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The 2024 Kazaam

Cotswolds leg

Report by Daniel Mortlock:

Many people would claim that tour isn't really about cricket at all, but is actually just an excuse to get together with mates to talk nonsense and consume moderate amounts of alcohol. If so, then Exhibit A for the prosecution would be the Cotswolds leg of the 2024 FAS Kazaam, with rain giving us two cricket-free days during which to channel our inner Withnail. There was at least sport to watch: the second week of Wimbledon; Jimmy Anderson's final Test at Lord's; and the Euro 2024 semi-finals, highlighted by England's 2-1 victory over the Netherlands to again make it to the final. This took place on a slightly surreal final day of tour: once we were informed that the Blockley ground was too wet for play, the traditional evening BBQ was moved forward to 3pm, with Pete Watkins listed as due to play a mammoth five-hour set to bridge the gap to the football. In the end he played on and off pretty much all day, starting before the food and finishing up at about 11pm following irresistible chants of "One more song! One more song!" Pete would have been a strong contender for character of the tour but for the fact that the awards had been deferred to the Kent leg due to the lack of cricket (although the same number of games was considered sufficient back in the flood year of 2007).

In the three fixtures that did go ahead FAS had a pretty good time of it: on the Sunday we defeated Bibury in a final-over thriller; and on the Monday we had the best of a draw at Temple Grafton and had all-but completed a good comeback win against Fladbury before being washed out. With all the games pushed to shorter formats due to the weather we managed a total of just 193 overs of cricket, fully a hundred fewer than we managed even during last year's rain-fest. Unsurprisingly, noteworthy individual efforts were restricted to single performances, the first of which was by Harry Houlder, who marked his 100th FAS game in some style, making a match-winning 67* (his highest score on tour) against Bibury, during which he also joined the exclusive FAS 1000-run club (taking exactly five times as many matches as the record-holder, James Wyatt, had needed). Jim Streeter almost matched Harry with a stylish 60 against Temple Grafton, although he was rather upstaged later in the same game by Hal Dare, who bludgeoned his first half-century for FAS (and in any form of senior cricket). The two stand-out bowling efforts, which took place simultaneously but ten miles apart, were a study in contrasts: staying at TG, Ben Kittow got us to within one wicket of victory during a 12-over marathon (the longest for the club since before Covid) on his way to figures of 5/50, his first ever five-for; while, under grey skies at Fladbury, Jamie Dare's opening spell of 5 overs, 5 maidens, 2/0, was the most economical in club history, and a study in discipline as the ball whizzed past the outside edge again and again. Astonishingly, Jamie's wasn't the only opening spell of 2/0 on tour, as Daniel Mortlock started off the Bibury game in the same way, taking his hundredth FAS wicket in the process. That wicket was, rather embarrassingly, from a leg-stump half-volley which should have been hit to the boundary - and, indeed, the ball was half-way there before being intercepted by James Wyatt's oustretched hand. Aside from taking the best catch of the tour, he was also the only outfielder who managed more than one - and only one wicket-keeper matched him, Dave Kittow taking two good catches at TG.

With such little current cricket to over-analyse, we found ourselves looking to the past, highlighted by a delightful rummage through the archival box of photos on the final night of tour. There was also some virtual rummaging through the records section of the web-site, which for most of us revealed a bunch of matches and players nobody could actually remember taking place. The one exception to this was James "Rain Man" Houlder, who simply had to enter his Mind Palace to recall entire tours in sequence: "Okay, what about 2005?" "Sunday, must have been Naunton, duck; then 99 at Temple Grafton; Tuesday was Blockley, I think 74 or 75 not out; . . .". It was as impressive as it was terrifying.

Another knock-on effect of the lack of cricket was that we spent a lot more time at Mill Dene, meaning more labours for Cliff and the Tina-led staff team, so even more thanks than usual are due to them - which took the physical form of a wine glass rack that was presented during the low-key ceremony on the Tuesday evening.

Kent leg

Report by Daniel Mortlock:

The Kent leg of the 2024 FAS Kazaam was, sadly, amputated at the knee even before it began, with the second of our two fixtures cancelled as Gills Green could muster just three players. That meant the cricketing aspects of the weekend rested squarely on the game against the Grannies at Newenden which, fortunately, was near-perfect: a tough come-from-behind win in a low-scoring game played under clear blue skies - even the grumpy local cafe owner stayed away.

One knock-on effect of the Sunday cancellation was that, for the first time since 2019, the awards could be decided on the basis of the full set of tour performances:

After a pretty civilised Saturday evening - no Fasopoly, and all bar a few younglings in bed by midnight - Sunday was actually pretty lively, with lawn cricket, some tennis . . . but, sadly, no actual cricket. Tom and Harry spent most of the morning devising a scrupulously fair format for a single-wicket competition, although the number of entrants decreased at the rate of about one an hour througout the morning. The end result was a pretty lethargic affair which was all too reminiscent of the 2021 internal Hundred debacle. Jamie Dare did get suddenly competitive at the end with the result that he both defended FAS's honour - the one Gills Green entrant, Al Herbert, had defeated the rest of us to make the final - thus winning his second all-rounder title of the weekend.

Given that we only spent two hours up at Gills Green, the basic reality was that Sunday was just spent enjoying Joss and Victoria's incredible hospitality, so thanks once again to them for giving us a wonderful end to the cricket season.


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