Now for something completely different

Posted by Tony Hutton

Sunday 16th August gave me the chance to watch cricket in France for the first time.
A long weekend visit to see my son and family now resident in an attractive village just outside Paris provided my with this opportunity. Unfortunately on Saturday, having all made the journey to Chateau de Thoiry the advertised two day game with Britanny was obviously not taking place, perhaps because most of France seems to be on holiday, and we were able to visit the zoo and safari park in the grounds instead.

I had known about Chateau de Thoiry and it's cricket team for many years due to a former Hospitals Radio colleague, Phil Brown. As well as being catering manager at Elland Road for some time, he was also a Leeds League umpire and used to take his holidays in France every year to umpire at Chateau de Thoiry. It is a side made up mainly of English expatriates and is now running junior sides for children from the English school at Croissy sur Seine, where my two grandsons will be starting in September. So hopefully I can catch cricket there on my next visit.

Chateau de Thoiry

On Sunday my son took me on a conducted tour first to the Bagatelle Ground, adjacent to the Bois de Boulougne in Paris. It was really something like Soldiers Field at Roundhay, Leeds, with a succession of sports grounds, on two of which cricket was actually taking place. The first game was a bit of a mystery match with players appearing to play in their ordinary street clothes. We found out they were all Sri Lankans and were taking the game quite seriously with a red and white tape boundary and a small tent containing loads of trophies for the players. Speakers had also been set up and loud Sri Lankan music greeted our appearance.

Trophies await for the Sri Lankans

On the ground next door something more serious was going on. This was a game between Paris University Club (PUC) and Dreux, a town some distance west of Paris, in the top echelon of French cricket, the Super League. Despite the rather long grass with flowers growing freely, the match was of a high standard with the players on both sides mainly of Asian origin. Very long boundaries were no impediment to the batsman and we quickly saw a huge six narrowly escape the boundary fielder. The background of tower blocks in the French equivalent of Canary Wharf was quite impressive.

PUC v Dreux at Bagatelle Ground

We discovered that due to the shortage of cricket grounds in the Paris area, all games in the league system are now T20, with coloured clothing and white balls, so that two games can be played on the same day. PUC were certainly piling up the runs and the only interrruption to proceedings came when a very young French boy on a small motor bike started riding round and round on the outfield. The players took some time to chase him away and tried to explain why he could not do as he pleased!

Outfield invader

View from the boundary

We then set off some twenty miles or so further north to the town of Criel, where another Super League game was taking place, this time between Creil and USCA, which we discovered was the United Sri Lankan Cricket Association of Paris. We learned from one of the fielders that the side was composed of Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and some Frenchmen.
His conversation with us on the boundary edge led to some consternation among his team mates, until he told them we were English and he was talking to us in English.
They still seemed very puzzled at the appearance of any spectators.

Criel v USCA

The ground was a bit in the middle of nowhere adjacent to two soccer pictures and two disused former cricket grounds, but the matting wicket was very good and the quick bowlers were getting plenty of bounce. A very competative game played very keenly by both sides. USCA had made a good score in the first innings of 220 in 20 overs and as Creil wickets began to fall to some hostile quick bowling it became apparent that the home side were heading for defeat.

Avoiding a bouncer at Criel

The burnt out car near one of the soccer pictures did not add to surroundings, and we thought it might have belonged to a soccer referee or even an unpopular umpire !
However the whole day was a good example of the popularity of cricket in France, mostly of course played by expatriates, but with great enthusiasm and three divisions, as well as cup competitions for Seniors, Under 19s and Under 15s in the Paris area all going strong.

Was it the referee's or the umpire's car ?

We returned home via Chantilly, an important racing centre, where another team of British expatriates play adjacent to the polo grounds, but that one will have to wait until another visit.