NZIFCR at

The 2014 Nottingham Festival

We may have been few in number, but we were big in heart; and with some of our Indian friends, and even an Aussie, we enjoyed three games prior to Nottingham. We were based at Corby, where we were told England ground to halt some years ago. How pleasantly surprised we were to find ideal, friendly and reasonably priced accommodation at the Rockingham Best Western from whence we travelled to our nearby games at Isham, Rockingham Castle and Great Oakley. Our very own high roller hotelier and stalwart bat Arthur Pitcher is a life member of Great Oakley and he organised that and the Rockingham Castle match for us. More about those in a bit.

There were 7 of us listed to play at Nottingham. The list looked that this:
John Dean and Rachael Barton
Mike Lucas and Lyn Lucas
Alan Lawton and Karyl Lawton
Keith & Heather Mitchell
John & Chloe Steer
Rex Hooton and Jan Hooton
Arthur Pitcher
and we parlayed with our South African friends who looked like:
Gerald Sieberhagen
Rusty Barnes and Jan Barnes
Garnett Carr
Andy Nicholson

Our first game was as Isham. A lovely ground up a long lane with a very small sign, covered by verdant green growth like every other sign we needed to find whilst journeying around old blighty. iMaps got us pretty close to every destination, even if we did have the occasional diversion up a drive or two into lovely homes, or 3 times round the seemingly never ending number of roundabouts we drove around. It did save arguments about direction; and gave life to where giddy english people come from.

Back to Isham. We called our lovely organiser, Kishor Parmar, to tell him that we only at that stage had 3 players. This happened because some of our group had not got their act together to arrive in time for this game, the South Africans were not in blighty by then and when we say 3 players that in included Ravi who was still in London that morning. Kishor assured us that we should forge ahead and that he would organise the rest. And that is what he did. Ravi arrived by Indian time, and Mike Lucas and yours truly and Ravi enjoyed a great day's cricket amidst some very kind hosts and for our side the selectors had chosen some young stars of the future who played their hearts out and learned so much about the game from the older players on both sides. Then there was the between innings tea. Kishor's wife seemed to be in charge of a delightful spread which then extended to a BBQ meal after the match. This was village cricket at its most enjoyable. Incidentally, this is the club where Stephen Fleming spent part of his cricketing life when he was in the UK, and the old guard there had fond memories and some stories to recount.

A rest day followed and we did some or some did some venturing around the environs; that is after the stragglers arrived at Corby. Then we went to Rockingham Castle and we found the pretty ground amidst centuries of gardens and stone overlooking five counties of England. The feelings of nostalgia where quickly forgotten on sighting the athletic opposition; but we held our own for while. I forget the outcome, other than they seemed to have some youngish quick bowlers and a couple of serious bats. When I find the scoresheet I will post it on the web site so you can see who got wickets and runs. That of course is only part of it; the other part is the company, meeting new cricket friends, and enjoying our own company on this our first practice game together. I think we had all arrived by then. And of course there was the afternoon tea; and castle tours by those of our support crew who could not find themselves totally absorbed in the game. Even the obligatory oak tree to shelter from the Joan Hunter Dunn sun whilst reading a good book.

Time marched us through socialising and local indian cuisine guided by Shobana, and large breakfasts on to the next game at Great Oakley. This much anticipated visit to Arthur's former round table turned into a late afternoon - that is 6 pm - 20/20 game against some Greater Oakley members. We performed creditably well, but if I recall correctly there were some hard hitters in the opposition. Arthur's mate, Mick York who, as well as being chairman, groundsman, fixture secretary, and barman, had his pop band on hand to ensure the sounds drowned out any sorrows after the game. Notably Mick's wife has been assisting at Great Oakley since she was 12 years old. And their daughter was scorer for the day - using an ipad and CricHQ. So it was we found ourselves at another Indian restaurant, this time in the centre of what appears to be a revitalised Corby.

I should mention here that before our pre Nottingham games the Deans and the Lucases had spent a week playing golf at St Andrews in a very enjoyable St Andrews Rotary golf week and then hosted by various friends had also enjoyed some other UK courses before a jaunt to Spain to rest up before Nottingham.

Then we went to find the Sheriff. And, although he may not have as many arrows left, Norman Brown as head of GB&I IFCR and his committee did us all proud with the very efficient organisation and comfortable accommodation for the 8th WRCF. With the full programme of games and events for which we had all enrolled so long ago it was only possible to enjoy ourselves to the fullest. All those at the Festival were accommodated in the fairly new De Vere Hotel or the adjacent Rutland Hostel; and major events were held there and at the convention rooms adjacent to the hotel.

The grounds where we played were pretty much ideal for our purposes. The lovliest was tempered by some idiot who purported to be in charge and was quick enough on his feet to assist us focus on cricket, but that was the rub of the wicket so to speak. The lunches there, however, were very good.

A photographic montage of our time and matches at the 8th WRCF will follow. It will save boring you with a thousand or so words. And for those of you who were there it will bring a smile to your face as you recall days of close fought matches and whether you won or not. And for those of you who were not there, you may well recognise some of the faces of those who were asking after you and why were you not there.

Hopefully we can all make the 9th WRCF - especially as it is programmed to be in Wellington in the summer of 2017.

For the photos click here