MCC tour to Sweden about to start (21 Jun 1999)

21 June 1999

MCC tour to Sweden about to start

Sweden is about to welcome the MCC to their shores. The MCC will start in Stockholm and then travel through the South of the country, ending their tour by playing two matches against the Swedish national team.

The full tour plan follows:

Friday, 25 June: vs. Stockholm District [Stockholm]; Saturday, 26 June: vs. Guttsta WCC [Kolsva]; Sunday 27 June: vs. Central District [Mariestad]; Tuesday, 29 June: vs. Gothenburg XI [Gothenburg]; Wednesday, 30 June: vs. Over 40's XI [Gothenburg]; Friday, 2 July: vs. Sverige [Malmö]; Saturday, 3 July: vs. Malmö XI [Malmö]; Sunday 4 July: vs. Sweden [Malmö].

All the teams they will play are combined teams from the districts or nationally, with the exception of Guttsta WCC who are playing the MCC to commemorate their 10th anniversary.

The tour should be an excellent opportunity for Swedish teams to test their skills against a recognised international side and it will be very interesting to find out how the national side fares against the MCC ahead of the ECC Nations Cup in Corfu in September.

The tour takes place during a time of the year which would normally be occupied by the Swedish league. This year, however, the season has been extended slightly to fit in the MCC visit.

This does give the opportunity to reflect on the season so far.

In the Southern district, where only three teams are competing, the weather has caused some problems. Only one match has been completed so far, giving Landskrona CC a win over Malmöhus CC. Desi CC (gothenburg) have still to enter the competition and because of the short season the win against fellow favourites Malmöhus gives Landskrona an excellent opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals in August.

In Stockholm the season is turning out to be a very though one. Currently four teams are still in the running to reach the semi-finals. The latest standings [attached] show Spånga United in top spot after a four straight wins start, but after their latest weekend, when they lost to Pakistan CC and Stockholm CC, they have been caught up by the other contenders. Jinnah CC is the only team still to collect a win and have no chance of reaching the semi-finals. The last four matches of the series will be crucial, every wicket and run will count as the bonus point system [explained at the bottom of the table] is likely to have a great effect on the final standings.

The match of the season so far was the Stockholm vs. Spånga United clash on 13 June. It turned out to be unlucky 13 for Spånga as Stockholm took the win.

Stockholm's ground, one of the smallest around, normally makes for high scores with the bat. However, due to a slight batting collapse Spånga only mustered 212 in 39.2 overs. Nihal Wickremasuriya was the top scorer with 54. Good bowling, especially from Jeffrey Alexander in Stockholm contained Spånga, who is normally one of the strongest batting sides (having put 306 on the board in an earlier match against Pakistan CC) to the low total.

As the Stockholm innings started it was clear that this would be a tight one. An early breakthrough, from the bowling of Nishanta Akameema gave Spånga hope, but two partnerships in the thirties put Stockholm back on track. After making the 180 mark quite comfortably the Spånga bowlers, especially spinner Lalindra Chandaratne and Govindarajah Jeganmohan broke through leaving one over to go and Stockholm needing five runs. The third over from the end had proved costly as Stockholm scored 9 runs including one six.

The final over came and emotions were running high. A good crowd had turned up for the game and both support and heckling was heard. The first two balls gave one run each to Stockholm, the first of which might have been caught off the bowling of Claes Bertilson who was brought on to bowl the final over after not having bowled earlier in the game. The next two balls beat the bat leaving two balls with three runs required.

The fifth ball was effectively the decider, the ball pitching short and lifting much more than expected resulting in a no ball on which Stockholm managed to switch sides. This left Steven Smith of Stockholm facing two balls, but now only requiring one run. A ball towards Smith's legs strayed slightly allowing Smith to flick the ball past the close fielder on the leg side and scoring the winning run.

It was a most exciting finish, giving Stockholm a good opportunity to reach the semi-finals. It will be extremely interesting to see how it all pans out. Watch this space."