Best of luck !!
Just how long did you have to sort it?
Sleep driving....
Banter flowed as the new teammates bonded and we learned that beaver spotting and boulder counting were two popular pursuits in Estonia – honestly!! As the journey wore on we all could not help but feel our driver (Borat) did not really know where we were going. Especially as we got towards the end of our five-hour journey from Riga to Tallinn.
The sight of the Estonian Development team warming up on the outfield dressed in their whites lifted the spirits of the entire team despite the prospect of impending rain. The match was to be played on a grass outfield with an artificial astroturf-style wicket on top of concrete.
Carmel won the toss and opted to field and the tour got off to a flyer as paceman Tom Horne gave the Estonian captain a short ball first up and he hooked the ball right down the throat of Justin Peacock at fine leg who took a fine catch. Diamond duck and Horne goes wild after capturing his first international wicket with his first delivery. 
Unfortunately for the right-armer he was to offer too many lose deliveries as Estonia’s second-wicket partnership between looked to take the game away from Carmel with a number of lusty blows.
Having seen Horne take 1/48 the skipper turned to Sam Philip in a effort to stem the flow of runs and the Cornish left-arm spinner did not let his captain down as he snaffled two quick wickets including Estonia’s big-hitting number three to finished with 2/24.
Australian duo Matt Somerford and Peacock worked in tandem and their tight medium pace bowling slowed down Estonia’s early impetus. Somerford finished with 2/8 and Peacock mopped up the tail to finish with an impressive 3/17.
A wicket apiece for leg-spinner Rob Barnett (1/4) and Tim Hill (1/9) saw the Estonians all out for 111 from their 20 overs.
Openers Tim Abraham and Andy Pierce gave Carmel a solid start to the innings but the day belonged to Perth left-hander Somerford who came in at number four to crack 65 runs.
The rest of the Carmel batting line-up were unable to make double figures as Roddy Brooks was run out in the final over with Carmel stranded on 110. Oh well, we’d have plenty of chances to make up for it on the rest of the tour.
Carmel lose by one run (Scorecard)
A few beers at the Hippodrome was followed by a swift turnaround at the hostel and out into the Tallinn night to share a few beers with the opposition, check out Nimeta bar.
As well as later visiting the holy grail of Hollywood club with a few “maxi burgers” thrown in for good measure - we hadn't eaten since Liverpool airport after all!
A great first day to start the tour.
Wake me up before you go-go...The majority of the group caught up on some valuable sleep while others cured their hangovers with fresh sea air.
The skipper picked the two teams for the plate and the main trophy competition and little did we know as we arrived at the SKK cricket ground the drama ahead of us.
Tour match 2: Helsinki Sixes Plate Competition.
Six-a-side five-over matches. Kaisaniemi Ground, Helsinki
Match 1 Carmel B v Finland VI B
Carmel B team captain Andy Abraham won the toss and elected to field but series of rusty bowling performances meant 40 extras were conceded as the Finns reached a total of 53 all out.
Although a good run out by wicketkeeper Roddy Brooks following a fine throw from
Tom Horne was one of the positives of the fielding.
Andy Pierce played some cultured strokes from while Gaz Roberts also batted sensibly to give Carmel a comfortable victory
Match 2 Carmel B v Phoenix CC
Carmel lost the toss and again fielded first against an experimental team which contained some Finland internationals, except they were women, in a side of four females and two men.
Phoenix hit a meagre 33 runs and were all out in the 4th over as two run outs including superb direct hit from Tim Hill put Carmel in a position to keep their 100 per cent win record.
Carmel B coasted to an easy win off seven balls, including a no ball 6 (10 runs) off the first ball and a no ball 4 (8) in the same over as skipper junior Abraham hogged all of the strike and the runs leaving Brooks at the other end without facing a ball!
Match 3 (Plate Final) Estonia B v Carmel B
The final group game of the round robin tournament was also designated as the final and skipper junior again won the toss and elected to field.
This game was to proving to be a much tougher affair as the two Estonia B openers amassed 71 without loss with only Junior Abraham not bowling any extras, as his over went for only five runs.
There was one moment of controversy though as one opening batsman was clean bowled by Horne but was then no-balled by the umpire after batsman had starting walking.
Carmel heads dropped after the decision and a bit of slack fielding gave the opposition a few more than they deserved.
Roberts and Pierce opened the batting but struggled to really get into the massive 14.4 required per over. Pierce was bowled for 12 and big-hitting Horne came to the crease.
Roberts and Horne enjoyed a partnership of 20 before Horne was bowled to bring Junior Abraham to the wicket needing to up the run rate but he could only muster a single before being caught on the boundary attempting to hit a maximum.
Roberts was keeping things ticking over at the other end, as was the (not infrequent) wide bowling but it was ever understated Hill who became a instant hero after he set about the Estonian bowling like a man possessed.
Hill hit several fours and a big six to take Carmel B to within 27 runs of victory with one over remaining. The watching players were not confident and disappointment was more evident than belief that Hill and Roberts could do it.
THAT last over….
Ball 1 - A four from Hill brought the crowd renewed belief 23 off 5 - 5 fours and a six would see us home….
Ball 2 - a massive six from Hill, which was also over head height and called a no ball - 13 now required off 4 balls and the Carmel boys are at fever pitch.
Ball 3 - A wide – 9 runs off 3 balls means it’s more than do-able but things are still very tense with every ball counting.
Ball 4 - A cover drive beats the fielder and Hill puts it down to 5 off 2. The team wait expectedly with the skipper, inevitably, pacing nervously...
Ball 5 - A single puts Roberts on strike - 4 off 1 ball means the boundary needed to be found for victory.
Ball 6 - With four runs required Roberts looked determined to smash it out the ground, until, that is, the ball pitches at the very edge of the matting!
The umpire raises his arms aloft to signal a wide, cue pandemonium as Roberts calmly holds his stance for the best leave of the tournament...
The Carmel B boys win the plate!!!
Carmel A got off to a poor start in the group stage by succumbing easily to an Estonia A side who had been training at sixes cricket all week. Going into the match without any prior experience of this format of the game meant it was difficult to know what was a good total batting wise.
A balanced batting order and some lose bowling saw Carmel A bounce back in style to smash the veterans for a tournament highest 117 runs from their five overs, with Philip’s 30 not out assisted by 55 extras.
It was now win or bust for the Carmel boys and a brilliant innings of 47 not out from Matt Somerford, supported by Philip (17) meant Carmel had a solid 72 to defend against the host club from Helsinki.
The tournament favourites awaited in the last four of the tournament and seeing several of their players wearing their Finland national team jumpers certainly brought home the extra level we knew would have to raise our games to.
The crowd were rocking and the Carmel boys smelt victory. Barnett tossed up a flighted delivery with his first ball and the Helsinki batsman’s eyes lit up but he miss-hit the shot high over the bowler’s head. Barnett turned and gave chase before taking a remarkable caught and bowled.
The euphoria of the emphatic semi-final victory over what effectively amounted to the Finland national six-a-side team meant it was going to be tough to repeat the performance against our bogey team, Estonia.
Somerford fell in the final over for a modest 19 (by his standards) leaving the skipper and Barnett to scramble a few remaining runs off the remaining balls. Carmel finished on a defendable 91 with extras proving costly for the Estonians to total 38.
The ball seemed to be in the air forever but Reekie held his nerve to take the catch. Get in! The next Estonian batsman took no chances and Philip finished the over with three dot balls to finish with 2/5.
It’s already light… 
With our Australian duo sleeping off hangovers it was left to the remainder of the team to get us a competitive total, but the early prospects did not look good.
The youngest player on the tour, Gareth Roberts, stemmed the flow of wickets to play a mature innings which belied his years to make an important 38 before getting caught attempting a big shot. Sam Philip (16), Justin Peacock (10) took the score to over a hundred.
The Estonian batsman managed to get the measure of spinners Rob Barnett and Sam Philip and began to up the run rate. Three run-outs in 10 overs kept Carmel in with a shout but a strong Estonian middle order took advantage of a tired field and even more knackered bowling attack to reach the target with two overs remaining and four wickets in hand.
The ale kept flowing until gone 6am, Gaz Roberts got familiar with a girl from Norway while some headed to place where they had poles, some sort of football goal shop I presume while others headed to bed. Junior Abraham continued his political ramblings long into the night while Roddy Brooks got easily distracted….
Castro had it all worked out...
Now Haz isn’t a violent chap but it seemed the only way he could communicate the fact he had lost his passport etc was by punching people – Sam Philip and Justin Peacock both got a chinning before helping him to look.
Again rousing the troops was a difficult ordeal but we were able to make it to the rendezvous point with our contact before a 45-minute journey by minibus taxi took to us to a former military training base to play a St Petersburg International XI.
In all honesty after the success of Helsinki and the success of the previous night (!) it was always going to be difficult to motivate a tired team to play cricket.
The Abraham brothers opened the batting and the urgency in the running of singles and byes set the tone for the rest of the innings. Somerford (27) and particularly Andy Pierce (31 not out) put added crucial runs to the Gold Caps total.
Again it was Sam Philip who the skipper turned two and the spinner got the crucial breakthrough in a devastating spell which gave him 3/18 but more importantly gave Carmel a foothold in the match. Fellow spinner Rob Barnett couldn’t quite match Philip’s exploits but with a cleverly set field he enticed two run-outs.
Lenin was a left-handed middle-order slogger right?
Unfortunately all Roddy’s cards and cash were in his wallet but luckily he was able to cancel the cards before further damage could be done.
The tour party spent a day seeing the sights in Moscow including Red Square, the Kremlin and Saint Basil’s Cathedral. They all managed to avoid the great Moscow visa registration con undertaken by the Russian police – so no cricket knockabouts this time! Besides it was lashing it down with rain.
The big train dash
The Moscow International Baseball stadium was the most scenic and certainly the best ground we played on while on tour.
We had just about escaped the rain in Estonia, Finland and St Petersburg but we were to get a whole tour’s worth in one day as it never really stopped in Moscow on the day of the game but the weather didn’t dampen the spirits as we were honoured to play in our second international at such a prestigious venue.
Rumour had it that there was meant to be a Madonna concert at the 5000-capacity stadium on the Saturday but they had to postpone because history was about to be made as Carmel became the first touring side to compete against the Russian national cricket team.
The ground was huge (a gift from the Japanese to the Russians and the only one of its kind in Russia) and whilst warming up the ball seem to fly at a rate of knots off the special artificial surface. The Aussie batsman and the seamers were liking the look of this!
The Russians had even suspended the 11-team Moscow Cricket Union League for and the visit of Carmel and cherry picked the best players from the league to make up a select XI for the national team. They clearly weren’t taking our visit lightly!
Tour match 5: Russia National Team v Carmel & District Cricket Club. 40-over match. Moscow International Baseball Stadium, Moscow (Russia won toss).
Not exactly a good toss to lose as the Russians put us in to bat but after a positive pre-match team talk the skipper picked what he thought was his most balanced and strongest batting line-up. Four overs later he had his head in hands.
Opener Rob Barnett was the first to fall with the second ball of the innings after edging a delivery to second slip for duck: 1 for 1. Andy Pierce was back in the pavilion, sorry dugout, two overs later caught behind for 1. Gaz Roberts followed for a duck with the next delivery as Carmel slumped to 11/3 off three overs.
Sam Philip hung around for five balls before being bowled for a 0 and Carmel were 24/4. Australian left-hander Matt Somerford could hardly believe his eyes as batsman came and went with alarmingly regularity.
Skipper Tim Abraham was next to the crease and determined not to give his wicket away cheaply despite some hostile bowling. The right-hander began to build a half-century partnership with Somerford by using the pace of the ball and the artificial outfield rather than attempting to play big shots.
Somerford at the other end was looking more relaxed even and began to find the boundary. If these two could stick around then there was hope Carmel could get to 200.
It wasn’t to be as Abraham (22) was bowled and Somerford (27) was caught behind in relatively quick succession by the fourth-change bowler with the score on 72 in the 15th over.
Justin Peacock was left as the only recognised batsman but despite brave efforts from Harry Reekie (8), Tom Horne (9), Tim Hill (1) and Andy Abraham (1) he ran out of partners to finish on 29 not out. Carmel’s total of 136 all out was never going to be enough on pitch that most of the opposition played on every week, and we knew it.
Carmel were determined to make some sort of a fight of it and the skipper removed one of the openers in his second over to give Carmel a hope, with a well-taken catch by Philip at deep gully.
Several overs of pressure followed as the Carmel bowlers consistently beat the bat but the Russian openers had now got the measure of the attack and began to pick off the bad balls. The Russians looked to put the game out of Carmel’s reach as the opening batsman and the number three began to play aggressive shots.
Philip was introduced into the attack and got the second breakthrough but with the score on a 100/2 Carmel were looking in serious trouble.
The skipper brought back Horne who had gone for 29 from his first four overs. Horne was clearly fired up and took three wickets for only six runs in a devastating second spell. Suddenly Russia had gone from cruising at 100/1 to 108/5. Surely Carmel couldn’t get back in the game?
Russia’s batsman closed ranks and played more conservatively to chase down the final 36 runs. Despite the attempts of Philip (who finished with 1/26), Peacock and Barnett the hosts comfortably reached the target with 20 overs remaining and five wickets in hand.
A few more breaks (the toss) and some runs from some of capable batsman in the top order and Carmel could have made a game of it. But on this occasion they were thoroughly outclassed by a strong Russian team.
Carmel lose by five wickets (Scorecard)
Our hosts took us back to the hostel where we were able to pick up our bags and they dropped us at the train station to catch the overnight train to Riga.
There was still time for plenty of beers at the train station, the skipper to put his foot in a load of dog crap and a bit of wander round before boarding the 17-hour train from Moscow to Riga.
Dasvidania Moskva
The journey itself wasn’t as bad as you’d imagine. Games of cards, a lot of drinking and the usual high jinks (niet niet niet!! vt vt vt vt vt vt!!!!) made for an interesting mix. For future reference don’t let Roddy Brooks lose after drinking two bottles of vodka with a video camera and two Latvian girls.
The Aussies and the Abrahams were the last to bed after irritating probably their entire sleeping coach with laddish antics.
Checks at the Russian/Estonia border went ok although the skipper’s passport which looks like it has been through the washing machine several times went under severe scrutiny. Rob Barnett meanwhile didn’t even has his checked on the way out!
