Comments from tourers

All tourers are asked to leave a brief message either on this blog or email to Steve Gemmill at wattlesrpigs@hotmail.com about 1 great experience they had on tour. Once these have been collated I will publish them on the Blog. Cheers Big Sprig.

The Test Wattlesprigs v Shepperton CC

Award Winners Rick Jones & Adam Thewlis

Noel & Gary Duns with Todd Duns Medalist Adam Thewlis

The crowd at the "Test Match"
Two guys who made a few in the test surronded by two who didn't

Neil Thewlis may not try partying with the young uns again!!

Yesterday marked the "Spriggers" final game of the tour. The final match of the tour is a game steeped in history against the Shepperton CC in outer London. The origins date back to Graham Gemmill's orginal tour back in 1983, every tour since has played the last game against "Shepp". The tour selectors pick the best performed team to play in the "test match" to play for the "ashes". Much to our disappointment we haven't the best record in this match and this year was no different. Capt Rick Jones won the toss and batted and that was about as good as it got. Apart from another great knock of 89 run out from our gun bat Mark Moffat and 21 from the skip the Spriggers didn't muster many finishing at 9/179 from 45 overs. This proved to be no where near enough as the Shepp boys knocked them over 6 down with 8 overs to spare. Jordon Whiting and Rick Jones being the pick of the bowlers.

On the bright side the hospitality from Shepperton CC was first rate. At the conculsion of the match a couple of important awards where made. The Todd Duns Award for the best feilder on tour went to Adam Thewlis and the Graham Gemmill medal for the best player over the entire tour went to Rick Jones. Congratultions to you both on a fantastic tour boys. The 'after match' kicked on back at the hotel as it was the final night for some and the last chance to relive old glories as a group.

So that about ends the tour with some tourist off to Paris for the day and many checking the sights of London before the long haul back to Australia. Many thanks to the Gemmills and Bertha for a great trip and make sure to think of the Wattlesprigs when your at home, not standing in queue for no reason, getting reasonable service, not listening to a Pom whinge win they save a test match, or know that summer lasts for for more than 4 weeks!!

Thanks everyone and hope you all had a super time and look forward to seeing everyone in OZ.

Love it!!!

Footnote: Thanks to Adam 'Jacko' Jackson for maintaining the blog over the last few days while 'Big Sprig' was away.

Game 18 V Shepperton CC - The Test Match

Selected side: Rick Jones (C), Mark Moffat, Ian Dinsdale, Andrew Thompson, Ranjie Oliver, Anton Noble, Jordyn Whiting, Matthew Thompson, Gary Duns, Robert Comerford, Simon Godfrey, Adrian Betts, Adam Thewlis.
Match report and stats to follow tomorrow.

Game 17 v Teddington CC

Man of the Match Ranje & a fan.
The Brooks Bros.
An English ambulance for the "Sovereign"
Future Sprigger Tom Oliver practises his moves.
The team and K Thewlis skipper for the day.

The Sprigs took on local London side Teddington at their beautiful ground that is owned by the Queen no less. This promised to be a memorable day under our inspirational Skipper Kevvy Thewlis.Saddly for for Kev and the team the Capts curse struck again (6th time on tour a Capt has made a blob!) and 5 of our best going down with injuries, there is a bit of a theme with the injuries ie. all over 40!. The most serious being Peter "Sliver Sovereign" Jacobsen going down life threatening cramp.
On the bright side the Sprigs batted well with an opening stand of 87,going on to make 7/216 with the best being Ranje Olivers hard hitting run a ball 67. The Teddington boys had little trouble overhauling the total with their Sri Lankan pro taking a toll on most of the bowlers, the best being J Whiting 2/28.The rest were Jackson 29, Noble 46,M Whiting 9,K Thewlis 0,J Whiting 4,Wells 15,P Jacobsen 11 (retired forever),D Brooks 14, Doyle 1 .
Today is the Wattlesprigs big Test Match and last game of the tour against traditional rivals Shepperton. We have selected the cream of the crop so good luck boys we haven t won this one since 1986 (hope Rudi Koretzen isn t umpiring).

Ode to Wattlesprigs 09

Matt Thompson's first published work "Ode to Wattlesprigs 09"

Now as the trip is ending
Id thought id tell a tale or two
About the 2009
Wattlesprigs crew

First there is Gemmill
The master of our ride
Im just a little bit worried for his wife
He's falling in love with big Bertha Hyde

The other leader they call Berth
For the whole tour never changed his kit
Too bad he’s a twat
And leading all by the number of dummy spits

Next there is beaker
The scorer extraordinaire
Qiute an interesting man
You could even call him rare

Big little Thompson
First ton of the tour
Its just a bit of a shame
That with the ladies his brother does better

The Duns’ what a quartet
Gary gives em a rip, Trav, at fielding he is grand,
Greg brought his golf clubs,
But we’re all lucky they brought the old man, the greatest umpire in the land.

Young Jordie, well done, excellent
A great effort for 17
Although It is a little concerning
That your taste in women is about thirteen

Adam what a drinker,
You might have a bit of contamination
Another piece of advice
Go and get an anal examination

Hood, beautiful, oh, oh, oh, what a champion, what a legend
always has a great hit
Although i reckon he’s just as keen
To have a good spit

Big Archie, the fall guy
He is just as grand as
A lot of the boys also think
He might be Colonel Sanders

Jacko the man they call action,
Led the boys to victory although you couldnt say he was the pick
But he did manage to snare the scalp
Of that shit South African Graeme Hick

Bettsy, they call him Bruce McAveney,
Drinks that crap cider for god’s sake
Maybe that’s the reason
He’s special and has a very interesting head shake

The Dinsdale’s, Sandra and Ian
The couple from Wangaratta
But you’d be a very generous man
To call Dino an opening batter

Next there’s the man called Blowy
Rarely referred to as Mr Parker
His fine sessions were brilliant
You’d call him a prick, a tough task master

Doyley the man from up north
Started the trip on fire and maybe even had a chunder
But his claim to fame is the day he bowled Knight
with that ball from down under

Big Wellsy a very popular man
Could tell a ripper of a joke on the bus
However unfortunately his batting
Was shit and well and truly puss

Godders what a great bloke
Some stories were outrageous
And then he hurt his finger
never accused of being captain courageous

Kel the team manager
Did a bloody marvellous job
Until the day he carried on like a fool
And pulled his little right quad

Big Morgs the team physio
Loves telling a joke or eight
But dont trust him in the rooms
Cause he might slip the digit up the date

Pete the man who loves coffee more than beer
A disgrace, a cardinal sin
Plays the game with passion
They call him the silver sovereign

Burkey, he loves the turps
Drinks triple jacks hes bloody unreal
But there’s more than one reason
Why they call him the man of steal

The ladies on the trip have been awesome
Always managed to get a fine
That’s because they got as pissed as everyone else
And drank 350 bottles of wine

Cliffy Cameron an absolute champ
Was crook at one stage, had swine flu I was sure
Always determined at each hotel
To create a sticky floor

His brother big Camo is also a top bloke
Barracks for Richmond and looking forward to seeing his wife
I hope he can take a catch back home
Or he’ll be in a bit of strife

Fossil Cleary
The man, he barracks for the sons of the west
The one game he played he got a duck
But as a drinker, was one of the best

Young Wheels enjoyed the trip
Although with the bat he often failed
And then there was the night in Manchester
Out with the boys, his shout and he bailed

Old man Thompson
Loved the trip, and to rock and roll
But the night of the fancy dress party
His dancing and and undie revealing was way out of control

Next there is the Doc
Told a funny joke after three or four
But one night he had a few too many
and stripped down at the Blue Boar

Matty Edwards from up north
A great bloke and always loved to play
But the one time he stuffed up in York
Was when wellsy had to take him to the sick bay

Noble, they call him Knuckles
A funny man, Had fabio among his alter egos
Broke the record with 27 off an over
Fuck there another one goes

Ranjie a great man
After his first innings didnt get a great reception
I’d like to also ask the question
Did you for a few years, forget about contraception

Jonesy, another from up north
Was one of our best bats
The problem was you blew a hundred or two,
We might have to call you Slats

Moff’s had a great tour
His ton was a real highlight
But there was one time when he wasnt at his best
In Manchester he’d had a pearler of a night

Ian Thewlis loves a beer
He became known as Super Foo
Lost the mug but that wasnt as bad
As when hed go to drop a poo

His brother is Neil
Drinking is clearly an ability
But his love affair with pet shops
Means i think he’s into beastiality

Cheetah Brooks from Barooga
He really is a great man
Although I did become a bit worried
That he spent all his time with Cliffy Cameron

Dozer Brooks joined the tour
But about 2 weeks too late
When he started his first over on tour
It was 6, it finished at 8

Big Robbie Cummerford from Brissy
Brought Cryril and Vernon, was very keen
Not being able to live without his teddy
Made me think he might be a queen

Big Fish from the West
Was excellent and gave them a rip
from all reports his bowling isn’t the only reason
Why he had a successful trip

Aussie Joey our great bus driver
Never did anything wrong
But it still doesn’t change the fact
That your still a frigen pom

Andy our new bus driver
A good cricketer or so they say
But you’d want to do a good job
Or we’ll get Joey back, and send you on your way

So now the tour is over
And so is this little rhyme
There’s been friendships formed for life
It’s fair to say we’ve all had an absolutely brilliant time.

The Cricketers Arms Hotel. Trevor Oliver's pub

The group at Cricketers Arms

Today after a big night of celebrating being back on winners list the "spriggers" travelled to the Cricketers Arms Hotel at Clavering. The hotel is owned by Trevor Oliver (father of world famous chef Jamie). Here we enjoyed at delicious 3 course meal in the beautiful old pub. After dinner entertainment was provided by our poet lauert Matt Thompson. Matt has written a line for every tourist and showed off his prowess as a budding wordsmith. Today we also bid farewell to our tour leader Steve "Big Sprig" Gemmill . Big Sprig has done a amazing job as the leader and everyone has appreciated his great leadership. Although delaying the bus this morning because a "ghost" locked him in his room was a pathetic excuse for sleeping in!! '

The Bard, Matt Thompson

Cyril enjoys a tipple

Big Sprigs last day

Game 16 V Worlington CC

The Lord of Wheelington, Glenn Whelan gets the mug for his 3 for.

Taking off the covers

Kevvy 'sticks it up em' in Suffolk

Another overcast day at Worlington. The game was started later on as the covers were taken of at 3pm. We played a 30/30 over game. It was great to play against old mates Craig Woolard, Ian Starling and Bruno How again. Bruno was heavily sledged by the large Aussie crowd. He also received the dreaded duck for his batting efforts. James Holmes (ex Barooga CC) was also at the game. Sprigs captain Andrew Thompson was offered the toss and decided to bat on a very hard and well prepared wicket (thanks Darren and Pat!) The lunch and tea was magnificent again, with a few of us perhaps going back as ‘cargo’ on the plane!
It was the Glenn ‘Little Wheels’ Whelan show here today with Glenn taking 3 important wickets at the end of the game to swing it our way. Now called Lord of Wheelington, Glenn will always be remembered at this ground. Simon Godfrey screamed out Beneath the southern cross and we sang in unison.
Kevvy Thewlis ‘stuck it up em’ at the bar that night too!
Results: S.Godfrey 1no, 2/18 R. Jones 22, 2/18 M. Edwards 3 M. Moffat 18 R Comberford 8, 1/14 T. Noy 20, 1/18 G Thompson 6, 0/28 A Thompson 10 I Dinsdale 4 retired 0/13, A Betts 4, 0/5 G Whelan 0 no, 3/10 Wattlesprigs 125/8 Worlington 115/9