There were five teams taking part: St. Aulaye, Bordeaux, Angouleme, Ourselves and Thénac. A draw would decide who played whom, each team playing two matches. We were drawn against Bordeaux and Angouleme.  The rules of indoor cricket take some getting used to. You can get out ‘roofed’ by hitting above a line 2.5 metres above the ground but not if you hit it straight, in the which case it is either a four or a six. Underneath the line counts as one run on the side walls, and if you actually do run, it counts as two. Bowlers are restricted to 2 overs and there are 8 overs per innings. The ball becomes dead upon hitting the benches where the spectators sit, or hitting the spectators sitting on the benches. All the teams there were from the Dordogne region, except us – we’re four hours drive to the south, most of us traveled up in the mini-bus!- and we’d rarely played against them before so it was going to be a great experience. We were determined to give it our best shot.
We lost the toss and batted against Bordeaux. Clive and Peter both batted superbly ensuring a good start. Once Clive was out, Paddy and Peter had a little partnership before Paddy ‘retired hurt’ suffering from running while having the lingering of a respiratory infection. He returned at the fall of the fourth wicket and together with Sonia who batted well, we finished on 81-4 after our 8 overs.
 Bordeaux then got off to the best start possible, piling runs on as Peter and Jack struggled to find their rhythm. Then in a moment of panic the batsmen called a suicidal run and Jack whipped off the bails with the score in the early thirties. The next ball Jack bowled one that baffled the batsman and clean bowled him. Peter bowled tidily in the next over and then Jack picked up two more, one of them lbw. Paddy then bowled a tidy over and Allan got the batsman out ‘’roofed’ (he would do that a lot before the day was out…) with his second ball and we had won, with Bordeaux’s score in the early 50s.
Angouleme was our next game, in which we decided to bowl first. Angouleme had lost their first game against the impressive St. Aulaye, being bowled out for 28. However they practiced hard for the 2 hours or so before our game and were much more focused and kept the score board ticking over. Allan would pick up three wickets, all out ‘roofed’, Paddy would bowl one and Clive got a wicket with his first and only ball of the competition, also out ‘roofed’. A good success rate, one from one! Angouleme all out for 91.
However, Angouleme’s bowling was impressive to say the least, quick and accurate and they had a Shaoib Akhtar glint in their eyes! Truly, their bowling was superb and they skittled us for 18 but there were also two run outs that could have been avoided and matters might have finished differently.
There were plenty of bonus points to be had, and some teams really did pick up a few, but the final standing (prior to the final, looked like this.

It was annoying to miss out on the final by just one point but nevertheless we thoroughly enjoyed our time there and wish to thank all the organizers (Eddie Cannon in particular) and the umpires who were always most helpful.
A great experience and we hope to go next year again!

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