Basel 150 for 7 (30 overs) lost to Idle 152 for 5 (27.2
overs) by 5 wickets.
Idle - Vittorio, Sunny 1, Indika (wk), Angelo, Shanta,
Ravi, Umair, Dusantha, Joe, Marco, Stiff (c)
Best in show - Angelo 50 not out , Umair 18 not out in a
vital partnership of 62 with Angelo.
Worst in show - Sunny 1 for attempting a very slow slower
ball in the last ball of his spell. Of course it went for
6.
Basel finished off Munich early on Sunday morning, chasing
down 134 to win in the last over. Captain Stiff, having
watched Basel bat and struggle to make the runs required
against mediocre Munich bowling, felt that it would be
possible to keep them down to reachable target if an early
breakthrough was made. So upon winning the toss, we decided
to put them in.
Things did not go exactly according to plan. The early
break didn't come, and although Shanta bowled tidily,
Zaheer hit every loose ball hard and found the boundary
regularly. Basel moved smoothly to 47 without loss in the
9th over and putting them in was looking like a bad move.
An acceleration in the run rate with Zaheer still at the
crease would probably have seen Basel move to 200 plus.
Sunny 1 replaced Ravi in the 10th over, and Stiff exchanged
fielding positions with Umair, adding height to the short
third man, very deep slip area. Almost at once the
breakthrough came. Sunny bowled wide of off stump, the
batsman flashed hard, and Stiff took one of those catches
wide to his left. The dangerous Zaheer remained, however,
and was unphased by the introduction of Angelo into the
attack. In fact, Angelo's first two overs went for 19.
Zaheer finally fell for 48 in the 15th over (8 fours and 1
six) caught by Shanta at mid-off mis-timing another
attempted boundary off Angelo. Over the remaining 15 overs,
Basel batted steadily but without ever taking the
iniatitive away from Idle. 140 looked a likely score, but a
mixture of no balls and injudicious slower balls took Basel
to 150.
In reply, Sunny 1, sporting a rather elegant, hand-made,
cream coloured, diamond patterned, short sleeved cricket
sweater, was promoted to the top of the order with
Vittorio. Unfortunately, the ploy didn't work, and Sunny
departed for 4 after just one trademark boundary backward
of point. For the third time Vittorio and Indika embarked
on a steadying innings, this time adding 57 runs in good
time, with Vic playing fluently and aggressively. At 67 for
1 in 12 overs Idle looked comfortable. Yet, the
introduction of Jay into the bowling brought a calamitous
change. Bowling with an impressive lack of speed, he went
through the Idle middle order like a knife through butter.
Indika couldn't hit him of the square and 5 dot balls
resulted. Vic, on 31 and having survived one stumping
attempt, decided to recklessly give him the charge again,
and this time didn't get back. As with previous matches,
Indika followed Vic for 28 in the next Jay over, attempting
a big hit over cow corner.In Jay's next two overs, two more
identical wickets. Slow outside off stump, a big hoick from
first Shanta, and then Ravi, and suddenly we are at 90 for
5 off 17. Angelo, at this point has hardly faced a ball and
is joined at the crease by Umair. Angelo bats sensibly
taking singles and putting the bad ball away confidently,
usually for 6. Umair, scratchy at first, grows in
confidence as the partnership grows. We want 48 off 10, 35
off 8, 23 off 6, 15 off 4. The scoring has continued
steadily, but a wicket now would change everything. At this
rate we are heading for a tense last over finish. But the
ending comes rather suddenly. We need 10 off 3 and the
first ball of the 18th goes for 5 wides. The next sees
Angelo reach his 50 with a six over mid-wicket and it's all
over. I campioni d'Engadina siamo noi. Gendarini, il
presidente piu vincente nella storia del club. A match
winning partnership of 62, the highest of our tournament.
Angelo played a magnificently controlled innings. But what
about Umair? Absolutely fantastic!
Celebrations follow. The cup is presented, a few photos
taken, the cup is given back, and it's off to the bar for a
celebratory drink, a toast to absent friends, and the long
but satisfying journey home.
