To celebrate 21 years of under achievement, the Strollers undertook their inaugural Club Tour in July. Strollers’ Captain Phil Connell reports on "Alderley Edge ‘99".
Suggesting a weekend tour to Cheshire when it is becoming increasingly difficult to get 11 bodies, let alone cricketers, to Chiswick on a Sunday afternoon, appeared a somewhat ambitious proposal by Club Chairman Paul Lees at the Club’s AGM last November. But, as dawn broke on a gloriously sunny morning in July, a number of vehicles, filled with cricketers of dubious ability, departed various parts of South and West London en route to the attractive location of Alderley Edge.
Supplemented, in both games, by some old friends from the past, including Yorkshire based David Crang and John Newton, Strollers pitted their wits against an Alderley Edge Invitation Eleven on the Saturday and an Alderley Edge Select Eleven on Sunday. The main difference between the Invitation Eleven and the Select Eleven was that the Select Eleven included the Alderley Edge CC professional (Andre Hoffman, a Zimbabwean Under-19 International – remember that name, you saw it here first) and the Invitation Eleven didn’t!
Aficionados of Strollers cricket over the years will be aware that results and individual performances have always been of secondary importance; the "crack" is what really matters. It does, however, reflect well on the Club that we competed well on both days and indeed won the game on Saturday a shade comfortably. The Sunday match, however, was a different story, but the excellent facilities and big crowd (26 – thereby exceeding Strollers previous best by 23) more than compensated for the 83 run defeat. The scoring highlights are listed below:
Sat 24 July Strollers
266 for 5 in 40 overs
AECC Invitation XI 233 for 7 in 40 overs
Strollers won by 33 runs
Sun 25 July AECC
Select XI 292 for 5 in 40 overs
Strollers 209 all out in 39.3 overs
AECC Select XI won by 83 runs
Man of the Match: David Crang (Strollers)
Paul Lees and Nick Clark undertook the entire organisation in the South, whilst Nick’s brother Jonathan, who somewhat fortunately for us is fixture secretary at Alderley Edge CC, undertook all the arrangements in Cheshire. All being well, the Club hope to repeat the tour next year.
No Strollers’ report is complete without reference to team mascot, Derek Perry. Denied his usual Catering Manager responsibilities by the generosity of our hosts, Derek concentrated his efforts on exploring the lap-dancing clubs of Northern Cheshire. When reports were received from his hotel room-mates that his bed had remained unoccupied throughout the night, there were high hopes that Britain’s first (and last) medallion man had finally "pulled". Footage from the Alderley Edge Cricket Club CCTV did, however, reveal the sad but inevitable truth. To console himself on yet another failed mission, agent Perry had purchased a take-away and returned to his car in the AECC car park in the early hours of the morning to consume it. The night had taken its toll, however, and Derek soon fell asleep. When he awoke several hours later the only thing in his lap was a half-eaten burger which, whilst not dancing, was at least humming!
Phil Connell