Die THCC Renegades – diesmal verstärkt von einer großen Anzahl unserer Ladies – gewinnen den Erdinger Alkoholfrei Kontinental Cup 2015 im Rahmen der British Flair auf dem Hamburger Polo Ground gegen die Heligoland Pilgrims.
Ein ausführlicher Bericht des Spiels ist auf der Internetpräsenz der Heligoland Pilgrims zu finden.
THCC vs Taylor Vinters, Klein-Flottbek, Saturday 13th June 2015
THCC: Adrian, Dave, Bosko, Raman, Shane, Steve (c), Tina, Dhanush, Moritz, Jens and Mark
Damp maybe, dampened spirit: never.
This season’s inaugural tourists, Taylor Vinters , were once again a wandering fraternity of legal brothers. Ambling up to the gate, they strode into the ground in the traditional way, slightly sore eyes squinting. A warm handshake, a hearty hello, and yes, the ground really is that small.
With THCC ceding the toss, captain J. Taylor elected to put THCC into bat on what looked like a very green wicket.
Together with Adrian “the flying possum” Mancuso, Dave “Dodgy Ankles” Catterall was asked to open a match he would ultimately finish. These are always nervous moments for an accommodating captain – would this lot turn out to be a collection of Old Boys’ First XI, and have us back in the hutch before the BBQ coals had even turned the colour of his beard?
Adrian led the way getting in line as usual, a handy opener to have for any captain. Then a flying top edge for Dave, which he still maintains came straight off the middle, got him off to a streaky start and two scoring shots later he found himself in the nervous nines. Could he reach his Everest? Double figures. For a wonderfully no nonsense northerner of a number eleven, these were unfamiliar times. He patiently waited at least one ball before fearlessly cracking a boundary to roar past his previous highest ever score of 10. The crowd erupts, the bat is raised. His captain, currently standing in as umpire has a quite word, “Start again lad, start again ….” He plunders another 14 runs, including a straight six which was actually a good shot, before he is bowled by Fehmi on a heady 27.
With Adrian having also departed trying to push on and Bosko providing a little cameo of an innings, Raman had quietly started his innings in his typically unassuming way, taking 8 consecutive dot balls to get a feel for the pitch. With Shane, Steve, and Tina providing support from the other end, he went on a rampage, at one point hitting the following sequence: 444444441444. With Raman standing on 95, the opposition umpire mischievously offered some encouragement to reach his century off the last ball of his innings … cue a straight 6 over the umpire’s head to reach 101 not-out (retired).
Mark Baines, having had time to warm up in his usual manner, came in at number eleven to hit a typical swashbuckling 11, and Moritz finished the innings in suitable style to set a total of 226 of 30 overs. The pick of Taylor’s bowlers was Fehmi with 3/23 off 4, with Tapner and Hibbert chipping in with a couple of wickets each.
With only 2 overs of the 2nd innings gone the prophesied storm of biblical proportions turned up and both teams fled to the refuge of our wonderful clubhouse and sated ourselves at Frank’s legendary BBQ and beer.
The rain break gave both teams a chance for a chat and a few beers as they listened with some circumspection to the claims that play would resume.
Just over one-and-a-half hours after the storm had hit, play resumed at 1745, with players fully refuelled.
So it was little wonder that as Tina came into bowl her second over, she was met by some rather impertinent sledging from the three neanderthals standing in the slips. One from Africa, one from the last millennium and one from the North of England. What was actually said is best left for the historians to ponder over … needless to say it had the desired effect with Tina putting in fine spell of swing bowling, in particularly damp conditions.
With Tina tying the batsman up at one end and the score creeping up to 30, the captain decided to lure the unsuspecting batsmen into thinking the BBQ was still going from the clubhouse, with bowling which can only really be described as buffet bowling, à la carte. The batsmen, believing dessert was now being served, duly tried to help themselves, but somehow they always ended up picking the wrong line. This wanton gluttony saw 34/0 become 44/5 as batsman appeared to keep getting stuck in a revolving restaurant door, starting with a catch from Shane and then a fine swirling high catch from Jens.
The THCC skipper was rapidly brought back to reality when, on getting hit for consecutive boundaries off his 10th and 11th balls, he was left chuckling by a fine observation from one of his charges. The fielder in question was not identified beyond all reasonable doubt, but it is believed that, having spent some considerable time at the Bar, he perhaps picked up the Anglo Saxon language in question in one of London’s finest Inns.
So with captain James Taylor now established at the crease, and joined by Bhuttae, the fight-back had begun. Thus ensued a solid and potentially match winning partnership which fell just shy of the century of runs. Both Moritz and Jens had a good go at trying to draw the batmen into false shots, but they were having none of it. Shane and Mark bowled well in tandem but without due reward. The fine partnership was finally undone by the infamous Hokey Cokey field, which somehow managed to lure Bhuttae into a rash charge, and Raman had the stumps down before anyone could blink.
This left Taylor’s team on 138/6 needing another 89 runs for victory from 12 overs.
The score ticked along, but so did the wickets, 159/8 … 185/9 … Tina picking up a well-deserved wicket with her last ball.
So as the score reached 200, and with Captain Taylor reaching his century, the match, along with the weather, lay in the hands of the gods.
Hibbert, at number 11, with the weight of his teams expectations standing on his shoulders, saw off the accurate bowling of Dhanush (3 overs / 12 runs), and helped support his captain into the last over, ever alert to the rotation of the strike.
So with 8 runs needed for victory, one wicket remaining, the field flung to the boundary and Taylor’s 6 foot 5 Goliath towering over the crease, there was only ever one choice of bowler …… David.
David shuffles to the crease, aims, fires ….. 4 ….. he trundles back, looks up to the sky, and then skips gently to the crease. Nobody moves, the giant centurion’s bat carves viciously through the air. The balls jags away, clips the outside edge and Raman, like some kind of impish spirit, appears at second slip to take a wonderful tumbling catch.
The match is won, and cricket is the winner.
Thanks to Cam for scoring, Jess and Bianca for there lovely photos and support, and to James and his merry band from Taylor Vinters for making the trip over to play us. We hope to see you again.
THCC vs Tarzan’s Touring XI (30 over game)
THCC 295 – 6, Tarzan’s Touring XI: 257 a.o.
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THCC assert their claims against Swansea Law Society cricketers
Swansea Law Society 207/5 (off 30 overs: T. Clayton 61*, D Owen 40*, N. O’Neill 29, N. Packer 24, T. Rees 13, Cam 5-1-11-1, Jürgen 2-0-11-1) withdraw their claims against THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg Lawless Society 209/6 (off 29.1 overs: Satish 40, Mark R. 38*, George 36, Adrian 28, Matthew 16, Christian 13, R. Howell 6-1-23-2)
THCC Lawless Society: Steve (capt.), Adrian, Cam, Christian, George, Jürgen, Mark R. (trading as Hermann), Matthew, Moritz, Rick (+), Satish
Swansea Law Society: A. Murphy, A. Thomas, D. Owen, J. Clayton, J. Murphy, N. O’Neill, N. Packer (not related!), R. Howells, T. Clayton, T. Rees, reinforced by Mark B. Umpire: Kev
Hamburg 7.9.2014
Read THCC Cricket Correspondent Max Minor’s report.
The Swansea Law Society Cricket team, having toured Prague in 2012 and Krakow in 2013, have decided to visit Hamburg in 2014. Here’s what they had to say about the tour afterwards:
The Swansea Law Society Cricket Club has had a thoroughly busy touring schedule for the past 4 years, having visited La Rochelle, Prague and Krakow so far. Clearly, we place as much (if not more) emphasis on the social aspect of touring than the actual cricket. We therefore settled on Hamburg for our 2014 jaunt and stumbled upon THCC Rot-Gelb as a possible source of opposition.
THCC were only too happy to help me with the uphill struggle of organising 12 excitable gents, aged between 21 and 63, for a 4 day stint in Hamburg with a side of cricket.
THCC hosted us in their excellent facilities, which are located in a beautiful suburb less than 20 minutes by taxi from the lively area of St Pauli. The club boasts full changing facilities and a very reasonably priced bar and restaurant area with outdoor terrace, which is a huge relief for a group of weary tourists more accustomed to playing in fairly remote locations!
We were greeted warmly by our hosts who showed us around the grounds and offered us a beer on arrival, before enjoying a fair drubbing at the hands of their seasoned batsmen. Despite the obvious gulf in talent between the teams, the match was played in the full spirit of the game with plenty of laughs, beers and an enormous barbeque afterwards where both teams ate, drank and, in our case, sang, long into the night. Rest assured however, for any teams looking to focus more on cricket than socialising, THCC can really strut their stuff, so come prepared.
I really can’t recommend THCC enough for anyone looking for opposition on tour or otherwise. Great cricket, great hospitality and great fun all round. You won’t be disappointed.
Andrew Murphy, Swansea Law Society Cricket Club – September 2014
Facebook API came back with a faulty result. You may be accessing an album you do not have permissions to access.THCC vs VCC on 18th June 2011
“International” cricket match in Hamburg
VCC 207 for 5 (A. Worboys 52*, R. Barker 52*, Guru 2-41, Jeya 2-29) beat THCC 172 for 8 (Thomo 47, Silva 41, B. Madden 2-25, R. Barker 2-30, D. Scott 2-41) by 35 runs (30/30 overs)
Bulletin by Max Minor
This heavily rain-affected match against a slightly eccentric and charmingly cricket-infatuated touring side from London (by all means check out their website) will most probably be remembered not so much for its sporting, but rather for its social values. Slightly hung-over from a previous stag-night party, four players of the visiting team ambled towards the pavilion shortly after noon to meet our captain Jon, stalwart all-rounder Mark R., both concerned whether we would be able to muster a whole team, and two eager novices to Hamburg cricket, Laurence and Moritz. The worries proved to be unfounded, all other men and Bianca eventually turned up. Sree was chosen to umpire as 12th man, a duty he performed admirably and impartially – later even giving Guru out lbw.
Jon won the toss, elected to field and was able to punctually send our team out onto a still sunny and dry ground. Silva and Mark R. commenced the bowling, the former swinging as well as spinning the ball from the pavilion end, the latter slipping in a couple of allegedly unintended beamers from the school end, regrettably neither of them with any luck, their final figures clocking a surprisingly identical 4-0-26-0. VCC had cleverly started the batting with one of their many (at least three) players called Barker and the left-handed Warboys. Any odd number of runs thus prompted a field change and Jon stood out not only for his incessant encouragement of our team, but even more for his permanent field direction from behind the wicket, employing his keeper’s gloves like a huge pair of conductor’s batons. Turning to Thomo and Guru as the second set of bowlers and some clever fielding changes brought the first wicket at last, but Warboys could not be stopped and finally retired unbeaten on 52*.
All of a sudden torrential rain started to pour over Hamburg. Everyone had to recede to the club house; an opportunity most of the visitors used to refuel. One Graham S. could also be seen there, providing welcome moral support to our team! After the involuntary break and on a slippery wicket, the run-rate could not be slowed down, although Hardeep with his stylish off-breaks, Mark B. with some slower looped balls and Jeya, fast as ever, tried their best. Once one Barker had been caught at slip by Jeya off Guru’s bowling (Guru also picked up another wicket lbw) and the other Barker then run out by a direct hit from Silva, the opposition’s captain and stag – yes, also Barker – quick-fired another 52* and promptly retired. This gave Jeya a chance to take two wickets with the last two balls of the innings. What a pity VCC could not send in another bat for the hat-trick ball!
Jon used most the lavish lunch break to carefully work out a batting order. It proves his flexibility that even the third and final list remained provisional. Thomo and Hardeep opened the batting, the latter daringly hitting and scoring off almost every ball up to an unfortunate catch, the former digging himself in like Boycs and piling up runs until he was miserably bowled on 47. Silva’s cameo was probably the most remarkable of our innings: He scored ten boundaries in succession, causing several – not always successful – search parties to hunt for the ball, alternatively led by Mark R., Laurence, Guru and future club-member Steve, whose cheerful support (together with his son William) of our efforts must certainly be praised here. Alas, Silva’s efforts to keep the scoreboard ticking – 20 runs off the 12th over! – were spurned by one of the most bizarre overs bowled, consisting of a majority of wides and no balls by C. Mahon, who confesses to play cricket only once every three years. His last but one ball was even slower than the previous and somehow bamboozled the fiery batsman. What followed was almost as wet as the showers that resumed towards the end of our innings; bowlers ploughed the creases, batsmen slithered, wickets kept tumbling, runs remained rare – Schwamm drüber! Merely Jon’s attempt to salvage the match with a couple of spirited boundaries deserves mentioning. However, once he was out, the target had slipped to 36 off the last over and (Sir Gary not being part of our team) it became patent that this match could no longer be won; returning to the dry club-house seemed preferable to any further rain and misery.
Leaving our inglorious sporting performance aside, it can be said that everyone had a great afternoon. The London players, claiming to regularly tour “exotic places” (but why did they come to Hamburg then?), were impressed by our “wonderful ground” and the “great facilities”. What they thought of our team’s cricket was never mentioned – our visitors emerged as very polite and true sportsmen. They only wanted to know whether they were facing any German players. And although our scorer listed the match as “friendly 30 overs”, VCC’s perception of this game turned out to be slightly different, which is apparent from what they entered under the caption “type of match” in the score book: “international”.
THCC Rot-Gelb Renegades retain ERDINGER Alkoholfrei Kontinental Cup 2014 defeating Heligoland Pilgrims in Hamburg again
Bulletin by Max Minor.
Hamburg, 9 August 2014. Renegades 215 all out (Subair 63*, Arun 49, Aswin 17, Safiullah 14) beat Pilgrims 121 all out (Keith 45, Mark B. 16*, Matthew 13) by 94 runs on a wet field in otherwise fair conditions and retain the ERDINGER Alkoholfrei Kontinental Cup for the second year running. These are the dry facts of another beer-infused contest between THCC Rot-Gelb Renegades from Hamburg and Heligoland Pilgrims from all over the world on the Hamburg Polo Ground. Once again, more than 1.000 visitors had come to witness the unique spectacle.
The first half hour of the match took place in the central show arena of the British Flair lifestyle event. Against the background of running live commentary, spectators saw the following sporting highlights: Pilgrims spearhead opener Gareth taking two wickets in his first two overs, Pilgrims veteran captain Mark B. even taking two in only one over, a Pilgrims sure hands wishing to remain undisclosed catching the otherwise indestructible Renegades captain Vinay on 1 run, a controversial leg before wicket-decision in favour of Pilgrims original vice president Steve, a revocation of a dismissal when the ball hit the stumps but the bails did not fall, and a couple of boundaries by Renegades openers Kamaldin and Subair. What more can you ask for from a centre-stage performance?
When the shipping forecast stopped the show after almost 7 overs and the players relocated to the northern cricket field, Renegades were approximately 5 wickets down and their score was not really worth mentioning. The huge total of the Renegades at the end of their allotted 20 overs was only possible because stalwart Arun was in top form, young talent Subair was allowed to bat again against the less confident Pilgrims bowlers and the wayward taped tennis ball contributed a plethora of extras.
So the Pilgrims had a mountain to climb in their innings. This was made even more difficult by some exceptionally tight Renegades
bowling, notably by Safiullah who managed a wicketmaiden-over, but also by Kamaladin and Aswin. At 53 for 7 after 8 overs, with Matthew the only Pilgrim to have left a marked impression on the tally, some of the Renegades expected the match to be over within a few balls. They had apparently not reckoned with the superb South African partnership of Keith and Mark B. who stayed at the
crease for more than 10 further overs and more than doubled the Pilgrims’ score. Alas, when Keith was unluckily caught behind, the last couple of overs merely yielded another couple of runs.
Still, both teams had staged a splendid cricket demonstration and all players certainly deserved as much ERDINGER beer as they could stomach. Aswin’s mother presented the Cup to Renegades’ winning captain Vinay in glorious sunshine. So at the
end of the day this was not only British lifestyle at its best, it was a piece of particularly great cricket entertainment in Hamburg – courtesy of THCC Rot-Gelb and, of course, Heligoland Pilgrims.
THCC Rot-Gelb Renegades: Vinay V.*, Safiullah A., Ali H., Kamaladin K., Thomas M.+, Arun R., Aswin S., Subair R., Niklas T. (Smally), Nag X.
Heligoland Pilgrims: Mark B.*, Steve A., Liam C., Gareth D., Christian H., Moritz H., Keith M., Sven P., Komal S., Frank T.+, Matthew W.
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THCC play international match against London Schlager movers
Crawford’s Commandos London 158/8 (off 30 overs: Steve S. 65*, Jyoth 25, Alex 12, Vantastic 12, Darren 12, Shane 5-0-14-2) cave in to THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg Richardson’s Reserves 162/7 (off 27.2 overs: Noman 43, Liam 31, Ali 23, Steve 14, Mark B. 13, Surya 12, Nabeel 10, Jyothy 6-0-25-2)
THCC Richardson’s Reserves: Cam (capt.), Ali, George (mentioned as “Judge” in the scorecard), Liam (wkt.), Mark B., Moritz, Nabeel, Noman, Shane, Steve, Surya and Björn;
Crawford’s Commandos: Chris A. (capt), Alex, Darren, John P., Phil P., Steve S., Tim D and Vantastic (presumably John V.), reinforced by Ather, Jyothy and Safiullah
Hamburg 28.6.2013, Report by Max Minor, THCC cricket correspondent
The enquiry from London had come in early January: Could Crawford’s Commandos play a couple of cricket matches against THCC? Chris, their manger, had explained his team was “made up of a mix of abilities and ages from mid-twenties to mid-forties but all who love a good game and a bit of fun along the way”. He had also mentioned he had witnessed the Schlagermove in Hamburg a couple of years ago, “everyone was in 70’s gear and singing and drinking in a really great spirit”, and this was what his “lads” would like to combine with a sporting challenge. Now what do you make of that? There is always a slight risk involved in inviting strangers. And try as he might, Mark could find little reliable credentials of the Commandos. On the other hand, an international match was just what was needed to put some icing on the season. Hence it was agreed the games should take place at the end of June.
So what should one expect of a bunch of players who, after having obtained “clearance” from their wives (well, not all of them, only eight turned up), fly into Fuhlsbüttel on Friday, stay in an hotel on the Reeperbahn and intend to party all night? Surprise, surprise, the lads did turn up as agreed and were in extremely good spirits. Yes, one or two of them suffered from dehydration, but were able to refuel at the bar on time. Were the guests impressed by things going on in the field? This has not been verified so far. But it can be confirmed that altogether 13 THCC ladies practiced their bowling skills against Ather, Noman and Safiullah under the eyes of Aswin, their coach, whilst a solid pitch preparation crew directed by Cam and Steve manned the roller and marked the creases. This had been impossible on the previous evening THCC Rot-Gelb Hamburg is supported by because of persistent rain. But as soon as the visitors appeared, the sky turned blue and the sun came out – great conditions for playing cricket. Captains Cam and Chris, incidentally both from Perth, tossed a coin and, reinforced by three THCC players, the Commandos went out to bat.
It must be said that the visitors did not only live up to the hosts vague expectations, they exceeded them by far. True to their manager’s announcement they all loved the game and a bit of fun as well. Steve S. their star batsman scored 65 runs (including 13
boundaries) and did not lose his wicket. All other London batsmen contributed, whilst wickets kept falling at regular intervals. With a flashy cameo appearance by Jyothy (25) the Commandos reached a competitive total of 158/8 on the damp ground. The best bowling figures were those of new THCC-member Shane, a blue blooded chinaman from South-Africa, namely 2-14. Surya, Nabeel,
guest-player Björn and captain Cam also claimed a wicket each, Liam behind the stumps and Cam also took a catch each. And then it was lunch – a hearty and not dry barbecue on the club-house terrace, procured by the devil’s cook, Frank S.
Openers Ali and Moritz gave the THCC Richardson’s Reserves a solid start before Noman and Liam put on 55 runs. The Commandos’ own thirsty bowlers were searching for their lines and found it particularly difficult to bowl into Noman’s land. Support was at hand: Both top-scoring batsmen were removed by Jyothy. After 25 overs, when Mark B.’s spirited knock came to an end, the Reserves were 128 for 6, meaning 5 overs to go, 30 runs to win. Would the lower THCC order hold? Surya dealt
in boundaries only, but alas, the former German international was caught behind off Safiullah. Now the London keeper reminded his team to start thinking! How could they get the remaining wickets? The field was adjusted and the bowling was left
to the sober reinforcements. Steve was still at the crease, however, not on strike. Shane walked out and was im- mediately exposed by the opposition as a tail-ender. But he would not be scared; gritting his teeth when the scores were level, he hit the winning runs in style with a boundary into the covers.
After the match all players resumed to the terrace to celebrate their match. The Commandos bought more beverages than anyone present was able to consume. And every participant knew instantly that an international match between these two teams was just
how a Saturday should be spent. Rumours have it that Commandos and Reserves may meet again. And even if there will be no rain, it will not be a dry reunion. With the impression that they had offered what had been asked for, Cam and his team released the guests towards the Schlagermove. Whether that event was as much fun as the cricket match, however, shall be left open to debate.
