"Bhaji" wrist slapped for using bindis...

Well there's a dubious title to a thread even if Wickman says so himself. But our old mate Bhaji is back in the news again testing the disciplinary machine to its absolute limit.

Over the weekend he slapped Indian Test star Sree Santh round the kisser for some reason or another in the heat of yet another defeat for his team.

Unfortunately for him instead of the out in the middle situation with Symmo this was done in front of both teams as they left the field and this time he is bang to rights.

Somehow the IPL have managed to come down on him and come down hard without dicking about too much. He forfeits all his match fees for the tournament which someone somewhere has calculated at $750k. He probably won't play again this year. The ICC will hopefully tuck in too. Now we all know the dollar's not doing too well against the pound right now but Wickman bets that would have bought him a small semi-detached somewhere in the UK...

What will be interesting to note now is whether, like in the usual ICC shenanigans, Bhaji can hire Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne and get himself off the hook and keep cricket on the front pages for all the wrong reasons.

There was an article not so long ago by one of cricket's sages - Martin-Jenkins or the like - saying that the day when the sport descended into physical abuse was not too far away. So here we are. Doesn't feel very good.

Fantasy Cricket Comes to The Wick

This year the Wick is running its own fantasy cricket tournament. All money raised goes straight to the club's funds for new nets.

All members who will play league cricket this year will be assigned a value.

Anyone who wants to enter (which should be all of you) then:

Picks 11 players. 4 batsman, 4 bowlers, 1 keeper, 2 all rounders

The value of the team must not exceed 60 points (TBC)

There won't be any transfers once the teams are entered (even if Mackie breaks something - it is a risk you take in picking him)

Points are awarded as follows:

runs: 1 run = 1 point
50 = bonus 25 points
100 = bonus 50 points
duck = -20 (-40 for golden)

Bowling: Wickets = 20 points
5 wicket haul = bonus 25 points
10 wicket haul = bonus 50 points

Fielding: Catches/run out = 20 points
Stumping = 20 points

Entry costs £10 a team. You can enter as many teams as you want. The prize for the winner will be £100 (or 20% of the money from entries - this is all for the club but bragging rights are worth a lot). Matches are all 3 league teams for the 2008 season. Final entry for teams will be 16th May 2008.

The player list will be sent out shortly along with an application form. If you are wishing to play, send the form back as an excel file saved under (your name)_wickfanasycricket. (ie mattdavies_wickfantasycricket.xls) Money will be collected at the club on match days/training or a cheque can be sent. Details will follow on application email.

Please forward this email onto anyone else who may be interested. Any further details can be found by emailing me back.

This is all for fun so any final decisions will be down to the organizing committee.

Please try to get application forms back as soon as they are sent out. Once the league is underway, the player points and fantasy table will be posted on the blog during the next week.

Thanks

Dominic
wickfantasycricket@hotmail.co.uk

p.s - Please don't hold any grudges based on the value you are given or your role. If you feel undervalued then be the bargain buy this season! Need to fill a certain amount of positions as well.

Jell in genealogy shocker

Wickman is perturbed to discover that the motivation for the creation of the Wick may have come from a man descended from those garlic crunchers from accross the channel. Jell has uncovered the history of the Wick's founder and first president and Wickman has great pleasure in reprinting this here. It could very well be the most useful thing ever contributed to the blog:

The Reverend Frederick John Champion de Crespigny

Le Wickman premier avait des ancêtres français

It seems we have to thank the French for our cricket club. Frederick, the prime mover in founding the club and its first President had French origins. His family can trace its lineage back to 16th century France, to Richard Champion, a member of a noble Norman family. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 the Protestant Champion family headed for England, settling initially in London.

The family retained its links with France over the intervening years as Frederick’s father, Augustus James, was born in Nice in 1791. Frederick himself was born 12 December 1822 at the house of his cousin, Sir William Bowyer Smijth, at Hill Hall, in Essex. Little is known of Frederick’s early life other that his father died at sea when Frederick was 3 years old. Augustus had served with Nelson and Collingwood.

Frederick went up to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1840 and played one game for the University, but not versus Oxford so did not get a blue.

He was ordained a clergyman in 1847 and served as a curate at Hockerton, and then Southwell Minster, both in Nottinghamshire. He was next a curate at Emmanuel Church, Camberwell, from 1850 to 1858, during which time he married Rosabelle Mary Wythe in Essex 18 August 1857. He then became the vicar of St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick from 1858 until his death in 1887.

Frederick’s first class cricket career consisted of just 3 matches. The first was in May 1843 when he played for Cambridge University v the MCC at Parker’s Piece in Cambridge. This was a 12 a side game and batting at 12 in the university’s 1st innings he was bowled for a duck, a very Wicklike start to his first class career. [It is not known whether he paid Duck Tax - Ed] In the MCC first innings his older brother Claude William opened the batting and was similarly out for a duck, although there is no evidence he ever played for the Wick. Would we have wanted him? [He would probably have paid lots of Duck Tax so yes]. This was Claude’s only first class match. In the university 2nd innings Frederick recorded a creditable 7 not out, again batting at number 12!

His 2nd match was for Nottinghamshire. He was a member of Notts County Cricket Club and played for the local Southwell side when he was living there. His single appearance for the county was versus Sussex at Trent Bridge in 1848. The scorecard shows that he bowled 3 overs for 7 runs in the Sussex first innings, including a wide and 2 overs for 5 runs in their second innings, this time including 2 wides and failed to take a wicket in either innings, a very Wicklike bowling performance. Battings at 10 in the only innings of Notts he scored a splendid 20 not out from a total of 134 scored in 95 overs. Slow going even by current Wick standards! Some enquiries regarding his cricket later in life led to him replying: ‘In bye gone times I had the honour and pleasure of playing for the famous County of Notts’.

The St Lawrence ground at Canterbury was the scene of his 3rd and last first class appearance playing for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent in 1851. He did not bowl and scored 15 batting at 8 in the only innings of England.

The 1861 Census for Hampton Wick finds Frederick and Rosabelle living at the Parsonage in Park Road, along with 4 servants. With a groom who doubled as a gardener, a cook and 2 maids he must have had plenty of time for cricket.

The cricket club was founded in 1863 and 2 reports appeared in the Surrey Comet, the first in May 1863 reporting that the requisition for a grant of part of Bushy Park had been successful. The second article in June was a report on the first match, an inter club game, which was played on Tuesday 9 June 1863.

There has been much debate over the name of the club and the inclusion of Royal. Some jealous clubs have said it was an affectation introduced by us after the 2nd World war. We can now lay that to rest. The Surrey Advertiser has a headline “The Royal Cricket Club” reporting the annual meeting of the club, published in March 1873, under the section of Hampton Wick news. The report states the club’s patron was His Serene Highness the Prince Teck. The Prince was a German aristocrat from Württemberg who spent some of his later life at White Lodge in Richmond Park.

Frederick died 25th June 1887. His death was reported in the 2nd July edition of the Surrey Comet with a very long and fulsome tribute. The report included: “He was an enthusiastic lover of English field sports, and excelled especially as cricketer. He had been for many years president of the Hampton Wick Cricket Club which owes much of its original success and present prosperity to his hearty and energetic support”. Surely the editor of the paper must have forgotten to include the Royal?

His wife Rosabelle survived him until she died in 14th December 1902. She was listed on the 1901 Census living with her niece in Hampton Wick. She was recorded as an imbecile. I guess that’s what happens to all us Wick people in the end.

Richard Jell
April 2008

Match Report by Matty D - 1s vs Deando Ruxley

The 1XI started 2008 with a victory against Deando Ruxley.

Our team included the returning Raza, the debutants Hooper and Walsh, and the promotion of Junaid following the late cancellation of the 2xi fixture (and the now traditional pre-season injury to Mackie).

Deando Ruxley is a pleasant ground in Ewell adjacent to a LA Fitness complex, meaning there were always people around. The ground itself is large with two cricket squares. The ground was lush and greener than Alan Titchmarsh. The pitch reflected this. Recently relaid they were reluctant to take too much grass off, especially early season, so it was destined to be a slow track. And it proved to be the case.

Losing the toss, the Wick were inserted, with Fullers League rules being the order of the day. Sayce and Cole put on an excellent opening partnership of near 50, although with the outfield as slow as it was, it was worth another 25 on top of that. No boundaries were scored, but lots of 2s were run!

Sayce fell. Bowled. He was quickly followed by Hooper, who found it difficult to adjust from Joey at The Oval to slow dobbers at Deando. Raza, who literally hadn't picked up a bat since 2007, came out all guns and middled it from ball one. He fell soon enough however, middling one straight to mid off. Cole, probably bored, skied one and the Wick were stuttering slightly at 65-4.

O'Mahoney and the debutant Walsh patiently nurdled their way to another important 50 partnership, O'Mahoney taking the lead with an impressive 50 making scoring look much easier than anyone else all day. With the score at 140-odd, Davies and Ewen came to the crease. Davies ran himself out trying to do a Mackie, whilst Ewen decided to bring the long handle out and found a maximum straight.

The Wick 168-7 declared off 47.5

Teas. Simple sandwiches, but lovely soft bread and additionals of pate, home made chocolate treats and the ol' scotch egg/pork pie combo. No complaints, other than the squash which was weak. 6/10.

The aim was to give batsmen time in the middle, and bowlers overs under their belt. Ewen opened up, and after waiting 30 overs for the first Wick boundary... Deando managed one off ball one. Joey and Ted Goodwin's opening overs each were expensive, with the plucky Africaans speaking opener happy to bludgeon everything Gilchrist style. However, Ewen proved too strong and nailed him lbw pretty soon afterwards, before nailing the #3 in the same over with a banana of a fast inswinger. Goodwin followed this with an lbw, leaving Deando struggling at 25-3. Always on top of things thereafter, the Wick rotated the bowling to give everyone overs. Ford proved again he is lethal on such tracks, nagging his way to 4 wickets, two of which were expertly caught by O'Mahoney standing up.

Special mention to Junaid who picked up a wicket on debut, bowling 4 excellent overs of controlled medium pace. His bowling was calmer and more mature than his indoor pre-season performances had been, which bodes well for the future.

Ewen returned toward the end to help Ford mop up the tail, and Deando were all out for 100 off 40 overs.

All in all, a good performance and a good way to start the year. The habit of winning is something the side needs to continue next week, when Godalming will prove to be a tougher test.

Individually, the returning Raza and Hooper will need to adjust to English slow green tops if their performances are to match their talent - but that will come. Ewen and Ford again bowled their usual tight stuff, and found reward picking up wickets each.

Cole and Sayce provided a solid platform from which the team could build a good total.

Walsh on debut showed himself to be light on his feet and also that he has a good cricket brain, contributing to a match winning partnership.

MOM was O'Mahoney. The outstanding batsman on the day, shown by both ability and runs. He also kept superbly, taking catches, keeping up the chat, and conceeding no byes.

Everything bodes well

Subs are due

Ah yes it's that time of year, my little friends, when the club asks you to reach deep into your wallets and produce subs. These subs, gentlemen, pay in part for the upkeep of the club, the fixtures, the fittings and for the provision of strips to play on each week.

Your committee has generously frozen subs at last year's rates of £100 adults, £50 unwaged and students. These are due before the end of May. After May the amount goes up by £10. After that we'll send Keith round to your house to scare your Mum. The technical term used by the taxman is distrait. This is where goods and chattels to the value of the amount owed are seized. For some members this will be their Superman duvet cover, an old collection of Shoot magazines circa 1993 and something they made in woodwork. Seize them Keith will. Think of your poor Mum's ticker...

If you are suddenly panicking and thinking ohmigosh I forget to order a new chequebook, fear not as there is now a card machine in the club. Use it... or risk the wrath of... The Chairman.

Getting Wick with... AJ

1 Nickname(s): aj, junior, spike, bas
2 Highest Score for HWRCC: 118 v Crowhurst, July Tour 2003
3 Best Bowling for HWRCC: 4/50 v Wadhurst, July Tour 2003 (absolutely bossed that tour. lost it soon after)
4 Favourite Away Ground: NPL, flat batting track, good oppo, short drive, top clubhouse and banter always good.
5 Favourite Food: Chicken Teriyaki
6 Favourite Singer/Band: Rolling Stones/U2
7 Favourite Movie: Road to Perdition/Anchorman
8 Favourite Book: All the President's Men
9 Favourite Pub: Teddington Arms. Sorry fellas, blasphemy I know.
10.Favourite Club: The End, West Central St
11.Favourite Crisps: Roysters - T Bone Steak Flavour
12.Favourite DBW Sandwich: ham on a roll, odd concept that has worked for years. There's life in the old dog yet.
13.Favourite Quote: "That track was more up and down than a cheerleader's head on prom night" - Del Boy, circa 2005. Stoke D'Abernon? [Wickman begs to differ. Surely "sniff that"?] 13 Childhood Sports Hero: Gary Lineker, without a doubt.
14 Best Wick Moment: 54 v Merrow 2006.
15 Worst Wick Moment: Being called up to play for the 2s when I was 15 (on the back of 50 odd the week before in the 3s). The game was away at Wembley, I batted at 9, grabbed a second baller, and we got stuffed by 8 wickets. Got dumped that night too. I haven't forgot that Sisso... [Wickman didn't know you and Sisso were lovers - good of you to out yourself in a blog questionnaire. Must have taken a lot of guts]
16 Invite 3 People to Dinner (Dead or Alive): Keith Miller, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards

If Wickman was Delia...

...he'd be a couple of first half glasses of Pinot Grigio to the worse and howling like a banshee down the mic "let's be 'avin ya". We're a couple short for Saturday. It's pre-season and the usual April grumbles about not wanting to play for this or that reason are surfacing. Even if its a friendly weekend we do still need to marshall the troops and fulfill our commitments so dust off the wife, caress your whites fondly as you leave the door and head down to the Wick to play. Call Matty D or your nearest committee member for details.

Remember there are only two warm up games before the league starts for all three teams...

What's a sixer?

Not that Wickman needs a lie down or anything after a weekend of 2020 action but he’s on a roll here. What is the Indian crowd on about chanting that it wants a “sixer”? “We want a sixer, we want a sixer”. Ever since the seminal (fnarr) book “Scouting for Boys” by Baden-Powell there has no doubt been a demand in certain quarters for fresh faced young gentlemen in shorts who know what to do with a woggle. But whole crowds asking for the Lead Cub in a cub pack… surely independence was supposed to change all that?

McCullum's Orange Hat

And another thing. What’s the orange hat that McCullum’s wearing all about? Well Wickman knows it’s for the chap that is currently the leading run scorer in the tournament. But why? What’s the point of him wearing it? So you can spot him when he’s fielding is the obvious answer you’ll be telling Wickman. It sort of doesn’t mean anything. Yes Wickman knows that in cycling the fella that’s leading the race wears the maillot jaune and the king of the sprints gets green or whatever and the mountain king gets white with red spots. But there’s a reason. Hundreds of cyclists bunch together for 250kms of French countryside. The spectators in that sport need to know where the overall race leader is. It makes it easier. What plonker can’t spot McCullum with McCullum written on his back on the telly? And for the crowd? Do 70,000 people want to see McCullum under the ball and scream “you can bat, but you can’t field”? What happens when it changes from McCullum to Mr Cricket or someone else? Do they publicise the fact? Otherwise you might be thinking “Hello McCullum has changed sides – he’s not playing for Kolkata tonight”. It just doesn’t help. Wickman supposes you could be close enough in the crowd to see the hat and read the player’s name on the back of the shirt and say “okay that’s x and he’s the leading run scorer in the tournament”. Wickman wonders what happens if someone overtakes McCullum in the middle of a game they are both playing in. At the apposite moment does McCullum say “fair goes mate, here’s the cap”? It would be sweaty… Here's someone wearing an orange hat totally unlike the orange hat that McCullum was wearing. This is because when you type McCullum's orange hat into Google an alarm goes off and IT come round to take away your computer as they think it's something "wrong". They should see Wickman's temp files...

Sixes

Has anyone worked out what the DLF sixes tournament is about yet? Wickman began by thinking it was a league. Didn’t Fudgey have a Wick sixes league last year? Then rather than simply numbers (you’d have to be backing McCullum after day one) he then got confused by Ravi Shastri or some other hysterical commentating loon banging on about distance. And then yet some other loon seemed to think that there would be some sort of judging thing going on for the best six. Now that would be a strange one. How do you win? Height and length? Length? Sheer brutality? The perfect slog sweep? Footwork? Bat weight divided by distance? What if you larruped it off Brett Lee bowling at 99mph? Surely that’s got to be better than nailing a Danny Vetori short one out of the ground? DLF is an Indian building firm by the way. So if you have Indian construction needs...

This IPL lark

So finally it all began at the weekend. The IPL. The future of the game. Although actually, it turned out not to be. It turned out to be a 2020 tournament in India with some of the world’s best players involved. Forgive Wickman for a moment but didn’t we have a 2020 tournament not so long ago in South Africa with… all of the world’s best players in it? Wickman supposes that by having this tournament in India it means we get to see more Indian players. They do have some fantastic youngsters to watch. That Ishant Sharma. He’s a find. No, hang on, we’ve just seen him do over the Australians downunder in a Test series and stick it up the Jaapies too. Hmmm. That Yuvraj Singh then. He’s a clean striker of the ball… What’s that you say? He hit six sixes in the world cup?

It also means we get to see more Australian players than we are used to seeing. Wickman hasn’t seen much of David Hussey… outside of the English county season. James Hopes… he can hit it. Erm… Cameron White… plays in England. What IS this tournament about? This is Doug Bollinger. He must be the only cricketer in Australia not playing in the tournament.

Slogging with the Swiss

When I checked my cricket kit in for my flight at Luton Airport back in December, the Easyjet drone on the desk suddenly woke up and felt compelled to double check that I was sure I wanted to go to Basel, Switzerland.

It's not exactly the first, second or even 100th place many would think of if asked by Les Dennis 'to name a country you would associate with cricket'. But unlike most other decisions in my life, my move to Switzerland was not one based on cricket.

To my pleasant surprise there is a lot more happening here than you would first think. There are 19 teams which compete in a league and cup. There are now 35 ECB Level One coaches and 12 Level 2 coaches.

There is a growing junior setup, and the U11's and U13 Swiss National teams have just won a European Tournament in Munich. Big deal I hear you mutter... Mickey Mouse are the words probably passing through the brain of Matty D. When you compare it to English cricket and it's heritage yes it is, but until 3 years ago there was little or no junior cricketers here and no qualified coaches, so the strides that have been made in such a short space of time is nothing but commendable.

And so yesterday I played my first game. An inter-club game of which for which 30 people turned up. English, Aussie, New Zealand, Indian, Pakistani, West Indian, South African and even a genuine Swiss player all came together for a 25 over game, followed by a junior game, and a curry afterwards on a beautiful sunny day on the outskirts of Basel, near the French border.

The ground, not surprisingly, lacks the cricketing feel and class of The Wick. There is no sense of heritage, no history oozing pores or for that matter a club house. Instead there is a shipping container which houses the club kit, the barbecue, scoreboard and seating.

And what of the pitch? Again it couldn't really be more different. The ground is essentially a football field, with a concrete path running through the middle of it. On this road is laid a mat for the pitch and the run-ups. When I say it is quick, that does not do it justice. Balls fizz past your nose as though you're in a virtual reality game and stormtroopers are unleashing a barrage of lazer fire at you. If Joey were to bowl on it, they would have to demolish the surrounding golf club and build a hospital instead. Unfortunately for me though, my third ball did very much the opposite to everyone else's. It bounced 3cm off the floor, having pitched half way down the pitch and struck me on the ankle bone. I'm not sure if I was actually given out LBW or if I walked, especially as the fielding appeal consisted of not so much a "Howzat", but "SHIT! It's never done that before"!

My keeping experience was slightly less eventful but it was certainly an early season workout of an intensity I wasn't expecting. Especially when, stood-up to one of the opening bowlers, he decided to bowl a vicious bouncer, which seemed to collect snot from the batsman's nose and smash into my gloves milliseconds before it would have smashed into my cranium square between the eyes. The bowler apologised after, commenting that he didn't realise I was standing up.

As it's a football field the grass in the outfield is long, especially as we've had enough rain in the last two weeks to drown a whale. Some players approach this hurdle with a more agricultural game plan from the Adam Crane and Charlie High school of batting, but it was also a very pleasant surprise to see some genuine stroke-makers and some very good cricketers. One young English lad was very much in the Boney mould, and given opportunities could be a very good batsman. There is a South African who has played provincial cricket back home and the skipper and all-round godfather of Basel cricket played for the Indian Army in the Ranjiv Trophy, and despite his advancing years is without doubt still a very good player.

The game was a relatively low scoring affair and in the end the side I was playing for came out victorious, but it has indeed whet my appetite for more, and gone some way to making up for the disappointment I felt when it became clear that I wouldn't be able to play for the Wick for the foreseeable future.