Community Cricket – Cricket Community

The ground for Saturday’s tournament in Avranches

This new page is designed to be used principally for the tournament Mes is organising/involved in in France and Tuesday’s get-together at the Oval to celebrate the life, the existence, of Ravi.

Tomorrow at 10.15 local time (9.15 in the UK and Ireland) the mayor of Avranches, a town of just over 10.000 inhabitants in the west of Normandy, will bowl (perhaps throw) the ceremonial first ball of a tournament between what is hoped will be four teams, two from Avranches (‘Blue’ and ‘Red’) one from Argentan (where the last tournament was held) and one from Caen (with spare players from Avranches and Argentan making up numbers).

They have an umpire and, one hopes, a scorer.

This next bit is written by the umpire:

First sight of the ground in Avranches for Saturday. 

I’ve suggested having the pitch about 50m from the buildings, but we only bowl from one end, so they bat away from them.

I’m told it will be a proper, real pitch. And the town hall will cut the grass very short  and will also lay out all the markings to size…

Never had this before in France! And there are 60 (yes, sixty) real cricket balls. 

As such, I’ve just written to all the organisers to insist that teams all come with helmets. Batters, wickie and close fielders.

I’ve just asked if we have any scorers…

4 or 5 teams due. 

Should be good!

And the local mayor is coming to bowl a ceremonial first ball!

Back to me now.

The ground is part of the René Fenouillière municipal sports complex, home of Union Sportive Avranches who play in the third tier of French football, and which should be in the middle of this:

https://www.google.fr/maps/place/50300+Avranches,+France/@48.6812376,-1.3605665,177m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x480955150dfa9001:0x40c14484fb98470!8m2!3d48.686843!4d-1.36166!16zL20vMDJoY3py?entry=ttu

René Fenouillière was a footballer at the beginning of the last century, for US Avranches, then in Catalonia (Spain, if you must) for RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona, and later for the French national side at the 1908 Olympics. He was killed in WW1 in 1916, at the age of 34.

More pictures of the ground:

The plan is to bowl from one end only, to save the neighbours getting their windows smashed although most of the buildings around the ground are municipal property and there are fences, hedges, walls and so on to stop balls doing too much damage.

The format is T6 (six overs a side) and the four teams play round robin then first plays fourth, second plays third, then there’s a final. If there’s a third-fourth play-off (not sure if there is) that would be ten matches each of a total of twelve overs, 120 overs all in.

It’s organised by a charity called Itinérance Sud Manche, led by Martine Lavallette who seems to me to be a total hero. She’s even, on advice from the umpire, bought helmets for batters, keeper etc. because it’s all going to played on turf (cut very short and marked out by the council) but the pitch will ‘offer uneven bounce’, as they say.

This is real community cricket, supported by a small town and its volunteers and council, and with people from a community that is marginalised if not vilified by a number of people in some places not too far away. I think it’s just great.

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The other part of this page, which takes shape on Tuesday at Surrey’s game against TMN at the Oval, aims to let people share their photos, stories, anything they like about Ravi Nair, palfreyman, and the get-together of a cricket community to celebrate the life of one of their own and mourn his passing.

Anyone can send me a photo from the Oval and I’ll save it and post it on the Guardian. Tanya can’t post images people send her without a URL (not sure if she can even do so with a URL) but I can give images a URL and then post them as comments. So if you’re there, take photos, write a caption or as much or little as you want and I’ll do the rest. I hope that’s clear and if it’s not, please tell me. The address is at the very top of each page.

43 thoughts on “Community Cricket – Cricket Community”

  7. Excellent stuff – are there local rules prohibiting ramp shots into greenhouse? Shame about only three teams – maybe the umpire and the mayor could rustle up a fourth and show everyone a few “moves”?!

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  13. Fabulous work by all involved up at the René the Fennel Farmer* stadium.
    Unfortunately my colleague’s initiative to teach Scottish dancing at the Nice Rugby World Cup fan zone this afternoon is being slightly thwarted by the enormous storm that has just éclaté over the city. And possibly also by the fact that the town is full – and I mean rammed – with Welsh and English fans. A friend expects the city to have been drunk dry by Monday morning.

    * possibly ‘the Fennel Farmer’s Wife’ is a better translation.

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  18. Mes posted this on the other page and I’m copying it to here.

    _____

    Just home, and some thoughts on the day.

    If you ever want to see a smile on a face, watch the Afghans playing cricket.

    The lady running the team from Argentan had taken her players to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Can you imagine the paperwork to get a bunch of refugees into the Parliament building during a session?

    She told me, one of them had said to her: “I walked across Iraq. I walked across Turkey. I walked across Bulgaria. And I get to come here.”

    We had a Mankad. I’d spotted the batters were leaving the crease early. You don’t say anything, obviously. The bowling side had also spotted it, and feigned the run-out, but didn’t break the stumps. There was no more leaving the crease early!

    And one interesting incident. In the final between Caen and Argentan, there was a catch behind. Simple enough. Except I hadn’t seen the ball had hit the netting put up to protect the houses.

    I gave it out. The square leg ump (from the home team of Avranches) said it had hit the netting so shouldn’t be out. My point was that this had not be said to everyone pre-match. So, the catch would stand.

    The captain of the Caen side came up to me, and said he was withdrawing the appeal. Yes, he wanted to win. But he didn’t want to win in those circumstances.

    I can’t think of many better examples of the true Spirit of Cricket.

    And there was a professional photographer there.

    I’ve asked him if I can share the photos on here. He’s agreed. I asked about copyright. He said, he’s happy for as many photos as we like to be shared. He had a lovely day, and saw what everyone else was doing.

    So, I’ll wait for him to upload to his site, and I’ll share a link.

    I am now knackered. But, God, that was a lot of fun!

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  20. IN case anyone else is like me, note the revised times for tomorrow! From the Oval’s mailer…

    Gates open at 9:30 am
    Start of play: 10:30 am
    Scheduled Lunch: 12:30 pm
    Scheduled Tea: 3:10 pm
    Scheduled Close: 5:30 pm

    Also the weather forecast is best summarised as “bloody nasty”: rain showers possible all afternoon with winds “gusting” over 40mph.
    So TMN will most certainly lose the toss and bat.

    See you there!

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    1. I’m due to get into Vauxhall at 10.15.

      I should be on the 8.20 from Portsmouth, if anyone gets on the train at a later stage.

      I’ll be the bloke in the corner with an Indiana Jones hat.

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  22. Like

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  24. Phew! Finally caught up(I think) with all and sundry. And I’ll promise to try to be a bit(err) more regular. It does get hard to stay awake till lunchtime at CCL and by association, here.
    Am enjoying the Rugby WC, can’t wait for the finals to begin and I’m expecting the Wallabies to continue their dismal run of form. Culinary is down in Lyon and will be watching the Test live if he’s secured tickets, lucky bugger.

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    1. My brother-in-law’s in Lyon with four mates but they haven’t got tickets.

      They always go to Rome when Italy play Wales , without tickets, just enjoy the food, drink and atmospshere, and watch in a bar.

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  25. Well we’re out of the WC now after the worst performance against the Welsh on record and in Cricket the worst performance against India in the current ODI series.
    But most people here would hardly have noticed either to be truthful as it’s footy finals week here and next weekend there’ll be a hundred thousand people at the MCG to watch the Grand final in Aussie Rules Football and in Sydney there’ll be a packed out ground for the RL final.
    One of the great things about both finals is that you can have 100000 people at the Gee and there’s no barriers separating the two tribes of dyed in the wool followers, there’s no violence before,during or after the game as celebrations go on, I’m very much looking forward to watching both.

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  26. Romeo invited me to share my moderated CCLive contribution from this afternoon.
    All I said was that I was struggling to focus on the Essex batting debacle as I was still seething at the BBC Daily Politics segment at lunchtime, where a conservative MP/minister and the usual right wing shill (from somewhere like the IEA) were rubbishing the ECHR almost solely on the basis of it being some 70 odd years old (as though morality, compassion and basic human decency have a limited shelf life). I contrasted this with the same crowd’s usual reverence for the sanctity of long-standing customs/culture/tradition where it suits them to maintain the status quo. That’s all.
    Admittedly not very profound on my part, but I think we are seeing more and more evidence here and abroad of an utterly hypocritical and dangerous mindset that equates a temporary parliamentary majority (conferred in UK’s case by a ludicrous FPTP electoral system) with the apparently inalienable “democratic” right to threaten any and all legal and other safeguards against overreach by an elected government proclaiming their selective pursuit of the “will of the people”.

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  27. For people here who are relatively new arrivals at the Guardian CCLive!, in the last six years or so, roughyed, who commented this afternoon, often used to run it.

    He was almost always referred to and addressed as Oneyed, owing to his being one eyed with respect to Lanky.

    He also used to write on Rugby League, and now works (I think still does) for the ECB.

    He’s also Mr Aldred.

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