Scorecard

Vagabonds v Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Victoria Tour 2012 on Fri 29 Jun 2012 at 1:00pm
Glenmore Cricket Club Won by 2 runs

Match report Victoria Tour report 2012
That time again and for the 6th year in a row I was 100% in on what has become my favorite weekend of cricket every year.
Bright and early on Thursday the 28th June everyone ended up at my place to load the last of the kit, golf clubs and the most important piece of luggage to take up precious space in Mark’s van and Glenn’s truck – the beer.
Unable to dodge the less than stellar offerings at Dumpty’s (sorry is it actually called Humpty’s) at the Highway 1 Petro Can we once again made the annual pilgrimage for horrendous coffee and something to stave off starvation. Spirits were high however as we welcomed several newcomers to the tour. Rob Butler who only recently joined the club along with club veteran Alex Robertson who just needed enough notice to get the dates inked in the family calendar and long-time club member Glenn MacDonald who missed out last year due to the change of dates. The other newcomer was Andrew Wakefield who played for Glenmore many moons ago and came out of retirement just for the occasion. Tour organizer Trevor Defreitas was also joined by tour regulars Jonathan Smith, Jonathan Bray, Mark Duncan and Mike Sing with Neville Hircock our Victoria Glenmore connection waiting patiently in BC for us to arrive. A special mention has to go out to pommy piker Neil Honess who after serving up some excellent and persistent anti Oz sledging on tour last year gave his notice scant days away from the tour departure. Jonno Smith was a shadow of his former self without his sledging partner despite a heroic effort.
Missing the usual Okanagan Falls 20/20 spanking this time around we drove and drove and ferried and drove some more and got to Victoria later Thursday evening with the mandatory stops in Sicamous for the fantastic above average D Dutchman Dairy waffle cone, was happy to see the rum and raison back this year as was Mike and the delightful picturesque roadside ditch complete with lake and deer for the delicious curry provided by Duncan and DeFreitas. It was a veritable smorgasbord with curry beef and chicken along with chickpeas and roti all washed down with several cold ones - fantastic. Once getting to Victoria we kept it reasonably coherent with Jason Goldsworthy joining us. A late flurry from Rob and Jonathan Smith that got Robertson his first taste of Jager and Lemon Drop shots threatened to take things in a painful direction. Rob and Smith attempted to get back into the hotel bar for a lock in but thankfully they were thwarted by the ever alert security personnel.
Golf was organized for a brave few at a ridiculous time Friday morning before the match. Bray pulled out realizing that sleep was desperately needed and Nev confused by Jonno’s text to landline message also dropped leaving Glenn and Andrew to play a gorgeous early morning round at Cordova Bay.
Given the bleak forecast and rain the day before, the Beacon Hill ground looked absolutely stunning when the team turned up with not a single weed to be seen across the perfect outfield. Unfortunately the sprinklers had been on all night so the grass was pretty wet but with the sun shining and the temperature warming up it was looking good for a full day’s play. Glenmore won the toss and elected to bat.
Opening were Bray and Robertson who early on made tough going of the tight Vagabond bowling bringing frustration and good natured jibes from the sidelines (perhaps a little panic as well). After 20 overs as they came off for drinks their unbeaten partnership of 75 seemed a tad slow. The pitch however with all of the recent rain was playing particularly slowly and the wet state of the outfield made batting conditions the slowest the tourists had ever seen at Beacon Hill. Given the mandate to get the hell on with it Bray hit 8 runs from the first over after drinks and looked set to quickly get to his 50 retirement. Unfortunately after a loud call from Robo as he hit the ball straight to square leg and despite an instant response Bray was just shy of his crease and on his way back for 45 from 59 balls with the score reading 1/82. Andrew Wakefield had been stalking around the boundary in his pads at times looking like a cat on a hot tin roof with Jonathan Smith in tow pointing and gesticulating wildly or just practicing extravagant shots. Bray and Robertson of course paid little attention to the sideline antics and given what was to come justifiably so.
Andrew lasted just 3 balls when he gloved one that arrived about a week after he had played the shot and ballooned to first slip. Confusion reigned with only 20% of the Vagabonds appealing and Andrew to his credit trudging off to the pavilion for 1 helping the umpire out tremendously. Robertson was solid at the other end as Trevor 11 LBW and Nev 8 run out chipped in some valuable runs. Mark arrived at the crease and picked up the partnership with Robertson who shortly after retired, reaching a brilliant maiden 50 off 97 balls. A clinic in concentration and persistence it was a well-deserved reward for one of the clubs stalwarts.
Jonathan Smith bounced to the middle to join Mark, eager and ready to get things going. Unfortunately a call of wait from Mark wasn’t enough to stop Jonno who had backed up half way down the pitch only to slip on his ass and attempt to scramble back into his crease. Despite a spot of controversy over the fielder hitting the bails off first and then pulling the stump with the ball in his other hand the umpire raised the finger and Jonno was a big dark angry cloud as he made his way from the middle with all other Glenmore players giving him a wide berth it was now the second time since starting his cricketing career that he had been run out without facing a ball.
The runouts continued as Mike who chipped in with 5 runs couldn’t quite get back for a second. Mark who had hit a lovely boundary (only the 4th of the innings) also succumbed to the slow pitch, chipping one in the air and was caught for 10.
Glenn not out 5 and Rob not out 3 batted out the innings leaving Glenmore with a somewhat defendable total of 158.
The Vagabonds openers Tim and Dave settled in and worked the slow wicket in a mirror to the Glenmore innings as they both made the drinks break not out at and only 1 run shy of Glenmore’s total of 75 at the same stage.
The first to retire was Tim with a well-deserved 50 off 103 balls. The Vagabonds captain Adrian came to the wicket on a mission to raise the run rate. A boundary off Duncan seemed ominous until he cut the next ball straight to Bray at cover who grabbed the chance although the Glenmore team wasn’t sure if Bray did the catching or if the ball just imbedded itself somewhere inside the tangle of arms, hands and gut. 1/133 from 29 overs and Glenmore was definitely in it but needed to make some serious inroads into the Vagabond lineup. Glenn chipped in for a wicket straight away clean bowling Colquhoun for 1. Finally in the 30th over the ball was thrown to Andrew who had been chasing leather all day and absolutely loved his time on the park. His first two overs only went for 1 and 3 and the pressure was mounting. Mike, Rob, Jonathan Smith and our Vagabonds fill in Mike Holt had all sent down some tight overs.
The 35th over proved to be the turning point as Andrew stepped it up a notch with a fabulous diving reflex caught and bowled followed up with a slower delivery that popped daintily to Duncan at square leg. On a hat trick Andrew had many options open to him as to how he was going to complete the milestone. Craftily he decided on the leg side stumping as his percentage play with Trevor whipping off the bails to complete the 3 from 3 leaving the Vagabonds on 5/131. Mugged on all sides by the Glenmore team including barely sidestepping a dry root from the Aussies Andrew was at this point pretty much the happiest he was to be all tour given that by the end of this game his limbs were already refusing to cooperate with basic mobility. Still with work to do Duncan swooped in and completed a run out to make it 6/133. Banks the number 9 came in and helped himself to anything short looking to get Vagabonds over the line.
Robo came back to bowl at the death with Wakefield and quickly picked up 2 wickets, 7 for 143 caught by Glenn at short fine leg and 8 for 143 stumped well by Trevor. Wakefield also picked up another, removing Tim who had recycled back into the game and hit a firm return catch unable to build on his 50. It all came down to the wire with Robo bowling the last over and Banks on 10, looking to finish it with 4 runs to tie and 5 runs to win partnered with Dave recycled back again on 50 not out. The first 3 balls were dot, dot 1 as Banks could only get away the single. Glenmore was holding its breath. The 4th ball was a dot to the tired Dave who looked completely spent and finished unbeaten on 50 from 116 balls. The 5th ball however went down the leg side and they scrambled an extra run again bringing Banks back onto strike now only needing 3 runs from 2 balls. Unperturbed by the pressure and after his best day of cricket with the bat ever, Robo Robertson calmly jogged in and sent down the perfect ball which crashed into middle stump ending the Vagabond innings and instigating a wild celebration from the Glenmore team – no chance of avoiding a dry root this time. Robertson finished with figures of 3/25 from his 7 overs and Wakefield 4/19 from his 5 with Glenmore getting over the line by the meager margin of 2 runs.
After the presentations with Wakefield receiving the beaten up used Vagabonds cap based on a hatrick being rarer than a Robertson 50 (seriously) the happy and buggered Glenmore side headed to Nevs for the famous after match BBQ. Mike, Rob, Trev and Mark set about cutting and preparing salads while Bray settled into his customary position in front of the grill. The Vagabonds players turned up and beer flowed freely as steak after steak was loaded onto plates. Eventually after all the lies and stories were told the Vagabonds players vacated leaving the remaining Glenmore players to head downstairs for Table Tennis, Darts and Foosball. Glenmore sends a special thanks to Mike and Mark for getting stuck into the cleaning duties upstairs and to Nev as always for fabulous hospitality and a load of propane.
The celebrations continued on at the hotel with Rob, Trevor, Bray and Robertson toasting his maiden 50 and the victory over and over and over and over again  finally Robertson snuck back to his room at 3:30am and eventually Trevor turned the lights out at 5:00am a record for the Victoria tour by a long way.

Day two started bright and early with the trek out to Shawnigan Lake to play the Cowichan Cricket Club. Leading by 3 wins to 2 over the past 5 years Cowichan wanted to extend their lead and played calculating cricket to do just that. With misty light rain falling pretty much all day Glenmore bowled first and despite Mark getting their opener out for 12 to a plumb LBW and Glenn picking up The Vagabonds captain who had turned out for the second game in two days only to be bowled for 2 their other opener Gooda along with Carfoot and then King set upon the Glenmore bowling spanking to all parts of the Cowichan ground. All 3 of them retired on 50 in quick time. Glenn and Robertson were the only bowlers who kept things tight Glenn finishing with 1/19 from his 8 including taking 2 catches and Robertson 0/33 from his 8. Smith picked up two handy wickets finishing with 2/47 from his 7 in combination with Rob who broke through for his first wicket to much celebration from the Glenmore team finishing with 1/49 from his 5. Andrew although taking to the field could barely bend down and was applauded vigorously by both the Glenmore and Cowichan teams when he eventually managed to stop one.
Certainly the Glenmore side was a subdued team in the field partly due to the cold and clammy mist and rain but also aided in a large part by sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption. Set 231 Glenmore tucked away the fantastic cucumber sandwiches and tea provided by the Cowichan club and set out to take the attack to the bowlers. Bray and Smith opened the batting and Bray quickly found the boundary on multiple occasions with Glenmore reaching 40 off only 5 overs as Smith also cashed in on anything loose. A mix up in the middle almost left Smith run out for the second game in a row. Only the magnanimous not out from the umpire kept the Bray/Smith relationship in harmony. Smith was the first out playing across the line and losing his off stump. Bray then attacked one too many and skied to square leg with the score still on 40. Rob and Mike came and went quickly for 2 and a duck respectively. Javed the Vagabond import for this game continued to plug away hitting the occasional big shot keeping the board ticking over. Mark Duncan worked hard with Javed finding his fluency of old and put on a fabulous batting clinic with lovely shots all around the ground getting to his 50 retired in good time and keeping Glenmore in the hunt. Trevor joined Javed who was still working away on his 50 and remained not out for the rest of the innings. With the runs per over mounting Javed was finally out for 45 but by that time the run rate was above 12 an over. Robertson and Trevor tried to pick up every run on offer and Trev found the boundary before Robertson holed out for 10 bringing Andrew to the crease who actually slated in for 11 somehow managed to bend down low enough to don pads and was actually seen practicing what looked like some version of cricket shots on the boundary. This prompted Glenn to offer his spot mainly just to see how a quadriplegic looks while batting.
Andrew did manage a boundary and 3 singles which under normal circumstances could well have been 3’s and Trevor was left on 37 not out with the total on 198. There was a little bit of negative fielding by the Cowichan team with 5 players on the boundary from about the 8th over but given that this is their 100th year you can’t blame them for trying to notch up as many wins as possible. The game as always was played in great spirits and in the case of Glenmore oozing spirits.
Back to the hotel and onto the Sticky Wicket for dinner and a pint or two. Victoria was in full swing with Canada Day on the horizon but most of the team was definitely ready for a much earlier night. That is except for Smith, Rob, Andrew and Glenn who kept it going downtown.
Up again but this time heading to the beautiful Cordova bay golf course for a 9:00am tee time.
Smith, Duncan, Wakefield and MacDonald teamed up with Defreitas, Bray and Hircock in the second group. Just before the start of play and unbeknown to Trev and Jonno Nev had pitted the meager golfing abilities of our trio against the might of the Wakefield Smith combination for a winner buys lunch and beer affair at the 19th hole.
Despite the authors best round of golf ever and Nevs prolonged calculations there was just no way that we could fudge the numbers to come up with a free lunch. Wanting to throw a spanner into the works Andrew had been working hard on an alternate score card which was somewhat optimistic but accepted without question by the gullible trio. Smith put his acting skills to use looking nonchalant at the hearty congratulations from Bray. Eventually the actual card came out but even with a lot more shots on the board the quartet took lunch comfortably.
So with a fantastic day of golf in the sun done and dusted it was back to the hotel to freshen up and onto the Sticky Wicket. Rob, Alex and Mike had spent most of the afternoon there already enjoying the sights and sounds of a bustling Canada Day downtown Victoria.
Beer flowed freely and the dart boards lit up with initially Smith and MacDonald up against Robertson and Bray before after several defeats things were switched up and the inaugural Glenmore Ashes darts competition began. Playing a full two innings version of cricket Bray and MacDonald won a tight first encounter for Australia with Smith and Robertson coming back for England. At 1 test a piece the remaining 3 are to be played at a later date. Mark, Mike and Trev pulled the pin and headed back to the hotel and Rob called back to Calgary headed to the airport. The remaining team members wandered the streets till we found a great Italian place and hooked into some good wine and superb pasta finished with the first loud bang of the Canada Day fireworks. The crew quickly headed across the road and took in the aerial spectacular to finish a great day on tour.
Monday found a tired but happy Glenmore touring team gearing up early to make the 8:00am ferry on our way to play the West Vancouver Cricket Club. The rain looked heavy and set in as we made our way initially to Brockton oval (Bradman’s favorite ground) at Stanley Park for a pint at the clubhouse where there was a Canada Day 6 a side competition underway in the light rain.
Already fearing the worst we continued onto North Vancouver and with the rain falling even heavier spent some time over cups of tea in the clubhouse until the game was called ending the unbroken run of no rain outs on tour.
Heading back to Richmond Smith and Robertson were the most disappointed with the rest of the touring side depleted to 8 players at this point were collectively not that unhappy with heading to the pub for a beer. MacDonald, Bray, Smith and Robertson searched in vain for a darts venue and ended up playing Ashes pool with Australia taking victory 2 matches to 1 before dropping Smith at the airport to return to Calgary. Arriving back at the hotel the scene was Andrew and Mike on one bed and Duncan and Trevor on another watching “The Law of Attraction”. This is one of those moments that might be better left on tour but when MacDonald, Bray and Robertson joined the party you can’t help but be touched by the toughened Glenmore touring team bonding together over a good chick flick.
With rain continuing it was decided after much scrutiny of the various weather forecasts to head to Kelowna first thing in the morning to try to get another round of golf in. Up early again the weary weekend warriors drove through pouring rain stopping in Hope for a fantastic breakfast at the Owl Café. The rain eventually broke and revealed overcast but dry Kelowna waiting for them at about 2:00pm. Andrew checked out the golfing options while the cooler was once again attacked by the thirsty crew.
The Okanagan Golf Course was eventually chosen as the venue and Duncan, Wakefield and Defreitas teamed up with MacDonald, Robertson and Bray the other threesome.
The weather continued to improve with the sun eventually shining and everyone enjoyed the companionship and banter of a fun round of golf. Onto the 19th hole for dinner, golf stories and an explanation of the vagaries of golfing law by Andrew and we were all headed back to the hotel for a much more subdued evening.
Although there was talk of a possible 9 holes in the morning realistically everyone was beat and the walk across the road to IHOP was about the most exercise anyone could handle except Mark who at that stage was even succumbing to aches and pains.
Stops again for Ice Cream in Sicamous with Robertson upgrading to above average and teetering on the edge of Mammoth and a quick bolt into the BC tourism and info center so Wakefield could buy half the store. Glenn, Jonathan and Alex grabbed a last meal at the Legends diner scarfing down burgers.
That was a wrap on the 2012 Victoria tour. Spots have been booked by Alex Storey and David Sherjan for 2013 so get your calendars sorted and ink your names in because its’ going to fill fast and it’s going to be fantastic.

Cheers
Jonathan Bray

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Victoria Tour 2012 Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
16w 3b 1lb 
for 7 wickets
20
158		        
Jonathan Bray Run out  45 59 3 76.27 1
Alexander Robertson Not Out  50 97 51.55
Andrew Wakefield ct Dixon b Harding 1 3 33.33 2
Trevor DeFreitas lbw b Eaves 11 14 78.57 2
Neville Hircock Run out  8 24 33.33
Mark Duncan ct Eaves b Colquhoon 10 17 1 58.82 1 1
Jonathan Smith Run out  0
Mike Sing Run out  5 18 27.78
Glenn Macdonald Not Out  5 10 50.0 1
Rob Butler Not Out  3 2 150.0

Vagabonds Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
R.McKay8.012900.003.63
T.Brierley8.002500.003.12
S.Colquhoon7.0030130.004.29
J.Khan8.002700.003.38
A.Eaves5.0029129.005.80
D.Harding4.001400.003.50

Vagabonds Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 29w 1b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
32
156 (39.5 overs)		     
T.Brierley ct & bowled Wakefield 50
D.Harding Retired Out  50
A.Eaves ct Bray b Duncan 6
S.Colquhoon b b McDonald 1
J.Khan ct & bowled Wakefield 0
R.Scutt ct Duncan b Wakefield 0
H.Dixon st DeFreitas b Wakefield 0
P.Wheaton Run out  1
N.Banks b b Robertson 16
M.Andrews ct McDonald b Robertson 0

Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Victoria Tour 2012 Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Duncan6.0023123.003.83
Glenn Macdonald8.0027127.003.38
Rob Butler3.001200.004.00
Alexander Robertson6.502538.333.66
Mike Sing4.002000.005.00
Jonathan Smith2.00800.004.00
Andrew Wakefield5.001944.753.80
 
Photos and video of Vagabonds v Glenmore Cricket Club Glenmore Victoria Tour 2012 on Fri 29 Jun 2012 at 1:00pm

Beacon Hill

Walking across the hallowed turf at Beacon Hill

Trev, Jon and Andrew soaking up the sun

The boys enjoying the lovely setting of Beacon Hill

Lads on the sidelines

View from the balcony at Beacon Hill