Paris Tour 2007
24th-28th August
Triple Triumph
Chantilly, Thoiry, SAC
Three games, three wins. Tour Party:Jeremy Lascelles(Tour Manager & Skipper) , Andy Smith, Ollie Smith, Karl Thorns, Russell Mann, Charles Fellows-Smith, Bill Johnson & Vicky(Romantics), Richard Clark, Michael Blumberg(Tour fixture fixer), Richard Woolhouse, Bill Rodwell(Scorer & Songster) and David Morley-Clarke(Monday).
Jeremy Lascelles reports
A triumphant tour of Paris (no Thoiry this time due to a soggy outfield, which of course tragically also meant no pizzer ia!) which also gave Virgin CC* its first ever 100% successful season ( OK it was only five games, but at our collective age it is nice to be able to break a record). The tour was also notable for a few other reasons: Charles Fellows-Smith pathological desire to take the 4 wickets he needed to join the pantheon of Virgin all-time wicket-takers (did he succeed? read on.. ..), Bill Johnson and Richard Clark's attempts to out-dress each other, Bill Rodwell's baritone jazz singing, and utter failure of the collective intelligence of the assembled team to find the right platform at the Gare du Nord to catch a train to Chantilly. So to the games themselves:
Sat 25 Aug: Played at Chantilly. Nomads/Virgin CC 214-6 in 35 overs (J.Lascelles 76, W.Johnson 50) beat Chantilly CC 151-7 in 35 overs (R.Clark 2-19) by 63 runs. 
Proving that we have the navigational skills of Mark Thatcher in a desert rally, the late arrival of the team resulted in a shortened game over 3 5 overs a side, albeit one set on a beautiful ground on the edge of the picturesque town of Chantilly. Batting first, opening pair Jeremy Lascelles (untypically getting off the mark with a pulled 6) and Andy Smith had comfortably put on 104 against - frankly - unchallenging bowling, when Smithy - huffing and puffing and looking every minute of his ever-advancing years - decided he had to retire. This caused a problem for the scorers. Should the entry reflect the true nature of events, namely "retired unable/unwilling to run 2's and 3's"? Or perhaps " retired hungover"? Or maybe "retired old"? Generously, we settled on "retired ill". Jeremy was eventually out for 76, but Bill Johnson helped carry the score to 182, being dismissed shortly aft er completing his own half-century. The middle order scraped enough runs to take us to the reasonable total (on a large ground with a slow outfield) of 214-6.
Chantilly got off to a brisk reply, but were undone by both openers getting themselves run out, one of whom looked like a decent bat. Their nos. 3 and 4 then put on 100, and although they had fallen well behind the run-rate, there loomed the bizarre prospect of Virgin winning a game when none of their bowlers had actually taken a wicket. However, a collapse ensued and= in the end victory was comfortably achieved by 63 runs.
CHARLES WICKET WATCH: took one wicket off the last ball of an already won match against a batsman holding his bat the wrong way up, and embarked on a celebration that suggested he had just won the FA Cup; 1 down, 3 to go ..
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Sun 26 Aug: Played at SAC, Meudon. Nomads/Virgin CC 140-7 in 4 0 overs (R.Clark 28, C.Fellows-Smith 25*, W.Johnson 25) beat Thoiry/SAC XI 109 all out in 35.2 overs(A.Smith 3-12, K.Thorns 3-19) by 31 runs.
A
bit hairy this one. A poor batting performance was rescued from the perils of 75-6 in the 22nd over, by a solid partnership of 45 between Richard Clark and Charles Fellows-Smith (was the word "solid" invented to describe CFS?), which enabled us to crawl our way to the pretty feeble total of 140-7 from our allotted 40 overs. However a stirring team talk by the skipper between innings (basically offering to provide the finest wines for the end of tour dinner if we managed to win all three games) seemed to inspire Virgin. With Young Jack Hardy (well, not quite so young as he used to be, but then frankly who is? Apart from Cliff Richard of course. And maybe Silvio Berlusconi.) going well for the opposition things looked ominous for a whi le, before a fine returning spell by Karl Thorns (bowling with more control off a short run - it would be hard to have had less control than his first spell!) and some wily off-spin by the now-recovered Andy Smith ripped the heart out of the middle order. And all this in spite of dropping 7 catches. It was fitting that Rodders should take the final wicket - he informed us proudly that on each occasion he had bowled in France he had taken the match-winning wicket. (Or some such rivetting statistic).Actually at Cabris,Entrecasteaux and now SAC-Ed.
CHARLES WICKET WATCH: yet again only one wicket, accompanied by a celebration that suggested he had just won the FA Cup and the Ashes. 2 down, 2 to go.
When we ate late 'Al Fresco' opposite Gare Du Nord Jeremy was very cold
Mon 27 Aug: Played at SAC, Meudon. Standard Athletic Club 115 all out (31.3 overs) (K.Thorns 2-16, C.Fellows-Smith 2-16, D.Morley-Clarke 2-26) lost to Nomads/Virgin CC 1 116-9 (39.2 overs) (K.Thorns 50*) by 1 wicket.
Could we make it three on the trot? Well, you know the answer to that so I don't know why I bothered asking the question. Losing the toss for the first time on tour, Virgin took to the field in determined mood - it's amazing what the lure of fine wine can do. A very fine all-round bowling and fielding performance ensued against a strong SACC line-up, with none of their quality batsmen making a significant score, and when they were finally bowled out for 115, the bouquet of a Chateau Latour '59 was being conjured up in 11 pairs of nostrils.
Well, life of course is never that simple. Getting off to the worst possible start, losing a wicket in the first over, Virgin had crawled to 29 when disaster struck. Four wickets were to fall on that score, including a hat-trickto their leggie (illustrious victims: Johnson, Woolhouse, Mann), and when the 6th wicket went down with the score on 46, things looked pretty grim. However, it's not over till the fat lady sings. Or in this case, it's never over till the fat no.8 has fallen on his stumps and demolished them going for a quick single (not sure that that phrase will quite catch on). Enter the mighty Charles F-S to join Karl Thorns at the crease. A slow but eminently sensible partnership started to build. Boundaries were very hard to come by (indeed only 6 were struck in each of VCC's innings over both games at the SACC, due yet again to the long boundaries and very damp outfield), but despite some at times bizarre (and hilarious) running, the runs were being clocked up. The stand had realised 54 priceless runs, but with only 16 runs required and victory in sight, Chucky F sliced to 3rd man, and then two further wickets fell for just 7 runs. And so it came to be that Ollie Smith, the calmest man (boy?) in Paris, strode out at no.11 to join Karl with 9 needed off 7 balls. A rare and beautifully struck boundary by Karl off the last ball of the 39th over meant 5 were needed off the last over. Following a wide off the first ball, Ollie - as cool as you like - paddled the ball away for a single, leaving Karl to smash the winning runs with 4 balls to spare.
CHARLES WICKET WATCH: amazingly, and perhaps historically, the two wickets he required were duly taken, the arrival of which would put the celebrations in Paris on July 14th to shame.
Nomads celebrate the clean sweep Brasserie Terminus Nord Jeremy serves the Chateau Kirwan
And yes, I did stump up for the wine that evening. Not quite Latour 59, but pretty damn fine Chateau Kirwan 99 for those who are interested), and pretty damn expensive. Worth it, though. We might not have got there with out it.
; 
Rodders turns to song David stares at his steak on the floor and the rest snap fingers to Bill's rthythm Richard absorbed by Vicky eloquence
Some Previous Paris/Thoiry Tours
2006 Thrashed by Thoiry/Dreux Lose 2 win 1
2005 Season Tour to Thoiry & Meudon,2 wins 1 loss
2004 Tour to Thoiry, lose twice
August 2003 Tour to Thoiry Scorecards & Pics
Virgin XI CC, then an independent club, have been visiting Thoiry since the mid 1990s.
Nomads have been visiting SAC since the mid 1970s. Nomads as CWXI visited Thoiry in 1990.
The tour originally just to Thoiry extended in 2005 to SAC and in 2007 to Chantilly.
* Virgin CC in the early 20th century met formally to agree to a merger within Nomads CC. By a narrow majority the Virgin members present voted to continue as an independent club. However two of those present namely Jeremy Lascelles, a founder Virgin, and member of Nomads and Michael Blumberg,a Virgin member and Hon Sec Nomads subsequently took the decision to encompass Virgin XI within Nomads CC and there has been no howl of protest since.Those games Match Managed by Jeremy Lascelles and Jamie Lane remain designated Virgin XI matches,three in 2007 plus the Paris tour. As a result Jeremy continues to compile the 'Virgin' statistics. The same are included in Nomads stats. Jeremy has always adopted for the published all time bowling stats a minimum qualification of 25 wickets. It is this magic figure which had become a manic obsession of Charles Fellows- ert
Full Match Scorecards Click Here
Posted on 13/05/2007
by Michael Blumberg