Bordeaux Tour 2014

Posted September 7, 2014

Wonderful weekend in Bordeaux. It started for some early in the week with an advance party of gastronomes (Cannon, Spurr, Dumont and Cayford in particular) and several bars and restaurants (including La Tupina) were sampled and enjoyed. The make-over that Bordeaux has experienced during the past ten years is truly impressive – it is clean, beautiful and charming with a lot of style. The rest of the party (Hale, Williams, Wise, Silva, Haywood, Stewart, Hornby, Haria-Shah and Saunders arrived on (or about) Thursday evening.

Bordeaux cricket Club is centred on Chateau Giscours, a grand cru Margaux chateau some 45 minutes from the City centre. On what used to be a polo field a lovely ground has been created, woods on one side and the chateau on the other. The strip is artificial, laid on concrete, and plays very true – without the dramatic bounce that made Oliver Wise so unplayable in Vis. Team skipper is a South African, working in wine in the region, and his rainbow coalition includes English, Aghans, Pakistanis, Dutch and of course, French. Their results have been impressive in recent years, dominating the South West leagues and making inroads into the national conscience – the ICC have accorded France official cricket playing status (men and women) – so the game, although not very French, is definitely on the up. The whole cricket operation at Giscours is managed to perfection by the Chateau manager, Marc Verpaalen, who acted as the most urbane and charming host imaginable.

We played two games, a 20/20 on Friday and a 35 over match on Saturday. On Friday we posted about 120, which should not have been enough, but nearly was. As we had 12 fit(tish) players and the oppo had 10, Keith Hornby played for Bordeaux, wicket keeping throughout our innings and batting throughout most of theirs Harry Spurr hit some big sixes; the rest made contributions of varying quality. Bordeaux’s innings got off to a storming start but they got becalmed during the middle overs with Keith and a French girl at the crease – in the spirt of entente cordial we gave almost everyone two overs each and one of their tailenders picked up Oli Wise’s line and length, hitting the ball, and the match, out of sight. A South African style barbecue was the ideal way to finish the day.

On Saturday we once again batted first and with good contributions from Jerome Silva and others, Marcus Haywood drove us on to 152, playing beautifully is the energy sapping sunshine. In reply, one of the Bordeaux stalwarts, Rupert Holdeness, responded in kind and had reached about 70 when he decided he was too knackered to continue – and retired. Just as well from our perspective, as we were bowling well (HHJ Dan Williams, Richard Saunders and Joe Cannon in particular) but the score board had been ticking away. It was left to Cannon (2 for 21) and Cayford (3 for 18) to bowl the last ten overs, which they did successfully enough to leave 13 to win from the last over; their number 11 hit Cayford for a huge six off the first ball but became somewhat perplexed by the variation in pace, length and bounce thereafter – they needed 3 for a win (and two for a tie) from the last ball of the day, which said number 11 missed by a mile! So we won an exciting game .

Dinner after the game in Chateau du Tertre can only be described as outstanding, a quality of pure fantasy floating over the entire evening. After an extensive tour and tasting in the cellars, we enjoyed a superb menu based on a duck main course, wines from de Tertre and Giscours of various vintages going back many years and a setting in the orangery at the end of a stunning long pool that had to be seen to be believed. Good speeches, bright orange ties being presented by the Dutch manager to our men of the matches and reciprocal Refreshers ties handed out by our skipper to their men of the matches. A delightful evening.

We are extremely grateful to our hosts, the Bordeaux Cricket Club and Chateau Giscours, for their excellent hospitality and welcome and would be delighted to return one day or reciprocate in England whenever possible – votre choix!