A first visit to Andorra

Barcelona’s loss is certainly Andorra’s gain. Long-serving member Anish Shindore, now based in Andorra, has recently started proceedings to start his own club in the principality. Cricket Club Andorra has been officially born, and a home in Encamp sourced. We were set to play a triangular tournament with our French friends Nimes (who we visited last year, but were unable to play due to the weather), but sadly Anish wasn’t quite able to raise an Andorran team yet - that will certainly come in the near future. 

First game scorecard
We arranged to play three games over the weekend, although the plans were always quite loose. After reintroducing ourselves, sharing a breakfast put on by our host and even talking with the local press, we started a 30-over game, knowing that there was potentially disruptive weather coming in the afternoon to follow the storm of Friday night. Stand-in captain Maroof Shaikh won the toss and chose to bat with Khyzer Nawaz and Anton Kritzinger opening. Anton decided to become the first man to be run out on Andorran TV (see video below) and Khyzer (23) edged behind moments after being hit on the toe and facing the possibility of never being able to walk ever again. Maroof made a smart 19 before playing a very loose shot, but none of the middle order got going and we went from 54/1 to 70/5 very quickly. Maxi Hoeck (37) was at least playing some big shots and was ably supported by Zeeshan Dildar (23). Their 50-run partnership got us up to 150/8 before both were dismissed with us on that score just 23.1 overs into the innings. 
Nimes coach Rolf had promised some big hitting before the game, and he wasn’t lying… After a lengthy lunch/ rain delay, we finally got underway with more rain definitely on the way. Jones Paulson and Maxi started us off with the openers clearly keen to get the game won quickly - helped by our overpitched bowling. After an expensive first over, Jones dismissed their opener with the best slip catch that Andorra had ever seen (must be a good cricketer who took that). Sadly for us, the second wicket partnership, despite a few short rain delays, put on a rapid 88 runs together, with the ball consistently sailing over the long-on to cow corner boundary. Their captain Sharoz was finally dismissed for 62 by Umer Razi, who in turn became BICC’s “all-time” leading wicket taker. Spin-twin Anton followed suit, claiming two wickets in his two overs for just four runs as they collapsed from 105/1 to 107/4. Despite that amazing slip fielder getting a wicket of his own, it was too little too late and Nimes sauntered to victory five wickets down in the 17th over as the rain really started to hammer down. First spoils to the French, as we all ran for cover. 

Second game scorecard
After a bit of a wait, we decided to try and fill the remaining time of the afternoon with a T10 match. This time Nimes won the toss and chose to bat. Umer picked up his second wicket of the day but the innings would only last four overs til we were off for rain again, and this time for good. We agreed to finish the match in the morning, when the forecast was much better. 
Sunday morning arrived, along with the promised sunshine. With latecomers forcing a couple of changes to our lineup, we hit the field for the remaining six overs. Having taken just one wicket the day before, fresh legs and a change of conditions saw us rattle through a slightly mixed up batting order. Anton finished with 2/9 and Vishesh with 2/11, with cheap wickets for Maxi and Jones too. Nimes finished on 80 all out, losing the last wicket to a run out on the last ball.
Home hero Anish opened with Anton and got us a solid base. Burhan made an impressive cameo (16 off 6) and Maxi (26* off 14) saw us home for a five wicket victory with an over to spare. 

Third game scorecard
After the completion of the two-day T10, we started our scheduled Sunday games. The first game was a T20 where we again won the toss and chose to bat. With a bit of a reverse batting order, our top order struggled a bit and we were quickly 30/3. Umer and Zeeshan (24) put on a better partnership for the 4th wicket before we lost two wickets in two balls. Maxi (33*), in at 8, had another good cameo with the bat and got us up to 123 before the batters at the other end let him down. 
Nimes made rather easy work of the chase, taking just 11.3 overs to win the game. They did this just two wickets down, both taken by Sam when the game was gone. Nimes captain Sharoz finished on 85* and clearly felt frustrated at missing out on a ton…

Fourth game scorecard
Our final game of the weekend was scheduled to be another T20, but was cut short to 15-overs aside due to time constraints. We allowed Nimes to bat first in this game, as they requested. They got off to a flier, that never really slowed down despite the occasional wicket (particularly from Wills with 3/26). After 12 overs, Rolf, the Nimes coach, pulled his team off ending the innings early due to those same time constraints. It’s far to say that captain Sharoz (83*) was less than pleased!
It was agreed that we’d bat 10 overs with an unlikely target of 155 set. Despite some lusty blows from Zeeshan (28 off 16) opening up, none of the rest of the top order really got going until Maroof (21 off 9) and Burhan (19* off 10) came in after the game was gone. Nimes won by 56 runs as finished on 98/7.

Despite an overall imbalance in the two teams, it was a great weekend played in good spirits. As they had shown in France last year, they are a friendly bunch and the brief conversations after the game already turned to our next game together. We’re looking forward to it! 

Thanks to Anish and his fledgling Cricket Club Andorra for hosting, we hope to play against an Andorran side next time!

Sam Phillipps