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Result - Rwanda Tour - CBH Cup

Fri Sep 20th The Grannies won the Bronze medal

Match report

Grannies Rwanda Tour Report

February 2024

15 loyal Grannies members all get a ping on their phone as Bob Percival has managed to create a WhatsApp chat. Title: Rwanda 2024. ‘Oh it’s actually happening’ was the first message I received.

A few days later the Rwanda group had their first meeting in Bob Percival’s local, Tempio’s in the City of London, a world away from Kigali.

20th September 2024

Fast forward 6 months and the following Grannies members are stepping onto a RwandAir flight from LHR on a dark Friday evening in September:

Zaki Crawford-Khan
Pari Job
Abhimanyu Pal
Praveen Nagar
Quinton Newcomb
Bob Percival
Richard Saunders
Chris Bell
Simon Hungin
Felix Tritton
Sam Packer
Harry Felgate
Toby Colehan
Justin Rose
Muhammad Ahmad
+ 3 WAGs


Upon disembarking the airplane, it immediately became clear that we had a diverse group of players on tour. We had half the group dressed immaculately with chinos, shirt, tie and the Grannies blazer while the other, perhaps slightly younger half, were in tracksuits, blazer and T-shirt. I’m sure it helped that some of the group turned left upon entering the plane.

The Grannies had arrived in Kigali, Rwanda.

21st September 2024

Upon arrival, we met up with Will from The Cricket Builds Hope team. Will was the tour organiser, and we owe him a big thank you for arranging the tour. We also met with our local guide, Ali who we quickly found out was a Spurs fan despite being a Chelsea fan last year.

Bob Percival had very kindly organised a game immediately upon our arrival and the bus took us to our home for the week, The Cozy Safari, before a quick turn around and headed to the ground.
P.S. some members of the tour had ruled themselves out of the first game and decided to immerse themselves in African culture by going to the nearest sports bar to watch the Premier League.

Meanwhile the team had arrived at the beautiful Gahanga Cricket Stadium, ICC approved ground sitting on a dark history. Our opponents for the first game would be The Cambridge to Casablanca Cycling Cricket Club, or CCT for short.

In all honesty, the Social Media sec was parked up in a local bar so wasn’t too aware of the result, but The Grannies did lose the warmup game. Our first casualty of the tour would be Justin Rose, who very sadly injured his bowling arm in the warmup which ruled him out the rest of the tour.

There was a large dinner at the ground put on for all teams and the beers started flowing for some of the team…

22nd September 2024, 8.15AM.

The bus is due to depart as The Grannies play the first game of The Cricket Builds Hope Cup. But, a few too many drinks were consumed at a local night club and some players aren’t up yet. An honourable mention to Sam Packer who wasn’t due to be playing and decided to enjoy the night out a little more before a 7am knock on the door from Bob Percival informing him on a line-up change.

22nd September 2024, 8.45AM.

Praveen Nagar finally gets on the bus.

Our first game is against The Kenyan Kongonis Cricket Club. The smart tour kit beautifully designed by Sam Packer made it out of the plastic packaging as The Grannies won the toss and elected to bat first in the 35 over game. Muhammad Ahmad had just landed but was straight into bat and he did not disappoint. Praveen Nagar was still seeing 3 white balls as he opened the batting on a hot dry day. Sadly, he didn’t last too long but that allowed Zaki Crawford-Khan to come out at 3 and what happened next was incredible. Fast forward 31 overs and The Grannies are on 233-1, a record partnership. Muhammad Ahmad finished on 158 while Zaki Crawford- Khan finished on 78 as The Grannies set the Kenyans 264 to win.

Fielding time: Toby Colehan got the opener out first ball with a lovely leg side loosener and Zaki Crawford-Khan went on to pick up 4 wickets. In typical Grannies style we nearly lost this… but we didn’t and came away with a 16 run win.

By the time we finished, we had a crowd of school kids cheering us on. Some beers were enjoyed in the sun as the team enjoyed the beautiful sunset.


That evening the team went to a local bar to watch Shooting Dogs, a film all about the genocide in 1994. It also happened to be shown in the same bar where the team were partying 24 hours before. It was a little quieter leaving that evening..

23rd September 2024

No game for 2 days so free time! Half of the squad headed up to Lake Kivu and the mountains to see gorillas and to explore. Please have a look at the photo album attached. The remaining team went out to explore Kigali and the local culture of goat and beer.

24th September 2024

Another day off and this time half the team were up at 5am to go to Akagera National Park for a safari. After 3 hours of death-defying driving, they had arrived. The team were incredibly lucky to see lions, rhinos, giraffes, monkeys, zebras and even an elephant on the way out. The gorilla team were doing more sightseeing and played a cricket match against a local school up in the mountains. All were back in Kigali for a team dinner ahead of a crucial match against the Rwanda Invitation XI.

25th September 2024

Match day against the hosts and favourite for the cup. A few more injuries had hit the camp with Simon Hungin picking up a finger injury preventing him from keeping and Zaki Crawford-Khan struggling with a shoulder injury. The Grannies lost the toss and were sent out to bat against a very sharp and energetic fielding side. Half centuries for Zaki Crawford-Khan and Abhimanyu Pal meant the Grannies finished their 35 overs on 172 which always looked a little light against this opposition. The Rwandans had a few international players and proved to be a strong batting side as they comfortably chased down the Grannies total.

A special treat was in order for The Grannies that evening as we ventured to the High Commissioner's House for drinks with all the touring sides. Toby Colehan couldn’t contain his excitement. The Grannies, all dressed in their blazers, were awarded first prize for looks. The squad then rolled to our local, The Sundowner where the locals looked a bit bewildered at the site of 15 men turning up in matching blazers. More goat and beer followed.

26th September 2024

Another day off for the Grannies and it was time to visit the Kigali Genocide Museum which was a morbid but fascinating experience. A small splinter group headed on the day safari, and everyone reconvened for dinner that evening. Sleep was on the cards today ahead of a must win match against CCT.

27th September 2024

Match day against our archrivals, CCT. It was a hot day but our skipper won the toss and The Grannies went out to field. The day had started badly with Muhammad Ahmad picking up a case of food poisoning and was made worse when skipper Quinton Newcomb was forced to leave the field due to sickness. However, our 12th man Joshua proved more than adequate and his energy in the field was appreciated. Sadly, CCT proved too strong with their batting as they finished on 322/5 of their 35 overs. The Grannies struggled in the heat as wickets tumbled. Simon Hungin was finding some form before a calamitous run out in typical Grannies style meant the equation looked grim. Stand in skipper, Sam Packer steadied the ship and finished on an unbeaten 94 but the Grannies fell short finishing on 234/9.

That evening we headed to a dinner organised by the Cricket Builds Hope team and once again The Grannies won the prize for best dressed. A great speech by Bob Percival thanked all who were involved but the team were feeling the effects of a long day in the field so it was an early night.

28th September 2024

Our final day and time for our third place play off against the Kenyans. The Kenyans won the toss and opted to bat and the team were pleased to have Bob Percival back behind the stumps after a minor injury. Bob quickly reminded everyone of his skills taking some great catches and a stumping. The final day had been shortened to a T20 and the Kenyans finished on 137/6 of the 20 overs. The Grannies were feeling optimistic and the return of Muhammad Ahmad proved to be the difference as he went on to make another 50 before reluctantly being forced to retire. We chased down the total in 18 overs to win by 8 wickets to take the bronze medal which was well deserved.

We were due to fly home that evening so a trip back to the hotel to pre order dinner. Dinner was ordered 3 hours early and told to be ready by 7pm. In typical Kigali time it turned up at 8pm…

Following dinner, the team headed off to Kigali International Airport for our flight home. An amazing experience for all and the team were very happy to take a bronze medal home.

A special thank you to Bob Percival for arranging pretty much everything. The tour would never have happened without you and your keeping skills were missed. A big thank you to Quinton Newcomb for all the efforts he put in to organise the tour and to skipper the team. Another big thank you to Sam Packer for organising all the kit and being a stand in skipper when needed and thank you to Felix Tritton for attempting to keep all Grannies members up to date on social media.

There will be another tour in the next few years and we hope to see more of you on it then.

Pictures can be found using the link below.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11USVuFcNgJsxFcM-RxZMCWCP00cFmJRB



Match info

Also playing: Chris Bell, Praveen Nagar and Abhimanyu Pal

Location
Kigali,
Rwanda