“Man Lernt Nie Aus”

Matches: 24 / Appleton v Heligoland, 622 & 623

A Mixture

Team	Total
Appleton CC	115 - 6
P. Atkinson 36*, Jorg 1 - 1
Heligoland Pilgrims CC	99 - 7
Jasveer 26*, R. Allsworth 2 - 11

Team	Total
Appleton CC	107 - 6
E. Gilkes 26*, A. Darley 2 - 9
FFTMCC	95 - 8
J. Pearson 25*, P. Atkinson 2 - 15

Team	Total
Heligoland Pilgrims CC	136 - 1
C. Jefferys 27*, J. Cartwright 1 - 14
FFTMCC	75 - 9
J. Harris 11 Narayanan 3 - 11

Day 3 of the Westminster/Oxford tour was the much sought after rest day which gave the Pilgrims an opportunity to amble through the town, visit museums and watch some live cricket at the Magdalen College Ground. While the afternoon was spent brushing up on Renoir and Rembrandt the evening featured Moritz introduce his own contemporary masterpiece – the 1st Hop-On-Hop-Off Pub Crawl which to the best of my knowledge still waits for the last crawlers to hop off.

Day 4 of the tour saw the Pilgrims, thanks to the endeavours of the Nawab and his Understudy, master the art of the local taxi heralding to get us to Appleton, a lovely little village by the side of – well, nothing. Wait, there was something, we could smell it, and it was the local sewage treatment plant working at full capacity.

Coming into this Sunday while the village of Appleton hosted its 1st ever international T16 tournament, the Pilgrims were finally introduced to the shorter things in life – and a threesome. Unknown territory so to speak, but it was just a contest between the hosts from Appleton, Far from the MCC and a more or less sober team from the Island. For their first game the Pilgrims were asked to field – an excellent decision by our hosts Appleton CC who knew that the Erdinger refreshments were not getting cooler anytime soon. All the Pilgrims got to bowl barring keeper Trived and shared the spoils evenly between them. Skipper Rick came back with figures of 1-0-1-1 which he is certain to tattoo somewhere inconspicuous before the next tour. In no time at all Appleton had scored 115-6 in their allotted 16 overs. Credit must also be given to the local DJ’s XL German Playlist which included Nena’s 99 balloons and the national anthem, albeit the wrong verse, and thereby ensured that all players remained awake between the overs.

The Pilgrims opened the batting with their most entertaining pair, Su and Abhi who concluded that the ball needed to have been bowled yesterday to reach the bat in time, before Cam was out judged leg before – straight out of the textbook of a German league umpire. Jasveer (26*), Dev (23*) and Sid (18) looked a little livelier on the pitch but could not evade the inevitable. Eyebrows were raised when all but one player got to bat – also a first since the inception of the club. In the world of baseball, the match was finally awarded to the hosts 115 to 99.

About 240 Erdingers later the Pilgrims, under the enthusiastic leadership of their local captain Adrian “Matador” Mancuso, were put into bat. True to the very Prussian proverb of “perform or perish” the pilgrims were retired out as soon as they shouldered arms a second time. Cam (27*), Jasveer (24*), Abhi (25*) and Trived (20*) all contributed bountifully to a milestone century without loss and to an insurmountable total of 136 for 1 after 16 overs.

The veteran leftist grenade launcher Jörg opened the bowling against Far from the MCC who, having been exposed to the prolonged Erdinger immersion effect, understood the value of time on the …errr…. bench, where they were sent back to. Then Nabeel bowled his turning rippers, Su threatened with a hat-trick and the match ended almost at par with the FFMCC on 75 for 6 of 16 overs. A beautiful gesture of sportsmanship saw the hosting teams build a guard of honour for the visiting Pilgrims as they left the playing field.

Before the Pilgrims could leave our President Moritz surprisingly delivered a speech in English, a change from Latin and Greek which a touring Pilgrim is already accustomed to. Both captains of our opponents and the Appleton’s Chairman himself, who selflessly swept the pitch during the innings break, received our XXL pink tour Shirts as a small gesture of gratitude. Five opponents who had scored golden ducks received copies of Campbell Jeffery's supposedly romantic novel “Balaclava”. The talented young Louis King was presented with a Pilgrim’s cap for his dedicated all-round performance with the bat, ball and as a scorer and umpire and hand-lender before all the ravished players raided the barbeque prepared by Appleton CC.

Daddy Gilkes receives a gift from Moritz (Heligoland president).

And as a final highlight the Pilgrims were treated to a pint in the beautiful garden of the Eight Bells pub in the quaint village of Eaton at sunset. As a team we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our companions for the day – hosts Appleton CC and their fellows from Far from the MCC for the wonderful day of cricket fun in the sun and the lasting memories. The island of Heligoland in the North Sea would happily reciprocate your hospitality. The touring Pilgrims, now all alleged graduates from Oxford, will be back shortly with their next tour.

Heligoland Pilgrims: Abhi, Adrian (c 2), Cam, Dev, Jasveer, Jörg, Nabeel, Rick (c 1), Moritz Sid, Surya (wk 1), Trived (wk 2)

Appleton CC: A. Gilkes, C. Jones, E. Gilkes, E. Lifely, J. Bennet, L. King, J. Russ, M. Thaczyk, Ph. Atkinson, R. Allsworth, W. Geller

Far from the MCC: Bullock, Cartwright, Harris, Hotson, Reeves, Roberts, Rundle, Shorten, Timms, Turner, Webster

’Ben Dover’