Mallorca skipper Eric George  won the toss and put Ibiza in to bat, which proved to be an inspired decision. Although Ibiza had several good batsmen in the team, none was able to get their head down against Mallorca’s star all-rounder(of former county cricket potential) Ben “Golden balls” Vickers, who literally tore through the Ibiza batting line up with an aggressive spell of pace bowling and finished with the remarkable figures of 6 for 35. He was ably supported by bowlers “Jazz” Yaseen with 2/13 and Saffer Wes Walker with 2/6, and Ibiza suffered one of their worst batting collapses in recent years, going from 16/1 to a very shaky 28 for 4 and finally struggled to 57 all out in the 15th over! Only Graham “Bagpipes” Cooper managed double figures with two boundaries, but no Ibiza batsmen were allowed to settle down and build a partnership.
Obviously it was going to be difficult to defend such a low total, and Mallorca had plenty of time to get the runs, but were forced to work nevertheless, and finished on 60 for 3, winning by 7 wickets, with Ben Vickers again contributing with 29. Ibiza bowlers Jim “Jimbo” Harvey, Paul “BSkyB” Crutwell and Sam “Rasta” Feasey bowled tightly and contributed one wicket each.

Second match MALLORCA C.C. vs MENORCA C.C. 12/05/12

Menorca batted first and, although they resisted better than Ibiza had done the day before, also struggled against the Mallorca pace attack. They did manage to reach triple figures, finishing on 101 all out in the 24th over. The Mallorca bowlers were again impressive and shared the wickets around, with Ben Vickers (3/20), Yaseen (1/20), Wes Walker (3/24) and Mat Rutterford (3/12) all contributing.
Thus it was with a sense of “Déjà Vu” that this writer witnessed the second half of this match, and so it proved. Mallorca were rarely troubled in their run chase, losing only one wicket, and cruised to 106 for 1 in the 15th over, Yaseen scoring an unbeaten 31 and the irrepressible Vickers (him again!) an unbeaten 67. Mallorca therefore retained the cup they had won back from Menorca in 2011, but we are confident that the other two island teams will provide a sterner test next year at the beautiful Menorca cricket ground in May 2013.

Third match IBIZA C.C. vs MENORCA C.C. 13/05/12

Thus the two losing teams were playing for pride and second place, but in this writer’s experience, both usually provide competitive and entertaining contests and this time was no exception. Ibiza skipper “Jeremy “Silver Jez” Parmenter again lost the toss (can we use Turkish one-sided coins in future?!), and Menorca skipper Roy”OhMy”Sturgeon asked Ibiza to bat first. However, the Ibiza top order were determined to perform better this time and scored steadily with solid partnerships of 68 runs between Sam “Rasta” Feasey (34) and Johnno “Flash” Gordon (83), followed by a 100 run stand between the latter and Saffer Brad “Bradster” van Bylevelt (80), and a rapid 36 from Andy “Basher” Nicholas. This allowed Ibiza to finish on a much more impressive total of 298 for 7 after 40 overs.
Menorca bowlers persevered well, particularly Ian “Fingers” Sahu (2/42) and Ian “Boomboom” Williams (3/20), while Ted “Mr Cricket” Williams and Lee “Babyface” Bryers added a wicket each.
Menorca knew they had to attack from the start, but tight bowling and fielding from Ibiza restricted the flow of runs, so, inevitably wickets fell regularly, and the required run rate climbed. At the half-way stage Menorca were on 89 for 6 and still needed over 200 runs off the remaining 20 overs, which was always going to be an uphill task. However, Ian Williams showed his all round ability with an aggressive and entertaining 54, aided by double figure scores from skipper Roy Sturgeon, Adam “Cocky” Cockcroft, Simon “The Moth” Cotton and Robby “Doodah” Day. Menorca resisted stubbornly but the final wicket fell in the 37th over, with the score on 177, Ibiza finally winning an absorbing contest by 121 runs.
All the Ibiza bowlers participated in keeping the required run rate climbing, with Johnno Gordon achieving a controlled 3 for 15, Robin “Robiño” Parmenter an unusual 5 for 27, and Sam Feasey and Jeremy Parmenter contributing a wicket each at important times in the match.

The cup was presented to Mallorca at a well attended dinner held at the ever popular Villa Mercedes, and there were several speeches from Club Chairmen Martin “Shaggy” Makepeace (Ibiza), Andrew “El Lobo” Manners (Menorca), Paul Heaton (Mallorca), and skippers Jeremy Parmenter, Roy Sturgeon, and veteran Eric George. Thanks go to them for continuing the annual tradition of this cricket tournament, as well as to umpires Malcolm Barber and Bob Cairns, and scorers Wendy Peters, Chris Olley and Mike Lynch. Last but not least, many thanks to Lyn Carpenter for organising the catering at the ground and the dinner, helped by “Pabs” Ambrose, and to all the club committees for keeping the whole event alive and going strong.

Thats it for now,
RPHood

Second match 26th April 35 overs per side.
Ibiza again batted first, as agreed between skippers Kevin “Rawhide” Laundon and Jeremy “Silver Fox” Parmenter. This time the high run rate of the previous game was not maintained, thanks to tighter fielding and bowling by the Alfas team, and Ibiza lost wickets regularly. Batsmen who contributed useful runs were Martin Cooper (29), Bob Short (35), Kiwi newcomer Jolyon “GIJoe” Swinburne (35) and Robin “Robiño” Parmenter (18 n/out), with Ibiza finishing on a defendable but lower total of 180 for 6, which was felt to be 20 runs short. The Alfas bowlers all bowled well, particularly Kevin Laundon (2/28), Ravi “Ravioli”(2/27), “Waca” Ashraf (1/32) and Joel Brook (1/22).
Alfas got off to a slow start with their reply, falling to 10 for 2 after 5 overs, but then got back on track with a 65 run partnership between Geoff “The Wall” Evans (38) and Ravi (44), although Ibiza fielders did miss three catches to dismiss the former, which proved to be crucial in the run chase. When Ravi fell, Spencer “Longpod” Dawes (65 not out, including 5 sixes) then combined with Geoff Evans in another rapid 70 run stand, which brought the required run rate down and eventually proved to be match winning, with Spencer also being given a life with 20 runs still needed and Geoff run out by some smart fielding. Alfas reached their target in the 32nd over, finishing on 184 for 5, thus winning by 5 wickets, finally breaking Ibiza”s unprecedented run of 13 consecutive wins since the 2011 Balearic cup in Mallorca. Ibiza bowler Paul Crutwell was again in the wickets with 2 for 22, while Sam Feasey, and Robin Parmenter managed 1 each. The saying goes that “catches win matches” and Ibiza still showed some rustiness in the field, but it is this kind of competitive game that prepares us for the Balearic cup matches to come, and it is great to welcome Sporting Alfas back to a tour in Ibiza for the first time since September 2006. Both matches were played in the friendly yet competitive spirit that we are fortunate to see more and more in touring sides to Ibiza, and Alfas showed why they are possibly the best cricket squad in the Spanish league by bouncing back with a good win on the second day.
The tour was arranged by Skipper Kevin Laundon and Geoff Evans, and many thanks to them for bringing their team (including several La Manga club players) over to start the season which Ibiza then traditionally finishes at their ground in Alfas de Pi, Benidorm each November. Hopefully this early season trip will become an annual event too, and Kevin, Geoff, Spencer, Ben, Antonio et al will always be welcome here to cross bats and share a few beers after the games!
Now we have the next touring side, Carpe Vinum, from Wimbledon, to meet over the weekend- more on those games next week!
Yours, RpHood

Fri Ibiza v Mallorca
Sat Mallorca v Menorca
Sun Menorca v Ibiza

Good luck to all the teams!

Once again, we had some brilliant and exciting matches with some excellent touring teams – one, in particular that stands out for me were the Fiddlers Team from Berkshire where, in  two very close games we won both, including, in the first game, with them needing 6 runs to win off the last ball, their skipper was bowled going for the winning runs. Another great game followed in the second match as we were bowled out for 133, our lowest total of the season but  then came back with a superlative fielding performance and against all the odds and expectations, won by 14 runs to keep our winning run going. Apart from that, we won all our remaining games at home and also by some seriously big margins – 3 by 150 runs plus and another three by more than 5 wickets, a testament to the belief, competitiveness and talent in our squad.

We ended our season, as always, in Alfas, and just to cap the season off, won both games, the first time in 17 years that that has happened and have now, incredibly, beaten Alfas three times in succession.

So, in summary, we’ve had some incredible performances this season, both individual and as a team. On the batting side, we scored a total of 2759 runs from 14 innings with our best scores being 293 for 7 and 272 for 3 – that gives us an average innings score of 197 which is amazing. And in the field, again, some great individual bowling performances, backed up by excellent fielding and some of the catches I have witnessed have been of the highest calibre including Shaggy’s brace against Highgate, Bob’s brace against Hearsall and Dan’s caught and bowled against 1-in-12. They say “catches win matches” and this has certainly been the case for us this season with a total of 46 safely pouched!

We are now on a roll, having won our last 12 games since Mallorca back in May and we finished the season with a record of winning 12 out of 14, possibly the most successful season that we have ever had. Interestingly, 30 guys have played for us this year and, for the first time, again in my memory, we have used 19 different bowlers, including 10 in one match – testament not only to the size of our squad but also to all the players commitment.

Highs of the season – quite a few, but in particular, on the batting side, Adam Johnston’s incredible belligerence and consistency and who could forget his wonderful 123 not out against 1-in-12 including 21 boundaries – or indeed, his 5 sixes in one over against Fiddlers; Bob’s serene and some would say, God-given, talent and application and Graham Cooper’s wonderful match-winning 85 out of a total of 166 against West Hallam. On the bowling side, Jim Harvey’s 3 for 7, all 3 in an over against Hearsall, Sam Feazey’s 3 for 8 and  Shahid’s 4 for 12 against West Hallam and finally, Robin’s 4 for 21 against Highgate.

The funniest moment of the season – this has to be an incident that occurred during the Sunday match in Alfaz – with the scores level,  and our opening batsman John sportingly retiring after a good 50, stand-in skipper Graham had engineered it, so that Paul, promoted from No 11, was sent in to bat so that he could have the honour of scoring the winning run; facing his first ball he delicately played a defensive shot behind him and called “no” not realising that Sam Gooda at the other end, enthusiastic to the end, had backed up halfway down the pitch and as he ran, he screamed at Paul to run, but Pabs, now over 40 and not being as mobile as he used to be, scrambled towards the other end but, unfortunately and much to everyone’s mirth, was run out by a direct hit and had to leave the field, swearing at Sam and all and sundry, but still with the  scores tied and it was left to the next batsman to score the winning run. Oh, the joys of this wonderful game!

And so to our annual awards:

Batsman of the Year– as already mentioned, we have had some exceptional performances this year, with great contributions from Bob Short – scoring a total of 376 runs and Graham Cooper with 203 but the award this year goes to a player who has shown consistency, maturity, aggression and great application, as he not only scored a grand total of 551 runs in only 8 innings, with an average of 92 but has also hit two centuries and narrowly missed a third by only 2 runs – our Batsman of the Year is Adam Johnston

Bowler of the Year and again we have had some great contributions – Sam Feasey  taking 13 wickets, Robin with his customary 12, Dan for his 10, Jim and yours truly for our 9 apiece, but this year’s award goes to a bowler who not only took 16 wickets over the season but also had the best average of 12 runs per wicket, consistently bowling great line and length and I am delighted to declare that our Bowler of the Year is Graeme Cooper

Players Player of the Year,  voted by the players themselves and as usual the task fell to me to collate the private votes, and  I will also add that this award has again been sponsored by Stewart and we thank him for his contribution. The voting was very close but the award goes, by a short head, to a player who has not only played in every game this season but has also contributed in an all-round way; with a total of 203 runs scored, 16 wickets taken and 8 well-taken catches, as well as handling with great dedication and enthusiasm, the extra burden of stand-in captaincy when I have been either injured or on holiday – it therefore gives me great pleasure in announcing that our Players Player of the Year is Graeme Cooper.

Our final award is the Adrian Ireland Memorial Trophy for the Captains Player of the Year . Again and as last year, this was always going to be a very difficult decision for me, as there have been so many great contributions this year but, in my wisdom, I have decided that this award should go to a player who has played in every game, attended every training session, performed admirably and consistently throughout the season with an all-round contribution of over a hundred runs, some important wickets and some athletic fielding, coupled with his boundless enthusiasm and commitment to the club and I am delighted to announce that  the Adrian Ireland Memorial Trophy as my Player of the Year, goes to Sam Gooda.

To conclude, I have thoroughly enjoyed this successful season as skipper and I am incredibly proud of all of you who have contributed in no uncertain way to this success and I personally feel that we, as a Club, are heading in the right direction. Not only would I like to thank all our players for a great season but also my fellow committee members, Martin, as Chairman, Lyn as Treasurer, Paul as Social Secretary and Robin as Press Secretary, and last but not least, Mike as our Scorer, for  their sterling work throughout the season. Long may that continue!

IBIZA C.C. WINS the ANDREW BOND CUP vs SPORTING ALFAS C.C.!

As mentioned in skipper “Silver Jez” Parmenter’s UK sports report last week, Ibiza C.C. has just returned from a very successful and unprecedented trip to Benidorm to play the annual fixtures against Sporting Alfas C.C., the 2011 Spanish league champions for both the 1st and 2nd XI teams. The matches went as follows:

Saturday 12th November. 30 overs match Ibiza vs Alfas 1st XI

It was agreed between skippers Kevin “BigMe” Laundon and Graham “Bagpipes” Cooper (replacing the injured Jeremy  Parmenter) that Ibiza would bat first, and openers Adam “BigMan” Johnston with guest player Johnnie “Flash” Gordon started confidently enough with a steady 45 run stand, but then several wickets were lost in quick succession. At 66/3 after 14 overs, anything was possible with the Ibiza touring batting line-up, but Adam Johnston had other ideas and started to gain confidence by hitting regular boundaries, combining well in a 119 run partnership with Robin “Robiño” Parmenter, who managed to bat patiently for once with an unbeaten 35, thanks to regular encouragement from his abler partner. “BigMan” Johnston passed his fifty and went on to score his second century of the season with a well struck 107 (including two huge sixes), before falling to a ripper in the 29th over, with the score on 185/4. Ibiza finished on 194/5 off their 30 overs, setting Alfas a target of over a run a ball to win. All the Sporting Alfas bowlers contributed, namely Spencer “Longpod” Dawes (1/19), Kevin “BigMe” Laundon (1/24), Phil “Tupenny”Pennick (1/26), Kieron “KPeanut”Herman (1/34) and brother Jack “Crackerjack” Herman (1/9).

Sporting Alfas then batted and showed why they are the best league team in Spain, in spite of losing a couple of 1st XI players to the 20/20 tournament at La Manga on the same weekend. Opener Geoff “The Wall” Evans showed his usual patience and batting style with a steady 24, and was ably supported by Phil “Tupenny” Pennick with 28, but when their wickets fell, Alfas still needed 100 runs to win at around 9 runs per over. Spencer “Longpod” Dawes with 73 not out and skipper Kevin Laundon (22) then combined in an aggressive 59 run partnership which threatened to take the game away from Ibiza, but once the latter went with the score on 154/4, the asking rate climbed, and Alfas still needed 32 off the last two overs. Spencer Dawes did his best with 3 boundaries in the penultimate over, including a massive six, to bring the target down to 15 off the final over, to be bowled by Stuart “White Rose” Browne. He kept his calm and bowled several dot balls, allowing only 5 runs off the over, thus helping Ibiza to get home by 9 runs, and win the Andrew Bond Cup for the first time since it was created 17 years ago. All Ibiza bowlers did their best to keep the pressure on the Alfas batsmen, and  Johnnie “Flash”Gordon (1/31), Graham “Bagpipes” Cooper (1/33), Robin “Robiño” Parmenter (1/31) and Sam “Buddha” Gooda (2/49) contributed to the wickets.
Needless to say, a few beers were shared afterwards, and Sporting Alfas Chairman and Skipper Kevin Laundon was gracious in defeat, promising to win the trophy back next year. Ibiza Chairman Martin “Shaggy” Makepeace was understandably happy, praising the sporting spirit in which the game was played, and the introduction of several younger Alfas players to the Saturday match, which evened up the odds given that Ibiza was also missing 4/5 regular players, including their injured skipper Jeremy “Silver Jez” Parmenter, who alternatively scored and umpired over the two days.

Sunday 13th November 25 overs match Ibiza vs Alfas 2nd XI

After the traditional night of “fasting” and “abstinence” following the Saturday game, in order to maintain enough energy for the Sunday game (!), one always wonders which Ibiza team will turn up, and in this case, which Sporting Alfas team as well. A minute’s silence was observed for Remembrance Sunday before play got underway, and this time Alfas batted first. As usual Geoff “The Wall” Evans was there to thwart the Ibiza bowlers’ efforts with a determined 54, but he was not supported as well by his team-mates this time, plus it must be said that the Ibiza players were unusually alert in the field and bowled economically too, so that there was constant pressure on the batsmen and wickets fell regularly. Thus, after 25 overs, Sporting Alfas were restricted to 115/9, thanks to contributions from Johnnie “Flash” Gordon (1/10), “Robiño” Parmenter (2/18), Sam “Buddha” Gooda (1/11), Stuart “White Rose” Browne (2/24) and Shahid “Dr Airhead”Hanan (2/27).
Ibiza then batted with openers Adam Johnston (33 not out) and Johnnie Gordon (50 not out) scoring at a steady 5 runs per over in a 55 run partnership, before Adam retired hurt after going for a big drive. Johnnie continued to score runs regularly to reach his fifty, well supported by Sam Gooda (17 not out), before the former was retired by skipper “Bagpipes” Cooper with the scores level, to allow well known Ibiza socialite and playboy Paul “Pabs” Ambrose to score the winning run. However, Pabs managed to get himself run out immediately, to the amusement of the Ibiza team and supporters, and it was left to the next batsman to hit the required run, Ibiza winning by 9 wickets with 8 overs remaining.

Ibiza therefore won both weekend matches against Sporting Alfas for the the first time in the club’s history of visiting Benidorm at the end of the season, thus continuing their extraordinary run of 12 consecutive victories in the 2011 season, after the initial disappointing losses to Mallorca and Menorca in May 2011, the club finishing with the match figures of played 14, won 12, lost 2. Long may this continue, and congratulations to all the players over the season who have contributed to make this a team effort overall, which would not have been possible however, without the unwavering support of Ibiza’s own “Barmy Army” from the island and the UK (we all know who you are-just have a look on facebook!), and the organisation of tours by Chairman Martin Makepeace, the enthusiasm and competitive spirit of skipper Jeremy Parmenter, the financial control of treasurer Lyn Carpenter, the rest of the committee Pabs Ambrose and “Robiño” Parmenter, not forgetting scorer Mike Lynch’s regular presence. And last, but not least, many thanks to those players making the effort to come over from the UK to join the team in Benidorm, namely, Steve “Bigbigman”Balmforth, Stuart “White Rose” Browne, Shahid “Dr Airhead” Hanan, Cocoa Fowler, Johnnie “Flash”Gordon, Stephen “Kronk” Wilson (who even played for the opposition!) and umpire Bob “Howzat” Cairns.
Look forward to seeing you all next year, all the best till then!
RP Hood.

11th October 30 overs per side.

Ibiza lost the toss and were put in to bat first by Fiddlers skipper Mike “Silver Fox” Salmon. Ibiza openers Adam “Big man” Johnston (86) and Sam “Easyjet” Feasey (24) got off to a solid start with a 60 run partnership, which was then followed up by an even better one of 127 runs by Bob “The vicar” Short with 105 not out and Andy “Kiwi” Davies with 36 not out. This set up a very challenging total of 272/3 off 30 overs, over 9 runs per over, which was above the average score on the San José pitch and a target that Ibiza expected to defend. Fiddlers bowlers Mike Salmon (2/63) and Simon “Milky bar kid” Larter (1/40) took the only wickets.
So Ibiza took to the field in confident mood, but forgot to take into account the aggressive batsmen in the visiting side. Thus several Fiddlers batsmen got good scores, thanks to Chris “Smurf” Smith (58), Luke “Shrek” Woodland (57 not out), Chris “Iceman” Mason (50), John “Hurricane”Hewitt (35), and skipper Mike “Silver Fox” Salmon (30), and Ibiza had their worst day in the field and bowling this season, letting through half a dozen boundaries that would have been stopped on another day. In fact Fiddlers still needed 73 runs off 5 overs, and managed to keep hitting boundaries until the last over, thanks in particular to Chris Smith, Luke Woodland and Mike Salmon, and could have won the match with a six off the last ball of the innings, bowled by Ibiza skipper Jeremy “Silver Jez” Parmenter. The latter kept calm however and bowled his opposite number in an exciting and very tense finish, with Ibiza scraping to a win by 5 runs, Fiddlers finishing on 267/7. Ibiza bowlers Sam Feasey,Robin Parmenter, Bob Short and Sam Gooda contributed a wicket each, while Jeremy Parmenter (2/55) and Graham “Bagpipes” Cooper (2/31) stood out.

13th October 30 overs per side.

Ibiza were once again put into bat first, and, with several key batsmen missing this time, needed to play sensibly and score regularly. However, as can so often happen in this strange English game of cricket, Ibiza were soon down to 38 for 4, and wondering if they would get to 100 runs. However, middle order batsmen Graham “Bagpipes” Cooper with 46 and Tom “Builder” Hoddle with 29 combined to keep their heads down, adding 79 runs together which brought the score up to 117 for 5. Unfortunately, once they were out, Ibiza quickly lost wickets to finish on 133 all out off 27 overs, less than half their score in the earlier game. Fiddlers bowlers Luke Woodland (2/16), Simon Larter (2/24), and Nigel “Jointy” Haines (3/19) all stood out, while Chris Mason and David “Woody” Woodworth contributed a wicket each.

Then it was Fiddlers turn to bat, and, compared to the huge target of the match before, felt confident that 134 runs at 4.6 runs per over was quite achievable, in spite of losing one of their all rounders to alcohol poisoning. However, Ibiza were determined to do their best to defend their modest score, and had more bowlers to use this time around. In addition their fielding was more alert than before, and pressure was applied from the beginning. Thus, in spite of a typically aggressive 36 from Fiddlers opener John “Hurricane” Hewitt, the scoring rate was restricted by tight bowling, and the visitors reached the halfway point on 60/3. But then several wickets fell quickly, putting more pressure on the lower order batsmen to maintain the run rate. Despite this, with their two batsmen who had scored so quickly in the first game, Luke Woodland (16) and Mike Salmon (20) batting together, a Fiddlers win was still the most likely outcome, until the former was bowled gojng for a big hit, with the score on 104/7. This swung the match Ibiza’s way, and Fiddlers then lost their remaining wickets for 15 runs, ending on 119 all out in 28 overs, with Ibiza coming out the winners by 14 runs in another enthralling contest. Ibiza bowlers all performed well, with Jeremy Parmenter (4/24), Tom Hoddle (3/26) standing out, and Graham Cooper, Robin “Hood” Parmenter taking a wicket each and bowling some maiden overs to keep the pressure on the visitors’ batsmen.

The matches were both played in the friendly and sporting way that epitomizes Ibiza cricket, and were both very closely contested, with both teams able to win right to the end, and Ibiza just pipping the visitors. It was Fiddlers first visit to Ibiza  and many thanks to their organiser David “Woody” Woodworth and skipper Mike “Silver Fox” Salmon (another silver haired veteran!) for managing to get a team to the island for over a week’s stay. We look forward to welcoming them all back in the near future.

All the best, RP Hood.