Australia 2008 Tour Report...
The Ashes Series for Deaf Cricketers 3 - 25 July 2008 by Ron Young
The Australian Deaf are old adversaries and friends. We have played them many times over the past 15 years. Only once did we manage to beat them, in the semi final of the last Deaf World Cup 2005 in India. We knew the forthcoming series would be played hard and fairly on the pitch. However friendship would always be re-established after play.
The England and Australia Deaf cricket teams arrived in Southport on Thursday evening, 3rd July, for the start of the Ashes Series for Deaf Cricketers 2008 and spent the next 2 days training at the Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club, where we received fantastic hospitality. Lunches were superb and everyone pulled out the stops to ensure both teams were really well looked after.
On 6th July, two matches were to take place. The England Deaf team travelled to Christleton Cricket Club to play their team and the Australia Deaf team stayed at Southport to play against the ECAD Development team.
The warm up match was a cracking test for the England Deaf team. Paul Allen’s team included their professional, a Sri Lankan “A” player and a number of the best young players in the Cheshire Premier League. ECAD batted first and made 220 for 5 from 49 overs. The overs were reduced as a result of a shower during the innings. Chris Hughes scored an excellent 100 and was given great support by Nigel Davenport in the middle of the innings. Unfortunately they were both out towards the end of the innings and some of the scoring momentum was lost until James Dixon came in and scored quickly. It was good to see how well our players batted against some very good spin bowlers, and from an ECAD perspective, how well Paul Allen bowled against us. Unfortunately during the tea break it rained very heavily for over an hour. It was agreed with the umpires that the second innings would be 30 overs and the total to be chased would be based on ECAD’s average run rate meaning that Christleton would need 158 to win the match. This obviously gave Christleton a major advantage. Christleton had a strong batting order, especially with the Sri Lankan, but our bowlers bowled very tightly and chipped away with wickets throughout. Mark Woodman was outstanding, as was Nigel Davenport but at 6 overs from the end it looked as if Christleton would win comfortably. The introduction of young James Dixon changed all that. He bowled exceptionally well at the death taking wickets with inswinging Yorkers. It came to the last ball with James bowling to Iroshan de Silva who blocked out a Yorker, the close fielder picked it up and threw to the bowler’s end where Mohammad Farooq picked it up and missed the stumps from right next to them. That would have been an honourable tie but it was not to be. It was just the sort of game we needed prior to the start of such an important series.
Unfortunately for the Australians and the Development Squad, the match at Southport was called off after only 4 overs due to very heavy rain and a couple of twisters appearing on the horizon.
The First Test began on 8th July; England won the toss and chose to field first. The first session belonged to the Australians in some ways. Although they lost Nick Watkins quite cheaply, Grant Thomson and Luke Trudgett batted well together and it was timely that Ben Young caught Luke off Mark Woodman just before lunch. In the afternoon we came back strongly and at one stage had the Australians at 185 for 6 but an excellent innings from their captain Kym Daley with good support from their lower order meant that the Australians posted 334. The pick of the bowlers were Mark Woodman 25 overs, 4 for 73, Darrell Sykes 14 overs, 1 for 34 and Nigel Davenport 17 overs, 2 for 54. Ben Young kept very well for the whole of the 105 overs.
England started their innings for 2 overs before finishing for the day. On the second day, Chris Hughes was out early but a good partnership developed between Mike O’Mahony and Umesh Valjee. They took the score to 126 before Mike was out caught behind the wicket for 52. Kym Daley took his cue from this and re-introduced himself into the attack. He almost immediately had Umesh caught by a fantastic catch at point for 51. He then bowled Ben Young, Tim Regan quickly removed Andrew Wood and then Kym dismissed James Dixon. Nigel Davenport, who had come in after Ben, stood at the other end unable to do anything about it. We were rather fortunate at 150 for 5 that the weather intervened and heavy rain caused premature close of play.
The third day was sunny and warm. Nigel Davenport batted brilliantly with the tail and managed to take the total to 252, his own contribution being 62. Stephen George, Darrell Sykes and Mark Woodman all played their part. Kym Daley was excellent with the ball taking 5 for 73 off 29 overs. The only other major threat came from Tim Reagan’s gentle left arm medium pacers bowled wide of the off stump to a packed off side field.
Australia started their second innings and made a steady start reaching 40 for none. The introduction of Stephen George changed everything. He bowled superbly throughout 15 overs, 4 for 28. He was well supported by James Dixon and backed up by some excellent fielding with 2 run outs. At one stage, we had the visitors 69 for 7 and there was the outside chance of an unlikely win for England happening. Unfortunately for England, Kym Daley and Terry Hall batted through so that the game was declared a draw.
Southport and Birkdale CC, 8/9/10 July, First Test Match - Match Drawn
Toss won by England
Umpires : Harry Fidler & Malcolm Barber
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Men of the Match : Grant Thomson & Stephen George
Australia 1st Innings - 334 All Out, 105 Overs
England 1st Innings - 252 All Out, 97.1 Overs
Australia 2nd Innings 137/8, Declared 50 Overs
On 11th July, we moved to Colwyn Bay in North Wales to stay at Rydal School with the two teams staying in separate houses. It was soon after we arrived at the school that a cold virus started to go round the team.
The Second Test match started on the 13th July and as well as lining up for the National anthems of England and Australia, we also showed our respect for the Welsh National Anthem. Australia won the toss and decided to bat.
Mohammad Farooq and Mark Woodman bowled very tidily and the first wicket fell at 35 when Justin Bergin was run out. Grant Thomson then went at 82 when he was caught off the bowling of Mike O’Mahony. Then came a tremendous partnership between the Watkins brothers which took the score to 236 before Nick Watkins was caught by Ben Young off the bowling of Stephen George for 70. Andrew Watkins went on to make a hundred before being bowled by Mike. At this stage there was a glimmer of hope that we may be able to bowl them out for not much more than 320 but in the end, we got them all out for 385.
The lower order had batted very well and although bowlers were doing ok, they were not getting wickets. A major problem happened when Matt Everett whilst chasing for a ball pulled a hamstring and had to leave the field. Again Mark Woodman bowled well 23 overs, 4 for 80, as did Mike O’Mahony 13 overs, 3 for 48. Ben again kept well throughout, often standing up to the stumps, and took 3 good catches.
When England batted their first innings, Umesh Valjee was quickly removed by Kym Daley as he squared him up with a bouncer and he was caught in the leg gulley. Then, a tremendous partnership followed between Mike O’Mahony and Chris Hughes. They batted beautifully until lunch time attacking the bowling and not allowing the bowlers to settle into any decent rhythm and lines. There was a period before lunch when Kym Daley came around the wicket for three or four overs bowling quick ferocious bouncers. Mike was very impressive and did not flinch nor was he tempted to try and take it on and we came in at lunch in a very healthy position.
Both batsmen played themselves in again after lunch and then started to pick up the pace again. Mike had been very positive playing in the “V” down the wicket but unfortunately went to run one down to third man and was caught behind. Andy Wood followed and he was soon out. Chris continued to bat well but felt he had to reign in to get the innings going again. Nigel Davenport looked comfortable but then got out to a poor shot and then unfortunately Chris was given out caught behind. Matt Everett joined Ben Young with Umesh acting as his runner. They batted very sensibly and took the score to 269 before they again were both out on the same score. The tail did very well to see the score over the 300 mark, finishing at 302 all out.
England started the next morning’s play very well and Stephen George quickly removed Grant Thomson and Justin Bergin was again run out. Mohammad Farooq quickly removed Nick Watkins and when Mark Woodman had Terry Hall lbw - the Australians were under some pressure at 65 for 4. Unfortunately Mark Woodman had to leave the field as he was suffering from a badly bruised heel from all the overs he had bowled.
By lunchtime, Andrew Watkins, with the lower middle order, had effectively batted England out of any chance of a win and they declared at 312 for 7. Andrew Watkins had ridden his luck but ended up with a magnificent 162 not out.
Everyone was very tired by mid afternoon when England began their second innings, knowing there was no chance of winning the test and therefore the series. Unfortunately Chris Hughes was bowled by a good yorker in the first over bowled by Kym Daley. Umesh Valjee and Mike O’Mahony batted very sensibly until Umesh tried a very extravagant cover drive from Michael Parremore and was caught at extra cover. Nigel Davenport joined Mike and with the Australian change bowlers operating the score progressed almost to the last hour. Nigel hit a big shot from Paul Welch that was heading for the long off boundary when Kym Daley ran fully 20yards and held a running one handed catch. This changed the game dramatically as Kym himself came back on to bowl at the new batsman. Mike was then out after quite a good innings of 47, playing a rather irresponsible shot across the line of the ball. Ben Young and Andy Wood were out very quickly and at one stage it appeared that we would lose the Test match. Fortunately Matt Everett and Stephen George played out the rest of the overs until the last ball when Matt threw his wicket away.
The Second Test match was drawn and as a result, the Ashes for Deaf Cricketers were retained by the Australians. Following consultation with Kate, the team physio, it was decided that Matt Everett would need rest and would not be able to play any further cricket on the tour and we had lost a key player.
Colwyn Bay, 13/14/15 July, Second Test Match - Match Drawn
Toss won by Australia
Umpires : Annette Owen & Kevin Wilson
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Men of the Match : Andrew Watkins & Kym Daley
Australia 1st Innings 385 All Out, 107 Overs
England 1st Innings 302 All Out, 84 Overs
Australia 2nd Innings 321/7, Declared 76 Overs
England 2nd Innings 148/7, 47 Overs
The 17th July saw the Twenty20 match, the day was cold and overcast with drizzly rain and throughout the day, we hung around waiting to see if the match would take place in the evening. Eventually we got the word that the game was to go ahead and both teams made their way to the first Twenty20 match to be played between England Deaf and the Australian Deaf. Australia won the toss and decided to bat first.
Australia opened with the Watkins brothers and they got off to a flier. Darrell Sykes bowled quickly but they still managed to manoeuvre the ball well and get quick runs. Darrell took the wicket of Andrew Watkins when the score was 34, thanks to a good catch by Moazzam Rashid at wide mid on. The introduction of Stephen George changed things as he bowled his 4 overs for only 18 and took 2 wickets. Nigel Davenport was then introduced and he bowled his 4 overs for a very economical 22. Stefan Pichowski and James Dixon came in to bowl through to the death. James bowled immaculately and only went for 21 off his 4 overs. Stefan bowled well for his three overs only going for 10, but for his fourth over, although he did take the wicket of Nick Watkins, he went for nearly 20 runs. The Australians ended on 154 for 4. Given the start the Australians had made, it was a great come back for the England team.
We still felt that we could win as long as we got a good start and for one of our batsmen to bat through the innings. We did get off to a good start but none of our batsmen went on to make a substantial score although most got starts. The Australians fielded exceptionally and deployed more innovative fields than we did and hit the stumps directly from throws. At the end of the day our bowling was not tight enough, no one took the responsibility to play a major innings and we were out fielded.
Colwyn Bay, 17 July, Twenty20 – Australia win by 32 runs
Toss won by Australia
Umpires : Malcolm Barber & Alan Clark
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Men of the Match : Nick Watkins & Luke Trudgett
Australia 154/4, 20 Overs
England 122 All Out, 18.4 Overs
We finally got the first real rest day of the tour on the 18th July! Everyone had a lie in. The Australians went to Chester and most of the England Squad went to Conwy Castle. The following day we all travelled down to Birmingham to begin the One Day Internationals.
The first of the One Day Internationals took place at Walmley Cricket Club on 21st July. The ground is attractive but there is a significant slope from North to South. The wicket looked very good and with the slope of the pitch and the short boundary at the top of the field, it looked a very high scoring ground. England won the toss and decided to bat. We reverted to the batting order we had used in the Test Matches with Umesh Valjee and Chris Hughes opening.
Both Umesh and Chris batted sensibly and scored quite freely until Chris was out and Umesh was joined by Mike O’Mahony. The scoreboard ticked over very nicely and at one stage it looked as if we would comfortably score 250plus. The pair took it to 136 when Umesh on 60 was run out by a very good piece of fielding by Kym Daley. What followed was very poor cricket - we had 4 further run outs, 3 more by Kym Daley. Thanks to some useful hitting by Mohammad Farooq at the end of the innings we managed to make 215 being bowled out in the 48th over.
To win the match, everyone would have to bowl well and field like demons. It started off very well when Darrell Sykes and Stephen George opened the bowling and Darrell quickly accounted for one of the openers Paul Welch. Some poor bowling followed, it was only when James Dixon was introduced with Nigel Davenport that we started to gain some control. James quickly bowled Grant Thomson which brought Andrew Watkins in to bat with his brother. Once again we dropped him early in his innings, and although James had Nick Watson lbw and Nigel had the dangerous Luke Trudgett caught before Andrew was able to get started, he was able to steer his team home.
Walmley, 21 July, First ODI – Australia win by 5 wkts
Toss won by England
Umpires : Arnold Brotherhood & Niven Roper
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Man of the Match : Andrew Watkins
England 215 All Out, 47.3 Overs
Australia 218/5, 47.1 Overs
For the 2nd One Day International, we travelled to Worcestershire’s county ground. It was a superb setting for the match. England won the toss and asked the Australians to bat first.
The Australians opened the batting with Justin Bergin and Nick Watkins. England opened the bowling with Mark Woodman and Darrell Sykes. Mark quickly had Nick Watkins out lbw when he left a ball that nipped back at him. Justin had gone in as a pinch hitter to take advantage of the fielding restrictions and he just threw the bat at everything. Justin rode his luck and was dropped by Blyth Duncan when he had scored 25. He and Andrew Watkins quickly took the total on to 107 before Justin was caught by Nigel Davenport off the bowling of Stephen George for 63.
The introduction of Nigel Davenport into the bowling attack changed everything. He bowled 10 overs taking 4 wickets for only 23 runs. Most of the other bowlers and fielders responded well, and from a position of 136 for 2, the Australians were all out for 235 in the 47th over. There were also 2 excellent run outs executed by Stephen George and Andy Wood.
Chris Hughes and Umesh Valjee opened England’s innings and Chris was out with the score on 16. Mike O’Mahony then joined Umesh and was run out after facing 26 balls for 1. Ben Young was out caught on the boundary, trying to make up for lost time. Umesh was joined by Nigel Davenport and again proceeded to pick up the pace. Umesh was out for an excellent 60, although it was a tired shot he played when he was out. Andy Wood joined Nigel and at last Andy showed his true form. With Nigel he took the score to 166 before Nigel was out for a good 50. Andy was joined by Darrell Sykes who played good attacking shots and running really positively and put the Australians under real pressure. They took the score to 208 before Andy was out caught. Darrell continued with James Dixon and took the score to 220 before Darrell was out caught behind. James and Stephen George carried on until we needed 7 to win off the last over. Here our inexperience told, as the guys got out early in the over going for the big shots, instead of looking for ones and twos and leaving the big shots until the last couple of balls. We lost by 5 runs but we had played some superb cricket and really should have won the match. Australia’s Paul Welch bowled an exceptional final over and finished with the figures of ten overs 4 wickets for 28 runs.
New Road Worcester, 22 July, Second ODI – Australia win by 5 runs
Toss won by England
Umpires : Alan Bayley & Brian Hamblett
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Man of the Match : Nigel Davenport
Australia 235 All Out, 46.5 Overs
England 230 All Out, 50 Overs
On the 23rd, we travelled down to Milton Keynes and then to a local cricket club in Wolverton for lunch. The club had made provisions for practice for anyone who wanted them but the players took the opportunity to get some shopping done and rest.
For the last two One Day International matches, we played at Campbell Park which is one of Northamptonshire CCC’s out fields and we have played some of our warm up matches there in the past. A lot of Deaf people had turned out to come and support the England Team and it was good to see so many people who had been involved with England Deaf cricket for many years.
For the 3rd ODI, Kym Daley won the toss for Australia and decided to bat. Australia opened with Justin Bergin and Nick Watkins. The England opening bowlers were Darrell Sykes and Stephen George. Darrell bowled very quickly and soon bowled Justin for 4. This brought the Watkins brothers together and they both set off to try and play themselves in. Stephen bowled very tightly but did not get a wicket and the bowling was changed to bring on James Dixon. He immediately had Nick Watkins out lbw and in the following over, Darrell had Andrew Watkins caught hooking by Chris Hughes at wide fine leg.
We never let the Australians settle. Umesh brought on Moazzam Rashid to replace Darrell after a wonderful opening spell and he settled in to bowl good lines and lengths at a brisk left arm over the wicket. He bowled in tandem with James Dixon and it was good to see two of the new boys bowl so well together. James had Grant Thomson out caught and Moazzam had the same result bowling to Luke Trudgett. The Australians were 48 for 5. Once James had bowled 8 overs, Nigel Davenport was introduced to bowl his left arm orthodox spin. He bowled magnificently bowling his 10 overs for 15 runs and took 2 wickets, including Kym Daley who had set out to try and bat the overs out. Stefan Pichowski came on for a couple of overs and took a wicket. Umesh then brought back the opening bowlers who quickly wrapped up the innings in 45 overs. Australia were all out 117.
Chris Hughes opened with Umesh Valjee but was unfortunately out in the first over much to the delight of the Australians who see him as one of our key batsmen. However there was no panic as Mike O’Mahony joined Umesh and took the score to 46 before he was out bowled again playing across the line to Luke Trudgett. Ben Young joined Umesh and together they batted sensibly and positively until Umesh was dismissed for 43 by Paul Welch with the score on 75. Nigel Davenport joined Ben and together they had a net in the middle and batted sensibly to overtake the Australian score in the 36th over. Ben being 27 not out and Nigel 19 not out. The only Australian bowler that had caused any real trouble was Paul Welch with his change of pace and deliveries. He produced the excellent bowling figures of 9 overs, 1 wicket for 12 runs.
The team and officials were delighted with the win and Jason Mathers, from Cricket Australia, commented that in the three weeks of cricket it was the only time that one team had totally dominated the other.
Campbell Park, 24 July, Third ODI - England Win by 7 wkts
Toss won by Australia
Umpires : Dave Burden & Paul Joy
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Man of the Match : Umesh Valjee
Australia 117 All Out, 45 Overs
England 118/3, 35.1 Overs
The final match started at 10.00am on 25th July. It was a warm and sunny, though due to the earlier start, there was dew on the ground. Nigel Davenport had woken up with a stiff back and despite painkillers and physio treatment, he was unable to play. England won the toss and asked the Australians to bat. Australia changed their opening pair again and Justin Bergin opened with Grant Thomson a left hand/right hand combination. England opened with Darrell Sykes and Mark Woodman. Darrell once again bowled quickly with great control and quickly removed both openers with the score on two. Michael Parremore then joined Luke Trudgett but once again was quickly removed by Mark. Nick Watkins joined Luke and steadied the ship until Luke was out bowled by Mark for 27. Mark had to bowl his overs out and bowled superbly 10 overs, 2 wickets for 23 runs. Stephen George came into the attack but he did look tired and did not bowl his usual terrific lines and lengths and had to be taken out of the attack after 4 overs. As we were one bowler down due to Nigel Davenport’s injury, we had to rely on James Dixon and Moazzam Rashid to do the business in the middle and they did an excellent job in the circumstances.
Both the Watkins brothers were removed and Australia were 115 for 6. Stefan Pichowski went for 14 from 3 overs and it looked as if Australia might get a big score with Kym Daley and Terry Hall batting very sensibly together. Fortunately, Mike O’Mahony came on and had Kym caught behind the wicket for 26 with the Australian score on 158. Umesh re-introduced Darrell and between Mike and Darrell they took the remaining wickets to leave the Australians all out in the 48th over.
England opened as normal with Umesh Valjee and Chris Hughes. The innings did not start well and Umesh was out early for 2. Mike O’Mahony joined Chris but was soon out with the score on 20. Ben Young tried to stabilize the innings with Chris but after getting a start, he too was out having batted for some time for 14 leaving England 45 for 3. Chris Hughes was next out in a freakish manner when the ball hit his pad and ballooned up from his glove to be taken by Nick Watkins for 17. We were in trouble at 53 for 4. Stefan Pichowski came in but was quickly out lbw playing across the line for 1. The score was 55 for 5.
Andy Wood and Stephen George were next and batted very maturely and took the score to a hundred before they were both out in consecutive overs. It was not the best situation to be in but James Dixon and Darrell Sykes batted superbly together. They ran superbly together and really put pressure on the Australian fielders and were prepared to put the bad ball away for boundaries. It was only unfortunate that Darrell ran himself out to give James the strike for the last over. Mark Woodman joined James for the last over and this time the winning runs were scored with 2 balls remaining of the 50 overs.
A superb win which augurs well for the future of the England Deaf team as the win was largely down to the youngsters in the side who really came of age in this match. The officials of both sides agreed that it had been a tremendous series against two very well matched sides.
Campbell Park, 25 July, Fourth ODI - England Win by 2 wkts
Toss won by England
Umpires : Dave Burden & Paul Joy
Scorers : Mike Rose & Sarah Norell
Man of the Match : Darrell Sykes
Australia 188 All Out, 49.2 Overs
England 189/8, 49.4 Overs
As the One Day Internationals ended with a 2-2 draw, the Australians again retained the One Day International trophy.
The Final Ceremony dinner took place that evening and was attended by Chris Reed, the Notts CCC captain and former England wicket keeper. It was a very friendly affair, the meal was excellent, presentations were made and fond farewells expressed between players and officials of both sides.
I left Milton Keynes the next day a tired but happy and proud man that after all the trials and tribulations at the start of the tour, the players had responded magnificently. Although we had not won the Ashes for Deaf Cricketers, we had put down a marker for the next “Ashes” series in Australia in 2012, in that we have a lot of younger players coming through and we will do our level best to bring trophies home.