Ibiza Cricket Club

Sports on Ibiza

The Ibiza Cricket Club have moved to a splendid new 'home' ground in San José. It's actually the municipal football ground, but a fine expanse of green compared to the previous dust bowl of San Agustin, and a far cry from the original 'Es Canar Oval' which was basically a slice of campo with few trees, but lots of stones to compensate. A place where nobody in their right mind would dive for a ball - merely stoop and then risk a ball in the face as it ricocheted off a stone.

Cricket field in Ibiza
The new pitch is astroturf with a 22 yard strip of rubber between the wickets, which was imported from an English cricket club and serves as the playing surface.

The astroturf is 'rubberised' which means that you sort of bounce along as you run around. An odd sensation, but probably very good for older joints. This was perhaps proved to an extent by the result of the first contest between Sussex Over-50's and Ibiza, which the former won by 6 wickets with 6 overs to spare. The unusual behaviour of the pitch and the effect that it has on bowling proved to be the same for both teams, but as the 'home' team become more and more familiar with it, the Sussex Over-51's had better watch out!

In true sporting tradition the Ibiza team were big enough to analyse their defeat (before the game began!) and identified their weaknesses on the day thus:-

At the last minute their captain Julian Cobby was unable to attend and his stand-in wasn't told that Ibiza generally perform better batting second. This fact has less to do with deterioration of the pitch as the match progresses e.g. bowlers footholds (which aren't an issue on astroturf) and more to do with giving the Ibiza players time to run around a bit chasing opposition stroke play while they wake up, before the batting bit which requires concentration. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem as Ibiza rarely win the toss.
Secondly their star batsman, Felix Macdonald, was absent, and thirdly their new star, Bob Short (our new chaplain who scored 169 in his last innings!) was caught on the boundary hitting a certain six. (Both of these two have played first class cricket in England - think Flintoff, Boycott etc.)

Cricket club

Whilst the Ibiza team look forward to their re-match against Sussex Over-50's with quiet confidence lets have a glance at their illustrious history. The original members back in 1986 included such luminaries as Desmond King, Len Hamilton-Smith, Don Andrews and Theo Monks. Despite the idiosyncracies of the Es Canar Oval, which perhaps worked to their advantage when competing with unsuspecting English teams abroad and used to the unblemished and rolled English pitches, the Ibiza team remained there for ten years, and won the first (and their last) Balearic Cup in 1990. Next to be contested in Mallorca next year, this gladiatorial contest and highlight of the Balearic sporting calendar returns to Ibiza in 2006, when we confidently expect to triumph again...

Results in 2004 have been up and down with unexpected victories against mightier opposition (e.g. Sporting Alfaz from the mainland) and other less commendable results, but with a current membership of only 30, the committee feel that they have as yet untapped resources amongst the island populace. In the meantime they rely on the occasional 'ringer' from England to put on the pads, with qualification based loosely upon ownership of a second home here. The cliquey image of days gone by has been dispelled, so nobody will be walking off the pitch with their bat and ball in a sulk. Those days were always a little bit 'handbags in the playground' so, bearing in mind the fact that the two opposite sides of the island are barely fifteen miles apart and that there are greater issues at stake, such as reclaiming the Balearic Cup, it's time for the men with hearts of oak and a plank of willow to hand, from all over the island, to unite and crush our common foe?

The committee, which includes Peter Hankinson as chairman with eight years served, Adrian Ireland (secretary) and Lyn Carpenter the treasurer, feel confident that the move to their new stadium will prove to be the turning point in the club's history (as do the sponsors - Shaggy of Ibiza Travel shop fame and Jeremy Parmenter of Brent Harpur Associates). In fact all involved eagerly await next year's visiting teams from England and mainland Spain, who include Alfaz from Benidorm, Old Lincolnians, Newbold, Wealdstone, Beechwood and a wandering team from Suffolk.

In the meantime Lyn (the treasurer) is ready for the barrage of calls she expects to receive from island residents - who know one end of a cricket bat from the other - on 971 346 094.
As the famous cricketer Jack Hyams, who regularly brings his teams to Ibiza, once said "Ibiza probably has the worst cricket team, but indisputably the most sociable!" We of Ibiza should make him eat some of his words, so call Lyn and lets put together the finest cricket team the Balearics has ever seen? The season runs from February till May then from September to November, through constraints caused by lack of winter flight to the island (yet more high quality winter tourists discouraged!) and Ibiza residents habit of working all hours from June to the end of August. The November fixtures regularly involve a long weekend in Benidorm to cap the season (a good excuse for a weekend away from the missus?). Interested? - then pick up the phone and come and have a laugh!
www.ibizacricketclub.com

Captain - Julian Cobby 609 633 738
Secretary - Adrian Ireland 971 808 139

If 20 people ring up - what's the plan? Practice sessions or auditions?