Friday scorecard 
As the storm clouds gathered overhead on a humid Friday lunchtime the visiting Batteresea Badgers gathered on the outfield of Carlos Perez waiting for their hosts BICC to arrive. Like all visiting teams they were keen to inspect the pitch and warm up in the late autumn sunshine. 

The toss was won/decided and BICC chose to bowl first, new skipper Mishmash taking the first over from the football ground end, was slapped for a couple of fours to set the tone for the Badgers. Second bowler was none other than the crocophile man himself, to bowl some accurate poison darts as if he was back in the Zambian jungle once more. Simon got the first wicket and ended with the nice figures of 2/14 off 4 overs. Mishmash meanwhile found his line and length finishing with the tidy figures of 0/15 from 3 overs. 

New boy Kunal entered the fray with an expensive first over but like his captain made up for it with the next couple of overs ending up with 0/19 from 3 overs. Suraj came on for an over and bagged a wicket with 1/10, removing Badgers opener C.Knight who looked in good form, with a great caught and bowled. While all this was going on the BICC fielding was looking sharp, Ed aka golden arm/ the Somerset sniper waded into the action with a run out with only one stump to aim at that would have Ponting creaming his pants. As if that's not enough for one man, Ed comes onto bowl and takes a screamer of a caught and bowled as casually as a man who's just been handed an ice cream. Golden arm finished with 2/12 from 3 overs.The badgers run rate was under control now, so who better to bring on than Caspar "are nets still on this week" to bowl a couple of more controlled overs, finishing with 0/17. Next new player Will bagged his first BICC wicket first over and got 1/16 from his 2 overs. Club legend Wild Bill turned his arm over for 2 overs, 0/12.

Battersea Badgers 118/7

Opening the innings for BICC was Umer and Suraj, both looking assured the first few overs with Suraj pulling a couple of his sixes like he was swotting a pesky fly out the way. Looking to dispatch a full toss into plaza España, Suraj missed and was out LBW for unlucky 13 to a ball that was "dipping" on him. Next up was Shano, walking out with confidence, playing a full blooded drive with confidence and walking back a minute later as the ball sailed off the outside edge in slow motion and fly slip gobbled it up. Cue panic in the ranks, fear gripped the BICC dug out, pads and gloves everywhere. Kunal went out and smashed a quick 3, golden arm Ed played all round a straight one and was out for a duck three balls later. You can imagine the mayhem and panic had set in now, surely skipper Mishansh could calm things down? Well, no. Two balls later he's on his back for a duck trio with Ed and Shane. Next Simon steadied the ship, playing a solid forward defense like it was a timeless test match. A couple of runs later Simon was the second LBW victim of the day. Umer was finally caught on 33 runs, the long wait for the century continues. The next three batsmen managed one run each, Bill, Will and Caspar. Caspar barely had time to enjoy his empanada before he was padding up!  Last man in Wills, looking to improve the average, smashed a couple of runs and finished not out. Badgers skipper Sam Allwood finished up with 4/14 from 4 over, nice work sir. 

BICC 81/10

Monday scorecard
After a weekend of torrential rain the sky finally gave hope on Monday lunchtime that some cricket could finally be played. Plans of a forty overs game were abandoned with a late start twelve overs per innings was agreed.

BICC won the toss and opted to bat first, Shane and Issac (on loan from Badgers) opened the innings. Shano, a nervous wreck from the golden duck, was relieved to push an early single safely to leg side and avoid the dreaded pair. Issac meanwhile was enjoying a few big shots until he cut a lovely shot straight into the hands of gully for 10. Out strode Anton to the middle, always a joy to watch but unfortunately a nice shot off his pads flew straight into the hands of Badgers skipper Sam at deep mid wicket for 2. Next in Aussie James, the Brisbane express to join the fray, pulling and cutting like he had never been away. With a damp outfield and long boundaries both James and Shano had to run a lot of singles and two's that would have been fours another day. Martin of Badgers bowled a consistent and nagging length outside off stump and deserved a wicket. After ten overs golden arm Ed was spotted padded up and raring to go like a greyhound in a trap on the edge of the BICC dugout. Shane retired for 18 and in came Ed for final two overs finishing on 6 not out and James 16 not out.

BICC 2/74

On loan Issac opened the bowling for BICC, a tight line and length that kept the opening Badgers at bay. Next up and steaming in from the football ground end was the Brisbane express, always in the wickets James found the inside edge and the middle stump was knocked back. As the runs dried up for the Badgers they were pinching singles with one single being pushed to old golden arm himself, who casually threw at the stumps with only one to aim for, the batter well short of his ground. As if another run out wasn't enough Ed came onto bowl, picking up a wicket in his two overs. Behind the stumps Supun had been keeping things tidy as possible, off came the pads and gloves for a tidy over, tying up the badgers with some well flighted deliveries. Ravi took over the keeping duties and talking of well flighted deliveries, our Dave came on to give the ball such good flight that Qantas would have been proud. Bowling three tight overs Dave made sure the Badgers fell short of the target.

Battersea Badgers 3/72

Shane Lightley

Scorecard
Great Glen CC 165/5 
BICC 170/1 

A warm and sunny lunchtime greeted the players arriving at Montjuic to host our first touring team of the year, Great Glen from the Leicestershire league. 

With a 1pm start the match had time for 25 overs per innings and after winning the toss Great Glen batted first. Unfortunately our visitors had some last minute problems and could only bring six of their own players. With our own availability over subscribed with players “working from home/students/early retirement” we loaned our former captain Umer  “batting for his average” Razi, new boy Uwijal and Anton Kritzinger to bolster Great Glens batting line up.

Opening the bowling from the city end with some serious swing was Jones, he soon had the Great Glen openers Umi and Pina poking and prodding while our keeper Ash was diving beautifully behind the stumps to deliveries that strayed down the leg side. Jones bowled consistently well without taking a wicket with 27 coming off his 4 overs. Meanwhile our skipper Shri was steaming in like the Calcutta express and deserved a wicket or two but finished with 20 off his 2 overs. 

Entering the fray up next was our very own answer to to the Luftwaffe, Max, dropping his short pitched chin music like it was going out of fashion. Max finished with no wickets but only 16 off his 3 overs. Somehow the Great Glen openers were still hanging around, keeping the scoreboard just about ticking over.

Next into the bowling attack was Karthik, soon the breakthrough came and the opener Pina was caught by Shiri out in the deep for 19. First drop for Great Glen was Uwijal, keen to make up for his duck last time out, was quickly calling a suicide single which momentarily had both batters running towards the same end, somehow they both avoided being run out. After more trick shots then a Reeperbann hooker Uwujal fell for 10, LBW, playing all round a full toss that really should have been dispatched to the next postcode. Bowling the pie was none other than crocodile Eldridge, who was glad to “snap” up another wicket on his journey back to first team status. 

Fresh from his stint at NASA, Wills was launched into the bowling attack with some rockets. Wills took a stunning catch low to his left of his own bowling, and after two more catches from Maroof, finished with the bang tidy figures of 3/22 off 4 overs. During the chaos Umi was retired for 44* and at the fall of one wicket Anton come out to finish on 12* while Karin from Great Glen was one of Wills victims accumulating a well played 34. Mishmash bowled well to no avail but was economical with only 20 off 4 overs. 

Striding out to open the batting for BICC like a couple of gladiators was Ash and Maroof, slaying the bowling to all four corners. Ash succumbed to one big shot too many and holed out, caught at deep mid off for 28. Next man in Shane dispatched his first delivery off the pads for a boundary to put any fear of a BICC duck trophy away for another day. Maroof and Shane settled down pinching singles and playing confidently, until Great Glen introduced the spin twins, Umi and Anton in to the attack. For a few overs in the middle of the innings there were more dots than book of Morse code but Shane and Maroof knuckled down and released the pressure. Eventually Maroof retired on 44* and in came Mishmash to steer the good ship home, retiring on 20* with Skipper Shri sensing victory coming out to smash a six off his only delivery and win the game leaving Shane stranded on 41*.

Shane Lightley

See scorecard here

Once again the toss was avoided as the tourists elected to bat first. Mohsin Nawaz was up once again and bowled a great line from ball one. Enzo Balke came on a the other end and also bowled beautifully not giving away an inch and bowling the bowl right on the spot. The first breakthrough came in Enzo's second over and he rattled the stumps of the opening batsman leaving them 1/10. Mosh picked up the second wicket in his third over cleaning up their other opener and they were 2 /15. Mosh and Enzo were given a rest in the heat after a great spell by both and Paolo Toffolo and Siddhartha Tewari took the reigns and also gave away nothing. Sid got a wicket in his first over, bowled, and the tourists were 3/33. Tidy bowling all round meant Moreton never had an easy shot and the run rate was kept quite low. Sid grabbed another in his third over bowled and they were 4/48 with their best bat, and captain, heading back to the pavillion. Umer Razi took over from Paolo and was immediately rewarded with a wicket with his first ball as Paolo picked up a catch. But Sid wasn't finished yet. He got two more, one caught by me and the other bowled as he collected four wickets for the match. Umer bowled another batsman and then again shortly after (which we called a no ball and brought the batsman back) Shayne Rotte got in on the action and grabbed a stumping with the help of Nadim Aseq A Arman and as I ran off to the loo Ted Richards snuck in for an over which left them with a total of 64.
Umer and Aamir Naseer opened the batting. The first to fall was Aamir and we were 1/6. Controversially Sid was promoted to number 3 he and Umer put on 20 more before Umer, after hitting a nice six, was bowled 11(7). That brought Rob Paterson to the crease. The battle for highest run scorer is hot and as Alex Wollauz waited patiently for his chance to push his total further ahead but was denied as no other wicket came. Sid and Rob collected the rest of the runs in 14.3 overs leaving Sid 26*(33) and Rob 38*(39) and that was that. We finished up with the usual banter and speeches and we have now three consecutive wins and momentum coming to the mid season break.
Damien McMullen

See scorecard here

* Touring side led by Phil Tompkins (of Moseley Ashfield CC, Birmingham), but just a scratch XI of friends. ​

The day was a little wet and humid and we skipped the toss as the opposition opted to bowl first and we opened with the sturdy duo of Umer Razi and Siddhartha Tewari who put on a 46 run opening stand before was out caught for a quickfire 24(16) which brought Alex to the crease. He and Sid then put on another 42 before Sid was caught behind for a solid 21(33). Meanwhile Alex was playing textbook cover drives and all sorts of good, aggressive shots. Ted Richards came in but wasn't lucky and was bowled for 2(3) Rollo Bennett added one more to the total before he too to was bowled.Rob's mate Abe then jumped in after a few years without a bat and Alex pulled up another 50 to put himself well in contention for highest run scorer this year. Abe managed some good shots until he was finally caught and bowled 20(22), by our very own Mohsin Ahmed Nawaz who had decided to play the villain for the day. Nirjon Hasan came in and then Alex was finally dismissed (Mosh again!) for a very healthy 54 (36). Rob Paterson hit a four and then the overs were up for our good total of 164.
We opened with Nirjon and Alex. Alex struck first luring the batsmen down the pitch to be stumped by the nimble Nadim Aseq A Arman. Sai Raja Gopal playing his last match bowled really well and gave nothing away. Rollo picked up their number three batsmen cleaned bowled. Sidd chipped in to remove the other opener and their top run maker also bowled. Ted got a rattle too and Sid got another with a catch from Umer. There were two runouts one by Umer and the other by Sid. I gave myself a bowl and snuck in two wickets in a row to clean up the tail. And that was that we bowled them over for 122. 42 runs short.
All in all a good game, a good laugh, and a good bunch of chaps. We sat down for our usual chinwag.
Damien McMullen

See scorecard here

​
Report by Kevin Smith, SLHCC

We arrived at the stadium with the joyous sight of grass but the thought of moving around let alone running and bowling was making my stomach do all sorts. In the match, we bowled first and after being put everywhere in the game before, the bowling was much better! Highlights included Lovejoy going for just 5 runs in 4 over’s, the wicket taking return of John Hicks, 5 bowlers getting a maiden, 2 great catches from Adam and myself (somehow!) and Nuts getting another wicket. If it wasn’t for a few lusty blows by the left handed keeper, the score would have been even better but 160-9 of 30 over’s was a good effort.

With limited time available we went straight into our batting innings with highlights being a second ball duck for Chay (haha), Nuts getting worried about the Barcelona International quick bowler, Lee getting a not out again (and 80 odd runs!!), me having to run countless singles and twos with Lee when I was still close to chucking up everywhere and Phil coming in with the team needing 6 to draw of the last ball, and late cutting for 2. We ended up losing by 4 runs but it was a great game and the Barca Int team were a really nice bunch of lads! After we had changed out of our snazzy new T20 kit, we followed the opposition to a nice bar in Barcelona and after a tight squeeze into the underground car park, we had our final fines meeting. More dubious fines were being thrown about although some people like Ben, Kay and Anne escaped quite lightly as they were well behaved!!! Adam was judged to be the final Tart if the Day after we explained that he had brought straightners on tour!!! We then enjoyed some excellent food and a few drinks before heading back to the hotel for a few drinks in the hotel bar.

See scorecard 

CERN travelled to play in Spain for the first time ever, in the beautiful grounds of the Hotel El Montanya, high in the mountains 60 kms from Barcelona. The cricket field was slightly larger than the well kept football field on which the mat was placed diagonally. On the first day, CERN played last year's Spanish League and Cup winners, Barcelona, and were made to toil in the hot sun as the ball raced regularly to the boundary. The fielders were able to find some shade whilst regularly looking for balls lost in the woods alongside the ground, as Ali hit 14 massive sixes in his innings of 134 not out. CERN lost more balls in a day than they would normally in a whole season! Barcelona eventually reached 280 all out off their 40 overs. CERN did well to keep them down to this score, especially as in the league play-off at the end of last season they had scored a massive 507 for 2 in 40 overs! In reply, CERN scored steadily, putting on 61 for the first wicket, but at the half way stage still had to score 190 in the remaining 20 overs. Off the next 10, only 44 were scored, by which time the match was beyond CERN's reach. The final score of 187 for 8 meant that CERN lost by 93 runs. Davenport was CERN's top scorer with 36, earning him the "Man of the match" award from the opposition, at the dinner in the evening.

Report by CERN CC  http://cricket.web.cern.ch/cricket/1996/reports/960525.report.txt