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Tour to Corfu 1991

 Cricket World XI in Corfu   

    

 

Cricket World XI in Corfu Greece September 1991  

Played 4 Won 0 Drawn 0 Tied 0 Lost 4

CWXI enjoyed a first vist to Corfu in September 1991. We stayed at The Cricketers Inn at Liapades and the tour was organised by British Consul, John Forte who had revived cricket aftr World War 2 and nutured it thereafter. The Party consisted of-Michael Blumberg & Annette Tiberghien, Jack Hyams, Reg Scarlett, Keith Booth, Roger Montgomery, Gordon Hewitt, Richard Lanyon & girl friend, Bill Rodwell, Alan Hobson, Simon Stentiford and Jo Jordan, Brian Milner.

We played three matches against Feax, Gymnastikos and Byron and a fourth against a Combined XI. We lost all four, the last by just three runs in the pitch dark. With injuries suffered by party members and some taking an excursion to Zakynthos several Greek players also played for us in matches two and three.

 

   
 View of the secluded beach at Liapades                         Dining area at the The Cricketeers Inn

Cricket World XI v Feax September 26th The Liston Espinade Corfu Town Greece 33/33 overs match

Result:Feax won by 75 runs
Toss:Feax
Umpires:Not Recorded
Scorer:Bill Rodwell & Mrs Bogdanos?

FEAX CC Innings
? Pigis      bowled Blumberg 45
? Garyniatis c & b  Scarlett 28
S Kantaros   bowled Scarlett 23
T Bogdanos   bowled Scarlett  2
D Bogdanos   bowled Blumberg  1
? Dafnis     bowled Blumberg 43
? Aygerinos  not out         35
N Dimisianos not out         23
Extras       (b3,lb6,w3,nb3) 15
TOTAL (6 wickets,33 overs) 215
Dnb:? Vasilas,? Gianoulis,? Kapodistrias

Fow:Not recorded

Bowling-Booth 4 0 32 0,Hyams 3 0 23 0,Scarlett 13 0 58 4,Blumberg 13 0 92 3.

CRICKET WORLD XI Innings 
J Hyams      c Dimisianos b Kantaros   33 
R Lanyon     c Dafnis     b D Bogdanos 30 
R Montgomery c & b          Aygerinos  18 
G Hewitt     not out                   17
R Scarlett   c Pigis      b T Bogdanos 25 
ME Blumberg  not out                    6 
Extras      (b0,lb1,w7,nb1)            
TOTAL       (4 wickets,33 overs)      138
Dnb:K Booth,A Hobson,S Stentiford,J Jordan,W Rodwell.

Fow:1-54,2-87,3-87,4-128.

Bowling-Kapodistrias 4 0 9 0,Gianoulis 4 0 17 0,Basilas 2 0 12 0,D Bogdanos 5 0 21 1,Dafnis 2 0 9 0,Kantaros 9 1 47 1,Aygerinos 2 0 6 1,T Bogdanos 5 0 16 1.

 

Cricket World XI v Gymnastikos CC September 27th The Liston Espinade Corfu Town Greece 33/33 overs match

Result:  Gymnastikos won by 54 runs
Toss:    Gymnastikos
Umpires: Not recorded
Scorer:  Bill Rodwell & ? 

GYMNASTIKOS CC Innings
D Christou       c ?      b Hewitt   44
J Misfut         c ?      b Scarlett 64
S Tsaggaropoulos bowled     Scarlett  1
J Nikitas        c Hewitt b Milner    7
G Patrikious     c Lanyon b Milner   14
G Vramis         bowled     Blumberg 21
V Vrahliotis     not out             19
S Grimmas        not out             14
Extras          (b0,lb6,w0,nb0)       6
TOTAL          (6 wickets,33 overs) 190
Dnb~:N Bouhaier,N Vramis,A Sloubalis. 

Fow:1-80,2-81,3-106,4-130,5-148,6-160.

Bowling-Booth 3 0 33 0,Scarlett 16 0 58 2,Hewitt 4 0 45 1,Milner 5 0 33 2,Blumberg 5 1 15 1.

CRICKET WORLD XI Innings
R Lanyon     st Vrahliotis b Nikitas 41
R Montgomery c Vrahliotis  b Misfoot 37
B Atgerinos  st Vrahliotis b Nikitas  7
S Kantaros   bowled          Misfoot 12
R Scarlett   c ?           b Nikitas  5
ME Blumberg  c & b           Nikitas  3
J Hyams      not out                 17
A Hobson     st Vrahliotis b Nikitas 16
G Hewitt     not out                  0
Extras      (b2,lb3,w0,nb1)           6
TOTAL       (7 wickets,33 overs)    144
Dnb:B Milner,K Booth.

Fow:1-70,2-84,3-100,4-101,5-107,6-110,7-144.

Bowling-Patrikos 3 0 9 0,Nikitas 14 0 70 5,Misfoot 13 0 40 2,Christou 2 0 20 0,Bouhaier 1 1 0 0.

Cricket World XI v Byron CC September 30th The Liston Espinade Corfu Town Greece 33/33 overs match

Result:Byron won by 87 runs
Toss:Byron CC
Umpires:Not recorded
Scorer:Bill Rodwell & ? 

BYRON CC Innings 
G Kourkoulos  c Dimisianos b Milner   32
? Anemogianis bowled         Lanyon    5
? Prosoparis  bowled         Scarlett  7
F Kourkoulos  bowled         Milner   10
T Galanis     c Hyams      b Milner    8
F Skourtis    c Montgomery b Blumberg 58
S Kolas       c Dimisianis b Lanyon   56
? Balos       not out                  4
? Stogiannos  run out                  0
M Batsomitis  not out                  0
Extras       (b11,lb1,w0,nb0)         12
TOTAL        (8 wickets,30 overs)    192
Dnb:G Vassilakis.

Fow:1-8,2-49,3-49,4-?,5-?6-?,7-192,8-192.

Bowling-Scarlett 8 2 27 1,Lanyon 9 0 56 2,Milner 5 0 26 3,Kantaros 4 0 27 0,Blumberg 4 0 44 1.

CRICKET WORLD XI Innings
R Lanyon     bowled   Galanis  11
R Scarlett   lbw    b Galanis  15
S Kantaros   c?     b Galanis   2
J Hyams      run out            2
N Dimisianos c ?    b Galanis   9
R Montgomery run out           20
ME Blumberg  c ?    b Galanis   0
G Hewitt     not out           30
K Booth      not out            8
Extras      (b0,lb0,w6,nb0)     6
TOTAL       (7 wkts,30 overs) 105
Dnb:B Milner,W Rodwell.

Fow:1-23,2-25,3-27,4-32,5-49,6-50,7-72.

Bowling-Galanis 13 2 46 5,Skourtis 12 2 40 0,Anemogiannis 2 0 12 0,Kolas 1 0 3 0,Vassilakis 1 0 2 0,Kourkoulis 1 0 2 0.

Cricket World XI v Corfu Combined XI October 1st The Liston Espinade Corfu Town Greece 33/33 overs match

Result:Corfu Combined XI won by 3 runs
Toss:Corfu CC
Umpires:Not recorded
Scorer:Bill Rodwell & ?

CORFU COMBINED XI Innings

Scorecard Vanished

TOTAL(?,wkts,27 overs) 121

Fow:Not recorded

Bowling-Missing

CRICKET WORLD XI Innings
R Lanyon     c Kourkoulos b Dafnis     0
D Christou   c Skourtis   b Avgerianos 1
J Hyams      bowled         Vassilas   7
R Scarlett   c Avgerinos  b Skourtis  47
R Montgomery bowled         Vassilas  30
G Hewitt     not out                  14
T Bogdanos   run out                  12
ME Blumberg  c Kourkoulis b Kolas      4
Extras      (b0,lb1,w4,nb1)            6
TOTAL       (6 wickets,27 overs)     121
Dnb:K Booth,B Milner,W Rodwell.

Fow: 1-0,2-4,3-12,4-80,5-97,6-116,7-121.

Bowling-Dafnis 5 1 15 1,Avgerianos 3 0 17 1,Vassilas 5 1 10 2,Kapodistrias 5 0 34 0,Skourtis 5 0 31 1,Kolas 3.5 0 13 1.

       

Defeat in the dark

The game started late and so was reduced to 27 overs each. We had begun to learn the nuances of Corfu cricket by this time and by judicious field placing and taking the pace off the ball we constrained the locals to a modest 121.

After a poor start a fine stand between Reg Scarlett and Roger Montgomery had set us en route to victory. However the light was already failing when we started our innings and was further delayed as a fight broke out in the car park. As the evening set in so coach drivers began returning with their passengers and attempted to re enter the car park. With the car park full it is much easier to hit boundaries as a car or coach hit is immediately recorded as four. The local cricketers were keen to keep the car park free of vehicles during our innings and this resulted in several confrontations between fielders and coach drivers eventually exploding into a fight with dangerous weapons, cricket bats and car wrenches. 

All this delayed play further and the light darkened and yet Reg Scarlett with 47 and Montgomery with 30 had taken us to 97-5 in the 21st over. Further runs from guest Bogdanos and Gordon Hewitt found us on 115 with two overs to go. Gordon hit a single whereupon Bogdanos was run out. Blumberg hit two twos leaving us with four runs to win off the last over over. Gordon declared he could not see a thing and Blumberg concurred. Somehow they scrambled a legbye leaving three to win with two balls left.

The batsmen conferred and it was agreed that Gordon Hewitt would shout as the bowler bowled. Blumberg still missed the next ball however he made contact with the following, a full toss, a screaming top edge and the ball zoomed high towards the boundary, Hewitt and Blumberg ran like hell and were considering a third for no one knew where the ball was! No one that is, except wicket keeper Kourkoulis. He had sprinted into the distance towards third man and now claimed a miraculous catch.

Well no one was in a position to contest or verify the catch and in the true spirit of cricket the batsmen accepted the fielder's claim and walked off to another defeat. Beer, Ouzo and Restsina followed and we arrived back at The Cricketers Inn very late. Spiros Kantaros would always shake his head in subsequent years and declare that the missing scorecard was indeed a mystery! For the tourists the fight in the car park remains vivid in the memory and part of Corfu cricket folklore.