France vs MCC

First topic message reminder :

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.

Guildford - to be honest my memory of that is a bit hazy, but a quick google underlined what a remarkable achievement it was .... Sounds as tho West Brom supporters were generous in defeat.....

Corporal - a wonderful day, proud to have been there. The West Brom supporters were very generous to us although they and their Board were less understanding towards their manager, the former Arsenal midfielder Brian Talbot. From memory, he was sacked a few days later!

Apparently one of the Gibraltar batsmen was given out obstructing the field.

For some reason I really like following lower level international cricket. As Guildford says it is curious, as the standard is similar to what I can see my club 1st XI play on a Saturday, I know nothing about the players, and it is happening on an artificial pitch in Spain. But it is strangely compelling.

Today we are all Austrian...

France and Belgium batting first in their respective matches. I won't be following quite so religiously as I also should get some work done...

France have made a much much better start today, working there way to 64-1 after 15 overs. Arun (whose second name I shall not attempt to spell) is on 35 not out. Belgium are 37-1 off 10.

and France continuing to make steady progress, now at 83-1 after 20 (Arun 42*). Unfortunately, Belgium also progressing fairly serenely at 55-1 after 15. Still, they had an almighty collapse from about 80-odd for 1 yesterday. Come on Austria, get some wickets already

Ayyavooraju. Not that hard :-)

France 117-2 off 30. This is good. Arun's still there and will be looking to bat through the innings for a century. Plenty of accelerators in Waseem, Usman, William, Shahid, Rehman to come. Need two of them to come off to get to 240+. Looks like Robbo was pushed up to no 3 and made a good contribution of 36. Probably got out at the right time as well (he won't thank me for saying this - well played Robbo very proud of you).

Belgium have 81/2 off 25 against Austria which is solid, but a bit slow. Austria's batting is reasonable, their main weakness is against spin. Belgium have no spinners. Just saying.

Austria fighting back against Belgium, now 98-4 after 30. France well placed at 140-3 after 35 (all set up for a big last 15 overs), Arun still there on 71 not out.

165-5 after 40. Ayyavooraju's progress to 76 not out a bit slow! Six an over from here takes you to 225, which you'd think should be enough at this level.

198/6 after 45. Big last 5 overs to take us to 230+ which should be eminently defendable? Arun still there on 85 (doesn't seem to be getting much strike I guess), would be nice if he could make a century.

Belgium 145-6 after 40. 200 looks a tough ask from there.

Disappointing finish after an ideal first 35 overs. Should have got 240 from there. Arun out for 95. Even more disappointing that the very average Gibraltarian spinners did quite so much damage. We should defend this though...

Belgium doing ok, should get about 210 which is what Austria failed to chase yesterday...

France 215 all out. Not quite making use of the last 15.

In the club cricket that our 1st XI play, 215 (from 53 in our case) would be a score you might consider to be just about par. But definitely chasable, particularly in this case as artificial pitches tend to offer true bounce.

Shelsey93 wrote:
In the club cricket that our 1st XI play, 215 (from 53 in our case) would be a score you might consider to be just about par. But definitely chasable, particularly in this case as artificial pitches tend to offer true bounce.

I think 200 from 50 is a par score at our level, maybe slightly higher on astro, but depending on the strengths of the teams. I'd expect the top European teams like Jersey to chase down upto 220 against us but with difficulty. Ball does tend to dominate bat somewhat, and our bowling is strong. I make France 65-35 favourites at this point; Gibraltar will be hoping for strong showings by Baccarese and Stagno.

Belgium's Abdul Rehman seems to have gone mad at the end of the innings - 102* from 48 balls - to make a total of 265-7 with 9 sixes

oh yikes Belgium went completely mad in the last 5 overs there, scoring about 90 runs Austria won't chase that, no way.

Gibraltar 22-0 after 8, solid-ish start but a bit slow.

Gibraltar 28-1 after ten. Decent start for the French, though a couple more quick wickets would be nice.

Austria 16-3, this one could end up a bit of a massacre which surely puts Belgium through

Gibraltar 66-2 off 20. need exactly 150 off the last 30 overs, so pretty intriguingly poised you have to say at this moment.

Austria have recovered somewhat to 54-3 off 15 overs. Realistically need to be 120-3 off 30 to have any chance though.

excellent passage of play for the French there, Gibraltar now 81-3 off 28 overs (so 15-1 in the last 8). France on top now, but Gibraltar finished their innings strongly yesterday... Allez!

another wicket for the mighty French
Gibraltar 86-5 after 30 overs, and you have to fancy the French from here. Last ten overs a real key point IMO.

Unfortunately Austria have lost another, now 69-4 after 20 overs, the target looking a very long way away. France need to wrap up Gibraltar as quickly as possible, and hope Gibraltar manage to beat Belgium tomorrow.

139/8 off 40. Get the last 2. Now.

Gibraltar all out for 143. Unfortunately for Mike and MFC, Austria are also 7 down, and so, unless they rally to a decent score, it will be all but curtains for France. Belgium's NRR will be much better, meaning that France would have to thrash Austria whilst Belgium are themselves thrashed by Gibraltar.

they listened to you

Gibraltar all out for 143, France win by 72 runs. That'll do their NRR some good too. Much better from the French today, they'll be slightly disappointed with their last 15 overs or so with the bat but still a pretty good performance.

Shelsey93 wrote:Gibraltar all out for 143. Unfortunately for Mike and MFC, Austria are also 7 down, and so, unless they rally to a decent score, it will be all but curtains for France. Belgium's NRR will be much better, meaning that France would have to thrash Austria whilst Belgium are themselves thrashed by Gibraltar.

By my increasingly unvague calculations our NRR is 0.23 and Belgium's batting run-rate is 4.68, so their NRR is likely to be between 1.8 and 2. A big gap, not quite unsurmountable but nearly...

Deleted. Explicit calculations to be left out of public sight please everyone.

I'll be doing all the stats and communicating to coach and staff.

Austria showing some decent fight with their lower order at least, reaching 158-9 now. The last 5 of the Belgium innings and first 5 of their own were a real killer though.

Austria promptly lose their last wicket off the next ball

I have an excel file for NRR purposes up and running. Belgium's is 1.75 and France's 0.23 as claimed. There are a few combinations which see us through, but first things first we need a big win.

right ho, crucial day today. Vamos Gibraltar! Austria batting first against France, which isn't great news as to improve NRR it's best to have a full innings (unless we can bowl Austria out really cheaply). Gibraltar batting first against Belgium.

Austria 26 - 0 after 10 overs. Gilbraltar 30 - 2 after 10 overs. Hmmmm

Austria now 46-1 after 15. Things not going so well then... Still, a long way to go, a few quick wickets and it can change pretty quickly. Allez!

Austria now 54-1 after 20. France doing a decent job at stifling the scoring, but could really do with some wickets.

Gibraltar 53-3 off 15, eugh.

Not the best of starts in either match, but nothing to be gained by moping.

A couple of wickets soonish and who knows. Really need to restrict Austria to 150 or less.

better passage of play for Gibraltar, 73-3 now off 20.

Austria continue their very slow progress, 61-1 off 25

Gibraltar recovering quite well and scoring at reasonable pace.... 73 - 3 off 20. Meanwhile Austria solid at 61 - 1 but off 25 overs, may yet collapse if they try to up the pace....

Sorry - Mad - pretty much a duplicate post!

That's ok TBH. I can easily see us getting a flury of wickets as Austria attempt a mad acceleration. Good job being done by the bowlers so far, anything under 150 and we give ourselves a shot of bashing them off.

duplicate posts are fine corporal, I'm delighted that Mike has created interest in this event on here

pretty much agree Mike, surely Austria will look to up the tempo sooner rather than later, which could well result in a flurry of wickets.

I hadn't checked the Austrian team - perhaps they recruited Gavaskar?

this little effort here you mean?

Austria 70 - 3 off 30 - collapse underway?!

Mad - yes, I date back to the famous Gavaskar innings which made Boycs look like Jason Roy!

Gibraltar 94 - 4 off 25. Farrell 51*

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:

Mad - yes, I date back to the famous Gavaskar innings which made Boycs look like Jason Roy!

oh dear, Gibraltar have collapsed lamentably to 135 all out, I think that's that unfortunately

Where do Gibraltar train? Have a hard time believing they practise the art of cricket on a giant Rock.

Belgium started bruskly in reply but have lost early wickets at 37 - 3 off 10.

France let Austria get away to reach 198

France are going to have a bash apparently...

If Gibraltar win France need to win in around 19-22 overs (depending on Gibraltar's margin).

May as well go for it, no glory in finishing 2nd.

Mike Selig wrote:France are going to have a bash apparently....

36 - 0 off 5 overs. Good start but they'll need to up the tempo fairly dramatically

55 off 7 for anyone interested... get to 85 off 10, then break loose completely.

Belgium 49-4.... Allez!

71 - 2 off 8.1 overs. I sense a heroic failure in the offing, but good that they are going for it...