King George’s Field, Ham, Sunday 4 June 2023.

St Anne’s Allstars 158-6 (31.5 overs: Nick Knight 40, Sheahan Arnott 30*) beat Superstars 156-9 (35 overs: Shanmugam Sama 3-23, Amit Deverathippa 2-11, Pradesh Deveraj 2-23) by 4 wickets.

Allstars debut: Pradesh Deveraj.

Report by Pete Cresswell – Photos by Pete Cresswell and Barathwaj Nagarajan

Our first victory of 2023! On a lovely sunny June Sunday, the Allstars convened at the picturesque King George’s Field in Ham, Richmond to take on the Superstars.

A pitch inspection soon revealed that while the pitch had been rolled, said rolling perhaps should have waited for the pitch to dry a little – one of the marked strips “featured” a large depression on middle stump, just short of a good length. So accordingly we set up on the other one. With Superstars only able to field 9 men, we were able to loan them Nic Knight’s nephew Gabriel Canela.

The Superstars’ stand-in captain Jason Marchant called incorrectly, and skipper Cresswell immediately invited the Superstars to have first “experience” of the pitch.

The Superstars’ opener Diego D’Souza looked handy, helping himself to 10 off Sheahan Arnott’s opening over, despite some variable bounce. Pradesh Deveraj took the new ball on his Allstars debut at the other end, showing commendable line and length and good pace. He was very unlucky to concede 5 no-balls in his second over as a ball took off off a length, clearing the batter and our tall keeper Matt Biss and hitting the fielding helmet placed behind him.

The Superstars batters were very willing to attack, reasoning that they’d be getting a ball with their name on it soon enough. The opening stand realised 33 off 27 balls before George Warren skied a drive to Raghavendra who took a good catch at mid-off for Pradesh’s first Allstars’ wicket. Hoggins joined D’Souza who continued blazing away until Shanmugam Sama replaced Pradesh at the tennis court end and had him caught behind for 45 off 33 in a superb wicket-maiden first over. Still, at 71/2 off 12 overs Cresswell was fearing he’d gone a bit “Nasser Hussain” at the toss, a feeling reinforced as Superstars’ numbers 3 and 4 safely took the score to three figures at drinks, despite giving a couple of tough chances.

After drinks the combination of slow (Nic Knight) and fast (Amit Deverathippa) slowed the scoring rate, before Amit broke the 51-run stand getting one to pop on Hoggins, providing a straightforward catch for Matt behind the stumps. Aaron Harris was bowled by a shooter next ball to put Amit on a hat-trick and put us into the lower order.

The returning Raga struck first ball, trapping Gary Plahe LBW to another shooter for 136/5, while Amit responded to a running mix-up to coolly throw the stumps down from short 3rd man to account for Marchant. Shanmugam then capped off an excellent spell with two wickets in his final over, first bowling Sam for a well crafted 42 and then Konrad Chodzko-Zajko (“K Cz”) second ball.

The Superstars tail were then restricted to just 10 runs off the final 5 overs, a spell notable firstly for Pradesh’s second wicket to cap an excellent debut, and for our loanee Gabriel’s first ever run, and a red-inker for him. This was a pleasing fielding effort, with some good catches taken, only a couple of tough chances missed, and no overthrows.

After tea, Pete and Amit walked to the wicket to open our reply. Superstars found some early swing and variable bounce to upset both openers’ stumps and reduce us to 11/2 off 5. We needed a steadying partnership, and Barathwaj Nagarajan and Nic Knight provided it, navigating the next 10 overs and adding 45 before Barathwaj nicked off to Sam. Benaka Karanth joined Nic, dispatching a couple of full-tosses to the fence on the way through to drinks.

Straight after drinks, Benaka was unlucky to play back to a shooter that trapped him in front of middle. We then quickly lost Nic, caught at cover for a stylish 40, and Iain Wilson who retired hurt with a groin stain. However that brought Matt Biss and Raghavendra together, with Raga hitting 3 boundaries in his 13 before being bowled by Duggan to leave us 115/6 – but with Sheahan next in, we still had a bit of batting left, and 11 overs to get 42 more runs. Matt and Sheahan made relatively easy work of the remaining chase, despite a few more tricks from the pitch. Sheahan playing a “periscope pull” for 4 off one lifter from Diego, and taking one to the head from a length ball from the same bowler. Thankfully he sustained no lasting damage – but he’ll remember to wear a helmet next time.

An excellent victory against sporting opponents whom we seem to have a real affinity with. The ‘Stars Derby should have many years ahead of it – but next weekend, we have a big one to look forward to as we face Sir Tim Rice’s Heartaches at beautiful Aston Rowant.

Barn Elms, Sunday 21 May 2023.

Plastics CC 160-2 (22.5 overs, Inam 97*, C R Raghavendra 2-25) beat St Anne’s Allstars 158-9 (35 overs: Barathwaj Nagarajan 46*) by 8 wickets.

Allstars debuts: Barathwaj Nagarajan, CR Raghavendra, Benaka Karanth.

Photos by Nick Knight and Pete Cresswell

Saint-Vallier-de-Thiey, France, Saturday 8 October 2022.

Riviera CC 250-9 (35 overs: Roomi 66, Ben 50, Paul Burgin 2-17, Nick Chadwick 2-34, Joe Silmon 2-48) beat St Anne’s Allstars 151 all out (32.2 overs: Sheahan Arnott 33*, Gren Thompson 29, Vivek Seth 3-23) by 99 runs.

Report by Sheahan Arnott – Photos by Pete Cresswell

From Marie Antoinette’s iconic suggestion for a good tea to winning silver at the 1900 Olympics to Philippe Edmonds’ wife’s tour diaries, our cross-Channel neighbours’ affection for willow and leather is matched only by Warwick Davis night at the local BDSM dungeon.

No doubt our first foreign fixture played at more than 500m above sea level during the reign of a king would have been an auspicious occasion anyway, but there was additional auspiciousness given it was all of those and a tour match 2 years in the making. Two smartly-branded Allstars minibuses took us both by surprise and to our game, navigating the winding, wending roads of Route Napoleon with only a couple of post-stall hill starts required. 

We crossed the 700m altitude marker – making this the highest game in club history until we tour Amsterdam – and then, after our drivers got lost right at the end, navigated a perilous 5-minute walk along rocky alpine trails before arriving at our destination: a paddock with more shit in the outfield than Manchester United’s starting XI. Undeterred and over turd, we were ready to bring our brand of cricket to Riviera CC.

I correctly called “Brandenburg Gate” as we tossed the Euro and elected to field, hoping to give our fast bowling battery the best use of the then-dry conditions and to enjoy two helpings of what I was sure would be a good afternoon tea. 

Riviera’s captain Kaleem Sheikh generously suggested we play a 12-a-side game to ensure everyone got some cricket, and Vivek Seth – having heard what Riviera had done to his other club the Zambuca Tigers the previous weekend – volunteered to join our opposition almost immediately in true French fashion.

It was fantastic to see Allstars old and less old join together on the field, as Paul Bowman – playing his first game for the club in almost two seasons – bustled into the crease to open the bowling. It was fantastic to have KP back with the new cherry, a moment that wouldn’t have been possible without the grace and generosity of the captain. That’s not for me to say though.

It was Gren Thompson who struck first, removing Riviera skipper Kaleem without scoring. It was an odd choice to shoulder arms to a yorker on middle stump, but you can write your own joke about the French easily surrendering here. The broad-shouldered Ben D came to the wicket and runs began to flow quickly as his power paired with Ninad’s grace like a Provence rosé paired with a smooth, rich cheese.

Joe Silmon, also making a welcome return to us for the first time since Portugal, started his spell like a German band, luring Ninad down the wicket, only to be left groping air as Sam MacDonald completed the stumping. It was a great piece of bowling and a huge wicket, and shrewd captaincy to throw the ball to The Silverback in the 9th over of the game, though that’s not for me to say.

Nick Chadwick started slowly – maybe due to his long time without any cricket, maybe due to needing to collect Pablo from the airport at 11pm the night before – but soon found his range. It was Joe, however, who got the next breakthrough, bowling Phanee for 28 almost immediately after the day’s first rain delay. For most of his spell, Joe looked likely to take a wicket 4 or 5 times an over, with his spin even wrong-footing Gren fielding on the boundary twice in one over. Picture a baby giraffe on rollerskates.

Paul Burgin then got his first wicket of the day, cleaning bowling the dangerous Ben shortly after he reached a quickly-compiled 50. Pablito had cunningly lured him into a false stroke by barely hitting the pitch for the first few balls, before using post-rain slipperiness to slide one onto the batsman. This brought the dangerous Roomi to the crease, and he and Tony Bloom added 33 to the score in only 4 overs before Tony edged Pablo through to Sam MacDonald behind the stumps. At 140/5 with 13 overs remaining, I was confident we could restrict Riviera to a manageable total.

Roomi began to hit out before retiring at 66, and was ably supported by Nik, Nazir and Waqas who were more interested in hitting the boundary than running between the wickets. Chadders returned to the crease and posed a Top 5 risk to the batsmen as he claimed both Nik (to a sharp catch at gully by Pete Cresswell) and Nazir (Sam Mac’s second stumping of the day) to finish with 2/34 from his 6 overs, an excellent return to Allstars colours after a long drive from Switzerland.

Viv eventually came to the wicket for the two final deliveries of the day, and missed both by the length of the drive to the game despite his best efforts. Sam MacDonald completed his 4th dismissal of the innings running out Waqas on a last-ball scrambled bye to leave Riviera at 250-9 from their 35 overs. I don’t feel as though the score was a fair reflection of how close the two teams were, or how well we bowled but late innings hitting can get away from you very easily – especially with slippery conditions making it hard for bowlers to find their footing and grip the ball.

Tea was an excellent spread of homemade Indian food, with our hosts forcing second and third portions on most of us as we scrambled to share what little protection from the heavy rain was available.  A trip to the adjacent supermarket proved less fruitful than Jono’s earlier mission to the same location to collect beers for after the game, and a goon bag of rosé to keep our American supporter base vocal, but it provided brief respite from the damp conditions. 

Thankfully, we didn’t lose any time due to the rain and the Duck-a-l’orangeworth-Louis was not required as Pete Cresswell and Rob Jackson headed out to open the innings. Rob didn’t trouble the scorers, but Jono Beagle showed his trademark classes he raced to 18 before nicking Phanee behind. Garreth Duncan and KP both scored a solitary run each, though KP could count himself unlucky after hitting a thundering cut straight to point first ball, before getting bowled by a short ball that rolled off his thigh pad onto the stumps, but it left us at a perilous 29-4.

Pete survived being given out LBW off the middle of his bat thanks to Riviera sportingly withdrawing their appeal. We never did find out what Pete had done to Gren to get triggered in such a way. Pete also survived a rather distracting moment of engineering boneheadery from the sideline as Neale Adams attempted to provide shelter for the scorers by stacking one table on top of another, which led to the table falling on Chadders’ head. 

Sam Perera and Pete added 25 for the 4th wicket before a classic oui/non/pardon mon ami mix-up led to Pete being run-out. These sorts of humorous language mix-ups can happen easily in foreign countries, though not normally between two people who speak the same language.

Sam MacDonald fell to the excitable Kaleem for a canard, and winning from 54-6 was certainly going to be ‘ken ‘ard. It was soon 54-7 when Sam P was bowled by Ninad for 16, and Riviera finally gave the increasingly well-lubricated-by-rain-and-booze crowd what they’d been waiting for – Viv at the bowling crease. Sam’s dismissal came as such a shock that Chadders could hardly believe we were 7 down and he needed to bat. Thankfully, The Silverback was prepared and claimed the batsmansraum left by the half-padded Chadders.

No sooner had we on the sidelines been discussing the shame attached to getting out to Viv, did Pablo do just that leaving a confused and Chadders finally got his chance to bat. But there was to be no fairy tale or bragging rights at the Burgin/Chadwick Christmas as Nick became Viv’s second wicket to leave the Allstars 68-9. 

My first order of business when walking out to the wicket was to get agreement from my opposite number that we could bat 12 to give everyone a go. Again, Kaleem graciously allowed it – if only because we were 9 down and still needed 190-odd runs in 14 overs. 

Joe continued his good game and raced to a well-made 18 before playing over a yorker from Viv to round out our 10 “official” wickets for 85. But like any bad Marvel movie, the post-credit scene is what everyone was waiting for.

Gren Thompson wasted no time showing those dismissed how easy the game is hitting Viv to the boundary twice in his first 3 balls. Gren and I made the most of our opportunity, racing to a 66-run partnership off only 42 balls including a towering 6 over the legside from our towering fast bowler.

Kaleem had clearly had enough and brought back his opening bowler Roomi who rearranged Gren’s stumps for 29 in the 33rd over and ended our record 11th-wicket stand, and our innings at 151.

Viv was awarded Man of the Match for his outstanding performance dismissing our numbers 8, 9 and 10 and scoring 0 runs, but no doubt cricket was the real Man of the Match with plenty of beers and laughs shared between the teams before the long drive back to Antibes, a rather messy and toast-heavy team dinner, and a few nightcaps at The Drinkers Club.

Greenwich Park, Sunday 25 September 2022.

St Anne’s Allstars 143-3 (22.5 overs: Sam Perera 41* ret, Rohan Vodapalli 38, Stuart Bruce 3-17) beat Salmagundi Gardeners 142 all out (32.4 overs: Stuart Bruce 30, Vidhu Singh 2-17, Gren Thompson 2-22, Vivek Radhakrishnan 2-31, Samer Hafiz 2-38) by 7 wickets.

Allstars Debuts: Vidhu Singh, Rohan Vodapalli, Conor Aspel.

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Pete Cresswell

Although it’s only our second season playing the Salmagundi Gardeners, we’ve made such good friends with them, and so many of our players have made guest appearances for each other’s teams, they’re already firmly well bedded down in our fixture list. In our inaugural fixture last year, we mowed them down for 75 to win easily. This year, on an equally difficult Greenwich Park pitch, they dug in for a much greater fight – but we ultimately coasted to victory once again, with more than 12 overs to spare, to finish our regular 2022 season in fine style.

With an ever-growing list of injuries, we only had 8 Allstars available, and we were grateful that the Gardeners had grown a surplus and lent us Rohan Vodapalli and Conor Aspel to become Allstars for the day. On a cool September afternoon, and a pitch as green as the opposition’s fingers, Allstars skipper Pete Cresswell had little hesitation in asking the Gardeners to bat first on winning the toss. Gren Thompson quickly settled into a superb line, so fine that our friend Stuart Bruce could only watch in frustration as he couldn’t lay a bat on many of them. But it was Sheahan Arnott who struck first, as he drew an edge from Dave Hollingsworth for our third debutant, Vidhu Singh, to take a stunning, and most un-Allstars-like, catch at slip. Mayank Kalbande looked dangerous as he crashed his first ball for a boundary, but Gren then justly got his reward as Kalbande edged to Sam Perera behind the stumps. After 10 overs Gardeners were 17-2 and stuck in a ditch.

Stuart and Tim Richards upped the ante, dispatching Samer Hafiz’s first over for 10 – but Samer quickly found his rhythm and bowled Richards as he attempted another big mow. Stuart continued to mix swishes with shots of real authority, and planted the roots of a good innings together with their skipper Richard Higginbottom. Gardeners had taken the score to 82 – but it was one of their own who dug Stuart out, as he shovelled a full toss from Conor into the leg side, and Vivek Radhakrishnan took a stupendous, running catch at mid-wicket. A moment of that old Allstars controversy threatened, as the square leg umpire initially thought it a no-ball for height – but the bowler’s end umpire was unmoved and Stuart was on his way for a well made 30.

Brother Graham was next in – and the Australians amongst us would have been disappointed that we didn’t get the chance to see Bruce batting with Bruce – but Vidhu’s fine debut continued as he bowled Graham with a ripper. Higginbottom still looked handy, but Vivek ended his resistance with a peach that moved in and hit the top of middle stump, before Vidhu grabbed a second as Bob Hillman was caught by Rohan at cover. Nick Duckett was aptly named indeed, as he put up little resistance as he missed a straight one from Samer, and Vivek quickly dispatched David Guy. Shubham Kasar provided some late fireworks, bravely supported by Jason Amesbury – but it was Gren who returned to deservedly finish the innings as Kasar skied to Vivek at cover.

After a splendid tea – including some delicious home-grown grapes, we faced a target of 143 – but even with a decent Allstars batting line-up, it looked far from straightforward on a pitch that still had a lot of variable bounce in it. But Rohan, delighting in batting against his own team mates, gave us a rocket of a start, blasting Kasar’s more than useful left-arm seam back over his head for two fours in the opening over. Pete was content to nudge singles and feed him the strike, and the fifty came up in the 8th over. Stuart Bruce was not going to die wondering, and he bowled both openers in his first over to leave us 59-2, but with plenty overs and batting in hand we were still in control.

Vidhu plays for the same Paddington Rabbits CC as Sam, but far from digging a warren, they both continued to attack in a stand of 49. Stuart got his third wicket of the afternoon as Vidhu charged at him and was stumped – but it was still a very polished all-round debut for Vidhu, and we hope to see more of him next season. Stuart still had more Allstars in his sights, but I kept him out as Sam made the final push for victory. He gracefully retired to give Conor a go, and it was the Irishman who struck the final boundary.

It’s great to have found such a friendly opposition as the Gardeners, and they will no doubt have their day against us. We both celebrated a great season in the Plume of Feathers pub, and we look forward to seeing them again in 2023 – but for us, a 3 year wait is nearly over as the Allstars head to France. Can we emulate the heroes of our last Gallic tour in 2010 with another overseas victory?

Parker’s Piece, Cambridge, Sunday 4 September 2022.

St Anne’s Allstars 173-5 (40 overs: Sam Perera 89*, Amit Deverathippa 49) beat NCI 100 all out (29.2 overs: Ashwin Rattan 3-6, James Fincham 3-24, Sam Waddicor 2-11) by 73 runs.

Photos by Sam Waddicor, Pete Cresswell, Paul Burgin and NCI