"Meet at The Beat at midnight" were the extensive tour "joining instructions". A 3 hour wait for the coach was filled with a game of poker. Luckily the coach arrived before anybody had won, so our kitty was off and running. First fine incurred by Kaz for being 3 hours late; 10 Euros per hour = 40 Euros if you don't have the correct money. Fly, train and walk to our "hotel". Our warm up routine includes a ketchup fight outside the hotel, follwed by a warm down in the Glasshopper pub, before taking train to Amsterdam CC. Jonny & Templedoom opt out, because they are tired, or maybe they know something we don't-anyway it's another fine of course, and the revenue streams for the kitty are coming along nicely. Nic had already purchased the I Spy book of Dutch cricket clubs, and this seemed too good an opportunity to let pass. We found VRA, VVCC, XYZ CC and I'm sure we even caught a glimpse of Lords at one point. Our hosts kindly rounded us all up, took us to the correct club, and the 15 over game started about an hour late. Having been up for 36 hours, of which 24 were spent drinking, expectation was pitched at a reasonably low level. Tim & Percy van Persie opened, but PvP was soon exposed for lack of fitness, and run out. Will & Rob managed Ducks, once again disappointing their respective parents, and it was left to Tim (33*) & Fletch(27*) whose parents are both very proud, to restore some order, and we finished on 109. Deno took to umpiring, like a duck to the fast lane of the M4, and our bowlers were always in control, except Will "wide boy" Macdonald, who was unable to raise his game to the high levels Bryan, and his parents, expect. Sammy took 3 wickets, and Bryan and Kaz both took 2,with special mention to Tebsy for his good spell-for an amateur. The Landlord managed to spill his beer & faceplant the turf, in a vain attempt to catch Marvin; but at least it woke Jacko up ! Amsterdam fell short with just 91 scored in their 15 overs. To be quite honest, they will never have a better chance to beat us, and this has to go down as a "shocker" for them.
We are now back in Amsterdam, entering the red light district, and I must ask Paul & Sheila Smith to kindly log off, and rejoin us in the morning. Sammy starts with a recce to evaluate the merchandise, which seemed a reasonable idea, but after 3 circuits, the observers were getting restless, and tell him to stop looking for Anne Frank. Finally the boy makes his decision- (Sheila I told you to turn off your computer) and selects Juliet to receive his offering. " How much art thou Juliet ?" This time, in his excitement, he pays the full amount requested, but his error is rectified for later transactions. Juliet turns out too be a bit of a sweety, and gives Sammy a loyalty card for future visits, and promises to write to his parents to congratulate them. The longest day ends with more drinking & revelry, before retiring to our luxury hotel suites for what was left of the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment