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With no Saturday match a number of the squad still chose to acclimatise to Suffolk's conditions by arriving the day prior to the first match. The skipper led the way by arriving in Suffolk around 8.30am and others followed his lead. |
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Some met for a stylish meal in Lavenham whilst Paul was celebrating Ipswich reaching the Premier League (which, despite his attemmpts, has not been listed as a "win" in the tour statistics. |
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And so the tour "proper" began and right in the middle of the Suffolk countryside at a ground rather difficult to find - but we did find
it near to a private school's massive stately home looking building with hockey pitches and golf holes between the cricket pitch and the school. |
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We began as we expect the season continuing, losing the toss. A young (well, younger than us but some dinosaur bones are younger than us)
opposition elected to bat. |
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Superstars started the match in incredible
style with Alok taking a wicket with the first and fifth balls of the match leaving BP 0-2. "Worries" of a short afternoon were not to come to fruition,
with the BP skipper in particular looking a strong player. Gary Plahe opened the bowling without early success. It took until Kumar and Boulby were introduced to split the promising pair, with Kumar bowling Wells for 46 and Boulby removing skipper Harrison (50) with a well judged catch from our skipper Gaught-Allen. Spin was introduced as Forman took a early wicket, stumped by the ageless Gigg. Superstars were bowling well against good opposition and there was even solid fielding. CHris Thomson and Az Harris bowled well against some excellent batting, especially from English (81) who was eventually dismissed by Forman - caught in the deep by Alok Singh. Singh and Plahe returned to pick up an end of innings wicket each as BP ended on 230-8. It was a creditable effort from our heroes. |
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After a top tier tea Superstars began the chase of 231 to win. Arun Sajjan and Matthew Conway opened up in their usual positive ways but unfortunately Conway, Harris, Sajjan and Gaught-Allen were dismissed with 43 on the board. It was time to rebuild and Thomson (18) started slowly but built a good partnership with Gigg (33) of 59 until both were dismissed at 102, as was Singh. When Gary Plahe was dismissed only 4 runs later it looked like an unfortunate collapse was on the cards but Forman (13), Harish Kumar (10) and Guy Boubly (8 no) showed excellent fight and determiniation to take Superstars to a very creditable 141 all out. |
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A lovely day in a lovely setting against a good side, our efforts were solid and the tea was top draw. The post match analysis took place in the Red Lion and would have gone far longer if we didn't notice that the Indian closed early on a Sunday. A great day in the Suffolk sun. |
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| A traditional picture of Alok |
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Day Two of Tour arrived. And Superstars headed to the highest point in Suffolk (apparently) and Milden CC. And the ground was cracking with
a lovely view, if hardly the top of Everest or the International Space Station. |
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We began as we expect the season continuing, losing the toss again. The opposition elected to bowl. |
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Superstars, like the day before, started well but it lasted more than 5 balls this time with Sajjan and Conway both scoring well
in a partnership of 72. Sajjan was dismissed for a stylish 42 and Conway retired for an excellent 53. Debutant Abhi Dasgupta contributed a handy 11 but the acceleration
was mainly due to Anand's powerful 36 (from 27 balls until he was run out by guess who, cough, Barry, cough), a run a ball 21 from Forman, a handy 14 not out from Duggan
and Singh's one ball being hit for six. In the 35 overs Superstars had made a very creditable 202 for 6. |
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Milden started up after tea with Singh and Plahe opening the bowling for the Stars. What followed was a very disciplined performance
in the field with tight bowling and surprisingly competent fielding keeping the run rate down, if not yielding wickets. Plahe and Singh kept things tight then
Harris and Boulby kept the required rate at a high level. It was the introduction of Forman and Anand that bought wickets, both bowled, a tight economy rates that
meant very few clubs could lose from such a scenario - however we all know Superstars are one of those clubs. Fortunately not this time as Duggan and Dasgupta kept things
under control as did a few returning overs from Singh and Anand. Milden ended on 185-2, 17 short of their target. |
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A cracking day in a lovely setting against a fine side, our efforts were solid and we got a tour win. Another great day in the Suffolk sun. |
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| Playing and non-playing tourists |
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| gathered at Milden CC. |
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A lovely little tour. A huge thank you to those who did the organsing and to everyone who came along, playing
or non playing. Oh and a huge thank you to our wonderful hosts and opponents in the beautiful grounds of Suffolk. |
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Tour Squad |
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Paul Gaught-Allen (organiser, captain), Matthew Conway (captain), Dan Forman, Guy Boubly, Aarron Harris, Arun Saajan, Barry Gigg (w), Vijay Anand, Mike Duggan, Gary Plahe, Steve Meyler, Suleman Ali, Abhi Singh, James Hewlett. |
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