Friday 23rd May 2008

 

Ljubljana CC vs Saracen Riffs CC (UK)17th& 18th May 2008

 

Ljubljana has already had the pleasure of hosting both London Fields CC and Surrey Cryptics CC, who both visited us last year (London Fields are to return this September). Now we welcomed a third team from the same league - Saracen Riffs CC who took their name from 2 of the gangs featured in the 1979 cult movie "The Warriors" (Don't bother - it's rubbish).

Day One - Captain Tom Furness won the toss and decided to have a bat. Openers David Farrell (21) and Matt Charlesworth (20) justified this decision by putting on a brisk 63 for the first wicket. Damir Alidžanovič made a welcome return to Ljubljana colours and scored 11. Lalantha (13) Johnny Reja (15) and Brad (17) all made double figures as well as we reached 142 off 35 overs. Special mention to Neja Meglič who easily avoided the shame of the "Duck on debut club." She also shamed a lot of us with a fine looking cover drive to get off the mark with.

The ' Riffs proved to be less fearsome than the warriors they were named after mainly due to some fine bowling by Urban (2 for 20) and Johnny Reja (1 for 21) before Lalantha produced a magnificent spell of 6.4 overs 5 for 17. In fact he probably would have picked up a couple more had he not also run two batsmen out as well. In the end Ljubljana ran out winners to the tune of 26 runs.

 

Day two. Brad Eve took his Second game as Captain and after winning the toss decided that batting again was the preferred option. Despite the early loss of Rob Howland to the horror that is LBW, it again proved to be a good decision as by the drinks break we had moved onto 1 for 97. After drinks Brad Eve and Tom Furness resumed where they had left off and when Tom was eventually removed for 66 (with 6 fours and what seemed like a 1000 more that stopped less than a foot away from the boundary) the pair had put on a new 2nd wicket record partnership of 156, improving the previous best of 107 by Rob Crawford and Mark Oman. Brad was next to go for 43 (5 fours) and Lalantha played a delightful cameo scoring 22 with a glorious leg side flick for 4 and massive 6 the following ball into the cornfield. 191 for 4 was the final score off the alloted 35 overs.

Saracen Riffs were going to have to start well if they wanted to chase that score down. However 2 things were working against them. A great opening spell from Rob Howland (2 for 7 off 5 overs) and Mike O'Down (1 for 8 off 4) hindered the run-chase until the rain set in and the game was abandoned. A real shame as Ljubljana were playing such good cricket at the time and looked to have the upper hand. Still not many complained about having to relocate to the pub instead.

scorecards

 Saturday here / Sunday here

Dave Farrell plays an aggressive shot forward of point and the cameraman feels smug for capturing it whilst umpiring.
Graham from the Saracen Riffs bowls as Dave Farrell watches on.	A return to Valburga for Johnny Reja
Matt and Tom watch Stevo from Saracen Riffs steam in
Neja Meglič during..	and after the match. L-R Urban, Neja, Jaša, Tom

Joel goes on the attack - legside stylee!	Anyone who has watched us play before will recognize this shot...
Though this is the one I prefer seeing. Lalantha flicks one to behind square-leg.
Tom and Brad pose for the camera to celebrate their 156 run partnership.
A sign from the Cricket Gods. A pair of ducks land on the field