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UK Tour: 2025 Edition

A Clouded Start

It would be wrong to say that the 2025 RBCC UK tour started under a cloud but the absence of Tipu, Sudhanshu and Danish, the three of them having been forced to withdraw before coming under starter’s orders, was certainly not the start we wanted. We missed you lads!

The remaining hopefuls met at Zaventem, all present and correct. A quick ‘Ollie Check’ (are you sure you all have your passports?) and we were ready to board the fun bus…except that we couldn’t because Max R and Adam had waited until we were all sorted before going off for a pit stop, thus incurring the first fines of the tour.

The Journey & First Stop

Once underway the usual topics of conversation cropped up; is the Hndrd the death or the future of cricket, is Bazball a real thing…and of course one of Ben’s historical monologues, this time a treatise on nazi death camp transportation systems. Anyway, we rolled up to Coquelles in good time, excitement mounting as the FlexiPlus sign came into view.

Even in the absence of Ben the Big Eater our lads put in a decent performance at the buffet, massacring a tray of chocolate eclairs in memory of glories past and absent friends.

Fully loaded up we were looking forward to a spot of train cricket but the effort of remembering their travel documents meant the youth had forgotten to bring a tennis ball…something to remember for next year.

Donnington Manor Adventures

Arriving in the UK we saluted the Chalk Horse in our best American accents and headed for the eccentric charms of the Donnington Manor Hotel and the tender, though lengthy, welcome of Karen on the check-in desk.

Donnington Manor is a fascinating hotel with statues of elephants, assorted deities and palm trees making the gardens an unconventional corner of the Kent countryside. Some of the interior design was interesting as well but, most importantly, we all managed to get twin rooms except for Dom and Chris who had to manage with a double. That fact will become important later in our story…

Match 1: The Vine

Having settled in we gathered our kit, put our game faces on and headed up to The Vine. As we all know by now, the Vine is one of the oldest cricket venues in the world; its earliest known use was for a match between Kent and Sussex on Friday 6 September 1734. It is also notable for being the first place in England where cricket was played with three stumps rather than two.

While us old timers love that historical feel, the youth have a different approach to the game. Amidst much eye rolling from the former it was agreed by the latter that we would play a version of the Hndrd on this fine old ground.

Our hosts batted first but struggled against our new ball attack with Max B and Max R both taking a couple of wickets; our fielding was sharp with Adam setting the tone behind the stumps. Sevenoaks finished on 121 which felt a little short.

We opened with Dom and Ben, the pair of them in fine form until Ben fell to a good catch on 15 and Dom retired on 25. Arun then gave us one of his masterclasses, playing some delightful drives, while Max B simply hit the hide off the ball before they both retired on 25. There was still time for the annual battle of the Comptons, played out before doting parents and rather less doting children, with Nick C hitting a four off his brother’s bowling before being comprehensively bowled next ball; presumably it was this shocking dismissal that led one old member to mutter ‘…and that’s why he is the worst Compton in the club’. Chris W and skipper Rob then saw us home for a comfortable enough victory as the skies darkened.

As usual The Vine laid on an excellent barbecue and our boys did us proud at the bar, yet again managing to drink all the Timothy Taylor’s. Such was their enthusiasm for this task that some of the older hands ventured that perhaps a modicum of self-preservation might be in order, sadly to no avail; these words of wisdom fell on deaf ears and glassy eyes.

The value of hard-won experience was confirmed in the wee small hours when it turned out that Dom had done that in the bed he was sharing with his brother. Still, what goes on tour etc…

Reviewing events in his role as responsible adult, skipper Rob had no hesitation in declaring Max B as Man of the Match for his 2 wickets, 1 catch and 25 unbeaten runs. Dom won the Dick of the Day award for his inexcusable behaviour that was clearly down to a dodgy prawn and not the gallon of Landlord someone had forced him to drink.

Match 2: Otford

Saturday dawned fair as the lads compared the merits of the breakfasts they had sampled in various hotels over the years. Chris A submitted this beauty as his Breakfast of Champions. Sadly it’s this thinking with his belly rather than his brain that caused the Cancillator to initially turn up at entirely the wrong cricket ground, although to be fair he did get the right county.

Otford is a wonderful ground, with facilities we can only dream about at RBCC. Just as the buzzing of insects in the hedgerows is redolent of the ripeness of late summer in England, so will the sound of the high-speed trainline whizzing past the Otford ground always remind us of the breakfast adventures of our lost antipodean, Mr William Quek.

We batted first with Dom and Ben making an excellent start, putting on a big opening stand without any trouble. They both retired having scored 50, a feat repeated by Max B. Nick C and guest batter Satvick saw us through to what felt like a reasonable score of 232-3 from our 35 overs.

In reply Sevenoaks really started slowly as Chris W and Max R opened the attack with some excellent bowling (1 for 24 and 2 for 20 respectively) which saw our hosts struggling to stay in the game. It was all looking good for RBCC until Ben, dozing in the outfield (having just dropped a sitter) was hit in the face by a wayward throw from one of his own players. He had to leave the pitch for a concussion check and we were grateful for the ministrations of one of the Sevenoaks players who helped to make sure that Ben was OK.

By the halfway stage we looked to have the game wrapped up but whether it was the injury to Ben, fatigue from the night before or just the clouds rolling in, the balance of the match started to change. Our experienced bowlers, Chris A and Arun, tried to put the brakes on but by now Sevenoaks were purring. Sykes and Nix both hit unbeaten 50s and any doubt that the tide had turned was removed by a shocking decision by an unpleasant man masquerading as an umpire, the charlatan in question turning down a clear run out.

We took it deeper than our last match at Otford but the hard truth is that we had this match in the bag but gave it away by bowling too many wides and dropping three expensive sitters in the outfield. Sevenoaks finished the job in the penultimate over.

The MOTM debate was a Weinel only affair; Chris bowled superbly but in the end Dom won through, despite having skulled one of his own team, on the basis of his excellent batting and bowling.

Afterwards we went back to Sevenoaks for beer and pizza. The lads were a little subdued but it didn’t take long for their normal high spirits to kick in and we were soon decamping to the delightful Rose and Crown for a post-match debrief, where President Vorzanger was toasted by all for putting €100 in the tour kitty. Those of us that know the legal limit for drinking alcohol in the UK is 18, and not 16 as in Belgium, loved the bit when Max B went back to the hotel to finish his maths homework before returning for a couple of pints at the bar and telling the barman how tough his schoolteachers were…

Poor Max B also managed to get himself voted DOTD when it turned out that he had ordered the hotel staff to deliver a toothbrush to his room and then even instructed the poor girl charged with serving the young master to unwrap it for him on the grounds that he didn’t want to chip a nail. Oh Max!

In true tour tradition things then started to get messy. Some of the senior tourists went on a bender and ended up in a secret bar at 02:00 hours, with one of them reportedly coming out with the immortal line ‘Is it OK if I have a quick p*ss in your garden?’ to the lady in charge.

Fortunately the young lads were aware that there was a crucial game the following morning and that they needed to prepare accordingly, which is why this photo shows them back at the hotel having protein shakes not beer and kebabs.

Match 3: Folkestone

Somehow everyone survived, no one was arrested, and Sunday morning saw us back in the fun bus and heading down to the coast to meet our old pals from Folkestone CC.

We had lost Chris A to another appointment but our old RBCC colleague, Hemang, joined us for the last game of the tour. Nick C seized control of the team while Rob was looking the other way, his mission statement being that he wanted to give the younger players a go, just before announcing that he would be opening the batting.

Predictably the worst Compton fell cheaply but at least we had one fluent lefty; step forward Chris W! Finally given a chance to bat up the order he was flying and looked nailed on for a half century when he was sawn off for 47 by an LBW decision from Max R that was best described by those present as ‘brave’. Ben made an unbeaten 50 and Dom played well yet again. As we only had 10 men one of our players was allowed to return for a second go; Captain Compton stepped forward bravely and somehow managed to do slightly worse than in his first innings. We had subsided to 237 all out; criminally we had done so using only 28 of our 35 overs.

Folkestone started well despite excellent bowling from Chris W and Ben, the latter turning his arm over for the first time in a while. Morgan (60) and Taylor (73) took Folkestone to within sight of victory but our lads never gave up. Wickets started to fall, one to a splendid diving catch by Max B, and suddenly we were back in the game.

The last pair came together with 6 runs needed and with the scores tied we had a marvellous run out opportunity that we couldn’t quite nail. Fine margins and all that as Folkestone won an excellent game of cricket. A tough game, played in excellent spirit.

With that it was time to race to the fun bus and head for the Tunnel. By this time some of our elite athletes were starting to feel the strain; even the ever eager President Ball needed some downtime…apparently still recovering from Rob’s instruction to ‘…bounce out pensioners!’.

It had been a great tour. Great fun for all, we got on well with both Sevenoaks and Folkestone, both of whom promised to visit us next season as well as inviting us over again. RBCC played some really good cricket; well done lads.

There were still a couple of formalities to go through of course. Chris W was a clear MOTM both for his batting and his bowling. Nick C won DOTD, partly for his coup d’etat, partly because he wasn’t there when we voted. The final formality? One last raid on FlexiPlus!

Scorecard & Player Ratings

Chris A: Big marks for making it, eventually, to Otford, loses marks for going drinking with Compo – 7
Ben: Excellent batting throughout, bowled well at Folkestone – 9
Rob: Led by example, made solid runs and bowled up hill and into the wind at Folkestone; played a blinder by booking the tour bus – 7
Dom: Batted well and bowled 7 good overs at Otford; added to his tour reputation…on and off the pitch – 9
Adam: Great keeping in difficult conditions, kept the team going with positive vibes; unlucky with his batting – 8
Max B: Another great tourist, bowled fast, hit hard and took great catches. Loses a point for toothbrushgate – 9
Arun: A class act on and off the pitch, beautiful cover drives – 7
Max R: Bowled some great spells and fielded well; struggled a bit at Folkestone but battled through it – 8
Nick C: His on-field game looked a bit rusty; off-field was imperious – 7
Chris W: Terrific bowling and batted superbly. Great tourist – 9
Hemang: An RBCC legend, great to have him on the tour – 7

They also served:

  • Mark W: Played a blinder as tour manager and all-round voice of reason – 9
  • Sudhanshu: Cruelly ruled out of the tour having put in a huge cat-herding effort – 9
  • Bus driver: Didn’t crash – 2

One man’s mission

The RBCC club house is back to its best, after a heroic ‘deep clean and clear operation’ led by Ian Rogers.

Dedicating several days to the task, Ian led a team who replaced damaged windows, cleaned behind all of the kitchen appliances – not a job for the faint hearted – re-installed a much-needed sunshade canopy and introduced a new hygiene protocol.

Players are no longer allowed in the kitchen area, bins must be used, handwashing must be done, gloves worn, hand towels used and no food is to be left in fridges.

One day last weekend, the club’s vice-chair for strategic and business planning enforced a lockdown on the kitchen. As the team played outside, Ian carried out what he called a ‘cull and throw’ of equipment that had left the kitchen cupboards bulging full of barely used equipment.

‘How many soup ladles do we really need?’ asked the courageous Kiwi.

The club has the finest dedicated volunteers – led by the inimitable Jalal – who quietly go about making RBCC the best place to play cricket in Belgium.

But, all members are being asked to remember to clean up after yourself, use the bins and wash your hands.

A great big thank you to Ian for doing our dirty work.

Stoney’s Big Bash Sixers

Stoney’s Big Bash Sixers

On Saturday 21st June, Royal Brussels Cricket Club held a 6-a-side tournament in memory of their old team mate Chris Stone, The event was called Stoney’s Big Bash and involved 6 teams playing a round robin of 5 over matches before entering the knock out stages. It was a beautiful day – a scorching 30 degrees, and ran from 10am to around 7pm.

Chris Stone played 1st team cricket for the club in the 1990s and early 2000s, a fast bowling all-rounder from Tasmania with a competitive spirit and big sense of humour. He sadly passed away in 2023 after suffering a brain tumour leaving his wife, Sofie Wilmes ex-Prime Minister of Belgium and 4 children. The Club decided to preserve his memory by by playing a tournament and hope to make it an annual event. This time invitations were sent to ex-players around the world and we were amazed how many came – from as far as Boston, Cape Town, Perth and Manila, as well as around Europe.

Sophie Wilmes came with family and friends to watch and present. The Minister for Sport, Madame Jacqueline Galant also came to find out about cricket since it is a new sport in Wallonia and FWBC members came to welcome her. The Local Commune Sports representative Madame Virginie Poncelet also came to support the club.

Many had not played for a long time but were eager to to dust off the cobwebs and take to the field. The teams were mixed with old and young with National team players made to bat left handed. There followed some great cricket with sixes flying into the driving range, a couple of special catches and some fine bowling.

In the end it was the Nick’s Warrane Warriors and Brighton’s Boorloo Bolts who made it to the final after 2 nail-biting semi-finals. The Bolts went into bat and Brighton started smashing, it looked like it was all over, but a gap in the middle order left meant they finished on 79 after 5, just a faint whiff of a chance for the Warriors. Brighton then opened up the bowling but Ollie and Afzal were sending the ball into the deep rough – the faster it came, the faster it went. It came down to the last ball with the Warriors needing 2 to win, they did it and the celebrations continued.

Sophie made a great speech, reminding her grown up children of the times they spent at the club watching Chris play as young children. Fingers Noonan read out a letter from Chris’ Mum who was unable to make it. After the medals were presented we all sat down to a magnificent curry from the Malik family. By then, some were feeling tired but a few found their reserves and it was midnight before we closed the club.

A big thanks to all those who came, you made it a really special day to be remembered a long time. Until we meet again!

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.

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

Cricket Season ’24 Starts Here!

Cricket Season ’24 Starts Here!

A flurry of activity has seen the first steps in preparing our ground for the new season. Under the control of Chairman Chris Hutchins, Ground Manager Jalal and first-team Captain Muneeb, the pitch was uncovered, the nets were prepared, the outfield was mown, and the clubhouse fumigated. We even found time for our annual run-in with the forces of law and order over whether we had the right sort of bonfire permit…

cricket belgium

On Thursday, we had the first outdoor nets to kick off the 2024 cricket season in Belgium, with some hostile bowling and big hitting. Matt and Chris ran some fielding drills, an area of our game that the Cricket Committee are keen to improve. The brains trust is already planning our campaign with our first game, a T20 at Hasselt, taking place on Sunday, 14 April.

cricket belgium

This weekend, Royal Brussels Cricket Club will also host the Cricket Belgium national trials and workshops for Women’s cricket and Junior cricket. Cricket Belgium has been steadily growing in prominence, fostering a vibrant cricketing community nationwide. Focusing on inclusivity and development, they’ve been actively promoting the sport among women and juniors, recognizing the importance of nurturing talent at every level. These national trials and workshops signify Cricket Belgium’s commitment to identifying and honing the skills of aspiring players, ensuring a bright future for the sport in the country. Through such initiatives, Cricket Belgium aims to enhance the competitiveness of its national teams and foster a deeper love for cricket among enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds. The details are in the poster 👉🏼

Good luck to all RBCC members!

Finally, the club would like to send its best wishes to Sudhanshu and Sibylle on the birth of their daughter Lila. Congratulations from all at RBCC! We trust that she will turn out to be a better cricketer than her father!