Tour 2000 Report - the very hot weekend of 16-17-18-19 June    not so much a report, more unadulterated ramblings

"AFTER ALL, that is why I loved my team so much - not only for the joy in victory, but also for the stupid desire to cry on evenings when we had lost." Not, in fact, the thoughts of a disconsolate Salix player, making his way home after his team had met its Waterloo in sunny Kent.

No, they are the words of a French goalkeeper called Albert Camus, all goalkeepers being at heart existentialist philosophers. And he admits that, yes, you do love a thing that brings you pain and misery. You would hardly trouble with it, if it did not.

The Team prior to the Longport Game

In honour of Andy Foster, we hereby publish these two photos:  the swordsman	and the Monkeys forehead.   No idea why, really	Sherwin Williams bat Handle

The tour was in Kent, where they grow hops, which we drank.

We stayed at the Chaucer hotel, centrally located for the town and for the decorators. The worlds smallest rooms were, however, very cheap. A couple of tour members disliked the hotel so they stayed out all night. Or perhaps there was another reason?

We played:

• Nonington CC (lost)
• Beltinge CC (drew)
• Choughs CC (er, lost)
• Longfleet CC (well, guess..)

and saw  some beautiful grounds. We recommend you visit the website of one of the oldest grounds in the country , where we played and lost www.choughs.co.uk 

How fast does the Clarkster bowl?

This blurry shot of the Clarkster at full whack is a video still.  According to my state of the art ClarksterCam, it takes 0.83 seconds for the ball to leave his hand before being whacked for 4.  This is a distance of around 19 yards, so a little arithmetic shows us that the ball is travelling at 46 miles per hour. Give or take.

Next week we submit Andy Bush to the Machometer and time Fletch with a sand glass

We had an excellent visit to the Salix Bat factory (and Andy Bush and Andy Shilling both bought one).  you can visit them at 

http://www.cricketer.co.uk/salix/index.html

The Team	The Team	The Team	Clarkster says "What's a bat?"
At Salix Bats	Making the Sherwin Bat	Chazza picks one	Has it got a edge he asks
Andy picks one (then pays)	worst Shirt contest winner	Simon and Richard arrive on tour	Captain Chazza shows his true feelings
Andy Shilling tests the wicket (like it matters)	Fletch hits a 4 (rare event)	Fletch hits 50 (very rare event)	Showers at the Choughs - unchanged since 1762
The Lads relax	The Clarkster in Action	Whoops	Rich womans house. Rented from a brewery
Fred dives. Fred drops. Fred catches 2nd time. Bushy cheers	Wincarnis works wonders. Richard bowls a leggy	The Foster Arse	Delicately, Andy Shilling plays a classic on drive (sorry, wrong caption)