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England St George's regained the annual desert ashes against the Aussies in a keenly fought cricket match at the Bahrain Rugby Club in Saar.
This fixture of 30 overs a side has been an annual event in Bahrain for more than 20 years. With a slightly different format of batsmen retiring after scoring 25 runs but able to return to the crease if all the other batsmen are out and a maximum of three overs per bowler it makes for a great social occasion.
England captain Keith Veryard won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Aussie opening pair of Julian and Steve started off at a blistering pace scoring 34 runs off the first three overs.
Captain Keith reverted to plan "B" and managed to curb the run rate through some excellent bowling by Bill Jeffries and Andy. Julian and Steve retired having scored 25 each when at last England took their first wicket having the dangerous Chris Ranganathan caught in the deep by Peter Hunt off Jeffries.
Wickets fell steadily thereafter in the face of some excellent bowling by Neil Fox, Trevor Burt and Tony Shepherd with a wicket apiece and Mike Williams with two wickets plus a run out by the "evergreen" Shepherd.
With the score at 105 after 21 overs England were "in control" but a further two wickets fell bringing back the opening pair of Julian and Steve who plundered the England bowlers with some awesome hitting. Steve ended on 41 not out and Julian 98 not out (including 9 sixes and 7 fours) to bring the Aussie innings to a close on 201 for 9.
The England reply was in disarray when opener Williams fell for a duck but Andy (27) and the wise old heads of Guy Parker (31) and Peter Hunt (25) all retired steadying the ship.
However, good bowling by Steve, Matt and Rob caused a middle order collapse but this was rescued by sensible batting from Shepherd (19) and Fox (22) bringing in the finest number 11 Steve Turner (22) and the returning Parker to see England to victory with a score of 206 for 6 in the 26th over.
After the match captain Veryard said: "I am very happy that we regained the 'Ashes' and I hope that our victory will be an inspiration for the English national team when they take on the Aussies in the Ashes series at home in July-August next year."
