After five cricket matches on successive days there were fourteen or so very tired but happy men. These muscle-weary but cheerful men in flannels had just completed the now famous Awali Camels 23rd annual overseas tour in a row, adding yet another chapter to the story that began in Wales at Pentyrch Cricket Club all those years ago in 1995.
Their history is one of sensational victories, a few heart-breaking defeats at the hands of more powerful XIs, and stirring fight-backs against the odds, snatching wins, draws and occasional losses from the jaws of defeat or victory. This tour was no exception, proving a microcosm of all the great achievements of this close-knit band of cricket devotees.
Leading the Camels for the third year in a row was ex-Awali Taverners skipper Doug Perrins. It was he, the tall Queenslander, who chose to tour Wiltshire, a county steeped in cricket, boasting picturesque clubs in almost every hamlet. Opting for a mixture of venue types Perrins chose Wilcot, Bishops Cannings and Collingbourne Ducis for their bucolic attractions, while Marlborough and Warminster provided the luxuries of larger market town clubs – lavish pavilions, cricket academies, comfortable spectator facilities, and, of course, batting tracks to dream of with billiard-table outfields.
Given the above, expectations were running high for the first highly-charged fixture at Bishops Cannings CC. The Camels’ reputation had gone well ahead of them, and the local side lined up an impressive array of young Hampshire County hopefuls, supported by leading club players from around Wiltshire. What they must have thought when confronted by a team containing five over 60s, two 59 year-olds and only one under 40!
The veterans, however, gave the young bucks a superb run for their money scoring 124 on the back of a fine 48 by Dave Hilton and then claiming good wickets through Perrins and David Axtell before going down fighting. The honourable loss was treated as a wake-up call for the second game at Marlborough CC.
Sitting atop rolling hills with vistas in all directions, Marlborough CC embodies all that is ‘English’ in English cricket; green pastures stretching into the westering sun, oak and ash casting long summer shadows, horses gamboling in adjacent paddocks, swallows swooping low, catching flies on the wing. The cricket matched the scenery. The local team’s batting aggression was cleverly controlled by the Camels bowling attack, now including the young George Axtell bowling faster than ever and conceding just lucky snicks. Perrins picked up another good wicket, Axtell senior claimed two more, including a searing catch on the short square-leg boundary by Guy Parker, who himself lured the batsmen into slogging sixes before claiming their wickets the very next ball. Wicketkeeper Dave Mason ended with four victims, including one superb stumping. Needing 128 to win, the Camels had high hopes. A batting collapse then threatened to scupper any chance of success, but Dave Hilton (38 not out) and opener Graham Hoar had other ideas. Patiently, Hoar gathered the Camels first half-century of the tour and the tourists fell agonisingly short by 10 runs.
The time was ripe for a win, and it duly came in the third match at Wilcot CC. This was the Camels’ best fielding performance of the tour. In all, four Wilcot batsmen were run out – two with direct hits from the outfield by Steve Turner and Axtell senior. There were wickets for Axtell (2), Turner, Starkie and Parker, while Axtell junior proved virtually unplayable as the home side struggled to 98 all out. Cruising to victory on yet another unbeaten 50 by Hoar, the Camels very nearly lost the match after blocking out nine dot balls when only needing five to win. Fortunately, Perrins saved the day, hitting a four and single off his first two deliveries, giving the Camels victory with one ball to spare!
Flushed with success, the Camels set off for Collingbourne Ducis looking for a repeat. Well, they got a repeat, but not in the way anybody might have expected. In a rain interrupted game reduced to 30 overs, the locals rattled up 165 for the loss of eight wickets. Once again the wickets were shared pretty equally by Axtell junior, Starkie, Perrins, Parker and Turner. A reasonably daunting target was made to look virtually impossible by inept batting at the start of the Camels innings. In 11 overs the tourists lost Parker, Charlie Blyth and Axtell junior and there were only 10 runs on the board! That the Camels won this match – in spectacular ‘Boys Own’ fashion – was down to one man, Axtell senior – and some patient stone-walling by Perrins at the other end. Like a man with a mission Axtell senior set about the Collingbourne Ducis attack with merciless efficiency. He smashed and stroked 8 sixes and 10 fours in a chanceless innings of 105 scored in only 32 balls. When he was out, caught on the boundary with the Camels needing just nine more runs off five overs, the match was won, despite the torrential downpour that accompanied his triumphal march back to the pavilion.
The Camels had managed to dodge the ubiquitous rain showers all week, but, in their last game on the Minor Counties ground at Warminster it caught up with them. However, the local side would not let the chance of a prestigious match slide, and pulled out all the stops to enable a 20/20 game between downpours.
Warminster scored 121 for 7 in an innings reined in by good fielding and intelligent bowling switches. There were two stunning catches by Camel veterans Keith Veryard and Martin Saunders, and yet another brilliant stumping by Mason. Notwithstanding, the fielding highlight was Blyth’s blinding one-handed dive stop off a full-blooded drive, resulting in no runs and a blue hand. The Camels fought bravely against the professional bowling attack, but runs for Parker (20) and Mason (19) came too slowly and wickets fell regularly. Holding on patiently at the other end was Paul Curwen.
As the innings progressed the burly leftie unfurled some beautiful drives, pulls and hooks to bring the Camels within a whisker of a remarkable victory. He ended on 41 not out, and all with a crippling torn groin muscle. In fact, his runner, Luke Flippance spent the whole of both innings on the field! On paper a loss, but really, cricket was the winner.
Awali Camels can hold their heads proudly and high. This tour is already immortalised in the annals. Camels for years to come will remember the Blyth stop, the Saunders catch, the Mason stumpings, the Hoar half-centuries, and, probably the most vivid of all – the Axtell century.
The Awali Camels team: Doug Perrins (Capt.), Guy Parker, Keith Veryard, Steve Turner, Martin Saunders, Graham Hoar, Charles Blyth, Dave Mason (wkt), David Starkie, David Hilton, Trevor Burt, Roland Burt, Paul Curwen, David Axtell, George Axtell, Tony Forward (ump), Ash Elliot, Luke Flippance
