Palaimaxoi Kerkyras CC

Match Report

For the final fixture, the slightly blear-eyed Stragglers did not have to travel far to the Spianada square, apparently the largest town square in Greece.  The Spianada is divided into two sections: the Upper Square (Pano Plateia) and the Lower Square (Kato Plateia). The Upper Square is adorned with architectural gems like the Maitland Monument, the Venetian fountain, the Music Pavilion or “Palko” and the monument commemorating the Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece. The Lower Square is dominated by the cricket pitch.  Cricket came to Corfu with the British, when they expelled Napoleon, and has remained part of the local culture, although many in the crowd (well, those in the restaurants along one boundary) seemed rather mystified and were not well-versed in the intricacies of the leg-side wide in one day cricket.  We believe that it is the only ground in the world within a World Heritage site.

The ground has a very short boundary on the ‘car park’ side of the ground, and most games involve significant damage to those who have parked oblivious to the risk, even though games are played with a light-weight ball.  And it is not just the cars, as one six scored by our hosts, very nearly took out a moped and driver, while another was caught by a passing tourist on the rebound from a car bonnet.  Another ‘quirk’ is the (very) long grass in the outfield (those who were in San Tropez may recall something similar) along with the occasional well concealed hole.  Well struck shots along the ground were not rewarded, and a number of singles were not taken in error, as ‘certain’ boundaries stopped well short.  Backing up careless throws in the field was without jeopardy.

On arrival, the Stragglers, already impressed by the posters around town promoting the game, were also met by a large marching band. The batting order was reversed for this game to allow those who had spent two days admiring Freddie and Gabriel a chance to shine.  And thus, the unexpected opening pair of Will Evans and the Chairman were to be found wandering out to the middle. Disappointingly, Will fell at the first, to be replaced by the Beetle, who was very clear about his lack of enthusiasm for running twos in the midday heat.  To make the point, he dropped the first of his eleven sixes on to a car and continued in the much the same vein for almost all of the Straggler innings.  We lost count of the number of cars newly dented, the most damaging shot being one that pinged around like a pinball machine, hitting at least four. The Chairman departed, followed by Jonno, and this brought Hugo to the crease.  He overcame the disconcerting bounce and lightness of the ball and was soon finding both the car park and the fishing net in place to protect the crowd, most of whom were not paying attention or fully aware of the implications of a well struck cricket ball interrupting lunch.  Alex was fast approaching his first Straggler ton, when another shot into the car park was remarkably intercepted one-handed by Abbas on the boundary edge, and he was gone for 89.  Patch Mitchell (22*), still nursing his injured hand, joined Hugo (44*) to accelerate the run rate through the last couple of overs, and the Straggler innings closed on 179 for 4.

The first ball from Freddie Evans sat up a little short and was smacked down to the fence by the opposition skipper.  The next two balls, however, produced identical results, with the ball twice looping gently to the Chairman fielding at point. Following this early success and to get everyone into the game, skipper, Charlie, rang the bowling changes with such regularity that the scorer struggled to keep up.  The Chairman (2 for 15) removed two more, the first of which was an appalling long-hop struck sweetly but straight to Harry at deep square.  Hugo (bowling left arm spin again), Charlie and Will F picked up wickets as the innings stalled, and Freddie returned for another (3 for 13).  The Palaimaxoi Kerkyras innings closed on 114 for 8, and a third victory on tour, this time by 65 runs.  While the cricket was atypical in many features, not least the boundary arguments with owners of the cars struck by the ball (“you can see the pitch, so you should appreciate the risk!”), the Spianada Square is quite a special place to play, surrounded by the Venetian old town on three sides and Corfu castle on the fourth.  Lack of familiarity with fielding positions accompanied by very obvious building landmarks, means that mid-wicket and extra cover (depending on the end from which the ball is being delivered) is ‘castle’.  And a spectacular square tends to be very well serviced with restaurants, for a gentle wind-down before facing the hazards of late-evening flights on Easyjet.  Many thanks to Jonno for his exceptional management of logistics and for booking us (mostly) into some great dining experiences – the boat taxi in the dark was a highlight.