I have travelled half way across the world to play cricket in the Old Dart and the only bowlers I have faced are Aussies.
It’s like facing up at Lorn Park and seeing the likes of Matthew Trappel, Andrew Kealy or Michael Eccleston ready to send down another delivery against Northern Suburbs, just with different scenery and sporting a vest to battle the slightly colder conditions.
Alright, I may be over exaggerating, it was not that cold (I actually wore thongs, or should I say flip flops, for three days in England) and not all the bowlers I faced were Aussies – there were some New Zealanders and South Africans as well.
In all seriousness, out of the four matches I played in, just three of the bowlers I confronted were Englishmen.
At Old Hill against the Midlands Club Cricket Conference, we were up against Belmont all rounder and NSW Country Representative Mark Littlewood (4-11 from six overs).
It was a similar story with the bat.
In the same match Littlewood (38 not out) combined with QLD Country Representative, and comfortably the best batsman we have come up against this tour, Brian May (80 not out) to ease the home team to victory.
Four days later against the Middlesex League XI at Ealing, it was 2006 Australian under-19 representative Jackson Bird (2-15 from six overs) as well as two other Australians, two New Zealanders and a South African.
Against the Club Cricket Conference (CCC) at Bushey Park, Teddington, it was South African Wes Morrick (78) who did the damage.
And in the AOC’s final match in Pommie Land the tourists were up against the internationals again with Auckland opening bowler and English county player Lance Shaw (5-30 off 15 overs) and Australian Michael King (4-66 off 14.4 overs) playing the starring role for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Arundel Castle.
Unfortunately we went down in all five of our matches in England but we were up against some tough opposition.
Our final match at Arundel Castle, the same venue that has been used by the Australian team for its first match of previous Ashes Tours, presented the best opportunity for a win and the AOC fell just 11 runs short of the 184 runs required for victory in the time and declaration match.
Batting at nine, Rob Flanagan made a dashing 27 not out in pursuit of victory instead of shutting up shop and playing for a draw against the MCC, the oldest cricket club in the world.
Flanagan also took 3-36 from his 11 overs in that match and Terry Humphreys bowled tightly for figures of 1-45 from 18 overs, which included eight maidens.
In other matches Flanagan was the only batsman to stand up at Old Hill with a fighting 47 while Humphreys also made a fine half-century against the CCC.
The match against the CCC was a special one for the AOC because it will most likely prove to be the last overseas innings (36) for Australaian rugby league representative and AOC veteran Les Johns, who embarked on his final world tour in 2008.
We played on some magnificent and historic grounds, saw the big London sights (Lords, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Wimbledon, Baker Street and Madame Tussauds), visited Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and discovered the real meaning of lunch and tea at the cricket.
I also have a greater appreciation of why the Ashes means so much to the Australians and after suffering a white wash in England (although nowhere near the scale or importance of the battle between the national teams) all I want to do is go back and beat the Poms.
Josh Callinan
It’s like facing up at Lorn Park and seeing the likes of Matthew Trappel, Andrew Kealy or Michael Eccleston ready to send down another delivery against Northern Suburbs, just with different scenery and sporting a vest to battle the slightly colder conditions.
Alright, I may be over exaggerating, it was not that cold (I actually wore thongs, or should I say flip flops, for three days in England) and not all the bowlers I faced were Aussies – there were some New Zealanders and South Africans as well.
In all seriousness, out of the four matches I played in, just three of the bowlers I confronted were Englishmen.
At Old Hill against the Midlands Club Cricket Conference, we were up against Belmont all rounder and NSW Country Representative Mark Littlewood (4-11 from six overs).
It was a similar story with the bat.
In the same match Littlewood (38 not out) combined with QLD Country Representative, and comfortably the best batsman we have come up against this tour, Brian May (80 not out) to ease the home team to victory.
Four days later against the Middlesex League XI at Ealing, it was 2006 Australian under-19 representative Jackson Bird (2-15 from six overs) as well as two other Australians, two New Zealanders and a South African.
Against the Club Cricket Conference (CCC) at Bushey Park, Teddington, it was South African Wes Morrick (78) who did the damage.
And in the AOC’s final match in Pommie Land the tourists were up against the internationals again with Auckland opening bowler and English county player Lance Shaw (5-30 off 15 overs) and Australian Michael King (4-66 off 14.4 overs) playing the starring role for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Arundel Castle.
Unfortunately we went down in all five of our matches in England but we were up against some tough opposition.
Our final match at Arundel Castle, the same venue that has been used by the Australian team for its first match of previous Ashes Tours, presented the best opportunity for a win and the AOC fell just 11 runs short of the 184 runs required for victory in the time and declaration match.
Batting at nine, Rob Flanagan made a dashing 27 not out in pursuit of victory instead of shutting up shop and playing for a draw against the MCC, the oldest cricket club in the world.
Flanagan also took 3-36 from his 11 overs in that match and Terry Humphreys bowled tightly for figures of 1-45 from 18 overs, which included eight maidens.
In other matches Flanagan was the only batsman to stand up at Old Hill with a fighting 47 while Humphreys also made a fine half-century against the CCC.
The match against the CCC was a special one for the AOC because it will most likely prove to be the last overseas innings (36) for Australaian rugby league representative and AOC veteran Les Johns, who embarked on his final world tour in 2008.
We played on some magnificent and historic grounds, saw the big London sights (Lords, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Wimbledon, Baker Street and Madame Tussauds), visited Shakespeare in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and discovered the real meaning of lunch and tea at the cricket.
I also have a greater appreciation of why the Ashes means so much to the Australians and after suffering a white wash in England (although nowhere near the scale or importance of the battle between the national teams) all I want to do is go back and beat the Poms.
Josh Callinan
Pic: Holding up the Belmore, I mean, Tower Bridge.
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