DEVON TOUR REPORTS
DEVON TOUR 2011
TOUR REPORT
As we all know, this was sadly the last Hale Barns tour of Devon. If our records are right it was the 25th year spent in what had become for many of us a well-loved part of the country. The years leave us with many happy memories - Arthur Johnson's sense of humour, Scott and Huffy returning naked from the ascent of Melford Tor, the ‘arrest' of Molly by Exeter police and his less than amused return from whichever lane they eventually dumped him in, the bawdy and (thanks to Brian Alves) occasionally melodic social evenings with Tony Barter and the perverts of Cornwood C.C., the still bawdier limericks composed for each tourist for some ten or twelve years by the apparently inoffensive and conventional character who eventually became the tour boss (‘his dick's got more lead than there's sense in his head', guess who), Graham Oliver's ‘wicket-keeping' (‘now that's enough of that'), Peter Hill's fines and stories at Broadclyst.....the list could go on and on. You'll note there's not much about deeds on the cricket field, but we had a lot of fun there too, and some splendid games (with more than a few victories).
Fortunately this will not be the last Hale Barns tour. Thanks to Jamie White who has joined us during the last two years, we will meet again in Llandudno at the Lauriston Hotel for matches against Colwyn Bay, Mochdre and our friends from Failsworth for a shorter tour in North Wales in June of next year. We very much hope that the young club members who were with us in Torquay a year ago will bring their energy, spirit and above all cricketing skills to the three matches Jamie has arranged. Who knows, we might even see some first XI players - only Saddo has been with us in recent years from that elevated level of the club. We certainly need a few people to help us record a win: that seems almost as long ago as the last time before 2011 Lancs C.C. were county champions.
One reason for the end of the Devon tours has to be the very mixed weather we've encountered in recent years. This year was no exception since we again lost two matches to rain. However, thanks to Jamie White's initiative we compensated for the loss of the Abbotskerswell fixture by hiring the Torquay Municipal ground for a league competition between the 12 cricketers (sic) in the touring party playing in pairs on a handicap system based on combined ages. This gave us three hours of entertainment, even if at a somewhat low level of skill, and confirmed the touring party's ability to turn problems into opportunities, in no more expensive a way than our visit to Newton Abbot races on an equally wet Wednesday afternoon some years ago.
For our other matches we had only assembled 9 cricketers (sic, again) from the club, and depended on splendid support from Larry, Chris and Dave from Failsworth Macedonians - and, for one match, the tour boss's Dartmoor walking mate Cliff Lowe from Kingsbridge. Our much weakened teams lost all three matches, but gave a good account of themselves. Although we lost by 78 runs at Kingsbridge we did for the first time in memory bowl them all out (for 216) thanks to a splendid spell of 5 for 43 by Dave Akin from Failsworth, and made a respectable 138 with a fighting knock of 56 from Graham Dooling. Our visit to Stoke Gabriel saw us rolled over for 71 in the 20 overs chasing 123, but the Wellington Bomber flew again with another crash landing for tour virgins in the drink (literally). Our last ever Devon match at Broadclyst saw us bat out the overs but fall a considerable 64 runs short. However Adam Payne (with 3-25 and 27 runs) emerged from that match at the top of our bowling averages at 5.0 and second in batting averages at 14.5. However our cricketing tourist of the year, far and away top of the batting averages with 104 runs at 34.75, second in the bowling with 3 wickets at 9.3, and with a stunning catch at full speed half way down the hill towards Kingsbridge town centre, was Graham Dooling.
It was a fitting end to our wonderful years in South Devon - much enjoyment, a great spirit and for the old-timers a good helping of nostalgia. We've been hosted superbly by clubs and hotels, none better than the Cimon where Jane and Will have been the best hosts we could have asked for over the last four years. Jamie promises us an excellent stay at the Lauriston in Llandudno next year, so we look forward to that high standard being maintained. The tour lives on!
HALE BARNS DEVON TOUR 2011
TOUR AVERAGES
BATTING
Graham Dooling 3 0 104 34.75
Adam Payne 2 0 29 14.5
Larry Johnson 3 1 25 12.5
Jamie White 2 0 21 10.5
Steve Jenkins 3 0 20 6.6
Chris McHugh 3 0 20 6.6
Robin Grinter 2 1 4 4.0
Dave Akin 3 0 8 2.6
Stuart Collins 2 0 5 2.5
John Finan 3 1 5 2.5
John Petch 2 0 1 0.5
John Pope 3 0 1 0.3
BOWLING
Adam Payne 9 0 29 5 5.80
Graham Dooling 3 0 28 3 9.3
Dave Akin 15 2 91 5 18.2
John Petch 5.2 1 50 2 25.0
John Pope 16 0 54 2 27.0
Stuart Collins 11 0 77 1 77.0
Steve Jenkins 14 1 88 1 88.0
John Finan 17 2 46 0 ----
Robin Grinter 3 0 25 0 ----
Also bowled:
Chris McHugh 1 0 5 1 5.0
Jamie White 1 0 10 0 ----
HALE BARNS DEVON TOUR 2010
The Hale Barns tour is thriving: this year we had three young graduates from our youth teams bringing new life and energy to the tour in a variety of ways. It would have been our largest touring party ever had it not been for three last minute withdrawals owing to emergencies the day before we left. Fortunately both crises – a flooded flat and more seriously a heart attack - were overcome.
Unfortunately however these three absentees were cricketers as opposed to hangers-on, so we fielded weakened teams, but we did manage to give an increasingly good account of ourselves as the tour went on. You’ll probably have already realised that this means that once again we didn’t win a match, but two unbeaten last wicket stands mean that we could claim to have come second twice rather than actually being taken to the cleaners every time. But, of course, the most important thing to remember about our cricket tours is that so long as we enjoy ourselves and give clubs a reasonable game the results don’t really matter.
We had three completed matches. At Kingsbridge on the Sunday we found ourselves short of runs despite an opening stand of 41 between Huffy and Hulk who made 38 on his tour debut. As a result of our having put up reasonable performances in recent years, Kingsbridge put out a pretty strong team: this six-wicket defeat will probably change all that in the future. On the Monday Cornwood also put out a strong team, with young players scoring 102 and 73, including six sixes, half of them off the tour boss and the pavilion roof. But the Whistler, Jamie and Payno saw us through to 120-9.
A really good afternoon’s cricket at Abbotskerswell saw 436 runs scored, 200 by us, with a flurry of boundaries from Dools (46) and Huffy (48) taking them both close to a tour 50. These innings were a bit different to Jamie’s 35 dot balls off the 48 he faced, though there were 27 runs off the other 13. With 81 dot balls in two innings, and 57 valuable runs off the remaining 23 balls he faced, he came second in the batting averages on his first tour on 28.5, only outdone by Huffy on 36.5. But the star of the show has to be Pav, with 4 wickets for 37 including a stunning caught and bowled when he couldn’t get his hand out of the way in time. We nearly got an unprecedented jug out of him, but he insisted that a later slip catch did’nt count as a fifth wicket. Ah, well…we made him Tourist of the Year instead.
It was great to have contributions from our youngsters, as Doddy also chipped in with two wickets that put him top of the bowling averages, and Calum one – though a broken finger at Cornwood ended Calum’s cricketing contribution. There were a number of other injuries to ageing and otherwise vulnerable bodies, fortunately none quite so serious, so it was a battered but otherwise happy party that returned on the Thursday evening.
The other two fixtures, our 20/20 thrash at Stoke Gabriel on the Tuesday evening and the final match at Broadclyst, were regrettably washed out by heavy rain. This has happened two years running at Stoke Gabiel and twice in the last three years at Broadclyst. It was a real pity because the fancy dress at Stoke Gabriel would have been superb with a collection of Superheroes ready to take the field. No doubt appearances would have been deceptive when it came to the match, but one thing we’re not short of is imagination.
Finally it is good to report that several things fortunately didn’t happen this year – despite having Jenks on tour there were no visits to A&E, nor any disturbances of public order. But some good new things did, especially the trip down the River Dart from Totnes and back to Paignton by steam train (great idea, Petchy). The tour goes from strength to strength.
TOUR AVERAGES
BATTING
Name Innings Not Out Runs Average
Steve Hough 2 0 73 36.50
Jamie White 2 0 57 28.50
Ben Hicks 2 0 50 25.00
Adam Payne 3 1 66 33.00
Graham Dooling 3 0 64 21.33
Tom Entwhistle 2 0 40 20.00
Steve Goron 3 2 17 17.00
John Petch 3 2 14 14.00
Rick Bowie 2 0 10 5.00
John Finan 2 1 3 1.50
Phil Dodd 3 0 6 2.00
John Pope 3 0 4 1.33
RobinGrinter 1 1 1.00
BOWLING
Name Overs Maidens Runs Wickets Average
Phil Dodd 6 0 33 2 16.50
John Petch 8 0 34 2 17.00
Steve Goron 16 0 71 4 17.25
Robin Grinter 5 0 37 2 18.50
John Pope 16 0 84 3 28.00
Calum Carson 6 1 34 1 34.00
John Finan 9 0 73 1 73.00
Adam Payne 10 0 74 1 74.00
Rick Bowie 5 0 43 0 00.00
Graham Dooling 2 0 22 0 00.00
Tom Entwhistle 2 0 13 0 00.00
Ben Hicks 12 2 53 0 00.00
Steve Hough 1 0 14 0 00.00
Hale Barns Devon Tour 2009
Every Hale Barns tour is a great tour, and this was no exception even though this year we didn't manage to win a single match, which must be some kind of record. It just goes to show that it's a good job the enjoyment of a tour has nothing whatever to do with the cricket that fills what would otherwise be yet more drinking time. It's not the winning, it's the taking part....
We'll deal with the cricket quickly. Despite some very heavy rain that washed out our annual fancy dress parade/Twenty Twenty evening at Stoke Gabriel (and would have turned the togas into wet washing), we had four more or less complete games. Dartington let us down again, so there's another ground we won't revisit, but our good friends at Kingsbridge rescued the tour programme by setting up a 20/20 match with their U.17s for that afternoon - and provided sausage barms as well as the invaluable cuppas. That's what friends are for. We look forward to a visit to Babbacombe and their interesting ground next year.
Although we lost the four games, none was a whitewash. We did win all four tosses - some sort of consolation for the losing captains - and made reasonable scores, but couldn't bowl the opposition out, losing by 6, 4, 2 and 4 wickets as the tour progressed. The bowling problems are highlighted by the fact that the Tour Boss came second in the averages, an unheard of outcome about which he is inordinately even if unjustifiably proud. Finding high spots from the four games poses a bit of a problem, but Huffy's 65 at Broadclyst was well worth watching, as was our guest from Chelford Richard Munslow's 43 at Cornwood, an innings that puts him top of the batting averages. Stu Collins topped the bowling averages with four wickets, including 3 for 8 in our second game at Kingsbridge, and Finers' 4 overs, three maidens, 0 for 2 at Broadclyst deserves a mention in despatches. But overall our best wasn't quite good enough.
However, the night life proved rather more interesting that in recent years. Having a touring doctor is always useful, even if it was Steve who ended up in A and E after an unfortunate altercation with some steps at Mangos, leaving an impressive bruise on that distinguished receding hairline. But he was back on professional duty very soon to take Fretters to A and E for a late-night check on some unwelcome aches and pains - welcome to the fully-medicated elder statesmen's club, Richard. Glad to have both back in their usual approximation to good health by the end of the tour.
Once more, we all look forward to the next tour. Hope to welcome back the Wild Rover and the Whistler if their finances have recovered from the strains of marrying off yet another of the offspring and world touring respectively. Missed Liam's company, but enjoyed having Richard and Danny as new guest members. Looking forward most of all to some new young blood with us in 2010 - Ben, Phil and any others who fancy the trip: our results show how badly we need you! It'll be another great time, whatever.
DEVON TOUR AVERAGES 2009
Batting Innings Not out Runs Average
Richard Munslow 1 0 43 43
Steve Hough 4 1 119 29.75
Jordan Collins 3 1 49 24.5
Richard Bowie 3 0 60 20
Steve Goron 2 0 34 17
John Pope 3 1 31 15,5
Adam Payne 3 1 28 14
Richard Fretwell 3 0 36 12
John Finan 2 0 24 12
John Petch 2 0 17 8.5
Steve Jenkins 4 1 23 7.66
Danny Wright 2 0 12 6
Graham Dooling 4 1 15 5
Robin Grinter 2 1 5 5
Stuart Collins 1 1 0 0
Bowling Overs Maidens Runs Wickets Average
Stuart Collins 9 1 29 4 7.25
Robin Grinter 7 0 30 2 15
Adam Payne 11 2 56 3 18.66
Danny Wright 6 0 23 1 23
Steve Jenkins 12 3 72 3 24
John Petch 7 0 51 2 25,5
John Finan 12 3 54 2 27
John Pope 9 0 62 2 31
Richard Fretwell 5 0 36 1 36
Graham Dooling 8 0 40 1 40
Steve Goron 11 0 49` 1 49
Richard Bowie 3 0 16 0 &
