Edgware complete historic tour of Malaga
As Edgware Cricket Club set off for their first ever international tour, it felt like a significant moment for a club entering just it's fifth year of club cricket. Of course, as you can imagine with any cricket tour, there was drinking, beach dining, late night clubbing and stories that feel more at home in a recent and very famous Leonardo DiCaprio film. But for the purists, there was also cricket played. And the way Edgware conducted themselves both on and off the field was a credit to the fabric of this club.
Game 1 -v- Costa Del Sol Crusaders - Sat 23 March
As Edgware made their journey from the resort town of Benalmadena towards Cartama, a small agricultural backdrop on the outskirts of Malaga, they were welcomed to a pitch more similar to Perth, Colombo or even Cape Town rather than Malaga. The expert eyes of David Cooper, manager at the Cartama Oval had prepared a pitch that I'm sure most first class sides would be proud to call home. The wicket, predominately consisting of clay, offered plenty of spin and little pace, making it a graveyard for the fast bowlers.
Edgware in rather surprising style, won the toss and elected to bat first. As Ciaran Hosty and Nakul Jilka strolled out to the crease at just past 11am, the boys settled in for what was anticipated to be a long session of Edgware batting. However, things didn't quite go to plan, as Nakul was caught for a golden duck attempting to hook a short ball from the fast bowler. Ciaran didn't last too much longer and was bowled for two from the wily bowling of James Riley, the Costa Del Sol medium pacer. Things soon went from bad to worse as Sunny Halai was caught for a duck to reduce Edgware to 13-3. Thankfully for the boys in blue, what followed was a 78 run partnership between Kishan Varsani and Dharmish Bhatt, the first registering his second 50 in an Edgware CC shirt off 76 balls.
Despite reaching 91-3, the second Edgware collapse wasn't far behind and the boys in blue slipped to 107-9, losing 6 wickets for just 16 runs. There were discussions before the game that 180 would be a par score on this wicket, but Edgware were looking at having to bowl with 70 less than par. However, a fantastic cameo from first Raj Parmar and then Dean Veerapen, pushed Edgware to 132 all out as the latter finished on 16 off 10 deliveries.
At the halfway stage, Edgware had accepted that they would have to bowl very well to restrict Costa Del Sol to anything close to the 130 mark. However, it didn't start well as the hosts raced to 50-0 on the back of some big hitting from their openers. It didn't take too long for the spin change to be made and through the combination of Sunny Halai and Nakul Jilka, Edgware pulled themselves back into the game. Malaga wobbled considerably from 50-0 to 112-6, with Sunny Halai taking 4-40 off his allotted 7 overs and Nakul Jilka taking 2-25 off his 8 overs. And despite a sensational run out from Raj Parmar in the deep, Costa Del Sol were able to scamper home by 2 wickets, ending up on 136-8 off 24.5 overs.
Game 2 -v- Malaga CC - Sun 24 March
After a relatively relaxed Saturday evening, in which many of the boys found themselves in bed before 11pm, Edgware set off for the second game of the tour against Malaga CC. Sporting several Pakistani players, Malaga CC's secret weapon was spin and three left handers with a reputation for going big. Edgware lost the toss and Malaga CC chose to bat.
Starting with pace, Edgware leaked runs at a alarming rate. Malaga raced to 120-3 off 20 overs and Edgware conceded a mammoth 42 extras which included 14 no-balls and 15 wides. However, they were able to find control in Nakul Jilka and Ananya Dixit, the first finishing with incredible figures of 4/5 and the second bowling superbly for his 2/18. So good was the bowling partnership that Malaga collapsed from 120-3 to 156 all out. Also worth noting was Rahul Kothari's spell of 2-25 off 6 overs and fantastic wicket-keeping once Nakul Jilka was brought on to bowl.
At the mid-innings break, the heavens opened and the game was delayed for an hour. The game was then reduced to 34-overs per side, meaning Edgware would require 157 runs at a rate of 4.6 runs per over. Edgware didn't take long to get going, and as the players took tea after 10 overs of the Edgware CC innings, Edgware had raced to 80-0, with captain Ciaran Hosty not out on 38 and Nakul Jilka not out on 32. However, with the score on 95-0, Edgware lost their first wicket as Ciaran Hosty was caught at square leg pulling the leg spinner, a shot he played so well up until that point. One then became two as Shuraj Vekaria, who had looked comfortable was caught at point for 4. Edgware then continued to wobble as Nakul Jilka was dismissed for 41, and Kishan Varsani was dismissed for 7 to leave Edgware on 127-4.
Thankfully for Edgware, they had Sajith Sriwickramasekaran at the crease, who in his 37th game, hit 15 out off 46 balls to guide Edgware to a famous overseas victory,
Conclusion
We'd like to say a big thank you to all of the Cartama Oval players and supporters, in particular David Cooper and Andy House, who made Edgware's first overseas tour incredibly memorable. The boys will be counting the days til the next one!
