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Summer Fete ’24: RBCC & Brussels British Community Charity Fund Raiser

The 23rd June saw RBCC host the annual BBCA Summer party. As usual the sun shone brightly and a great time was had by all. The many guests and visitors included Mme Poncelet the Échevin des Sports of Lasne , M. Bernard Plaes the Deputy Mayor of Lasne and Mr Martin Shearman the British Ambassador. Entertainment included a barbecue run by Stonemanor (the British Store) various stalls selling afternoon tea and the traditional Pimm’s tent.

The great and the good at RBCC

The ground looked fantastic thanks to Jalal and the Shed team. There was some good cricket played by SHAPE and a British Embassy side, the latter eking out revenge after last year’s defeat.

Red ball cricket at RBCC

Nick Compton brought all his experience to bear in organising the tug of war, the sack race and of course the egg and spoon.

Mini Olympics

Supporting good causes

Apart from having fun one of the main aims of the party was to raise money for the BBCA charities. The Tombola did a roaring trade and over €2000 was raised in total. Several members of the RBCC family walked away with prizes.

As usual, the organisers would like to express their appreciation to all of you who worked so hard to make sure that this event was a success; thank you all for your efforts.

Midweek T20 – RBCC vs ICCB

ICCB won the toss and batted first, RBCC bowled pretty well and got wickets at regular intervals. The home team fielded well with Abir and Ben taking smart catches on the boundary. Royal Brussels Cricket Club managed to restrict them to only 98 in 20 overs. The chase wasn’t easy, but Ben top-scored with a brilliant 46 and debutant Anas hit a six in the last over to seal the victory against a strong ICCB team.

Three on the bounce for RBCC 1st XI!

Genk won the toss and batted first, a strange decision that played right into our hands. With the pitch being wet our opening bowlers Ricky and Fida made use of the early moisture and ran through the opposition; after 8 overs we had reduced Genk to 17/5 and there was simply no way back for them. Man of the Match Fida bowled a brilliant spell of 10-2-44-6, Ricky took three wickets and Salim wrapped up the innings by taking a wicket with his first and only delivery.

Chasing a small total of only 73 we got off to a decent start with skipper Muneeb and Abdulwahed hitting a couple of sweet boundaries. We lost a few wickets but Jawad could not be moved and saw us home to a comfortable victory.

Onwards and upwards, we are all looking forward to our next match.

Match Scorecard

RBCC Colts feature in Roger Barker Cup

A Belgium (“Red”) international U13 team featuring four RBCC colts travelled to Luxembourg to play in the Roger Barker Cup on 8-9 June. The tournament also included teams from Luxembourg and Switzerland and a second Belgium team (“Gold”). Played under warm sunny skies, such a pleasant change from most of the first half of this rain-affected season, our Colts played superbly and enjoyed the two days. Thanks go to Luxembourg Optimists CC who were kind and generous hosts and the players and coaches from the other teams for providing a great atmosphere of competitive but fair cricket over the two days. Particular thanks also go to the other Belgium Red players and parents. 

It is no exaggeration to say that our young team formed over the two days and it was a wonderful experience for the RBCC players. But of course we are especially proud of the achievements of our players: – Akshat Tripathi captained the team, scoring a total of 48 runs and taking 6-63 over the four games; – Akhlaq Ahmad was the number 1 bowler in the tournament, taking 11-61 and also scoring 71 runs; – Thomas Leake, who is just 11 and so one of the younger players in the tournament, took 4-24 with a strike rate of 6.25 and finished in the top 5 bowlers in the tournament; – Hosain Ahmad Afghan, who kept wicket with involvement in 3 run outs and 1 catch, as well as scoring 22 runs as an opening batsman.

 Belgium’s first game on Saturday required our team to be at the ground in Luxembourg by 0830, so it was a very early start for some. Batting first, RBCC’s brothers Akhlaq and Hosain opened the innings. Akhlaq made a rapid-fire 24 off 11 balls including 3 fours and 2 sixes, before he had to retire under the competition’s rules. Belgium made steady progress to finish on 120 for 2 off the allotted 15 overs, with Akshat not out on 7 at the end. When Belgium came out to defend the total, Akshat opened the bowling and finished with 4-12. Thomas took 1-6 in an economical over as Luxembourg fell short on 112. In the morning heat, Belgium were sent straight back into the field again by Switzerland as their second game immediately followed the first, and 30 consecutive overs in the field proved tiring. Nevertheless, 2-25 from Akhlaq and another tight over from Thomas (1-6) helped restrict a very strong and powerful Swiss side, on average quite a bit older than the young Belgium team, to 131. 

Belgium’s chase fell just short on 117, with Akhlaq again retiring on 20 but unable to spark an unlikely finish when he was dismissed without further addition returning at the end. Akshat made 21 before retiring. For the third game, Belgium faced up against the Belgium “Gold” team and fielded first. An amazing start by Akhlaq saw him take four wickets (all bowled) with the first four balls of the innings. Midway through the third over of the innings, Akhlaq had incredible figures of 7 for 3 from ten balls (six of them clean bowled) and he finished with 8-5. Thomas (1-0) also got in the act, taking a wicket (caught by Hosain behind the wicket) with his first and only ball to finish the innings and leave him on a hat trick for the first ball of the next game. Akshat also took 1-6 as RBCC Colts got a clean sweep of the wickets with Gold bowled out for 29. The Belgium team reached their target in just 4.3 overs for a ten-wicket win, with Hosain unbeaten on 11 at a run-a-ball. 

This qualified Belgium for the final the following day, and a rematch against Switzerland in an extended match (20 overs). With their best chance of winning probably to bat first and try to put the strong Swiss batting line up under scoreboard pressure, Belgium unfortunately lost the toss and the Swiss decided to bat. In a strong start, Thomas and Hosain combined for a run out, followed by a wicket for Akhlaq and a second ball clean bowled strike for Thomas (just missing his hat trick) leaving Switzerland at 45-3 in the 7th over. But with the tournament rules meaning everyone had to bowl the Swiss took advantage of the part-time Belgium bowlers to pile on the runs and at one stage looked to be headed for a total in excess of 200 as fielders visibly struggled in the heat.

 However, an RBCC-led fightback in the final five overs was masterminded by Thomas (1-12), Akhlaq (1-22) and Akshat (1-26) whose inspired captaincy got his side back in the game and saw the Swiss finish on a difficult but not impossible total of 173. Belgium never quite were up with the run rate, but excellent innings from Akhlaq (27 off 20) and Akshat (20 off 12) saw Belgium reach 118-2 off 16 overs, before a vain attempt to accelerate saw wickets tumble and the side eventually bowled out for 120. An excellent two days of exciting cricket saw the RBCC quartet inspire their nation to reach the final and show great potential for the future.

Ricky’s Fifer! ICCB vs RBCC – Match Report

RBCC’s first XI travelled to Wemmel in a confident mood following their win against AICC. With Muneeb on national team duty (congratulations to the Cricket Belgium team by the way, for their excellent performance against Guernsey) Ricky stepped forward to take over as captain.

Ricky duly won the toss and we batted first. Mustafa and Abdulwahed gave us the solid start that we needed. Jawad came in at first wicket down and was dropped off his second ball playing an uncharacteristic lofted shot; ICCB would rue this miss as he proceeded to top score with a serene 48. Abdulwahed continued his fine form from the Paris trip, making 43, while Afzal added 33 before being bowled with our score on 200. A flurry of late wickets saw RBCC all out for 224 from 47 overs; not the biggest total but we thought this was a good score on a tricky pitch with some variable bounce.

Royal Brussels Cricket Club 1st XI

We came out all guns blazing in the field, with Salim taking the first wicket and Ricky joining in the next over thanks to a brilliant catch by Abdulwahed. Our fielding was good all day, we didn’t drop a single chance given to us. Ali joined the wicket-taking fun from the other end, bowling an absolute peach to clean up one of their batsman. As usual, Channi applied the finishing touches (fast becoming his trademark!) but the last wicket was a piece of art by Salim, a direct throw from midwicket to run the batsman out. The star performer though was undoubtedly Ricky, leading from the front and finishing with figures of 10-3-31-5. 

ICCB were all out for 118 in 28 overs, RBCC winning by 106 runs.

Well played lads, let’s keep this run going!

Match Scorecard

Back to France 🇫🇷 – Tour Report

Royal Brussels Cricket Club v Aulnay CC 7/8 June 2024

A select RBCC team was delighted to re-establish links with our friends at Aulnay via a short trip over the border; it’s been 10 long years since we last visited France but we intend to strengthen these bonds and make a longer French tour a regular addition to our calendar.

In keeping with the ongoing World Cup, our squad was drawn from many proud cricketing nations with Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, England and Australia all represented.

Royal Brussels Cricket Club Touring Team

With his usual attention to detail, Arun had organised the trip to perfection; the correct number of cars with the correct number of players arrived at the correct hotel and were allocated the correct number of rooms. After that things did get a little messy; perhaps the Burger King we visited didn’t represent French cuisine at its finest but fortunately Tipu had brought some refreshments with him and it ended up being a rather late night for some of our group. 

While the young lads watched Afghanistan’s glorious victory via some dodgy stream the older boys were introduced to Arun’s friend Paul John from Goa…while it is true that the hotel management had to break up the party in the early hours they were friendly enough and there’s no doubt that we will be welcomed back with open arms next time. It has to be said that there were some complaints about the excessive snoring of one of our players; in true touring tradition, we will not name the guilty party here but merely congratulate Sameel on his wisdom in locking the culprit out of his room…

Saturday morning dawned clear and bright as we gathered for breakfast with Fakrul providing the good stuff to help the jaded recover.  A short drive brought us to the Aulnay ground, based in a sports park and looking a fine sight under a cloudless sky. Being on the CDG flightpath meant that any longueurs in the cricket were compensated for by the constant procession of brightly-coloured planes. We were warmly welcomed by our hosts and we agreed to play a test match T20: two innings each of 20 overs.

A warm welcome from Aulnay

RBCC were invited to bat first on a lively pitch that offered plenty of lateral movement; Asama got a tricky one that he edged through to slip and the bounce continued to cause us some problems. Abdulwahed steadied the ship and went on to score an excellent 65 from only 60 deliveries in what was to prove to be the highest score of the day. Obaid also demonstrated some powerful hitting as we posted 129/6.

Aulnay’s innings started at a ferocious pace as their two young openers put together a stand of 87; our bowlers were getting a bit of a pasting until Sameel brought on Jalal and Arun in a bid to regain control. Not only did they slow down the run rate but Jalal went on to take 4 wickets with some excellent bowling. 

Jalal, the wizard

Having established a first innings lead of 50, Aulnay exercised their right to bat again.  On a hot day with a difficult outfield our lads put up a good fight with Max opening the bowling and William getting two classic wickets bowling down the hill and finding plenty of swing. With Asama struggling with injury Noor volunteered to keep and did a sterling job as we restricted them to 114 in 20 overs.

We needed a big score but a steady trickle of wickets meant that despite some impressive hitting from Fida, Sameel and Arun we couldn’t put big partnerships together. Tipu hit the last boundary of the match as we finished on 135/7.

The game was played in an excellent spirit. To mark our respect and our thanks for an excellent biryani, Arun presented our hosts with an RBCC pennant, a replica shirt and some fine Belgian beers. 

Arun, thanking the hosts on behalf of Royal Brussels Cricket Club

We had a great day and everyone returned home safe and sound. We will host the return match later this summer, hopefully with the same sense of camaraderie and victory for the Royal Brussels Cricket Club!

Match Scorecard