France vs MCC

MCC will be playing two matches against France – a T20 game on Saturday 16 June and a 50-over contest on Sunday 17 June – at Chateau de Thoiry.

France are currently the Olympic cricket silver medal holders, having lost to none other than England the last time the sport featured in the Olympics – back in 1900 in Paris – although admittedly only two teams took part and all the French players were English.

I look forward to further info or reports from 606v2's own cricketing contingent based in France.

Look forward to seeing who will play for France.

all the french players were english- hahah lol

Wow! You know you've made it in the cricketing world when an event like this finds its way into 606(v2)!

First some history about the 1900 match: originally planned to be a 4 way tournament with Holland and Belgium, the other two sides dropped out (the Belgians were upset no matches were going to be played in Belgium, the Dutch had no money). The "England" team was made up from two clubs in Devon (Castle Cary and Blundell Old Boys), and the French from two clubs Standard Athletic (first ever french cricket club, and also parcularly first ever french football club - mainly English expats; still very much running today), and Albion cricket club (no longer in existence). There was one token french player.

The match was 12 a side, over 2 days; no one knew at the time they were playing in the Olympics. It was basically played in a football field, not on any kind of wicket. England won by 156 runs, unsurprinsingly given that they included 2 first class players from Somerset. This was the one and only time cricket has made an appearance at the Olympics, so France remain the reigning silver medalists.

In 1989 there was a rematch, also celebrating the 200th anniversary of the first proposed tour of France by the MCC (in 1789, aborted due to that small problem the French had at the time). An "England legends" side came over, including Derek Underwood. France won, and Guy Brumant smashed Underwood for two enormous 6s.

This match was therefore meant to be the decider in a best of 3, taking advantage of the London Olympics backdrop. Yesterday was a big event, with a youngsters match and women's game as curtain raisers, before the main T20 starting early afternoon; the English ambassador made an appearance, 67 primary school children were invited (France has recently concluded a partnership with the sports body for primary schools, which will allow cricket to be played in schools - this is a major coup which will hopefully establish cricket as a viable sport) and introduced to cricket on the sidelines; they were absolutely thrilled to meet the French team, and the MCC, and an autograph session was held. The MCC were a bit bemused by the whole thing, but credit to them played along. I spent the morning attempting to teach the kids the basics of cricket; organised mayhem with everyone running around in all directions, but they loved it and a great time was had.

In the afternoon the main match. MCC batted first, and on a difficult wicket with a damp outfield (we've had a LOT of rain over the last week or so) managed 109 in their 20 overs. France bowled reasonably but a few misfields and a couple dropped cathces meant they probably made 15 runs more than they should have. The MCC then proved to be very useful in the field, a couple of genuinely quick bowlers and 3 absolutely brilliant catches (all one-handed dives), together with some ordinary French batting (too many big-hits tried for) reduced France to 19/4 then 45/8, and eventually 74 all out.

A few comments: France did not play their strongest side, we have a massive competition coming up this week to qualify for the World League, and were trying out some combinations "if X gets injured" type stuff. Today is very different, and I'll post a report tomorrow sometime; the MCC were great and have to be thanked.

I leave the best for last - Richie Benaud, a patron of France cricket, came along for the afternoon. I had the great honour of being presented to him, and the even greater honour of listening in to him leading a coaching session with our young talented leg-spinner (who I coach) - a video is available from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYiA2OJiCpw&feature=plcp. My day was made complete when I was presented with my trophy of ICC volunteer of the year (Europe zone) by the great man himself; totally unexpected. Richie is incredibly humble, dedicated and an all-round fantastic person; it was truly one of the highlights of my life.

Any questions anyone here has over the match, the event, or anything, please ask.

Corporal and Mike - excellent topic and thread.

Mike - six years on, I still regard meeting Richie Benaud at Lord's as a life highlight. However, I was little more than an interloper who bumped into him. To be presented with an award from one of the greatest of all time cricketing greats is a truly fantastic achievement. Very well done.

Mike - your next challenge as a coach is to impress upon your young leg-spinner how fortunate and undoubtedly talented he is to be coached by Richie Benaud whilst still keeping his feet on the ground.

Mike - that's brilliant. I started the thread as I was sure you would have something interesting to say on the subject - but this exceeded all expectations. Many thanks.....

Brilliant stuff. Is that you in the video, next to Benaud and the leggie, Mike? Very attentive if so!

mystiroakey wrote:all the french players were english- hahah lol

So this are where the English-born cricketers have ended up, seeing as they can't get into the current Saffa dominated England cricket team.

Fists of Fury wrote:Brilliant stuff. Is that you in the video, next to Benaud and the leggie, Mike? Very attentive if so!

That was I. Truth be told I was more than a little star-struck...

Some news of game 2:

Due to a very wet outfield, and the MCC's requirement to catch a train back (but we forgive them) to the UK, only 60 overs of play were possible. MCC kindly allowed us to bat for 40, and them for 20. We fixed ourselves the objective of making 180 (250 in 50 overs should be enough in La Manga) which was duly reached off the last ball of the innings. No big scores, but 7 players between 12 and 36, and all the batsmen bar one got valuable time in the middle.

It was then agreed that the MCC would target 110 off their 20 overs (I have no idea whether this is the DL par score, but the reasoning was "it seems not too far away, and we should try to do better than yesterday" (the MCC made 109 on Saturday)). They fell just short, making 105/8 which included a brilliant final over by Usman "Dernbach" Khan for just 3 runs. Zika took 2/13 off 3 overs, including Rob Turner (ex-Somerset).

A wonderful time was had by all, and I really want to thank everyone who helped make the week-end a success: they are far too many to mention here, so let me just say the MCC and of course the great man himself.

Onto the qualifier then. Starts on Wednesday; very nervous already. I'll be bringing constant updates...

Mike - on a terribly sad day for cricket, that's a lovely uplifting post.

You've probably already seen George Dobell's CricInfo feature. Adored the unflappable Benaud readily agreeing to do an interview from the elephant enclosure!

Back to your post. The MCC having to cut short the match to catch a train home isn't quite on a par with the Timeless Test ending as England had to board a ship before it sailed. However, all nations have to start somewhere and you are clearly on the way.

Well done and thanks again.

guildfordbat wrote:Mike - on a terribly sad day for cricket, that's a lovely uplifting post.

I echo Guildford's comments - my thoughts exactly. Good luck for the qualifiers and the wider task of putting French cricket on the map!

Good suggestion from Benaud to the aspiring bowler. "The advice I give, it may be worth thinking about....."

Qualifier starts tomorrow - I am really quite nervous now. Thought I'd give you all a quick run through of what's to follow; I understand not everyone is interested but hey, I thought the T20 qualifier generated some decent discussion and I'll be following the games closely so may as well.

Format: 4 teams, round robin, whoever wins the tournament qualifies for the World League division 8, happening in Samoa in late September. The 4 teams are Austria, Belgium, France and Gibraltar. It is 50 over cricket, coloured clothing and white balls, exactly the same regulations as you see on TV. If two teams finish on equal points they are separated by net run-rate, etc. There is a rest day (which also acts as reserve day), so each team plays 3 matches in 4 days (the lower down the leagues you get, the less rest-time you get seemingly).

The teams:

France are widely considered as slight favourites, having finished higher than the other 2 sides at the T20 European tournament last year. My view is that we have the best bowling attack by a distance - well balanced with a lot of options - but our batting can be a bit brittle. Having said that Arun (2nd highest run-scorer in the last 50 over tournament we played in Europe in 2010) is once again in good form, and youngsters Usman Khan and Robin Murphy (both of whoom I've coached) are at last scoring the runs their undoubted talent suggests they should. I won't say too much about the side in case of lurking Austrians or Belgians on here.

Belgium would be 2nd favourites, and given we're playing them first up that makes me nervous (France historically are slow starters). Their bowling attack is good, if a bit one-paced (not a lot of spin options, no genuine quick bowler); their batting is solid rather than spectacular, and Nirvam Shah is their only real class player (Young Robert Sehmi - who is on Kent's books - will surely become so shortly, but IMO isn't there yet), but guys like Jamie Farmiloe and Simon Newport can make good contributions, and it only takes one to bat through the innings... I know quite a few of their side, having played against them, or coached against them at youth tournaments. They have a new captain in ex-Minor county player Daniel Dalton, and surprisingly their old captain Mark Vandeveren (or something) doesn't even make the squad.

Austria are a bit of an unknown entity - they have 2 or 3 genuine quality players, including Lakmal Kasthuriarachchige who made a century against Germany (already in WCL division 7) and the rest are workmanlike. My gut feeling is the longer format should expose their lack of quality more than the 20 over game did (where a couple of players can make a huge difference), but there are a few new names in their squad. the dark horse.

Gibraltar are the weakest side (despite being the best ranked) - a lot of their players have failed to kick on as maybe they should have (I have played against most of their squad). Marc Baccarese is a quality batsman, and Chris Phillips is one of the best (and quickest) bowlers there, but I'd be surprised if they won a match. Unless Kayron Stagno has grown a brain because he could be a match-winner - hits the ball a long way.

Predictions:
France v Belgium first up is a big one. If the French get off to a winning start then I think we'll be ok. If not, then Belgium could still stumble against Austria, and Austria-France will then be a tight match.

Allez les bleus!

Here's a link to the official website - it's got the squads up there.

http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2012/TOURNAMENTS/EUROWCL8/index.shtml

Good luck Mike. I'm sure it will go well, and that France's long wait to join the WCL will finally be over.

Would it be fair for me to say that French cricket has underachieved in the past? With a larg-ish ex-pat community, and close proximity to British coaches etc. it surprises me that countries like Kuwait, Nigeria, Japan and Norway have beaten France to WCL recognition.

Look forward to seeing the results and match reports. Good luck too....

Best wishes from me too, Mike.

Interested to see Gibraltar get a mention. More than twenty years ago I played in local league cricket against a couple of Gibraltar internationals, the Buzaglo brothers.

Richard was a good batsman as was Tim who was also a useful slow bowler. They were both living in the Woking area at the time (although born in Gibraltar, I believe they were brought up in Surrey). Tim had his fifteen minutes of fame about a year later when he scored a hat-trick for non league Woking FC to knock West Brom out of the FA Cup in a game heavily featured on Match of the Day.

Richard also played a few games for Woking FC but obviously concentrated on cricket. Having just checked on CricInfo, I was surprised to read he was still playing cricket for Gibraltar up until late 2010. CricInfo also refer to him being a wicket keeper although he largely patrolled the covers the day I came up against him.

Shelsey93 wrote:
Would it be fair for me to say that French cricket has underachieved in the past? With a larg-ish ex-pat community, and close proximity to British coaches etc. it surprises me that countries like Kuwait, Nigeria, Japan and Norway have beaten France to WCL recognition.

Yes and no. Certainly we should have qualified when we last had the chance in 2010 ahead of Germany (we lost by 5 runs, and although we finished on the same number of points it was "direct results" and not NRR which decided things back then).

One thing to bear in mind is it's really been since about 2005 that there's been any kind of system for building a national team put in place: before then, it was usual for the team to meet for the first time at the airport going to the tournament.

I think also it's fair to say that gaining access to the WCL is harder from Europe than other regions, simply because there are more cricket-playing countries (I have figures somewhere...).

You have to bear in mind funding: for the same cost that we employ one person, PNG (for example) can employ 25. We get the same funding.

It is also true that unlike some of the countries you cite, France has pursued long term goals and tried to build a team for the future, relying far more on home-grown players than say Norway or Kuwait. Around 2005 efforts were at last made to establish genuine junior leagues (first matches in 2004), and a pathway between the junior and senior national side was only really put into place after our first decent showing in junior championships (since 2003 anyway) in 2009. Since then, the program (which I am heavily implicated in) has flourished, and it is testimony to its success that 7 out of 13 squad members in La Manga have played some form of age-group cricket for France - and each of the 4 reserves also.

There are a couple of other issues we've had, which aren't mentionable here.

To sum up essentially: we started late, and took a bit of time to catch up, partly because we're looking long-term, partly because we lost some matches we should have won. Hopefully we put this right here and now.

God I'm nervous.

France have won the toss and unsurprisingly will bat.

In the other game, Austria have put Gibraltar in.

Steady start by the batting side in both games.

France 16-0 off 5 overs.

Gibraltar 15-0 off 5 overs.

See the interest you've created, Mike.

Actually I have it that the original score as given on the site was wrong.

France in trouble at 29/3. Come on Robbo...

Mike Selig wrote:Actually I have it that the original score as given on the site was wrong.

France in trouble at 29/3. Come on Robbo...

Who plays for France?

A long way back from 29-3, though we obviously don't know what conditions are like. I guess getting to 200 would be a good effort.

We bat quite deep. Should be looking at 100/4 off 30, then 140/5 off 40. From then on 200+ is still on the cards.

Need 160 minimum to give ourselves a chance.

Shelsey93 wrote:A long way back from 29-3, though we obviously don't know what conditions are like. I guess getting to 200 would be a good effort.

Sounds like the England cricket team in the late 1980's!

gboycottnut wrote:

Mike Selig wrote:Actually I have it that the original score as given on the site was wrong.

France in trouble at 29/3. Come on Robbo...

Who plays for France?

Squads available via the link:
http://www.cricketeurope4.net/CRICKETEUROPE/DATABASE/2012/TOURNAMENTS/EUROWCL8/index.shtml

53/4 off 15. Hopefully the ball's now old and we can rebuild (only 1 ball per innings for us).

Mike's too modest to post this, but here's a video of himself receiving the "volunteer of the year" award from the great man himself (you can skip the first four minutes or so, which is our president talking).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpMW-E7vjvE&feature=plcp

65/5. Not looking good. Come on someone make some runs damn it...

now 72-5, runs have dried up, but really need a partnership now. COME ON!

Should be aiming 120/5 off 40. So 85/5 after 30, that's 13/0 over the next 5 overs, then 100/5 off 35, etc.

Think your boys are going to have to bowl well , Mike...

But I note you indicated bowling was your team's main strength , and chasing even a modest target will be trickier than usual because of the stakes involved.

Chin up ... and good luck.

alfie wrote:Think your boys are going to have to bowl well , Mike...

But I note you indicated bowling was your team's main strength , and chasing even a modest target will be trickier than usual because of the stakes involved.

Chin up ... and good luck.

yes... runs on the board and all that. Nearly defended 114 against Jersey earlier this year, albeit in 40 overs. 160 may be enough...

80/6 off 30.

Official website shows France as being 99-7 off 35.

Whilst readily taking on board Shelsey's comment that we obviously don't know what conditions are like, whenever I've looked in France seem to have lost 1 or 2 wickets too many to post a normally competitive score. Even 160 looks optimistic at the moment.

Certainly not over (how can it can it be if France have even half of Mike's fighting spirit). However, the bowlers will need to earn their croissants ....

Now 123-9 off 40.

Looks like a cardinal sin of one day cricket about to be committed - not batting all the overs.

so 135 all out, bowled out in the 45th over. We'll have to bowl out of our skins to defend that, but with a few early wickets you just never know. Allez!

135 all out with 5 overs left unused.

The analysis is obvious: in every 5 over chunk bar one we lost at least 1 wicket. no partnership reached 30. You are not going to get a decent total unless you build partnerships.

Now what we musn't do is come out in the field too stressed, try too hard for wickets, let Belgium get away. What we have to do is build up pressure, even with a low total, with the stakes quite so high if we build pressure we'll give ourselves a shot. We have 4 genuine quality bowlers and they should simply bowl out.

Belgium are about 75-25 favourites right now, and I expect them to win by 4 or 5 wickets, around the 40-43 over mark, but cricket is a funny old game...

We have to make them work hard for their runs. It's that simple.

In the other match, Gibraltar have scored an impressive 210; Kayron Stagno with a half-century (so I got something right...).

Allez les bleus as we say...

Mike Selig wrote:

Now what we musn't do is come out in the field too stressed, try too hard for wickets, let Belgium get away. What we have to do is build up pressure, even with a low total, with the stakes quite so high if we build pressure we'll give ourselves a shot. We have 4 genuine quality bowlers and they should simply bowl out ....

Exactly.

The bowlers shouldn't try and do something extra special. They should concentrate on delivering what they are good at.

Belgium are now expected to win. In a way, that puts the pressure on them. It will increase with every wicket you can get ....

Precisely. Line and length, line and length. Make Belgium work for every run; every run they get has to be a risk, either by a sharp single, or through a risky shot.

Mike - harking back to another thread, every one of your guys ready to back up every throw, expecting the ball to come to him and most of all wanting it to come to him.

This is so bizarre. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I don't know the teams. I don't know the players. I don't know the setting. However, I'm absorbed by this game ....

Belgium 61/1 off 16. I think this one's gone...

First 5 overs went at 5 an over - as feared...

Looks like France are back in this. 106-6. Could either be finished off quickly by the Belgian batsmen, or a flurry of wickets could swing it the other way.

Oh Poopie. 106/6. Dare I hope? Bl00dy hell I'm meant to go to a talk now as well; can't do that surely?

Crucially it seems their half-centurion is out. Oh bl00dy bl00dy hell. My nerves can't take it. Don't usually swear quite so much...

Belgium need 4 to win with three wickets hand. Must have been a tense finish though.

damn.

Gibraltar have surprised Austria, which means either Gibraltar are stronger than I thought, or Austria are weaker, or it was a bad day for the Austrians. The one good thing is our NRR hasn't taken a huge hit, so if one of the other sides surprises the Belgians we could still sneak in, but that is a major disappointment.

Bad luck, Mike.

Mighty frustrating to lose narrowly whilst knowing you should have played (batted) better.

Keep going. One way or another, things will look different this time tomorrow.

Right. A bit later now so the disappointment, whilst still there, is not quite as hurtful. There will be a time for analysis and post mortems, but it isn't now, not with such an important game tomorrow again. All we can do is win our remaining two games by as much as possible (but NOT look too far ahead, just concentrate on winning and don't think about the margins yet), and trust to luck.

Anyway thanks for all the support guys. Amazing that we've created such enthusiasm about a match like France-Belgium.

Just followed this thread right through without taking sneak preview at the end. Was feeling the tension - sounds as though it could easily have gone either way....certainly at 100 - 6

Better luck in the next match!

Corporal - as you've read the thread right through, I can ask - do you remember Tim Buzaglo's fifteen minutes of fame?