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Cricket on Ice in Sweden
ECC - 5 February 2003
On 18 January Guttsta's cricketers grabbed their Flicx pitch and took to the ice on the frozen harbour in Stockholm, between the Old Town and the Town Hall where the Nobel Prizes are awarded every year. After several weeks with temperatures of minus 20 the ice was 20-30 cms thick and had a thin film of water from recently melted snow on it, making it very slippery when not standing on the Flicx pitch. Temperatures on the day of the match soared to a positively tropical 3 degrees, overcast but partly sunny, although strong winds kept blowing the boundary cones (not to mention the stumps and players) out of position, so the match was played without - cricket without boundaries in the most literal sense, resulting in what was probably the largest and fastest outfield ever, with the long boundary being at least 150 kms long - fortunately it was into the wind! Thus scoring was confined to running, with no boundaries possible, although this at least enabled players to keep warm as a trade off. Running 6s was not uncommon! Fielding was limited to small slow steps and slips, except for the guy on ice skates who collected the ball 90% of the time. Guttsta Wicked Cricket Club played 2 internal teams over a period of 1‡ - 2 hrs. Guttsta Stockholm Exiles won the toss and elected to bat. The matches were 15 overs per side, with 5 bowlers each bowling 3 overs, and non-batsmen on opposing sides fielding. Last mans "tucker" was used (ie the last batsman did not need a partner to continue). Each side of 6 had 4 Swedes, a couple of whom were having their first ever game! Bowling figures and extras were not noted. The game was a close finish with the Nomads just failing to make the total set. A great deal of fun was had, and Guttsta attracted some new members as it builds up a presence in Stockholm.
Guttsta Stockholm Exiles: Jason Beer 40 retired/out - lost a ball into unfrozen water! Chris Collins 60 bowled Jens Bornemann MÂrten Leijon 45 caught ‰ke Nolemo bowled Morgan Tor Svensson 40 run out Per Calmhede 25 run out Per Nolemo 20 bowled ‰ke Nolemo Total: 230
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