Entertainment Swindon

From the first ball, England took charge of what would be a match of total dominance yesterday (Wednesday 27th May) in the over 40s international, hosted at the home of Swindon Cricket Club.

This was the first time an international cricket match has been played in Swindon since the 1982, when the County Ground hosted not one, but two ICC Trophy internationals, with Bangladesh vs East Africa, and Canada vs Gibraltar, and today did not disappoint!

The Swindon Cricket Ground was the first match for India’s over 40 UK Tour, speaking to Swindon Cricket Club’s Chairman, Daniel Harris, he said: “It’s a great honour to be hosting this international match, great for the town of Swindon too”.

The stadard of cricket at the County Ground was of the pedigree any top-flight county cricket! But looking at the line up on both sides, you wouldn’t expect anything less.

England captained by former Leicestershire, Kent & England Darren Stevens with an impressive career score card of over 16,000 first class runs and more than 500 wickets!

As well as ex Hertfordshire player Ben Fraser with a great 19yr career for the county. Gemaal Hussain, former Gloucestershire, Somerset and Northamptonshire, Chris Peploe who succeeded Phil Tuffnal when he went into the jungle for Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! And Josh Benn from Gianna, to name just a few, the whole England side was full of top-flight former county cricket players.

The match at Swindon’s County Ground, started strong for England from the very first ball, India went into bat first and very quickly, England showed total dominance with LBW given from an early ball from Ben Frazer, from there on, it was like watching dominos with one wicket after another being taken.

India were out for 189 runs off 45 overs, with 7 wickets taken. England after the interval came out batting as strong as they did bowling, with boundary after boundary from James Duffy and Ben Frazer scoring an impressive. 193-1, winning by 9 wickets.

The match wasn’t just great for Swindon Cricket Club and the town. Local charity Prospect Hospice was the chosen charity for the match. Talking to Richard Deacon, Managing Director for Deacons Jewellers, he said: “It’s great to see such quality cricket being hosted in the town after such a long absence, this is truly great for Swindon. And we have also raised an impressive £5000 from the days auction and probably over £1000 from the raffle, its been a great day of cricket and a great day of fundraising”.

We also chatted nostalgically about big match cricket in Swindon, agreeing that it had been far to long and that it was really nice to see top class cricket returning to Swindon after such a long absence. Mr Deacon went on to recall one memorable match from his memory, where Wiltshire faced off against Leicestershire in a Natwest 60 Over Game. Swindon Cricket Club will be continuing with a string of top cricket throughout the summer, with the next match hosted by the town at the County Ground between Gloucestershire (2nd team) vs Hampshire (2nd team) in a 20/20 game on Tuesday 23rd June, starting at 5pm followed by England’s second World Cup Group Stage match in the US, which will be shown at the County Ground after the cricket.

Man of the Match went to James Duffy, presented by Richard Deacon, after a solid commanding start with bowling and a dominating 100 not out at the crease.

To find out more about the England Over 40s Team, head over to: www.eng40scricket.co.uk

And for all updates on Swindon Cricket Club, check out: www.swindoncricketclub.co.uk