travel

V for Victory in the Vis Vineyard

/ stannesallstarsblog / Leave a comment

Croatia Tour match reports by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Anindya Roy, Garreth Duncan, and opposition

Click here for more photos from our amazing Croatia tour

Saturday 27 September 2025. St Anne’s Allstars 172-8 (30 overs: Anindya Roy 47*) beat Sir William Hoste CC 78 all out (25 overs: Gren Thompson 4-24) by 94 runs.

SWH v Allstars Saturday scorecardDownload

Overseas wins are precious indeed. Just ask Europe’s golfers, who put us all through an emotional wringer on singles day at the Ryder Cup before finally scrambling over the line at Bethpage. Their long wait for an away victory was exceeded only by our own, it being 15 years almost to the day since Vivek Seth led us to victory in the Dordogne. And on a glorious sunny day in Croatia, it was fitting that an Allstars side containing six survivors from that famous day in Eymet combined with our new generation to take us to victory in fine style.

Vis had long been on our radar as a possible tour destination, recommended by both Allstars who had toured there with other clubs and by regular opponents. Their ground is a stunning setting within the vineyard owned by Oliver Roki, who set up Sir William Hoste CC in 2002, almost two hundred years after the Royal Navy captain after whom they are named organised cricket on the island during the Napoleonic Wars. A number of banners line the ground, including some curious references to beans (we were to learn why at the lunch interval) and others to the sixes tournament Vis hold each year.

With many of our opponents having jobs in tourism to go to in the evening, we arrived at the ground for a 9am start, almost certainly the earliest in our 25 year history. Before we began, we presented Vivek with a special commemorative cap to mark his 100th appearance for the Allstars. We batted first by arrangement, with SWH’s captain, ex-Lancashire League pro Craig Wear, seemingly harbouring some doubts about the strength of their batting line-up.

Skipper Matt Biss and Samer Hafiz opened up for the Allstars, only to find that, in the bowling department, our hosts were much better than they’d led us to believe. On a bouncy artificial strip, left-armer Damir and Lenko both looked very lively indeed. Damir struck the first blow as Samer edged to Craig behind the stumps, and Matt had almost seen him off when Damir demolished his stumps. Paul “KP” Bowman began well, edging ever closer to the landmark of 1000 runs in Allstars cricket, and Rob Jackson also started positively before he was bowled by Lenko. KP was also just beginning to cut loose when he was bowled by Steve Haslemere, who had organised the first tour to Vis in 2002 with his St Radegund pub team from Cambridge before moving to the island. All of a sudden, we were in a spot of bother at 55-4.

KP’s dismissal brought together our two first time tourists, as Barathwaj Nagarajan joined Anindya Roy at the wicket. Both worked the ball around nicely while finding the odd boundary, with Barath executing some particularly deft glides down to third man, until he took on the wrong fielder and was run out going for a risky second run. I swiped and missed without much timing at my first few balls from Gaga, before one found the middle and flew for a boundary. That shot settled me nicely, and Roy and I kept the scoreboard moving as we pushed for singles while putting the bad balls away. We’d put on 40 at a run a ball before Steve ended my fun with a superb low catch by Craig off an inside edge.

Gren Thompson and Nick Chadwick both quickly came and went to unplayable deliveries from the pacy Vikram Bika, and 138-8 still seemed a few short. Enter Alfie Arrand to supply the perfect finish to the innings, as he and Roy opened their shoulders with 33 coming off the last 4 overs. Roy’s unbeaten 47 was far and away the best of his Allstars career to date, repairing the early damage before accelerating just at the right time, and 172-8 looked more than defendable.

After the second drinks break, we began perfectly as Gren was on the money straight away, breaking the opening stand by wrecking Mediĉ’s stumps. This brought about the key moment of the game as Craig strode to the wicket. The opposition had all told us that he can win games on his own, having hit an unbeaten 120 out of their total of 170 against Burley last weekend. But Alfie was more than up for this challenge, and produced an absolute crackerjack of a delivery which crashed into his pads. After the loudest appeal we could muster, umpire Jono Beagle’s finger went up.

Gren quickly took a second as Serdio was nicely caught by Rob at cover. But if Roy’s innings was to be declared our tour’s “prosecco moment” on our final dinner on Sunday, I was to surprise both myself and the rest of the team by providing the champagne one. Lenko launched Alfie high in the air towards cover point. I called for the catch and ran for it more in hope than expectation, but somehow clung on as it dropped over my shoulder. After just 6 overs, SWH were 24-4 and sinking fast.

Our excellent day in the field was to continue, as Samer soon got amongst the wickets with James Abrahams taking another good catch at extra cover to send Bika on his way. Another soon followed as our generous host Oliver could not keep out a searing delivery from Gren which wrecked his stumps. Ante soon edged to Matt behind the wicket to give Samer a second- but Gren’s was undoubtedly the spell of the day, and he finished it imperiously as he bowled Gaga with his final scheduled delivery. Gren’s 4-24 were the best figures of his long Allstars career, SWH were 45-8 and we hadn’t even reached the mid-innings lunch break.

We were treated to the first helping of our hosts’ superb local cuisine – a great fish stew with beans – with the game seemingly almost won. But, just like the Americans in the Sunday singles, SWH refused to give in without a tremendous fight, as Steve and Vedrun put up stout resistance. After 12 overs, their stand was finally broken as Vedrun hit an excellent delivery from centurion Vivek to Roy at cover. Having pulled up injured after bowling just 3 deliveries in Ibiza, every ball Chadders bowled without breaking down was greeted with cheers, and it was him who finished the job as Steve feathered an edge to Matt before sportingly walking.

SWH were the most generous of hosts, and we were treated to a magnificent traditional Croatian peka dinner and lovely wine at Oliver’s restaurant that evening. The victory party went long into the night … but could we make it two in two the following day?

Sunday 28 September 2025 – two innings match (abandoned)

St Anne’s Allstars 1st innings 103-7 (15 overs: Matt Biss 38*, Samer Hafiz 37) drew with Sir William Hoste CC 1st innings 109-3 (15 overs: Craig Wear 59*, Paul Bowman 2-9).

SWH v Allstars Sunday scorecardDownload

We awoke to the sound of thunder around the island on Sunday morning, and the prospect of any play seemed unlikely. But the weather briefly relented, and we agreed on an Allstars Festival-like Fifteen15 two innings format, with the Allstars batting first by arrangement again.

With last night’s festivities no doubt still swirling in our heads, we quickly crashed to 11-4 before Matt and Samer steadied us with a stand of 79. Gren, playing for the opposition as they were short, bowled KP to leave him stranded on 999 Allstars runs – but 103-7 still seemed like a decent enough first innings total.

Although Chadders’ tour injury curse was to strike again in his second over, KP took a couple of early wickets, and my golden tour weekend continued as I trapped Ivo plumb in front. Craig then showed us what his team had missed out on the previous day as he raced to a fifty to give SWH a narrow first innings lead. But the lightning had been around us all day, and the rain finally arrived at lunch to put an end to the contest. We were more than happy with the draw, and the first unbeaten overseas tour in our history.

We were treated to one more sumptuous lunch before saying goodbye to our hosts and presenting Steve with one of our new Allstars caps for all his help organising the tour from their end. One of the great Allstars tours – where will 2026 take us?

Red Bull gives Jan wiiiiings

/ stannesallstarsblog / Leave a comment

Carnes March Oval, Sunday 20 October 2024.
Ibiza CC 161-3 (20 overs: Mathew Bartley 88) beat St Anne’s Allstars 130-7 (20 overs: Jan-Hendrik Rossouw 63, Mike Amos 3-18, Paul Cruttwell 2-6) by 31 runs.

Ibiza v Allstars 2024 scorecardDownload

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Garreth Duncan and Phani Sainath

And so to our second tour fixture … what would Sunday hold? For the second day in succession, we gave it a fantastic go and gave much stronger opponents a real fright – only to fall short once again in the closing overs.

Ibiza CC have come an incredibly long way since our previous tour in 2009, when we played them on an artificial football pitch. Over the last five years, they have built a stunning ground and club house in the north of the island, and boast an equally slick online and social media presence to go with it. They regularly welcome two touring teams each weekend, and look after us all very well with Lyn and her team doing some great teas.

There were a few Allstars feeling a bit delicate having enjoyed the final night of Ibiza’s 2024 nightclub season, and we arrived to hear ominous reports from the morning T20 fixture – despite assistance from the advance party of Matt Biss, Alfie Arrand and Gren Thompson, Ibiza had crushed Wookey Hole by 10 wickets with plenty overs to spare. To ensure we at least got a full game in, skipper Gren asked Ibiza to bat first on winning the toss, despite the heat and my chunterings that we always do this against strong opposition – and when Ibiza opener Mathew Bartley crashed each of Alfie’s perfectly good first three deliveries for four, we all must have feared another absolute hammering.

But the 2024 Allstars tour party has courage by the bucket load, and we reined in the scoring rate as Jan-Hendrik Rossouw, now back in Allstars colours after helping out the Wookeys the previous day, began with a fine spell. We quickly realised the best way to deal with Bartley was to keep him away from the strike, and although our friend Rupert Style lived up to his name once again with some fine shots of his own, we’d kept Ibiza down to 72-0 at the halfway stage.

Vivek Seth got the first breakthough as Style was smartly taken by Matt behind the stumps, before skipper Gren, who has enjoyed the best season of his long Allstars career, got the next as he bowled Bartley twelve short of his hundred. Jan also picked up a deserved wicket by bowling the dangerous Sam Feasey, and Ibiza finished on 161-3 – an incredible effort by the Allstars in the field against opposition who regularly pass 200 in T20s.

We were keen to get Jan back out there before all the Red Bull from the night before wore off, and together with Nick Chadwick, his batting unimpeded by the calf injury he sustained on Saturday, we got off to a flying start, as 38 came off the first four overs. Although Chadders’ fun was ended as Rory Thomson knocked his stumps back, Jan continued imperiously as he raced to his fifty off just 30 deliveries. With Sirmad Shafique providing solid support, Ibiza seemed unable to stem the flow of runs, and at the drinks break we were 89-1 and could dream of victory.

But Ibiza are a formidable force, and they powered back into the game as six Allstars wickets fell for just 11 runs. Paul Cruttwell, who has done so much for their club, began the slide as Sirmad, greatly restricted by a groin injury, charged at him and was stumped – and then got the big break as he ended Jan’s mighty innings with a caught and bowled. How we wish Beckenham could let him play for us more often.

Gren promoted KP to try and keep the momentum going – but Mike Amos quickly snuffed out the dream with three quick wickets, dismissing KP, Joe Silmon and Kiran Chittajallu as they went for attacking shots and running out Phani Sainath. Alfie hit out bravely for the second game in succession – but the run rate was now beyond us and Ibiza closed the game out.

Ibiza were terrific hosts, and their secretary Martin has done a terrific job in promoting and showcasing the club amongst his many other commitments – and his team mates didn’t miss the chance to remind of him of this appearance on last year’s TV series of My Mum, Your Dad. As the sun went down, we swapped caps as a reminder of a great weekend’s cricket.

So ended another terrific Allstars tour, as we all chilled out with the opposition before heading for pizza back in San Antonio. Some incredible memories, new friends made and old ones caught up with – where will 2025 take us?

Allstars get Wookeys out of their Hole

/ stannesallstarsblog / Leave a comment

Carnes March Oval, Saturday 19 October 2024.

Wookey Hole CC 197-7 (35 overs: Charlie Benson 66, Alfie Arrand 2-30, Paul Bowman 2-38) beat St Anne’s Allstars 172-7 (35 overs: Matt Biss 67, Mark Benson 2-11) by 25 runs.

Allstars v Wookey Hole 2024 scorecardDownload

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Garreth Duncan and David Healy (Wookey Hole)

After an enjoyable couple of days with everyone settled into our Ibiza tour, we headed off to Ibiza CC’s ground to face Wookey Hole, from Somerset, in our first match of the tour.

It’s fair to say the Wookeys’ tour squad was somewhat depleted. They’d already let us know during the week that they were short on numbers – and having arrived on the island, injuries and a sleepless night caused by a screaming baby hit them yet further, meaning they arrived at the ground with only six of them in a fit state to play. Ibiza CC’s Rupert Style boosted their numbers – and Vivek, captaining the Allstars, generously helped them out by lending them our best player, the brilliant South African Jan-Hendrik Rossouw.  Perhaps more stingily, Sir Viv also offered me up to the opposition, despite my dodgy shoulder limiting my cricketing ability even more than normal.

Viv won the toss and, with the 11am start meaning the weather was still cool and a bit of cloud cover overhead, sensibly elected to field. It quickly became apparent that Ibiza’s newly laid artificial pitch offered considerably more bounce than most of the surfaces we’re used to back home, and Gren Thompson and Alfie Arrand took full advantage ot it with excellent opening spells.  Gren struck first as the dangerous Dan Vasselli nicked a rising ball to Samer Hafiz behind the stumps, then Alfie weighed in next over as Style was stylishly caught at slip by Paul “KP” Bowman, returning to Allstars action for the first time since our France tour, to leave the Wookeys 13-2.

Neil Chambers and Mark Benson repaired a bit of the damage – but a double strike from the Allstars Foreign Legion put us in control once again. Nick Chadwick struck with his third ball, removing Benson to another smart slip catch by KP – but that ball proved to be the last of Chadders’ day as he pinged a calf muscle in the delivery. Joe Silmon completed the over and then grabbed a wicket of his own as Chadders took our third slip catch of the day – more than we’ve managed the whole of the regular season- to make it 56-4.

Charlie Benson replaced his dad at the crease, and instantly began to show his class with a flurry of boundaries.  With support from Dave Healy, he began to drag the Wookeys out of the hole they’d got in.  A couple of tough chances went down, and with a bit of uneven ground at the boundary edge making fielding out there treacherous, a few ones started to become fours. Skipper Vivek was especially unlucky to go wicketless in an excellent spell, and the score kept moving. It was only another unfortunate injury that eventually separated the Wookey pair, another nasty bounce resulting in Healy being hit in the stomach and unable to continue. 

Benson Junior had reached a splendid fifty before the returning Alfie finally ended his stay, first time tourist Kiran Chittajallu taking an excellent catch at square leg. KP, happily recovered from the shoulder injury that had cut short his regular season in Northern Ireland, was getting into a good rhythm and bowled Dave Izzard – bringing the two Allstars guest players together, as I walked out to join Jan. I kept KP’s first ball out before clouting a couple of boundaries off another of our tour debutants, Phani Sainath – but KP had the last word as he knocked over my stumps in the final over. Vasselli, returning to bat as lowest scorer, hit three boundaries off the final over, showing what a good job we’d done to get him out so cheaply first time around. Wookey Hole’s final score of 197-7 looked more than respectable – but with a decent batting line up and on a lightning fast outfield, we had a good chance of chasing it.

Charlie Benson looked just as handy with ball in hand as with bat, and got as much life from the pitch as the Allstars quicks had done. Sirmad Shafique, back on tour again having excelled with the bat in Portugal, was unlucky to get out as a nasty lifter hit him on the shoulder and looped up to Jan at slip. Kiran bravely came out at three and helped Matt Biss see off the openers – but when the recovered Healy trapped him plumb in front, we were 39-2.

Even if (as he tells us) his many other 2024 cricketing appearances have been less successful, this season has been far and away Matt’s finest for the Allstars. Settled in his favourite opener’s anchor role, and with the cricketing nous and good humour to encourage all around him, he has become a huge asset to our team – and having got himself set, he began to accelerate as he passed fifty.   With Samer providing stout support and hitting a few crisp boundaries of his own, with 16 overs left we were 93-2 and with a shout of a first overseas tour victory since our triumph in the Dordogne in 2010.

But the Force was strong with the depleted Wookeys, and with a big bit of help from the Allstar rebels, they rose again to take the game from us. Chambers broke the stand as Samer was caught on the cow boundary, and then Matt’s splendid innings ended as Gren caught him at point. Joe and Sai continued the Allstar resistance – but Jan had a hand in both their dismissals as he caught Sai before bowling Joe. KP gave Mark Benson a second wicket as he was bowled trying to attack, and though Gren and Alfie both hit out with some crunching boundaries in the closing overs, the target proved just beyond our reach.

So the first tour game ended with the reinforced Wookeys tasting victory. But more importantly, a fantastic day’s cricket and a whole set of new friends made. We had much to look forward to as we both faced Ibiza in T20s the following day – but would either side survive Saturday night in San Antonio?