Strollers enjoy a Happy End to 2022 in München (continued)
posted: September 27, 2022

The second match of any tour is always a challenge, and this proved no different in Munich. Having gradually come round from the night before (or just a couple of hours before in some cases) nursing sore heads, lost voices and general bewilderment, one by one we limped out of the Happy End and once again found breakfast at the backerei. Duly replenished with eggs, bacon and ibuprofen we set off at 11am in our caravan of Ubers to find our way to the Sportfechten, a school sports field which would be the venue for our clash with our next opponents, Bayern CC against whom we were due to play a compact T20.

Unlike the multinational make up of Munich CC, Bayern was a team exclusively comprised of Indian expats who Phil, the previous day, had warned us took their cricket ‘a bit more seriously’. This we could tell as, upon our late arrival (having initially walked several hundred yards in the opposite direction to the ground after our drop off) we found an alarmingly young and fit side doing warm-ups on the boundary. Concerning too was how much Bayern has clearly invested in their immaculate blue pyjama kit, along with matching blue pads. Were we facing a German IPL franchise? Yikes.

However, that investment clearly fell short of furnishing themselves with similarly upmarket facilities and their Heath Robinson solution to preparing a wicket became evident as the oppo put in their pitch. Instead of a dreaded Flicx mat being rolled out we looked on with some bewilderment as the Bayern players began bringing out panels of chip board and started hammering them into the ground before covering the wooden surface with what looked like sack cloth. With less than half the necessary 22 yards worth of wood to play with we were told batsmen would only face from one end but we were assured the bounce from the harder wicket would be truer than that which we had experienced the day before …difficult to be less true, to be fair.

Meanwhile, we had some patching up of our own to do ourselves. Skipper Harry and rookie Ali were strangely nowhere to be seen (an all-nighter at a local techno club might have had something to do with it) and with Harsh out of action and on drinks duty, the eleven remaining Strollers selected themselves with Spencer kindly stepping in to handle the toss. Thankfully the Spengali tossed exceptionally well, called correctly and chose to bowl first – a wise move as, from experience, it is usually easier to field than bat with a bad hangover.

The hangover wasn’t eased by what can only be described as a fiery Indian Haka, which the oppo performed ahead of their innings. In response Spencer looked around for brave volunteers to open the bowling to which Gaurav and Davie G gamely stepped up. Dave’s derring-do was rewarded in the second over when opener Naveen sent a huge lob up to long on where Gaurav was lurking and a difficult catch was well taken …sadly this was where Jain’s efforts in the field peaked …more on that later. Unfortunately for us the dismissal brought the bristling Sediq to the middle who wasted no time in unleashing a series of fearsome straight drives both through and over the long boundary.

The onslaught continued for several overs and our hopes of another breakthrough were dashed when Gaurav unfortunately put down a second chance at long on. Sediq filled his boots and his skipper Shankar also looked in good touch and was on track for a half century before Ron was brought on and thankfully skidded one through his gate.

Undeterred Sediq persisted in giving us the run around with Gaurav shelling a further two lobbed catches in the deep and Kashif’s woes – having seen another difficult chance evade Gav at slip – mounted when he toppled head over heels in his pursuit of another powerful cover drive, found himself with an embarrassing skidmark on his backside and facing a hefty laundry bill. However his frustrations were forgotten when he took an excellent catch off Batsey at deep square leg to see off Rohit.

Our spirits rose when Harry and Ali finally emerged at the entrance to the ground bearing two large crates of beer. With Spencer opting out of the opportunity to claim the two further dismissals required to secure himself as our record wicket taker, the skipper joined us on the field of battle to try his hand with an over, but sadly to no avail. With Bayern’s score now well past 150 Sediq was sportingly brought off, retiring on a flawless 63, and this gave Gaurav a chance to redeem himself as he returned to bowl at the death to claim a trio of quick wickets (although some of his team mates insisted all he did was to clean the slate back to parity after his earlier trio of dropped catches). These included the dusmissals of Ebaduallah and Sharan who he yorked with the final two balls of the innings, deferring his hat trick ball until the 2023 season. And, with that, Bayern closed on an impressive 174-7.

But despite the size of the ask, we surprised the oppo with our response. Having woken up sufficiently we set off after the changeover like a train with Ron sent out to kickstart our innings. This he did, cheekily undermining the complacency of the opposition’s 9-2 field by carving a handful of boundaries through the onside. Sadly his opening partner the Kitten, despite a promising start, could not stay with him and was bowled cheaply by Simran.

Ali, promoted to 3, was clearly still feeling the effects of his maiden tour and was bowled next ball for a golden duck, making way for Kash who initially looked in good touch and had made it to 17 before becoming Simran’s third scalp. Davie G sadly couldn’t emulate his heroic efforts of the previous day and the ball this time clearly was in the equation – caught as he was off Waleed without troubling the scorers.

Our charge looked in vain when Ron was spectacularly – and amusingly – ‘caught VD’ for a spirited 23 and Spencer, in at 7, became the third Stroller to fail to score when he was bowled by Waleed for nought. Harry had made only 3 before Sharan bowled him too and, as Gaurav strode out to again join Gav in the middle with the score 64-7, our prospects looked as grim as the dark clouds gathering overhead.

Gaurav defiantly made it to 12 until offering his pad to Sediq and Batesy, clearly wrestling with his conscience, failed to find a reason not to trigger him out. But, thankfully, it was those looming clouds that saved us. The heavens opened, rain pelted down and, as Gav and Tim stubbornly batted back the ball, the prospect of finishing the game rapidly faded until Bayern, anxious to save their patchwork pitch, had no option but to mournfully give in and conceded to the inevitable abandonment of the match with the spoils shared as a draw. Sodden, Gav and Tim gleefully marched off to high fives from their fellow Strollers, safe in the knowledge that one game on tour had at least been saved… we’ll take that!

Cracking open the beers on the boundary, we gathered in a circle to repay Bayern’s earlier war cry with a rampant rendition of our own esteemed anthem, Gold ...which was doubtless as bemusing as it was puzzling to our hosts, some of whom had already left the ground. And, with that, our cricket for 2022 was over.

After heading back into town, most of us celebrated our avoidance of loss with a late Bavarian luncheon at Andechser am Dom, a bierkeller-cum-eatery in Munich's old town noted as much for its famed clientèle (including Arnold Schwarzenegger and various German chancellors) as its animated landlady – who serenades her customers cabaret style. We dined on suckling pig, platters of würst and äpfelstrüdel washed down with local schnapps, to bring the curtain down on an outstanding tour with, at last, a happy end.

From there we dispersed to each make our way back to Blighty in our own ways, some staying on an extra night, others making a B line for the S-Bahn to the airport. Immense thanks must go to Herr Ron for organising such a superb weekend and we would unanimously agree that Strollers touring is alive and well …so much so that preparations are already afoot for our next adventure to Zagreb, Croatia in 2023. To those yet to experience the thrills and spills of Strolling overseas, or to those who haven’t toured for some years, based on our excursion to darkest Bavaria we would thoroughly recommend it!

Ströll on!!

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Gavin Richardson
27.09.2022