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EQUIPE DE FRANCE SHOW POSITIVE SIGNS FOR 2008

On a damp and grassy pitch in Saumur mid-May the senior French cricket team conducted a three-day camp in preparation for this year’s European Championship campaign.

Originally there were plans for three matches against Germany however their late withdrawal (perhaps due to World League Division 5 commitments contested last week in Jersey) the weekend was rearranged into two days of training including an afternoon of centre-wicket practice followed by a 50-over match against a Voluntary XI made up of talented Superligue players from the national championship as well as some very handy cricketers from the South West.

The Volunteers XI batted first on the sticky wicket and found it difficult from the outset as only one batsmen, Komalan (12), from the top seven managed to reach double figures. The opening bowlers for France did the damage as they bowled out their ten over spells in tandem capturing seven wickets between them. Ramesh Sithambaranathan who recently returned from injury took 4 for 37 with new ball partner Logith Alagaratnam finishing with the economical figures of 3 for 21.

The youngest player in the national squad, 17-year-old Usman Khan, completed the innings swiftly by taking the last three wickets himself including two with his first two balls! He finished with 3 for 3 from 4.1 overs. It wasn’t all bad news however for the Volunteers XI as Kannan and Arjun hit out in the difficult conditions to score 14 and 21 runs respectively and help their team to a reasonably competitive total (for such a challenging wicket) of 86 all out from only 28.1 overs.

In reply France began the run chase in similar style as they lost their first three wickets cheaply through very aggressive bowling from openers Sanjith and Komalan who finished with two wickets apiece.

It took a sensible captain’s knock from Ben McDonald (11) to control the French innings as he put on a good partnership with Ramesh Sithambaranathan (21 not out) who backed up his excellent bowling with a player of the match performance with the bat.

Kanan picked up the vital wicket of McDonald thanks to an outstanding catch from Pretheve at silly mid-off and the wicket of Rameez Ihsan fell soon after to put the pressure back on France and give the Volunteers XI the upper hand once again.

Joining his brother at the crease, Rajani Sithambaranathan quickly took the game away from the fielding side as he sensibly hit three 6’s and two 4’s on his way to 29 not out from just 21 balls and after a nervous period for the national team he ensured a 5 wicket victory with 28.3 overs still remaining.

There is still a long way to go for the national team to prepare for the European Championship but it was pleasing to see several positive signs from this weekend especially the competitive team culture that is being created and the professional fielding performance that is a vast improvement on years gone by with not one dropped catch or misfield during the match!

Many thanks to the Volunteers XI for making the trip to Saumur and performing competitively and in the spirit of the game. Congratulations also to Saumur Cricket Club for making the most out of the playing conditions and catering for both teams.

National squad training sessions will increase momentum and frequency coming into June with the final preparation tour planned for mid-July when France takes on the A-side of European heavy weights, Holland, in a two match series held in Amstelveen. The ICC European Division 2 Championship will be in August hosted by Guernsey, and competed between Croatia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey.