GCF World Trophy VI: RP/squads/scores thread

[Indusse]

Safe, Now To Rock

City Center: Indusse survived a massive scare to squeeze past Darmen by two wickets in a match that was predicted to be an easy win in the first half but turned into a nail-bitting thriller in the rest. As Darmen was send in to bat first, Indusse had to make sure that they could get the batsmen finish their innings with a really low score, this came in necessary after the humongouys defeat against Paradystopia in the last match. Thankfully it was Indusse’s seam attack that did the heavy lifting. Karthik Chand roared back into form after a tough couple of games, bending his back with real pace to pick up 3/39 and remove Darmen’s key top-order threats. Milind Bakhtayar was at his stingy best from the other end taking wickets while giving out less runs. while Harshwardhan chipped in to reduce Darmen to a score of 98/4. Later to save Darmen from a disappointing first innings score, Kenny O’Callaghan (72) and Eli English (43) came in with what could be called 'God's Intervention'. But still they couldn't make it big and had to close their innings for a score of 220/6.

As Indusse came out to bat with high hopes of finishing the game early, things went out of hands when the top-order who has been in great form ended up struggling hard and giving up. Herman Bauman who has been the star was trapped early for 8, Sisodia and Patidar followed soon after, leaving Indusse in a really sad state. With the strongest frontline dismantled into pieces, vice-captain Arvind Pyarilal took charge. Pyarilal produced his best innings of the tournament scoring 76 runs which turned out to be the one to put Indusse back in the right track. While Mahmud Farzhjan (32) gave him decent company to steady the ship, Darmen’s spinners led by Snelling (3/46) kept taking wickets and dots whenever Indusse tried finding a pace. As Pyarilal departed after his wonderful innings, Indusse was still behind with just bowlers left in action.

But this time the bowlers did not dissapoint, they made sure their innings also made an impact with the bat. Bakhtayar and Chand refused to quit trying and showing that they can also be of the attacking mode. Bakhtayar played with composure for his 26 not out, while Chand went on to hit whatever he saw and sending some past the boundary line shaking the Darmen camp. As the game now took pace, the bowlers in action turned tables bringing Indusse the victory they were hoping for. The Camp seemed happy that the whole team is able to contribute when they are needed to. Now Indusse is off to Park Central Oval to face Sylestone in the Winners' bracket quarter-finals.

Darmen Batting
Batter                                                  R   B  4s  6s   SR
Kynaston Kerr             c & b Bakhtayar              11  24   1   0   45.83
Torbjørn Maxwell          c Shankar b Harshwardhan     19  36   2   0   52.78
Rhys Breckinridge         lbw b Chand                  31  48   3   0   64.58
Brady Horne               b Chand                      16  29   1   0   55.17
Kenny O’Callaghan         c Pyarilal b Tyler           72  81   7   2   88.89
Eli English               c Farzhjan b Chand           43  53   4   1   81.13
Bud Bachmann              not out                      14  19   1   0   73.68
Justin Beckett            not out                       6  11   0   0   54.55
          EXTRAS          (1 b, 2 lb, 4 wd, 1 nb)       8
           TOTAL          for 6 wickets               220   (50 ov; 4.4 RPO)
Did not bat:            Gregor Bean, Kieran Rosenfeld, Ilia Snelling

Indusse Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Karthik Chand                10   2  39  3    3.9  Karthik Chand
Milind Bakhtayar             10   2  32  1    3.2  Milind Bakhtayar
Rishwat Harshwardhan         10   0  47  1    4.7  Rishwat Harshwardhan
Nicholas Tyler               10   0  48  1    4.8  Nicholas Tyler
Ashkan Behrouz               10   1  51  0    5.1  Ashkan Behrouz

Indusse Batting   (Target: 221)
Batter                                                  R   B  4s  6s   SR
Praveen Sisodia           c Beckett b Bean             13  18   2   0   72.22
Herman Bauman             lbw b Rosenfeld               8  12   1   0   66.67
Shankar Singh Patidar     c Kerr b Bean                15  21   2   0   71.43
Mahmud Farzhjan           c English b Snelling         32  45   3   0   71.11
Arvind Pyarilal           c Beckett b Bachmann         76  85   8   1   89.41
Sherlock Maxmuller        b Snelling                   14  22   1   0   63.64
Nicholas Tyler            c Horne b Rosenfeld           9  11   1   0   81.82
Ashkan Behrouz            b Snelling                    4   7   0   0   57.14
Milind Bakhtayar          not out                      26  21   3   1  123.81
Karthik Chand             not out                      15   8   2   1  187.5
          EXTRAS          (1 b, 3 lb, 5 wd, 1 nb)      10
           TOTAL          for 8 wickets               222   (41.3 ov; 5.35 RPO)
Did not bat:            Rishwat Harshwardhan

Darmen Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Gregor Bean                   8   1  38  2   4.75  
Kieran Rosenfeld              8   0  44  2    5.5  
Bud Bachmann                  7   0  41  1   5.86  
Ilia Snelling                10   1  46  3    4.6  
Eli English                 8.3   0  49  0   5.76  

Venue: The Manor, City Centre
Season: GCF World Trophy VI
Player of the Match: Arvind Pyarilal
Match Result: Indusse won by 2 wickets

[Sylestone]

Saint Margaret and the Aurelles Batting
Batter                                                       R   B  4s  6s   SR
J Baptiste                c Tiati (+) b Asaskia             42  45   7   0   93.33
K Oldwinter               c Golman b Sonnel                 39  76   3   0   51.32
T John                    c McMillan b Sonnel               25  41   2   0   60.98
B Worlingworth (c) (+)    c Golman b Sonnel                  1  12   0   0    8.33
R Robinson                not out                           69  62   7   1  111.29
R Cumberbatch             b McMillan                        37  48   4   0   77.08
K Persaud                 not out                           17  16   1   1  106.25
          EXTRAS          (3 lb, 3 wd)                       6
           TOTAL          for 5 wickets                    236   (50 ov; 4.72 RPO)
Did not bat:            M Craddock, S Phillips, C St. Romain, D Roopnarine

FOW: 1-59 (J Baptiste, 13.4 overs); 2-97 (K Oldwinter, 23.6 overs); 3-104 (B Worlingworth (c) (+), 27.2 overs); 
     4-113 (T John, 29.5 overs); 5-199 (R Cumberbatch, 44.6 overs)

Sylestone Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
S Scron                      10   2  40  0      4  
J McMillan                    9   1  46  1   5.11  (1 wd)
S Asaskia                     8   1  42  1   5.25  (1 wd)
B Hall                        9   0  43  0   4.78  
K Sonnel                     10   1  34  3    3.4  
S Cross                       4   0  28  0      7  (1 wd)

Sylestone Batting   (Target: 237)
Batter                                                       R   B  4s  6s   SR
L Tiati (c) (+)           c Oldwinter b Roopnarine          56  73   7   0   76.71
B Golman                  b Phillips                         7  10   1   0   70
S Cross                   c Persaud b Craddock              31  31   4   1  100
B Eastwood                not out                           86  98   8   0   87.76
L Cocrine                 c Worlingworth (+) b Craddock     36  41   2   1   87.8
S Asaskia                 lbw b Roopnarine                   2   4   0   0   50
T Gallagher               not out                            7   9   1   0   77.78
          EXTRAS          (8 b, 1 lb, 4 wd, 1 nb)           14
           TOTAL          for 5 wickets                    239   (44.1 ov; 5.41 RPO)
Did not bat:            J McMillan, B Hall, S Scron, K Sonnel

FOW: 1-12 (B Golman, 3.2 overs); 2-80 (S Cross, 14.2 overs); 3-132 (L Tiati (c) (+), 24.5 overs); 
     4-221 (L Cocrine, 40.2 overs); 5-226 (S Asaskia, 41.3 overs)

Saint Margaret and the Aurelles Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
C St. Romain                  8   0  41  0   5.13  (2 wd)
S Phillips                    9   1  39  1   4.33  
M Craddock                  8.1   0  43  1   5.27  (1 wd, 1 nb)
R Robinson                    5   0  37  0    7.4  
D Roopnarine                 10   1  42  2    4.2  
K Persaud                     4   0  28  0      7  (1 wd)

Venue: Island Cricket Arena, Schimpol, Liventia
Match number: Match 92
Toss: South Newlandia won the toss and elected to bowl
Season: GCF ODI World Trophy VI
Matchdays: Round of 16
Player of the Match: Brianna Eastwood (SYL)
Umpires: Unknown
TV Umpire: Unknown
Reserve Umpire: Unknown
Match Referee: Unknown
Match Result: Sylestone win by five wickets with 35 balls remaining

---

Quarterfinal Playing XI vs Indusse @ Park Central Oval, Orean, Liventia

1. Luke Tiati (c) (+)
2. Brian Golman
3. Samuel Cross
4. Brianna Eastwood
5. Lachlan Cocrine
6. Samuel Asaskia
7. Tristan Gallagher
8. Jesse McMillan
9. Broughton Hall
10. Samuel Scron
11. Kate Sonnel

[Kimi-Suomi]

After a very competitive Group Stage with only one defeat to their name, the Karhut entered the Playoffs of this World Trophy as one of the top seeds. This is certainly a dangerous position, a place where we knew that expectations would rise and things could very easily fall apart. But we had made it here on our own merit, and Lorcán Ua Tuathail was absolutely dedicated to trying to prove that the Karhut belonged in this position...so what could they do here?

This Upper Bracket Round of 16 contest with Milchama at the NCE Oval showed both the strengths and the weaknesses of this Karhut squad for all to see, an important lesson and a sign of the work we still needed to do if we wanted this run to go deeper than before. Winning the toss and batting first, we pushed forward in an innings that wasn't exactly great, but not exactly bad either - one where Mariela Idivuoma batted in 81, but Yohonatan Malliteen went 2-81 in response. It could've been a hell of a lot worse than 262/5, but it felt like we could've done better as well...a mixed bag in several ways.

How 262 would be remembered all rested on Milchama's response - on how Daniel Ross and Philip de Franches got on in the chase. It ended up being close. Very close. Like down to the final ball...close. Hayden March really did try to win this match on his own, and at 129*, he really got close to doing just that. It was touch and go in the last 10 overs of the contest, with Signe Hyppia and Saima Eskola certainly throwing everything at this, but in the end, it ended up in a scenario where Milchama needed 3 on the last ball to win the game...and they couldn't get anything at all. By the skin of our teeth, we won by 2 runs. Top 16? Locked in.

And so, our biggest test lies ahead in Folenisa. Sure, Plough Saaret finished 3rd on a tiebreaker in Group 1, but they are the #1 team in YPKs for a reason, and we will have to take them very seriously for very obvious reasons. They could very easily strike us down.

Mutta olemme valmiina, kävi miten kävi.
NOSTA KUIN KARHUT!

---

SCHEDULE/AJOITTAA (Group 2)
MD1: vs Etelä-Guinea [Austroguinea] (UR) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 5 wicketillä (T-1st)
MD2: vs Darmen (4) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover V 82 juoksulla (T-1st)
MD3: vs Crpostran (22) - Lewes Park, Neverend V 31 juoksulla (1st)
MD4: vs Pyhä Margareta ja Aureliet [Saint Margaret and the Aurelies] (UR) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre T 12 juoksulla (1st)
MD5: vs Jack ja Ruby [Jack and Ruby] (UR) - Sawyer Memorial Ground, Bede V 8 wicketillä (1st)
MD6: vs Quebec ja Shingoryeo [Quebec and Shingoryeo] (16) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 10 juoksulla (1st)
MD7: BYE (5-1)
-----------------------------------------------
WR16: vs Milchama (8/4-4) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre V 2 juoksulla
WQF: vs Plough Saaret [The Plough Islands] (1/1-3) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa

[TJUN-ia]

Losing three in a row is...not ideal.
But we will be back.

---

SCHEDULE (Group 4)
MD1: vs Milchama (8) - Park Central Oval, Orean L by 7 Wickets (T-4th)
MD2: BYE
MD3: vs Sylestone (2) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre W by 33 runs (7th)
MD4: vs Vunymonia (UR) - Sawyer Memorial Ground, Bede W by 19 runs (T-2nd)
MD5: vs Tumbra (UR) - Dawston Ground, Orean W by 63 runs (2nd)
MD6: vs South Newlandia (20) - Park Central Oval, Orean L by 4 runs (4th)
MD7: vs A non-descript puppet nation (UR) - The Manor, City Centre L by 26 runs (5th)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LBR1: vs South Newlandia (20/4-2) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover L by 47 runs

[Paradystopia]

---

"Is 'Romp' an inappropriate word?"

"How do you mean? Probably not, though it probably depends upon the context really. What are you thinking of writing? 'Paradystopia romp to victory over Hanalia' or suchlike?"

"Actually, that works better than what I had. 'Hanalians given thorough romping by the Paradystopi'."

"Yeah, it comes across a bit ... crude that way. How's the rest of the article?"

"Going well, I think. Practically done. Good match, wasn't it?"

"Yeah yeah. Well, maybe not so much for Hanalia. Mind if I have a read?"

"Sure thing. Personally, I think we were a bit lucky, inasmuch as, when you've got a spinner like Crackanurchin at the Bastion, well, the wicket played into our hands."

"Totally. Speaking of, this sentence here you might want to rethink."

"Which is that?"

"The one about Preener 'joyfully jiggling his balls about'."

"Really? Thought it had a nice alliterative ring, that."

"No, I see that just, it could be misconstrued perhaps."

"Ahhh. Gotcha. I mean, he was getting some great movement off the pitch, and looked to be having a great time with it."

"Yeah. 'You could almost sense the Hanalian trepidation as the Paradystopi Pteron whipped it out with a decent length.' See, I know what you're saying, but can help but see the innuendo."

"I don't follow ..."

"You don't see how 'whipping out a decent length' could have crass connotations?"

"Ohhhh. Nope, I get it now. You think I'm talking about his... well, you know."

"It just gives that impression a touch."

"Totally unintentional."

"Hang on. 'Trey Peterson completely fails at finding the sweet spot as up goes the finger'?"

"Yeah, Peterson misjudged Crackanurchin's top-spinner, inside edged through to Buckley-Greaves, and the umpire declared an out almost instantly. No point protesting that one. Preener's third wicket of the day."

"Yes but ... nevermind ... although wait, this bit on the start of the second innings; 'Fitzbarrington was pounding the Hanalian bowlers so deep, they needed to employ a third man'."

"Ah yes, that's meant to be 'into deep' rather than 'so deep'. Autocorrect, you know? Anyway, Bazza loves that shot. Lean back, and loft it over the slips. It's like a trademark."

"Are you sure this isn't just veiled filth?"

"Absolutely not."

"Ok, fair enough. Must just be me reading too much into things. Anyway, the rest of it looks fine so get that typed up and we can let the editor know that the sport pages of the Hardcore Pornography Aficionado^TM are present, correct, and ready for print.

[The Plough Islands]

Had a slightly rough couple of days - it turns out that, to the surprise of everyone except me, probably, being a student is hard work :( The below, therefore, has had a few copyediting passes (which, I will grant, is a few more than my roleplays normally get) but probably far from my best work, for which I apologise.

Onnea to Kimi-Suomi for this evening, and danke schön to South Newlandia for your help as always. As the Plough Islanders probably do say, if they are Peter Zakharov, or perhaps half remember, if they are Ilya Lebed - остановите мир, я хочу сойти!

---

Had everything gone according to anyone's plan, the Plough Islands would have never been in this position.
Shauna Weaver's team had taken their setbacks early, as the South Newlandian pace attack had robbed them of both openers very cheaply, but had battled back to set a target of 263 with Weaver herself, Arnold Tyrie, Ilya Lebed, and Simon Chambers all contributing, the latter bouncing back from his golden duck in his first match with a punchy 29. The fox's share of the credit, though, went to Charlotte McCulloch, the right-hander remaining calm and delivering another confident performance as she carved through the closing overs to finish with an unbeaten 77; she was joined at the very end by Dimitry Andreyev, who faced down Ayaan Miller for one ball and flicked it over Isha Gayakwad's head for six.
Three hours later, Andreyev was out in the middle again, preparing to bowl one of the more important final overs of his relatively young life. Weaver had feared that the Foxes were about thirty runs short, and despite having held on to a difficult edge from Markus Patil off Andrew Baxter to leave South Newlandia one for 1 after the first over, the Elephants seemed like they were about to prove Weaver right. Sofia Gayakwad had led by example with an imperious 92, while remaining opener Tia Saha had blasted a quick 56 before Sarah Ashe had managed to draw her out of position with a tossed up ball and begin a desperate fightback.
The momentum of the game had changed and evolved throughout the closing overs, with South Newlandia firmly on top at the halfway stage before the Foxes began to turn the screw on the scoring rate, and some feisty batting by the Sardar brothers threatened to take the game away from the Plough Islands entirely. Weaver held her nerve, though, and was rewarded when Naomi Salisbury threaded the gap between bat and pad with her sixty-first delivery of her allotted sixty and removed Harrison Sardar's middle stump to a burst of pure relief.
Now, though, Kerry Sardar was at the crease, and all Weaver could do was watch on. The Elephants needed sixteen runs from six balls, a number that had lost all its meaning since before it had been sixteen; the required runs, Weaver observed, always felt gigantic or minuscule depending on whether you were wearing red or green. To her, it felt infinestimally tiny, as she caught a glance at Andreyev back on his mark and taking deep breaths.
A minute later, it was sixteen from five; Andreyev had gone full and straight, and Sardar had jabbed his bat out at nothing and almost overbalanced as the ball whistled through to Lebed. Andreyev came in again, over the wicket, and this time a plume of dust came up from the pitch as he banged it in slightly too short, and Sardar turned the ball away and down to Chambers at fine leg for a single. Weaver drew a long sigh; everything would need to change for the left handed Tyler Benedetto, and as she raised a hand to acknowledge Andreyev indicating he would go around the wicket, she connected with the eyes of the new man in green; confident, narrow, suspicious, and entirely too much of a mystery for Weaver's liking at this point in the game.
The pressure, though, built on the Elephants as well, and it was fifteen from three; Benedetto had swiped at Andreyev's first ball, but only managed a bottom edge into the pitch, and there was a stifled cry from those in the capacity crowd of a South Newlandian or neutral persuasion. At the start of the over, the target had been tough but achievable, but now it would have to be boundaries or nothing.
Benedetto chose boundaries. His second ball came in a touch too slow from the pitch amidst another puff of dirt, and the left hander opened his wrists and scooped the ball up and over the slips, where it bobbled away for four. Andreyev took his time walking back for the fifth, making a show of calling Baxter in from long on to ask something, but the result was practically the same; despite a desperate chase from Tyrie down at gully, the ball skimmed over the New Dalmatian's hand and nestled into the advertising hoardings for four more. Six to tie; six off a no-ball to win.
The Park Central Oval became deafeningly uncertain; South Newlandians were scarcely willing to believe that hope was possible, while Plough Islanders were gripped by the fear that it would all come together for the Elephants. Neutrals were just gripped, within and without the stadium, as the triple world champions within the rope tried to come to terms with what was about to happen. Weaver took a few steps back. Andreyev held out his hand, and then flashed a brief "OK" signal as he repositioned Tyrie a little closer to the 45 degree mark, before the arm went down; he locked eyes with Benedetto, before he set off for the final, decisive time.
The ball was short, but it stayed lower than Andreyev would have liked, and Benedetto hopped to one side to get more of his bat under the ball. The left hander closed his eyes, and felt the rifle crack of a good connection through his wrists and up into his shoulders. His mind readied itself for the roar of the crowd to tell him how far. It was far. It sounded like it might be very far.
He pushed off from his back foot and opened his eyes, hoping to see a positive reaction from Sardar, but while his partner's gaze was distant, focusing over his shoulder, Sardar's legs were slowing down, and Benedetto's auditory processing abruptly clicked up to full surround sound and picked out one particular voice from his left, hoarse and wheezy.
"MINE! MY BALL, SIMON!"
Benedetto put the pieces together, swivelling off his line down the wicket, and glanced up at the shapeless red blur of Tyrie racing out towards the third man boundary, compressing as if to leap in the air, and then collapsing to the turf, feet and trousers falling indiscriminately as a once white ball flashed down between the shape and the boundary, and a pair of spectacles span off into the lower tiers of the stadium. The South Newlandian batter could not see for certain what had happened, but the crowd made quite sure he could hear it.
PLOUFGH ISLANDS WIN BY 7 RUNS, read the video screen for a second - before going wholly dark, just as Benedetto had begun to properly parse the sentence, as the entire display flashed three times and was replaced by PLOUGH ISLANDS WIN BY 7 RUNS, neither of which were true statements. He felt a pat on his shoulder, and mumbled an acknowledgment as the Plough Islander captain offered her hand, before taking an unfocused step away and leaving Shauna Weaver to reflect on how different the final balls were, and just how important Andreyev's six had been.

WORLD TROPHY PREVIEW: QUARTER FINALS BRING BEARS, BROADCASTERS, & BLITHE BURNISH TO FOXES
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Folenisa

After Tuesday's thriller in Orean - a word sufficiently overused in sporting journalism that its abuse is, itself, a cliché, but one that surely applies to the Plough Islands' last ball victory over South Newlandia - our meagre caravan moves back to the Folenisa Cricket Ground as the Foxes advance deeper into the knockout stages of the sixth Global Cricket Federation World Trophy.
Our country is now, against all expectations, something of a regular visitor to this stage of multiversal cricket events, and that has come with an outsize and unusual degree of coverage by colleagues in the press gallery. Words like "dynasty" and "the biggest test" have been used to describe Shauna Weaver's team, with a certain ignorance or wilful illiteracy towards the egalitarian and proletarian ideals that lie at the heart of the Foxes just as surely as they do in all who strive to build a communist society. Taken metaphorically, though, they speak to the respect, and perhaps even fear, that the wider cricketing world has developed towards the Plough Islands, which is very difficult to comprehend from inside our modest world of touring buses and training sessions.
The reputation of the Foxes has transcended what would conventionally be expected from a small, distant country of one hundred and fifty thousand people, and several times that number now have an interest, or opinion, positive or negative, of the team, which comes into sharp focus at major events such as the World Trophy. The cumulative effect is not unlike a full orchestra, major key reprise of the experience of Gruenberg, except with throngs of cultists and hostile authorities replaced by an equally obsessive yet more benign curiosity. It can prove a strange experience; in Sutton, even Weaver or Andrew Baxter would only be asked for an autograph by those with a very particular interest in cricket, or visiting from the outlying islands, while here seemingly anyone from schoolchildren to retired committee members has asked seemingly everyone with a Plough Islander passport for a signature, down to the constable escorts, and even this author on occasion.
For all that the cricketing world can put teams on a pedestal, inside the boundary rope they can only be judged relative to their next opponents, and going in to the quarter finals they should be prepared for a very difficult questioning. Weaver's side have even less prior experience with Kimi-Suomi than they did against South Newlandia; however, their only previous meeting was at least in a One Day International, in the quarter final of the third World Trophy. Facing a Bears side that was one of the surprise packages of their first tournament, the Plough Islands were inspired by Brett Scarbeck's 94 and set an imposing target of 313 runs to win, before some good pace bowling on a difficult pitch at Willowbourne restricted the Bears to 267, with a hard fought century from Jukka Paarma in vain.
Neither Paarma nor Scarbeck will be playing at the Folenisa Cricket Ground, but while both teams have in their ranks a number of survivors from that evening four years previously, their respective stations have changed; while the Plough Islanders are now three time world champions, Kimi-Suomi have gained considerable ground and are now arguably where the Foxes were at the time of that game, as one of the brightest and strongest teams in multiversal cricket yet to break through and win a title. Veteran all-rounder Mika Linnankoski captained his team to the top of Group 2, thrashing traditional cricketing powerhouses Darmen by 82 runs along the way and losing just one match against St. Margaret & the Aurelles, before edging out Milchama - another traditional power of the GCF in times past - in a tense game in City Centre that came down to the final over.
They have done so largely, though not entirely, on the strength of their batting; openers Alina Järnefelt and Mariela Idivuoma have carried Kimi-Suomi a long way to their targets while chasing, and eighteen year old right hander Hector Smälts has settled well within the top echelon of multiversal cricket, scoring heavily in partnerships and displaying a pragmatism and shot selection well beyond his years. Linnankoski has marshalled his team well on their way to the quarter finals of what some have referred to as the "winner's bracket", and neither team will relish the possibility of dropping into the lower vector and requiring victory against Vaishnavaria or Vunymonia.
For all the soul searching that habitually accompanies Plough Islander cricket, of looking at themselves and how they should have tried, the Foxes have mostly settled on their best side in recent games; the only questions remaining have been over the use of a second pace bowler - with this author understanding that one of Dimitry Andreyev or Andrew Baxter is likely to be rested on what may be an indifferent Folenisa pitch - and of who opens the batting alongside Andrew Weaver. Matthew Davy has had good performances against Aryavarna and Serdtgyu, but would be the first to admit he has had issues settling and scoring quickly enough for the pace that tournament limited overs cricket can demand when chasing, and an experiment with Whitney Barrett opening the batting against Hanalia was inconclusive.
The option is open to Weaver and head coach Paul Donaghy to call up a specialist opener as a late addition to the squad - Gabriel Forrester and Brett Scarbeck should be available, and a release from his university studies could be secured for Robin Trevithick - but any such move would need to be organised with haste, given the distances involved. This would, however, be a decision by choice and not out of necessity, as has happened in the past; the Plough Islands have thus far managed to navigate the World Trophy without any major injuries or other playing issues aside from form, which could be taken as another sign of the Foxes' increased comfort at this level of international sport, albeit in terms of aptitude within the boundary rope than with the increased attention from beyond it.
And it is a comfort that Kimi-Suomi will surely test to the limit, and more, tomorrow at the Folenisa Cricket Ground. While Weaver and her Foxes surely know that the unbreakable unity of socialism and the strength that their few comrades from over the Celestial Ocean lend them should be more than enough to handle the Bears, it will be up to the eleven men and women in Anaian purple to put this into practice and, once again, send the Plough Islander caravan rolling on under the increasingly watchful gaze of the cricketing world.

---

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR WORLD TROPHY VS. KIMI-SUOMI

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#15 ANL Weaver           RHB      
#7  MG  Davy             RHB   RLB
#1  SLC Weaver (c)       RHB   RLB
#14 ADM Tyrie            RHB   RLB
#6  SNL Chambers         LHB      
#12 CAV McCulloch        RHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#8  LNC Geddes           RHB   ROB
#13 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA
#5  A   Baxter           RHB   RFS

[Ko-oren]

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Regions' Trophy (4-day)

Results

The previews are out of the way and play actually starts in the southwest - don't let the wild claims of East Surbourneshire being last and West Surbourneshire being ranked consistently first confuse you. Anyone can still beat anyone, every team has at least two national team players on it, but we do actually open with a couple of wild results. Round one saw West Surbourneshire win by an innings against Mawryshire - Mawryshire beat Leeshire by an innings in round two, and West Surbourneshire lost by an innings (to Willowbourne) in round two as well. That's three 'innings wins' in six matches, and we've got teams on the dealing and receiving end already. All the other matches? Draws. Of course.

So round one's Mawryshire loss came after they scored 318 in one innings - and then 'collapsed' for 196 to leave West Surbourneshire's 586 intact. The two draws of round one came after wildly high scores (Willowbourne 428, Greencaster 545, East Surbourneshire 475, Leeshire 563) so if we want to prevent this kind of thing - a complete lack of wickets across four days - we have a few dials to turn: leave the outfield grass longer so we get lower scores (but it doesn't contribute to more wickets being taken) or rig the pitches so they produce a less bat-favoured outcome (this probably is the way to go). But for now, it is what it is, and we power on. We do get a few 'regular' results in round three: Mawryshire win, away, by three wickets after teams produce no innings over 300 (so it is possible!). West Surbourneshire look every bit the favourite they were in the previews with their second innings win, over Greencaster, by limiting the hosts to under 220 both times. The rest of the season we get decently plausible wins: we've got your Greencaster by 159s and Willowbourne by 352s - the latter being against East Surbourneshire, which is what makes a big win this plausible - but we do also get a Leeshire win in which both teams produce 400+. The + does a lot of work: West Surbourneshire scored exactly that, in overall match 12, but it's not enough to counterbalance Leeshire's 426 (declared, four wickets).

It's hard to say whether there are big individual contributions: there's a handful of centuries, but those same players have usually gone on to bat for 5 or so in the next match (if not the next innings). Somehow it's Leaby (Mawryshire) that seems to have a grip on the first half of the season, as does Igawuthen (Greencaster). The latter's story is interesting - if you read her mention in the ODI roster - in that she's been written off and reawakened several times in her short career thus far. Let's hope she can keep impressing, she's deserved it.

Then there's a dead tie after the first innings in West vs East, both 319, in match 15. Willowbourne score 685 in response to Greencaster's 477 in match 17 - so you know what's up: a draw. Buhvithen records the first double century of the season. About Greencaster: their season completely stalls out from here on out. They lost to East Surbourneshire (whose Aukudigeldhen takes 12 wickets in three days), West Surbourneshire (whose Hanabahlgun takes 9 wickets in four days), and then they draw at home to Mawryshire - in absence of a dominant pace bowler, Greencaster actually doesn't lose wicket after wicket. But draws aren't going to sustain them in the table (and the final round loss to Leeshire certainly doesn't).

So our other favourites? West Surbourneshire, after a good start, manage to turn draws into losses a fair amount of time. There's the innings loss to East Surbourneshire in the final round, for instance, but also a string of losses that would've been solved had they stalled for a little longer or if they had taken a few more wickets. All well and good, but that just means 'be better' and so Marsden's inheritance goes lost - looking at the table, it's actually Greencaster last, West Surbourneshire second last, and that's your two favourites buried at the bottom of the table. Greencaster were good at bat (Igawuthen!) but terrible bowling, and their 2 wins from 10 games shows it. West Surbourneshire are the second weakest batting team (Marsden was a bowler, and so are his disciples) and their five losses from 10 games shows that as well.

Who won? Mawryshire, apparently. The region looked at for getting worse and worse every year actually comes away with a title: they finish the season with three draws after effectively locking up the trophy with an innings win over Leeshire. Turns out that spinning is still king. Second place goes to our 'doomed' East Surbourneshire, for winning by an innings and 24 over West Surbourneshire in the final round. Mawryshire are the only team on 5+ wins, and the top two earn their spot basically for avoiding losses (just two each). And Mawryshire are surprisingly capable batting - was that allowed? - while also picking up a lot of points for leading after the first innings. Maybe they played the point system the best out of all teams.

Cricket - Season 21 - Discussion

Kigirimakh-Yndwrnod One Day Trophy

Results

And then the One Day season: a valued part of the calendar after being solidly the third format out of the three for a while. But it seems that players do benefit from playing this format: some get a good introduction to tactics-through-the-day while others get to play to the limited overs without the pressure of having only twenty overs.

Right from day one, there's big scores and big individual scores: Ahrgihlten arrives on the scene with 130, Twaddle does Twaddle things at 122 in response for his West Surbourneshire. Ormflower scores 174 proving that yes, we do have decent keepers past Wolslager. Nantner takes 5 for Mawryshire - including Ormflower - but not before allowing a bunch of runs to him anyway. Round one is one for the new young batsmen as also Buhvithen gets 133 (for Willowbourne).

We see our first collapse in round two, with West Surbourneshire only scoring 202 by losing their top five for 72 runs. Hanabahlgun saves the day (as a bowler) scoring 77 and Taylor (all-rounder) gets 70 to avoid a complete loss of face, but Willowbourne makes short work of it anyway. Armfellow scores the first double century, for Leeshire, in what'd still end up a loss against Mawryshire: it's plenty of wickets (16 in total), still huge scores (381, 377) and in the end, Mawryshire wins by 35 balls (and four wickets, but who counts those in limited overs?).

But luckily, West Surbourneshire looks a lot more capable in this format. Their good generation might not entirely go lost, they beat Greencaster in round 3 (Thugalihadhen 5-fer), Mawryshire in round 4 (309 scored by everyone chipping in), and only lose in round 5. They stumble to a 5-5 record... which is enough for a top two spot and a final! That's because Mawryshire and Leeshire also land on 5-5 but with worse NRRs, and Willowbourne goes 8-2 for an obvious top spot - leaving East Surbourneshire and Greencaster as the teams supplying wins to the top half of the table, and Willowbourne in particular, going 4-6 and 3-7 respectively.

Willowbourne's losses are already half their by round 1 (losing to Leeshire) and their second loss comes to Mawryshire in round 3, so they're on a diet of Ws only from round 4 to round 10. East Surbourneshire falls by 139, Greencaster gets beaten by Shoretree's 5-fer as well as Chiplinn scoring 105 (despite Igawuthen's 126 - call her up!). They beat Leeshire by a wicket (and half the innings), West Surbourneshire by 45 as well (Buhvithen scores 192) even as Taylor takes 7 (!!!) for West Surbourneshire. Anyway, you get it. They're winning a lot in succession, but they've got one final left...

And West Surbourneshire wins it. Somehow. The 5-5 team beats Willowbourne in the one-off - that's the risk of a one-off - with Renbeck and Twaddle going back and forth - metaphorically - with scores in the 130s, but ySarthylhar gives just that bit of extra support in the Willowburnian innings, so in a high-scoring affair they're the winners.

[Liventia]

Quarter-finals

Upper bracket
Kimi-Suomi 202/7 (50 overs)
The Plough Islands 206/3 (35.5 overs)
The Plough Islands won by 7* wickets

A non-descript puppet nation 290/7 (50 overs)
Paradystopia 293/8 (48 overs)
Paradystopia won by 2* wickets

Aryavarna 281/7 (40.4 overs)
Ko-oren 279/8 (50 overs)
Aryavarna won by 3* wickets

Indusse 254/6 (50 overs)
Sylestone 285/6 (50 overs)
Sylestone won by 31 runs

Lower bracket
Milchama 245/7 (50 overs)
Liventia 249/6 (47.4 overs)
Liventia won by 4* wickets Scorinated by South Newlandia

South Newlandia 265/5 (50 overs)
Hanalia 266/8 (45.3 overs)
Hanalia won by 2* wickets

Vaishnavaria 253/6 (50 overs)
Vunymonia 255/8 (46.2 overs)
Vunymonia won by 2* wickets

Crpostran 260/7 (49.2 overs)
Serdtgyu 256/2 (50 overs)
Crpostran won by 3* wickets

SF1: The Plough Islands v Paradystopia at Folenisa Cricket Ground
SF2: Aryavarna v Sylestone at Island Cricket Arena

L13: Liventia v Ko-oren at NCE Oval
L14: Hanalia v Indusse at Lewes Park
L15: Vunymonia v Kimi-Suomi at Racecourse Ground
L16: Crpostran v A non-descript puppet nation at The Manor

[Aryavarna]

Ko-oren Batting
Batter                                            R   B  4s  6s   SR
R Twaddle         lbw b Ansari                    7  15   1       46.67
L Firembee        c Mirza b Aarav Singh          65  73   4   2   89.04
I Buhvithen       c Joshi b Basra                53  53   5   1  100
C yAraidd         c Aarav Singh b Menon          40  43   2   1   93.02
D Bercier         b Aarav Singh                   5  10           50
E Wakin           lbw b Ansari                   61  68   4   2   89.71
A Wolslager       c Joshi b Ansari               10  15   1       66.67
M Enwright        b Basra                        10   9   1      111.11
H Gledhwiladen    not out                        15  10   1   1  150
B Ahbilhohdhen    not out                         7   4       1  175
      EXTRAS      (1 lb, 5 wd)                    6
       TOTAL      for 8 wickets                 279   (50 ov; 5.58 RPO)
Did not bat:    S Hastuthen

FOW: 8-1 (R Twaddle, 4.1 overs); 129-2 (L Firembee, 23.2 overs); 139-3 (I Buhvithen, 24.3 overs); 
     146-4 (D Bercier, 27.2 overs); 198-5 (C yAraidd, 37.5 overs); 221-6 (A Wolslager, 42.6 overs); 
     251-7 (M Enwright, 46.3 overs); 271-8 (E Wakin, 49.1 overs)

Aryavarna Bowling
Bowler               Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
I Ansari             10   1  44  3    4.4  (1 wd)
K Basra              10      65  2    6.5  (3 wd)
R Menon               6      41  1   6.83  
S Sumal               4      32         8  
P Borkar             10      51       5.1  (1 wd)
Aarav Singh          10      45  2    4.5  

Aryavarna Batting   (Target: 280)
Batter                                            R   B  4s  6s   SR
H Patil           c Wolslager b Gledhwiladen     17  15   3      113.33
R Deshmukh        b Ahbilhohdhen                 32  26   5      123.08
S Mirza           b Ahbilhohdhen                 14  11   1   1  127.27
Naranjan Singh    run out (Firembee)             57  62   2       91.94
V Joshi           lbw b Enwright                 10  11   1       90.91
R Menon           c Wolslager b Ahbilhohdhen     72  68   4   2  105.88
Aarav Singh       c Buhvithen c Hasthuten        20  17   1   1  117.65
S Sumal           not out                        36  19   3   2  189.47
P Borkar          not out                        19  16   1   1  118.75
      EXTRAS      (1 lb, 2 wd, 1 nb)              4
       TOTAL      for 7 wickets                 281   (40.4 ov; 6.91 RPO)
Did not bat:    I Ansari, K Basra

FOW: 28-1 (H Patil, 3.4 overs); 46-2 (S Mirza, 6.2 overs); 76-3 (R Deshmukh, 10.1 overs); 
     91-4 (V Joshi, 13.5 overs); 197-5 (Naranjan Singh, 29.4 overs); 211-6 (R Menon, 33.2 overs); 
     241-7 (Aarav Singh, 36.5 overs)

Ko-oren Bowling
Bowler               Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
B Ahbilhohdhen        9      56  3   6.22  
H Gledhwiladen        8      67  1   8.38  (1 wd, 1 nb)
M Enwright            8      52  1    6.5  (1 wd)
E Wakin             8.4      51      5.88  
S Hastuthen           7      54  1   7.71  

Venue: National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre, Liventia
Match number: 103
Toss: Aryavarna, elected to field first
Tournament: GCF World Trophy 6
Player of the Match: Raghav Menon
Match Result: Aryavarna won by 3 wickets

Scorecard created using The Grearish Union Cricket Scorecard Maker v2.01

Sporting a semi!!! Aryavarna seize comeback victory to set up place in final four though it's not really a final four because it's double elimination but that's not alliterative so just go with it

Not for the first time in the GCF ODI Trophy, Aryavarna had cause to celebrate their lower order batting depth, as a brilliant innings from Raghav Menon and explosive cameo from Sukhveer Sumal held together a crumbling chase to overhaul Ko-oren and pitch Aryavarna into the semi-finals. Chasing 280 on a belting NCE Oval surface, they had crumpled to 91-4, but Menon, playing his first innings of real substance for the national team, propelled them toward victory with a surprisingly measured 72 off 68. Previously written off as a one-note biffer, here he justified his promotion to 6 with a calm knock, still finding room to bludgeon successive sixes after he had brought up a maiden ODI fifty. But they still needed Sumal, who thrashed 36 off 19, and Prithviraj Borkar, to finish things off after a second collapse threw the chase into doubt.

Aryavarna entered the match still not fully sure of their best XI. With Menon ruled fit, he was restored to the side, and despite an uninspiring showing against Vaishnavaria, Sumal was also retained. That meant no place for Ramesh Naokar, dropped after a solitary outing with the bat. The longish tail at least meant Harshid Patil had another bowling option, which it looked like he might need on a very fast and true pitch that reward straightforward strokeplay while offering enough carry to entice the seamers. Winning the toss, he opted to bowl, and was soon rewarded with the key wicket of Ko-oren's talisman Twaddle, but Firembee and Buhvithen then set about proving the merits of the surface with an aggressive 121-run stand for the 2nd wicket. Both found the boundary with regularity and registered twin half-centuries, but neither could go on to a big score as Aarav Singh's golden arm prised out Firembee before Buhvithen had a reckless slash, and, after the impromptu toilet break, another reckless slash, edging behind.

Ko-oren would have been eyeing 300+ at the halfway mark, but the pattern of batsmen striking the ball sweetly from ball one but failing to build continued. yAraidd launched a raid but was brilliantly caught by Aarav Singh, and Wakin was makin' bacon before falling to an Ansari in-ducker. With Kunal Basra and the two all-rounders expensive, Ansari's 3-44 was the standout bowling performance, yet again able to control at the death while being a wicket-taking threat. Aarav Singh continued his incredible tournament with an economical 2-45 through the middle overs. More frustratingly, Aryavarna missed four run-out chances, failing to hit the stumps once, and dropped two catches, plus a handful of fielding errors.

280 seemed a gettable target on such a good pitch, but Aryavarna's approach to the chase proved indelicate. Replicating the Ko-orenite hitters, the top order went hard from ball 1: a 71 run powerplay ensued, but at the cost of two wickets; Rohan Deshmukh followed in the 11th over, and when Vikram Joshi was adjudged LBW, burning Aryavarna's last review to unsuccessfully challenge the call, 280 seemed a long way from 91-4. Enter Menon, promoted ahead of Aarav. He found a partner in Naranjan Singh, who was totally out of form and unable to time the ball, but hustled hard between the wickets. Menon survived a drop when he was 13, but after that failed to give a chance as he went up through the gears and built his 50. They added 106 for the 5th wicket before Naranjan's luck ran out chancing a risky single too many, Firembee hitting direct from midwicket.

Menon wanted to finish the job, but trying to run the ball down to third man, simply guided the ball into Wolslager's gloves. Aarav bashed an exciting 20 but recklessly slogged into the deep to be caught by a tumbling Buhvithen; it was not the moment for such an innings. But there was still batting in the form of Sumal and Borkar: neither had impressed with the ball, but raced to the target in an unbeaten 40 run stand for the 8th wicket, including an astonishing slog-sweep from Sumal that carried out of the ground. Having drawn within 4 of Ko-oren's total, Borkar then slammed a six down the ground to spark joy on the Aryavarnan balcony.

[Hanalia]

The Hanalian Integrated Cricket Council
Annual Summer Series
01.2

Every summer, representative sides from Hanalia's seven povinces compete in First Class, List A and T20 cricket
The winner to be declared as THICC Primary In Exhibiting Cricketing Excellence of Annual Summer Series

---

Format
First Class - one home and one away four day match against two other provinces
12 points for a win or 4 for draw
List A - round robin home & away against the remaining four other provinces
3 points for a win and 1 for a draw
T20 - regular round robin home & away against all six other provinces
2 points for a win and 1 for a tie
The points won in each of the competitions will be complied into an overall table to declare the PIECE. A new Champion in each classification is declared when a full round robin in that format is complete. Records in the First Class and List A classifications will be carried over until a full round robin is complete i.e. through six and three series respectively. In the seventh year a jubilee edition, the HeptAnnual League Final, will be held in place of a regular Series.

---

 Series         T20   LA   FC   TOT 
 1  Kinbrevney   12   18   12    42   THICC PIECE of ASS 01.2
 2  Baltous      12   12   12    36
 3  Bentan       14    9   12    35
 4  Enther        8    9   16    33
 =  Libena       16    9    8    33
 =  Neeia         8    9   16    33
 7  Gulac        14   18    0    32

 First Class    W   D   L          List A         W   D   L          T20            W   D   L                
 Enther         1   1   0          Gulac          6   0   2          Libena         8   0   4   T20 Champion
 Neeia          1   1   0          Kinbrevney     6   0   2          Gulac          7   0   5   *
 Baltous        1   0   1          Baltous        4   0   4          Bentan         7   0   5   *
 Kinbrevney     1   0   1          Libena         3   0   5          Baltous        6   0   6   *
 Bentan         1   0   1          Enther         3   0   5          Kinbrevney     6   0   6   *
 Libena         0   2   0          Bentan         3   0   5          Neeia          4   0   8   *
 Gulac          0   0   2          Neeia          3   0   5          Enther         4   0   8   *

*Ties broken on H2H NRR
Matchday 1
Bentan 152/9 (20 overs)            Enther 168/5 (20 overs)            Gulac 109/6 (16.5 overs)
Neeia 149/7 (20 overs)             Libena 180/6 (20 overs)            Kinbrevney 106/7 (20 overs)
Matchday 2
Libena 128 (19.3 overs)            Neeia 140/7 (20 overs)             Baltous 137/6 (20 overs)
Gulac 131/6 (15.2 overs)           Enther 141/5 (19.4 overs)          Bentan 140/7 (18.2 overs)
Matchday 3
Enther 139/5 (20 overs)            Gulac 167/6 (20 overs)             Kinbrevney 140/6 (14.1 overs)
Baltous 143/7 (19.3 overs)         Neeia 133/2 (20 overs)             Libena 136/2 (20 overs)
Matchday 4
Neeia 111/7 (20 overs)             Baltous 131/4 (18 overs)           Bentan 121/7 (20 overs)
Kinbrevney 112/6 (14.5 overs)      Gulac 130 (18.1 overs)             Enther 158/7 (20 overs)
Matchday 5
Gulac 143/5 (15.2 overs)           Kinbrevney 166/5 (20 overs)        Libena 101/6 (13.3 overs)
Bentan 139/7 (20 overs)            Baltous 133/6 (20 overs)           Neeia 99/7 (20 overs)
Matchday 6
Baltous 109/9 (20 overs)           Bentan 142/6 (15.5 overs)          Enther 146/2 (20 overs)
Libena 133 (18.2 overs)            Kinbrevney 141/6 (20 overs)        Gulac 113 (16.2 overs)
Matchday 7
Kinbrevney 149/7 (20 overs)        Libena 137/5 (20 overs)            Neeia 138/3 (18.1 overs)
Enther 150/3 (20 overs)            Bentan 133/8 (20 overs)            Baltous 134/4 (20 overs)
Matchday 8
Neeia 138/4 (18 overs)             Libena 149/6 (20 overs)            Kinbrevney 137/7 (20 overs)
Bentan 135 (19.5 overs)            Enther 132/8 (20 overs)            Gulac 152/6 (20 overs)
Matchday 9
Gulac 113/3 (20 overs)             Enther 135/9 (20 overs)            Bentan 161/6 (18.4 overs)
Libena 117/7 (16 overs)            Neeia 136/4 (18.1 overs)           Baltous 158/3 (20 overs)
Matchday 10
Baltous 168/6 (20 overs)           Neeia 176/6 (20 overs)             Libena 138/6 (15.2 overs)
Enther 136/5 (20 overs)            Gulac 130/9 (20 overs)             Kinbrevney 137/5 (20 overs)
Matchday 11
Kinbrevney 174/7 (20 overs)        Gulac 149/7 (20 overs)             Enther 134/9 (20 overs)
Neeia 145/6 (20 overs)             Baltous 139/5 (20 overs)           Bentan 137/6 (17.3 overs)
Matchday 12
Bentan 154/6 (20 overs)            Baltous 96/8 (11 overs)            Neeia 144/8 (20 overs)
Gulac 141/2 (20 overs)             Kinbrevney 95/3 (20 overs)         Libena 145/8 (17 overs)
Matchday 13
Libena 110 (16.4 overs)            Kinbrevney 151/9 (17.1 overs)      Gulac 95/6 (10.4 overs)
Baltous 148/7 (20 overs)           Bentan 148/7 (20 overs)            Enther 94/4 (20 overs)
Matchday 14
Enther 145/7 (20 overs)            Bentan 177 (19.5 overs)            Baltous 154/4 (20 overs)
Kinbrevney 155/5 (20 overs)        Libena 142/2 (20 overs)            Neeia 136/7 (20 overs)
Bentan 201/8 (50 overs)
Neeia 205/9 (35.5 overs)

Libena 236 (48.2 overs)
Gulac 239/6 (42.5 overs)

Neeia 170 (47.5 overs)
Enther 163 (35.4 overs)

Enther 194/8 (50 overs)
Baltous 195/9 (41.5 overs)

Gulac 215/9 (50 overs)
Neeia 175 (46 overs)

Kinbrevney 278/8 (50 overs)
Libena 211 (36.5 overs)

Neeia 221 (49.2 overs)
Kinbrevney 251/9 (50 overs)

Baltous 142 (31.1 overs)
Gulac 144/9 (44.2 overs)

Bentan 239 (48.2 overs)
Enther 243/6 (48.2 overs)

Gulac 236/2 (50 overs)
Bentan 254/9 (50 overs)

Kinbrevney 239 (46.3 overs)
Baltous 242/9 (42.1 overs)

Baltous 216/6 (38.3 overs)
Libena 214/8 (50 overs)

Kinbrevney 262/8 (50 overs)
Enther 266/4 (41.4 overs)

Libena 227/5 (45.2 overs)
Bentan 226/9 (50 overs)

Neeia 185 (48.1 overs)
Bentan 188/6 (37.1 overs)

Gulac 259/6 (41.3 overs)
Libena 257/8 (50 overs)

Enther 259/8 (50 overs)
Neeia 255/8 (50 overs)

Baltous 210/2 (44.5 overs)
Enther 206 (48 overs)

Neeia 271/6 (50 overs)
Gulac 207/2 (50 overs)

Libena 147/4 (50 overs)
Kinbrevney 154/3 (50 overs)

Kinbrevney 186/5 (38.5 overs)
Neeia 182/8 (50 overs)

Gulac 267/5 (47 overs)
Baltous 265/6 (50 overs)

Enther 163 (49.1 overs)
Bentan 224/8 (50 overs)

Bentan 159/7 (50 overs)
Gulac 160/7 (33.1 overs)

Baltous 222/9 (50 overs)
Kinbrevney 226/5 (44.4 overs)

Libena 204/9 (36.2 overs)
Baltous 202/9 (50 overs)

Enther 165 (45.5 overs)
Kinbrevney 168/6 (36.2 overs)

Bentan 219/5 (50 overs)
Libena 265/8 (50 overs)
Match Report: Bentan in Baltous			
Bentan bat first			
Baltous 234 (48.3 overs), 141/4 (38.1 overs)			
Bentan 221 (62.0 overs), 152 (53.2 overs)			
Baltous win by 6 wickets					

Match Report: Kinbrevney in Bentan			
Kinbrevney bat first			
Bentan 154 (45.0 overs), 125/1 (55.2 overs)			
Kinbrevney 118 (45.0 overs), 160 (35.2 overs)			
Bentan win by 9 wickets			

Match Report: Libena in Enther			
Enther bat first			
Enther 429 (120.1 overs), 144/4 (36.5 overs)			
Libena 700/5d (200.5 overs), 			
Drawn			

Match Report: Enther in Gulac			
Enther bat first			
Gulac 237 (69.0 overs), 366 (66.2 overs)			
Enther 459 (143.3 overs), 145/9 (31.1 overs)			
Enther win by 1 wickets			

Match Report: Gulac in Kinbrevney			
Gulac bat first			
Kinbrevney 403/5d (132.1 overs), 			
Gulac 107 (34.5 overs), 199 (51.1 overs)			
Kinbrevney win by an innings and 97 runs	

Match Report: Neeia in Libena			
Neeia bat first			
Libena 368 (102.1 overs), 148/3 (48.1 overs)			
Neeia 436 (121.5 overs), 141 (48.0 overs)			
Drawn			

Match Report: Baltous in Neeia			
Baltous bat first			
Neeia 398 (114.5 overs), 160/2 (46.5 overs)			
Baltous 252 (53.4 overs), 305 (70.3 overs)			
Neeia win by 8 wickets

The provincial representatives convened again this year for another Summer Series of cricket. Consistency across the formats lifted Kinbrevney to the PIECE of ASS title. The northerners hosted a red ball demolition over Gulac. The visitors were all out in their first innings of less than 35 overs for a measly total of 107 runs. Kinbrevney declared at 403 and Gulac were 97 runs and an innings short after they were each dismissed again. Enther forced the follow in Gulac's other first class match but nearly came undone to a resurgent Gulac. They managed to hold on to the final wicket in condemning Gulac to two losses in the series. Quite the turnaround from last season, Gulac are middle of the pack in the continuing first class series with their two wins and losses.

Gulac had much more in the way of success when it came to the limited overs formats. Taking six wins in the one day and seven in T20. With an additional win, Libena have their heads above the rest in T20, enough to claim the crown this time out. The other T20 positions were all paired up and tied on their respective head-tohead record so the calculators came out to confirm their finishing positions. The list A records will carry forward for another year and there will be a List A Champion declared after the next ASS, a double round robin having been completed. Gulac are in prime position for that title with 11 wins however. as we've seen this year could upend their fortunes next time. Kinbrevney on ten wins and Neeia on nine, will be looking to benefit should Gulac falter.

[Kimi-Suomi]

Sometimes, ei vaan ole sinun päiväsi. This was one of those days.
You never know when things just go wrong on so many levels...but this Upper Bracket Quarter Final vs Plough Saaret was exactly that. A day of pain in Folenisa. We batted first in this one, and that ended up showcasing just how brilliant Naomi Salisbury is as a bowler. She tore us to shreds, with no one in our batting lineup getting more than 45 as we sputtered to 202/7.

The opposition chased it down in nearly 36 overs? Unsurprising, at that point.

But this is double elimination. We still have hope until we suffer another one.

Onto Vunymoninen.
NOSTA KUIN KARHUT!

---

SCHEDULE/AJOITTAA (Group 2)
MD1: vs Etelä-Guinea [Austroguinea] (UR) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 5 wicketillä (T-1st)
MD2: vs Darmen (4) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover V 82 juoksulla (T-1st)
MD3: vs Crpostran (22) - Lewes Park, Neverend V 31 juoksulla (1st)
MD4: vs Pyhä Margareta ja Aureliet [Saint Margaret and the Aurelies] (UR) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre T 12 juoksulla (1st)
MD5: vs Jack ja Ruby [Jack and Ruby] (UR) - Sawyer Memorial Ground, Bede V 8 wicketillä (1st)
MD6: vs Quebec ja Shingoryeo [Quebec and Shingoryeo] (16) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 10 juoksulla (1st)
MD7: BYE (5-1)
-----------------------------------------------
WR16: vs Milchama (8/4-4) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre V 2 juoksulla
WQF: vs Plough Saaret [The Plough Islands] (1/1-3) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa i]T 7 wicketillä)[/i]
LBR3: vs Vunymoninen [Vunymonia] (UR/4-6) - Racecourse Ground, Talbott

[Ko-oren]

Say, you're in Ko-oren in a non-winter season. Say you want to visit a cricket match, national team or one of the six main regions. This is Training Ground's guide to where you'd best be headed.

Garihnkatar is the obvious option: home to the Greencaster Oval, it hosts the most national team matches on top of five four-day matches, five one-day matches (plus final), and twelve T20s (plus playoffs). Just by sheer demand, Garihnkatar is your best bet. And it's very accessible as well: if you're already in the southwest - the place where cricket is played - just about every station will have a train that passes through the city at some point. When you're at Garihnkatar Central station, take a train to Haluhsan (a suburban station) for a short walk or take the metro directly to the Oval. It's got everything: food, drink, though the seats are not that comfy (head to Ilohbonu for that) and you won't have too much leg space. But what is a stadium really going to offer you otherwise. Depending on the time of day there'll be shade: the south stands will have some almost the entire day, the west and east stands go through periods of sun and shade, and the north stands will be sunny all day.

Ilohbonu is the other obvious option, and many will enter Ko-oren through there anyway (the international airport is there). The Royal Oval is there: it's second behind Garihnkatar in national team matches, and it's got four-days, one-days, and T20s (though only five/six guaranteed at home, instead of twelve). The Royal Oval - the name chosen purely because it 'sounds cool' and not because Ko-oren has always been a republic - offers indeed a little more luxury than its counterpart in Garihnkatar. At the same time, tickets usually run a little more expensive, but the experience is better, we think. Seats have more space (the footprint of the arena is only slightly smaller than the Greencaster Oval, and yet there's 10000 fewer seats in it), every seat is covered, the video screens are better - for what it's worth to you - and there are better food options. Transport to the stadium (from Ilohbonu Central) is included in your match ticket too: take a train to Tohrenna or Penshoh and walk, or take the metro to the stadium directly. We can recommend the walk from Penshoh more than the Tohrenna one, if you're going for that. It's slightly shorter and it offers better views. The main downside is that the boundary is further away, so there's fewer fours and sixes. Or maybe that's a good thing, depending on what you value in your cricket.

Of course, the main home grounds of the other four regions are nice as well. That's the Leewardia Oval in Monrama and the Southbight Ground in Azahndhil no more than an hour and a half away from Ilohbonu and Garihnkatar (the Leewardia has a bonkers layout, the eastern boundary allowing for slightly easier runs for batsmen with good (straight) drives).

Monrama has its Leewardia Oval near the central station, with one huge western stand (the one with the longer boundary), but on the eastern side the ground is hemmed in by pre-existing buildings, so there are some strange straight lines where the outfield should be. That doesn't mean it's a small ground: the distance from wicket to the far eastern side is longer than the Greencaster Oval's, but if you go diagonally northeast or southeast from the wicket you're running into the rope much quicker.

Azahndhil has its Southbight Ground around Bohkin station (one stop before Central if you're coming from Garihnkatar), and while the ground is nothing special, it's located on top of the national cricket hall of fame. So it's easily worth a stop if you're passing through regardless: it's got an entire museum and the hall of fame (and a few games to test your skills).

But for unique experiences, you can go to...

Marapsathi is a little further away to the west, but its Mawrystwyth Mustangs sell out the place on T20 nights. It's right on the coast with one major southern stand, so there's a magnificent view of the sunset over the Salamantic. That's a bonus on top of Mawryshire being pretty good right now, and its weather being unique as well: it's easily the coldest of the six regions with some nasty weather changes due to the Salamantic. Wind blows right in over the tiny north stand and rain can start on a moment's notice. But at least it's still a stadium. Be warned though: it's a good 2-3 hours west from Garihnkatar. People will lob Lodahn and Marapsathi together as 'far west' but they're certainly a good hour away from one another. The stadium is called Bwdellafon Parc, by the way.

Edihlbahl is the capital of 'individual sports', meaning there are a lot of disc golf, orienteering, canoeing/kayaking (from our Olympics fame), chess pros from there. But there are team sports! They have a T20 team (5-6 home games a year), the Idyllwild Antlers, operating from the Dawsend Oval, a quaint 'little' stadium (seating 14000 still) with a splendid view of the mountains in the west. It's a similar setup to Marapsathi, just with the gap in the western stands to grant a view of the Wuritharanau. Weather is a bit better. You might see some ominous clouds but they're usually confined to the mountains.

Berelnohn is where the Burnet Rubies (T20) play, it's the backup ground for West Surbourneshire (behind Azahndhil), but it's different in that it's on an island. It's that large island off the south-southwest: where 'West Surbourneshire' already has a lot of towns and cities, it's got this entire island to work with as well. It's the holiday island, and the cricket plays into that: it's a bit more family oriented but there's events and activities all day in town leading up to the match.

[Liventia]

Losers' round 3

Liventia 262/9 (50 overs)
Ko-oren 264/7 (49.5 overs)
Ko-oren won by 3* wickets Scorinated by South Newlandia

Hanalia 240/8 (50 overs)
Indusse 244/6 (40.2 overs)
Indusse won by 4* wickets

Vunymonia 282/9 (50 overs)
Kimi-Suomi 352/6 (50 overs)
Kimi-Suomi won by 70 runs

Crpostran 245/6 (50 overs)
A non-descript puppet nation 248/7 (43.5 overs)
A non-descript puppet nation won by 3* wickets

L17: Ko-oren v Indusse at Park Central Oval
L18: Kimi-Suomi v A non-descript puppet nation at The Bastion Dover Cricket Arena

[Paradystopia]

---

"What absolute moron fields robots in a cricket match?"

Preparing to open the quarter-final match-up against the non-descript collective of mechanoids, Spencer realised he had never bowled to a robot before. He felt the principle was probably the same, but also infinitely more difficult to get a read on the batter and thus glean any relevant information on any weaknesses. It was also quite disconcerting to have yourself fixed in the unblinking icy glare of a small red laser sight as you tried to mentally choose your delivery. Attempting to instead turn his focus towards the head of the blank mannequin cable-tied atop the menacing robotic arm only made the whole scenario more disquieting as someone had 'thoughtfully' drawn a face on there. It was the sort of face reserved for the most depraved sort of clown-based horror films with it's melange of crudely applied, and over-the-top make-up. Were it not for the fact that the opposition featured a single human player, Spencer would've questioned whether the robots had ever seen an actual human.

Another issue that troubled the Paradystopi fast bowler was that, to the best of his knowledge, these robots wouldn't feel pain. Spencer wasn't exactly a 'dirty' bowler, but the fact is that no-one wants to receive a lump of hard-pressed cork wrapped in leather to the crotch in the high ninety miles per hour, and human batters naturally react accordingly. They move out of the way, or play defensively to block it. A metal entity could shrug off such an impact with little to no ill effect; it was a weapon robbed from Spencer's arsenal. He decided he simply had to put a fast one in the corridor and then adapt or adjust accordingly. As ready as he could make himself, he begun his charge to open the game. Gathering a generous amount of speed with the run-up, he channelled as much venom as he could muster into the bowl whilst keeping the seam pointing towards the apogee of the off-stump.

On any other day, this would've been a majestic opening delivery; a statement of intent from a team that as far as the Raindancers were concerned, had already exceeded expectation here in Liventia. It thudded resoundingly off the wicket. A modicum short of Spencer's aim, but still right on the money. As the ball connected with the turf, ABFTA-V1 rapidly repositioned. Calculating the trajectory in fractions of a second and choosing with faultless logic where best to intercept. The arm whirred round in a single speedy arc, made a glorious sound at it connected with the ball, and battered it high back towards the City End where it flew effortlessly into the second tier at the Island Arena.

"Well ... fuck ..."

---

"You're friggin' mad to play spinners 'ere, Ogg. Smooth as a babby's backside, this wicket. Dunno why you didn't keep Chips in the squad personally."

Ogden knew he'd taken a risky gamble. Now, as the non-descript team were quickly amassing runs, it was time to put his money where his mouth was. In the paltry bit of prep he had done to at least hit the bare minimum of captaincy duties, he had noticed that the robots seemed to have better accuracy against the seamers. It was now time to 'style out' the fact that in opting for Skwee Darter over Harvey Oddfish, he had neglected to take into consideration the particular quirks of the ground in Schimpol, and had to act as though this hadn't been an oversight. Thankfully, given that Spencer was being pummelled into oblivion by the two ABFTA units made this choice considerably more palatable.

"Yeah, yeah, so what? Preens can get spin off an ice ball on a waxed floor. Spence, Darsh, and Gen ain't doing owt so yeah, let's try a bit o' spin. Also, you see, if these cyborg twats 'ave done their 'omework, maybe they'll be expectin' more spin that there'll actually be. Eh?"

"So, give 'em some slow balls to smash about the shop? We're gonna get buggered 'ere, Ogg."

"'Ey! Trust the process, right?"

Tarquin didn't seem enthused by his captain's words as he repositioned himself closer to the stumps ahead of Preener Crackanurchin's opening over but knew better than to argue with Oggy.

When the Pteron's second delivery was clipped to long on into the grateful hands of Percival Fitzbarrington, Tarquin started to wonder whether Ogden Locke was just lucky, or somehow possessed some innate cricketing wisdom deftly disguised beneath the exterior of a bibulous fool.

---

Spencer contemplated briefly upon the notion of karma.

There were just over nine overs remaining with Paradystopia requiring another 40 runs with their three remaining wickets. Burton-Hawley had fallen foul of a ridiculous delivery from the Centrifuge-Cannontron, and now it was his turn to try an achieve something with the bat that would take Paradystopia into the semi-finals. Opposite him was the ugly bit of machinery that had just demolished Genevieve's leg stump by threading the needle between her bat and pad. This device could fling the ball around 100 mph regularly, and quite accurately given the speed.

Spencer felt he didn't much care for being on the receiving end of such things as much as he enjoyed being on the giving side.

He did however, want some retribution for his opening delivery. Come what may, he wanted a boundary from his first ball. He knew if didn't have the technique of Bobby, or Darshan, and neither the raw power of Oggy, or Bazza. Being a fellow speedster though, he had an idea how to capitalise.

The robot began violently whirring as it charged it's delivery, rocking gently as it trundled towards the popping crease. With a 'Pftchu!' the ball was ejected dangerously towards Spencer. Composing the best short prayer an atheist could manage, he stuck his bat out with the intention of flicking the ball over his head. Use this bot's speed against it. The ball was clipped just beyond the impeccable Robograsp's range and travelled fast and low towards the boundary. The non-descript wicket-keeper burst into action, speeding backwards on it's little wheels to intercept the ball in flight. As it rapidly approached the boundary rope, it plucked the ball from the air.

This would've been a brilliant catch if it hadn't been for physics interestingly on the side of Spencer. In the machine's sprint to make a catch, it had accrued a fair bit of momentum.
In reaching in the direction of this momentum to catch the ball, there had been a sizable change in the robot's centre of gravity.
This altering of the robot's centre of gravity resulted in Robograsp toppling over before it could find the friction in it's wheel to reverse efficiently, or before it could effectively adjust itself to remain upright.

Robograsp then effectively 'face-planted' across the boundary rope gifting Spencer a six of his very own much to the chagrin of Guy Tech who was more and more watching his team's sizable lead slowly evaporate.

---

"Did you see that?! The robot fell over the boundary! Six more to the Paradystopi run chase. Do you know what this means though? You know what that was? You know what caused that?"

"Erm ... basic dynamics in action?"

"ALIENS!"

"For fuck's sake, Klaus ..."

[A non-descript puppet nation]

"What absolute moron fields otters, or 'Pterons' I guess I should say, in a cricket match?"

With the eventual dismissal of ABFTA-V1, Guy Tech marched out to join Automanipulatrix at the crease. Skwee Darter was preparing to start her fifth over, and having already claimed Pneumatic-Hammertron in her third, she was looking to add to her stats against the podgy, non-descript token human. In spite of the robots being kept somewhat in check by the Paradystopi spinners, Guy, as a spinner himself, felt this was his moment to shine. It was an otter bowling. How hard could it be?

Guy deliberately drew out proceedings by checking his footing slowly, making sure his mark was dead-centre. In short, trying his damnedest to appear to be a well-versed and intimidating prospect at bat. Once he'd deemed himself to have killed enough time and umpire's patience to have disrupted the bowler's rhythm, he gave an arrogant nod to signify readiness. Skwee tutted to herself and started her gentle run-up, looking to test the waters against the new batter with a standard leg break.

With what was probably meant to be basic cover drive, Guy completely avoided the ball which softly connected with the middle stump and almost apologetically dislodged the bails.

"Well ... fuck ..."

---

"query: This is activity=cricket between nation=a non-descript puppet nation + nation=Paradystopia?"

"statement=TRUE"

"query: Which of {nation(s)} is state=winning?"

"nation=Paradystopia have a .89.74872247567%. probability of success in activity=cricket."

"query: This is bad?"

"ERROR. reason={emotional response=FILE NOT FOUND}"

"query: What has action=occur in activity=cricket; time=recently?"

"unit="Robograsp" has action=fall; result={action=drop; object=cricket ball; result=110 runs to nation=Paradystopia}

"query: unit="Robograsp" has object=gyroscope; status=defective?"

"response not found. reason=insufficient data"

"query: reason=entities unknown; source=extra-terrestrial?"

"..."

"..."

"conversation=terminated"

[Kimi-Suomi]

Down but not out. Alas, mutta ei ulos. That's all the Karhut could focus on after their disaster of a match that knocked them out of the Upper Bracket. Sure, they lost convincingly, but this was kaksinkertainen eliminointi - and they still had one life left. They would have to win out from here, but they were still kicking...albeit with a huge scar. Lorcán Ua Tuathail knew that from now out, only the best could survive the madness that was to come...but this team, until last time out, were looking pretty good. They didn't earn the group win by way of luck. Now, they just had to show the world why once again.

Vunymoninen would meet us in the Lower Bracket at the Racecourse Ground, and in an effort to show no mercy and get back on track, we opted to bat first. We wanted to show everyone that what happened vs Plough Saaret was just what happens when the YPK #1 cooks you into oblivion...and we showed our worth here. Mariela Idivuoma managed 104, Hector Smälts got 91, and Lasse Pöysti got 69 in what was our best opening spell of the entire tournament so far. 352/6 would be difficult for any team to chase down, though you have to admit that the chasing 282/9 was as admirable as you can get. Kurbanay Sheremet really tried to push their team towards what was an impossible chase, and for that, they earned our respect...but this was our win. Top 8 is now in the bag, albeit with no room for error.

Persoonaton nukkevaltio, a team of robots who beat JYK-inen in their campaign of surprises, will be our next foe. They may be UR, but underestimating these robotit would lead to our subjugation.

Robotit ovat uhka. Etene varovasti.
NOSTA KUIN KARHUT!

---

SCHEDULE/AJOITTAA (Group 2)
MD1: vs Etelä-Guinea [Austroguinea] (UR) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 5 wicketillä (T-1st)
MD2: vs Darmen (4) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover V 82 juoksulla (T-1st)
MD3: vs Crpostran (22) - Lewes Park, Neverend V 31 juoksulla (1st)
MD4: vs Pyhä Margareta ja Aureliet [Saint Margaret and the Aurelies] (UR) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre T 12 juoksulla (1st)
MD5: vs Jack ja Ruby [Jack and Ruby] (UR) - Sawyer Memorial Ground, Bede V 8 wicketillä (1st)
MD6: vs Quebec ja Shingoryeo [Quebec and Shingoryeo] (16) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 10 juoksulla (1st)
MD7: BYE (5-1)
-----------------------------------------------
WR16: vs Milchama (8/4-4) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre V 2 juoksulla
WQF: vs Plough Saaret [The Plough Islands] (1/1-3) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa T 7 wicketillä)
LBR3: vs Vunymoninen [Vunymonia] (UR/4-6) - Racecourse Ground, Talbott V 70 juoksulla
LBR4: vs Persoonaton nukkevaltio [A non-descript puppet nation] (UR/)

[Sylestone]

Sylestone Batting
Batter                                                    R   B  4s  6s   SR
L Tiati (c) (+)       c Patidar (+) b Harshwardhan       12  27   1   0   44.44
B Golman              st Patidar (+) b Behrouz           57  74   7   0   77.03
S Cross               c Pyarilal b Tyler                 89 100   5   3   89
B Eastwood            lbw b Harshwardhan                  0   5   0   0    
L Cocrine             b Chand                            27  34   1   1   79.41
S Asaskia             not out                            70  46   8   3  152.17
T Gallagher           run out (Sisodia, Patidar (+))     21  14   1   2  150
J McMillan            not out                             0   0   0   0        
        EXTRAS        (3 b, 4 lb, 2 wd)                   9
         TOTAL        for 6 wickets                     285   (50 ov; 5.7 RPO)
Did not bat:        B Hall, S Scron, K Sonnel

FOW: 1-43 (L Tiati (c) (+), 9.5 overs); 2-91 (B Golman, 22.3 overs); 3-98 (B Eastwood, 23.6 overs); 
     4-158 (L Cocrine, 35.6 overs); 5-228 (S Cross, 44.2 overs); 6-285 (T Gallagher, 49.6 overs)

Indusse Bowling
Bowler                   Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
K Chand                  10   0  63  1    6.3  (1 wd)
R Harshwardhan           10   1  41  2    4.1  
M Bakhtayar               8   1  47  0   5.88  (1 wd)
N Tyler                   8   0  54  1   6.75  
A Behrouz                10   0  46  1    4.6  
P Sisodia                 4   0  27  0   6.75  

Indusse Batting   (Target: 286)
Batter                                                    R   B  4s  6s   SR
P Sisodia             c Golman b Asaskia                 28  31   5   0   90.32
H Bauman              c Tiati (+) b Asaskia              17  25   2   0   68
SS Patidar (c) (+)    lbw b Asaskia                      49  71   3   0   69.01
M Farzhjan            c&b Hall                            9  25   0   0   36
A Pyarilal            c Tiati (+) b Cross                68  65   6   2  104.62
S Maxmuller           c Cocrine b Cross                  45  49   4   1   91.84
N Tyler               not out                            29  25   2   1  116
A Behrouz             not out                             4   9   0   0   44.44
        EXTRAS        (2 lb, 3 wd)                        5
         TOTAL        for 6 wickets                     254   (50 ov; 5.08 RPO)
Did not bat:        M Bakhtayar, K Chand, R Harshwardhan

FOW: 1-46 (P Sisodia, 9.2 overs); 2-47 (H Bauman, 9.5 overs); 3-62 (M Farzhjan, 16.6 overs); 
     4-145 (SS Patidar (c) (+), 32.1 overs); 5-213 (A Pyarilal, 41.2 overs); 6-247 (S Maxmuller, 47.3 overs)

Sylestone Bowling
Bowler                   Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
S Scron                   9   1  51  0   5.67  (1 wd)
J McMillan                7   0  40  0   5.71  (1 wd)
S Asaskia                10   1  39  3    3.9  
B Hall                   10   0  49  1    4.9  
K Sonnel                  6   0  39  0    6.5  (1 wd)
S Cross                   7   1  31  2   4.43  
B Golman                  1   0   3  0      3  

Venue: Park Central Oval, Orean, Liventia
Match number: Match 104
Toss: Sylestone won the toss and elected to bat
Season: GCF ODI World Trophy VI
Matchdays: Quarter Final
Player of the Match: Samuel Asaskia (SYL)
Umpires: Unknown
TV Umpire: Unknown
Reserve Umpire: Unknown
Match Referee: Unknown
Match Result: Sylestone win by 31 runs

---

Semifinal XI vs Aryavarna @ Island Cricket Arena, Schimpol, Liventia

1. Luke Tiati (c) (+)
2. Brian Golman
3. Samuel Cross
4. Brianna Eastwood
5. Lachlan Cocrine
6. Samuel Asaskia
7. Tristan Gallagher
8. Broughton Hall
9. Angus Hackett
10. Samuel Scron
11. Kate Sonnel

[The Plough Islands]

Had a bit of a struggle for ideas for this roleplay - despite the very able guidance of Kimi-Suomi, to whom I apologise for the nature of our victory being not very NOSTA KUIN HUUHKAJAT of us :( - so this has all been a little bit freeform; however, part of it is BASED ON A TRUE STORY! (of a time when I slept on a very thin mattress and it made my shoulder hurt all day. Admittedly, I imagine Naomi Salisbury is built a little bit leaner than I am, although the Plough Islands Cricket Association probably books similar kinds of hotels...)

Good luck, genuinely, to Paradystopia; reading through your previous roleplays gave me quite a lot to laugh about in what has not always been the easiest week to do that, and hopefully I have not done you too dirty in the writeup below. Everyone who is still in the competition at this stage has done well, but to do so with both a main and a puppet nation while unranked is brilliant, and the sort of thing we need more of in NSS cricket. May the best team of humans, or foxes, or pterons, or anything else in the multiverse, win!

---

WORLD TROPHY: AGONY AND ECSTASY AS SALISBURY AND WEAVER ROUT BEARS
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Folenisa

The Plough Islands, for the fifth time in six tournaments, have reached the Global Cricket Federation World Trophy semi finals - or, at least, a round that can be described as the semi finals - after what started as a genuine test of the Foxes and their resilience under pressure turned, thanks largely to captain Shauna Weaver and left arm spinner Naomi Salisbury, into something of a triumph for the three time champions at the Folenisa Cricket Ground this afternoon.
When asked by the Anglophone media to summarise what had happened to his team, Kimi-Suomi captain Mika Linnankoski said simply that "we got Salisburied". This was not a wholly accurate description of what happened at the Folenisa Cricket Ground last night, but looking at the scorecard alone, it was hard not to agree with Linnankoski; Salisbury's match figures of 5 for 33 from ten overs were her best in One Day Internationals since taking 6-58 against Uppen Nasa in the ill fated second Anaian One Day Cricket Competition in 2022, and she took five of the seven Bears wickets to set up what was a relatively simple chase for the Foxes as they reached 203 with fourteen overs remaining. However, the story of the game was a little deeper than the numbers alone would suggest, and focus on Salisbury at the expense of her captain and comrades would be doing the Plough Islands a cruel disservice.
Linnankoski had, if anything, started the day as the happier captain; having called correctly at the toss, his decision to bat first on a green Folenisa pitch appeared to be vindicated when Alina Järnefelt and Mariela Idivuoma weathered the initial barrage from Andrew Baxter and took their chances well, the partnership putting on a quick fifty-two in the eleven overs before Salisbury's introduction. Weaver had chosen, unusually, to open the bowling with Baxter and Sarah Ashe, holding Salisbury back for after the fielding restrictions were eased, and when brought into the attack the Bradford left-armer took a few more balls than usual to find the line and drift she was looking for, with some of her deliveries verging on the wild. However, her bowling did not need to be technically correct to be effective; her first wicket came when Järnefelt misjudged a ball that had been tossed up far too high, and was hit on the lower thigh when trying to get back in her crease, with Zelzokosu Naunbalerinden taking an age before lifting her finger, and the umpire's initial judgment proving decisive after several minutes of replays.
Her second came soon after, with Hector Smälts nicking an arm ball straight through to the gloves of Ilya Lebed, but then she was gone, after just three overs, in a departure from Weaver's regular tactics. The decision to bring on Lauren Geddes from the Desert End instead did pay off with the wicket of Idivuoma, bowled around her legs, but it was not until Salisbury returned ten overs later that Kimi-Suomi looked in genuine trouble, as a textbook left-arm delivery was clipped straight to Andrew Weaver by Linnankoski, before Lasse Pöysti fell to a near carbon copy of the ball that trapped Järnefelt earlier in the Bears' innings. Having struck twice more, though, Salisbury was again withdrawn from the attack, leaving the two new batters in blue to contend with Ashe and Geddes as they appeared just as baffled at Weaver's tactical decisions as some of the spectators in green and amber.
Adding to the mystique, perhaps, was that Salisbury did not look at all comfortable during her later spells; she spent large periods between overs off the field completely, with Peter Hodgeson acting as twelfth man and Terry Gibbs at one point seen to be massaging her shoulder as she lay prone on the visitors' changing room balcony, and when she returned for her final over it was in a numberless and outsized shirt with the outline of some heavy duty strapping visible beneath. Whatever may have been happening beneath the purple, it did not prevent her from reflexively diving for a weakly attempted drive from Anna-Leena Härkönen, clinging on to the shot from the left hander and certainly not seeming too badly affected by the celebrations and embraces that followed.
However it came about, some combination of adrenaline and an unfamiliar pattern of attack certainly seemed to be the right tactic for the situation, and Kimi-Suomi were simply unable to get going for any length of time; Idivuoma and Lina Lehtovaara held out the longest, and despite losing partner Finn Olthuis to Baxter in the last over, the latter managed to stay hanging on at the crease to the bitter end, with a hook shot squirming through Ashe's fingers and trickling down to the rope to take the Bears past 200. It was a great, brave, and honourable performance from the 33 year old, but Salisbury had never allowed them to build any momentum, and with Weaver's Foxes requiring just slightly more than 4 runs per over, it was always likely to be a futile one.
Kimi-Suomi would need to take wickets almost from before the start of the chase for there to be hope, and they very nearly had the perfect start. There had been some speculation in Plough Islander cricketing circles that Matthew Davy might have been replaced at the top of the order ahead of the semi finals, but it was instead Andrew Weaver who fell early, lunging down the wicket at Finn Olthuis one over in and leaving Lindman enough time to steady himself before taking out the bails. Davy, instead, stood firm at the crease and sensibly left anything that the Kimi-Suomi bowlers sent down outside the line of off stump, and had dodged, drilled, and ducked his way to a confidence building 55 from 89 deliveries before his luck finally ran out.
Thanks largely to what Shauna Weaver was doing at the other end, though, Linnankoski was reduced to bowling himself, and his part time trundlers, and managed to draw an inside edge from Davy that the Suttoner scraped back into his middle stump, but the celebrations were muted from those in blue and there was even an element of triumph in Davy's return to the pavilion, bat held aloft in the late afternoon sun; hopefully, the actions of someone who has kept his place in the side. The Bears' spirits appeared raised a little more genuinely by the next wicket; Arnold Tyrie left his final shot selection against Saima Eskola far too late, and ended up playing neither a drive nor a scoop, but an uncertain probe that missed entirely where the ball had been as he was clean bowled, and while the outlook was still bleak for the Bears, there was perhaps some kindling that could fuel the flame of hope.
Tyrie, though, would be the last wicket of the match. Simon Chambers skipped out with what by now is a familiar, and healthy, irreverence for the occasion, swatting Eskola over cow corner for four and settling into a reasonably safe supporting role at one end of the Folenisa Cricket Ground. The innings, though, belonged to Shauna Weaver, as would the match itself were it not for Salisbury's five for; the Plough Islander captain had come out after her younger brother's wicket and scored seemingly at will from the get go, seeing the ball well and meeting it with the middle of the bat time and again as she remained one or two moves ahead of Linnankoski's field placings. Batting calmly, and freed from the constraints of scoreboard pressure for probably the first time in this World Trophy, Weaver was playing some genuinely brilliant cricket, and after a toe poke down to midwicket brought her half century up, she got down on her left knee and swept Olthuis up and over the level of the pavilion roof, the ball seeming to disappear into the late afternoon sun, in a shot that will likely become immortal in etchings and painted ceramics for decades to come.
With the chase no longer in doubt, the game turned into a duel between Weaver and the scoreboard, as the Foxes captain tried to rack up her first century of the tournament before the target could be reached, and it was a race she nearly ran herself out of at the very end; with the score at 198, Weaver on 96, and Chambers on strike, she instinctively set off for a single to take strike for the last ball of the over, but the teenage batter stayed firmly back in his crease, resulting in a desperate scramble to get back to safety. Smälts wasted the last real tension in the game, though, with a botched throw that bounced harmlessly over and behind the wicket, and five balls later Weaver had her milestone, stroking Hyppia through the covers to bring the scores level and prompting even the Bears to briefly join in the ovation for one of Plough Islander cricket's most dominant performances with bat in hand. There was to be only one more delivery, Hyppia keeping the ball low, and Weaver whipped it westward into the leg side to make certain the inevitable result.
Speaking with this author afterwards, Weaver was reluctant to give herself too much credit, but admitted that the game had not progressed how she had expected. "If I am honest with myself, I thought I was batting alright on a fast pitch, just making a lot of luck out of it - everything that could have been difficult, came in more or less at the right height to middle it with the bat, and I was picking the ball well enough so there were a lot of opportunities. But I had been preparing myself for a bigger chase, I will admit, we knew they [Kimi-Suomi] were a solid team and were surprised they struggled so much against Naomi." And the Foxes captain was able to shed some light on the happenings of the first innings. "The reason Naomi looked like she was strapped up and uncomfortable was simple...well, she was!"
"I was bowling with my entire left shoulder numb!", a relieved but exasperated Salisbury told this author. "I think that I must have fallen asleep, or shifted at some point during the night, and when I woke up the bed had swallowed me up and trapped a nerve, and I was in a lot of pain..." Weaver admitted that she had tried to persuade her bowler to sit the game out; "I was a little bit concerned, to say the least, but she was adamant that she was going to play, and she bowled at Andrew in a couple of nets and seemed like she was on form. By which I will admit, Andrew could not get his bat on anything! But she seemed to be finding her rhythm so we took a little bit of a chance, and it worked out!".
Salisbury was cagey about the test, saying only that she had convinced herself she should play, but said she was very glad to have been a part of the match. "I was still in agony after the first or second over, it was the sort of nerve pain that does not go away unless you fully relax it. Fortunately there has been a hot bath and a proper massage and that has helped a lot, but it still aches a little if I do this. I know that sometimes, playing for your country and your cause can inspire you to greater things, and today my priorities were skewed a little, but sitting here now I can say that it was worth it to advance the cause of the Plough Islands.".
The cause advances on, but, for once, the effect does not; the Foxes now stay at the Folenisa Cricket Ground for their semi final match on Saturday, where Weaver's team await Paradystopia and all the colours - predominant among them being unlaundered grey, shocking pink, and translucent yellow - that the Esportivan side bring to touring multiversal cricket. They will be met with, if not quite a sea, certainly a ribbon of green and amber, a crepuscular ray through the Liventian sky with the hopes of a hundred and fifty thousand far away souls behind it, coming down to illuminate the team with lightning on their chests.
With such players as Salisbury and Weaver among them, the golden age of Plough Islander cricket surely cannot have passed yet.

WORLD TROPHY PREVIEW: NOT MUCH LOVE TO GO AROUND IN THE PARADYSTOPI LAND OF CONFUSION
by Andrew Kulayev, Cricket Correspondent for Plough Radio, in Folenisa

The knockout, in spirit if not in name, stages of the World Trophy in Liventia have had the air to them of a package holiday for the Plough Islands, a whirlwind tour that brings back old friends and foes of the Foxes to reminisce and observe how much they have grown since we last met. South Newlandia had effectively a wholly new team and approach from our last encounter, while Kimi-Suomi retained more of the old guard but were refreshed instead in confidence and in spirit. Paradystopia, meanwhile, no longer have a penguin explicitly listed as part of their published squad to face Shauna Weaver's team at Folenisa.
Mention the name, or show the engrailed coat of arms with its colours that defy heraldic blazoning, and most islanders will probably have all too vivid memories of our opponents tomorrow, scented with lager and clouded by the uncomfortable sensation of not knowing whether what you were watching or listening to was real or not. Paradystopia came to our distant shores last autumn for a four-Test series that has lived long in the memory for reasons, one suspects, that were ancillary at best to the cricket. They began with inflatable animals and rain dances, and took a turn from comedy to tragedy in captain Ogden Locke and half his team departing in the middle of the night after the series had been lost, concluding with an XI at December Park that featured nine players and - yes - Dimitry Andreyev twice clean bowling a flightless aquatic bird.
While that three-Test series last autumn was an excellent introduction to the wonderful and frightening world of Paradystopi cricket, a place where anything can happen and not infrequently does, what has been happening of late is something even more concerning for stereoypists across the multiverse; winning. There had been hints of this during the Test series - Paradystopia, of course, won the second Test at Southport, and scored 401 in the first innings at Redcliff before Alec Fedorov and his Marillier shot rescued the game for the Foxes. But Locke and his team, who arrived in Liventia having never played an official One Day International, have shown that there is steel beneath the squeaky polythene by recovering from an opening day loss to the Kytler Peninsulae to beat our old friends from Ko-oren to top Group 3.
Thus far in the double elimination stage, Paradystopia have had mixed fortunes - an extremely convincing win over our fellow Anaians from Hanalia was followed by a game against a nondescript puppet nation whose deployment of actual cricketing machines made otters and penguins appear quite sane, and which descended into farce rather quickly as the robots proved rather more adept at batting and bowling than they were at fielding. But despite always seeming to be somewhere to the left of a shambles, the main achievement of Locke in the World Trophy, for all the reckless pretensions and sartorial missteps of the Paradystopi captain, has been to marshal his side so effectively in response to pressure that the cricketing world has little choice but to take them seriously.
In all sincerity, they will be a difficult opponent indeed for the Plough Islands. The Paradystopi batting is something of a known quantity through our acquaintance with Percival Fitzbarrington and Robert Jangletrousers from the Test series, as are the pteron bowlers Skwee Darter and Preener Crackanurchin, but on the flatter and quicker pitches of Rushmore they may be a more difficult prospect than on a misty November evening at Highrock. Weaver and her team will do well, however, to not be deceived by past appearances, as their opponents have shed some of the parts of themselves that held them back. The introduction of players from the associated state of Erroropolis to the Paradystopi Organisation of National Cricketing Excellence's playing pool has undoubtedly helped, tempering some of the more anti-competitive instincts of the team and making available some players, such as left arm wrist spinner Varsha Chalakibharyu, of conventional, and genuine, talent.
The Foxes will, though, retain some home advantage - Paradystopia are yet to play at the Folenisa Cricket Ground this autumn - and with the possible exception of Naomi Salisbury, who played much of the match against Kimi-Suomi strapped up, have the benefit still of a full squad from which to select. Weaver has rarely looked in better form since before she assumed the captaincy, and the Plough Islander bowling attack is strong enough to ensure that a chasing side - the Foxes have won five of of their six games at Folenisa while batting second, while losing one of the two matches where Weaver opted to bat first - will hopefully only need one or two partnerships to stay out at their creases to reach the target. However, this is all dependent on the team coming together and performing on the day; nothing is certain in cricket, even less so in tournament cricket, and come tomorrow the fingernails of Plough Islanders within and beyond the Celestial Ocean will doubtless be worn right down to the quick.
And, at the very least, Locke and his team can be relied upon leave nothing out in the middle - not even a poorly spelled note on top of a hotel pillowcase.

---

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR WORLD TROPHY VS. P'DYSTOPIA

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#15 ANL Weaver           RHB      
#7  MG  Davy             RHB   RLB
#1  SLC Weaver (c)       RHB   RLB
#14 ADM Tyrie            RHB   RLB
#6  SNL Chambers         LHB      
#12 CAV McCulloch        RHB      
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#2  DV  Andreyev         RHB   RFM
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#8  LNC Geddes           RHB   ROB
#5  A   Baxter           RHB   RFS

[Ko-oren]

##################
From the office of the Minister of Census, Data, and Statistics under the office of the Minister of Domestic Affairs

Lines are 100 000 people apart.

Ko-oren's officially compiled population pyramid shows a stationary stage 3 society: the Ko-orenite population is sustained, in that the new generation is roughly the same size as the previous one, meaning that no sharp population decline or increase is happening (or expected). That said, the new generation is a little smaller, implying that Ko-oren will reach a maximum population within decades and after that, assuming our demographic transition takes place as in every other nation, the population will start declining after that.

Death rates are low, birth rates diminish, all happening roughly as expected with rising wages, improving standards of living and luxury, in the last two decades. Some would expect a stronger reaction to the nation reaching 'stage 3' but the status of women and the accessibility of contraceptives, as well as literacy and employment, have been strong for nearly a century. Those effects are no longer visible on the pyramid.

Improved healthcare has meant a steady increase of people over 80, 90, and 100. We have even nearly reached 10000 supercentenarians (110+). Nearly four hundred thousand are over 90, on a population of slightly over 30 million. 3.1 million people are in pension age (70+), and 8.3 million are under 20. That leaves 18.5 million people of working age (20-70). The most populous decade is that of people in their 20s: there are 4.6 million between the ages of 20-29 (slightly more than 30-39: 4.3 million; and 10-19: 4.3 million).

Ko-oren's demographic future will see more elderly and more supercentenarians, but the dependency ratio (the ratio between workers and non-workers) will steadily improve as well. This means that there will be enough funds (through tax income) to fund the welfare state, healthcare, education, and so on. Decision makers will have to look for the phase after that, where the generation of 20-35 year olds will start nearing their pensions in 35-40 years, as they will be the largest demographic at that point, and the dependency ratio will tilt the other way, where there might be too few people working to support welfare, as we are seeing in countries who have already reached that point. For now, education and employment should be the government's largest focus: a large group of people is hitting the labour market. Economic downturn and subsequent loss of jobs will mean that the largest generation in their most productive years will not be able to work, so the Ministry of Labour should work with the Ministry of Finance to make sure any economic downturn, fueled by international factors and international financial markets, has as small an impact as possible. At the same time, making sure tertiary education is working at its hardest is important as well, though its importance will recede slightly in coming years.

Further political consideration must be given to the smaller growth at the bottom of the pyramid: it is normal and natural that there is a slight dip, but if birth rates decline more quickly, this has large consequences for future financial planning, the state of elementary schooling, etcetera.

[Liventia]

Semi-finals

Upper bracket
The Plough Islands 248/7 (50 overs)
Paradystopia 286/4 (50 overs)
Paradystopia won by 38 runs

Aryavarna 330/7 (50 overs)
Sylestone 272/9 (50 overs)
Aryavarna won by 58 runs

Lower bracket
Ko-oren 332/9 (46.4 overs)
Indusse 331/6 (50 overs)
Ko-oren won by 1* wicket

Kimi-Suomi 241/8 (49.5 overs)
A non-descript puppet nation 239 (45.2 overs)
Kimi-Suomi won by 2* wickets

Preliminary final:
Paradystopia v Aryavarna at Park Central Oval (both teams guaranteed at least third place)

Lower bracket round 5 (winning teams guaranteed at least fourth place):
The Plough Islands v Ko-oren at NCE Oval
Sylestone v Kimi-Suomi at Lewes Park

Lower bracket round 6 will take place at the Folenisa Cricket Ground
Elimination final (lower bracket round 7) will take place at Park Central Oval
Grand final and reset final (if needed) will take place at NCE Oval

[Aryavarna]

Aryavarna Batting
Batter                                               R   B  4s  6s   SR
H Patil           c Asaskia b Hackett                0   8            
R Deshmukh        c Eastwood b Sonnel               66  69   9       95.65
S Mirza           c Tiati b Hall                    95 110   7   1   86.36
Naranjan Singh    b Asaskia                         43  39   6      110.26
V Joshi           c Tiati b Asaskia                  1   5           20
R Menon           run out (Hall)                    53  33   3   4  160.61
Aarav Singh       c Sonnel b Hackett                10  11   1       90.91
S Sumal           not out                           48  23   4   3  208.7
P Borkar          not out                            4   2   1      200
      EXTRAS      (3 lb, 7 wd)                      10
       TOTAL      for 7 wickets                    330   (50 ov; 6.6 RPO)
Did not bat:    I Ansari, K Basra

FOW: 1-1 (H Patil, 1.3 overs); 121-2 (R Deshmukh, 23.1 overs); 203-3 (Naranjan Singh, 35.6 overs); 
     207-4 (V Joshi, 37.3 overs); 221-5 (S Mirza, 40.2 overs); 264-6 (Aarav Singh, 44.3 overs); 
     325-7 (R Menon, 49.4 overs)

Sylestone Bowling
Bowler               Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
S Scron              10   2  50         5  (2 wd)
A Hackett            10      63  2    6.3  (1 wd)
S Asaskia            10   1  62  2    6.2  (1 wd)
B Hall                7      45  1   6.43  (1 wd)
K Sonnel              6      48  1      8  
S Cross               7      59      8.43  (2 wd)

Sylestone Batting   (Target: 331)
Batter                                               R   B  4s  6s   SR
L Tiati           c Joshi b Ansari                 137 147  13   3   93.2
B Golman          b Basra                            1   2           50
S Cross           c Menon b Sumal                   32  37   4   1   86.49
B Eastwood        c Joshi b Borkar                   4   8           50
L Cocrine         c & b Borkar                      27  37   2       72.97
S Asaskia         st Joshi b Borkar                  3   6           50
T Gallagher       b Basra                           21  19   3      110.53
B Hall            run out (sub [Ramesh Naokar])      7   9   1       77.78
A Hackett         b Ansari                          18  22   2       81.82
S Scron           not out                           12  11   1      109.09
K Sonnel          not out                            1   2           50
      EXTRAS      (2 lb, 7 wd)                       9
       TOTAL      for 9 wickets                    272   (50 ov; 5.44 RPO)
                

FOW: 2-1 (B Golman, 1.1 overs); 62-2 (S Cross, 15.2 overs); 72-3 (B Eastwood, 17.5 overs); 
     131-4 (L Cocrine, 28.3 overs); 135-5 (S Asaskia, 30.6 overs); 199-6 (T Gallagher, 38.4 overs); 
     214-7 (B Hall, 41.1 overs); 244-8 (L Tiati, 45.2 overs); 271-9 (A Hackett, 49.3 overs)

Aryavarna Bowling
Bowler               Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
I Ansari             10   1  46  2    4.6  (2 wd)
K Basra              10   1  48  2    4.8  
S Sumal               6   1  38  1   6.33  (2 wd)
Aarav Singh           9      52      5.78  
P Borkar             10      52  3    5.2  (1 wd)
R Deshmukh            1      12        12  (2 wd)
R Menon               4      22       5.5  

Venue: Island Cricket Arena, Schimpol, Liventia
Match number: 114
Toss: Aryavarna, elected to bat first
Tournament: GCF World Trophy 6
Player of the Match: Saad Mirza
Match Result: Aryavarna won by 58 runs

Scorecard created using The Grearish Union Cricket Scorecard Maker v2.01

Two tickets to Paradystopia!?!?!?! Aryavarna leave Sylestone hopes in Tiat-ers

Composed innings from the experienced top order and unrepentant slogging from the lower order all-rounders followed by a quality display of seam bowling in the field set up Aryavarna's massive 58 run win over former world champions Sylestone at the Island Cricket Arena in Schimpol, Liventia, and propelled the unlikely boys in saffron into the preliminary finals of the GCF ODI World Trophy for a first meeting with Paradystopia, despite one of the great valiant rearguards from heroic Sylestone captain Luke Tiati. After the game, an emotional Harshid Patil hailed the win as the team's "best ever" performance, while coach Abi Kapoor said the team had "come together beautifully", adding, "but not, like, in a gay way".

The team includes allrounders Raghav Menon and Sukhveer Sumal, who after rocky starts to their international careers have settled well into their twin roles as purveyors of tidy medium-fast bowling and providers of distinctly untidy lower order power hitting. Their innings here (Menon 53 off 33, Sumal 48* off 23) were perfect encapsulations of the power and dynamism they've brought to the Aryavarnan oorder, and both bowled efficiently, combining to give Sumal a wicket when Menon plucked a stinging whip off the pads out of the air at short midwicket. The two helped Aryavarna add 130 runs off the final 13 overs after Saad Mirza and Rohan Deshmukh had built a solid platform from which to hit out.

The innings had not started so well. Sylestone came in making one change to their team, swapping in mercurial pace demon Angus Hackett for Jesse McMillan. That brought swift reward as Hackett induced a looping edge to midwicket with his third delivery, sending Patil back for a duck. On a pitch offering pace and with swinging conditions in the air, Deshmukh and Mirza then dug in rather than hit out. They added 120 at a measured rate. Tiati may have erred in introducing his spinners too soon, when the seamers were pressing back both batsmen: they feasted on the slow offerings, both bringing up sensible half-centuries. Deshmukh, who had been particularly strong against Sonnel, then tried to smack one over long-off, reaching only Eastwood. But Naranjan Singh arrived in confident mood; he and Mirza added another 82 before the aggressive left-hander lost his off-stump. Joshi nibbled behind, and Mirza fell 5 short of a century to a sharp catch behind.

That brought Menon to the crease. Though Aarav Singh struggled to find the middle of the bat, and eventually sliced an edge to short third woman off the returning Hackett, Menon and new partner Sumal had no such difficulties. They crashed 61 together in 5 overs before Broughton Hall threw down the stumps to send Menon back for 53. Sumal finished 2 short of a maiden fifty, but coming off just 23 balls, could be rightly proud of his innings. The two hit 7 sixes between them. Only the ever reliable Samuel Scron seemed able to hit tight yorkers, and was unlucky to finish without a wicket while his more profligate peers shared out the others. 330 looked to be a formidable total, and at the halfway mark, Aryavarna were quietly confident.

That confidence turned loud, with the sound of Kunal Basra clattering Brian Golman's stumps with his first ball. He and Imran Ansari combined for yet another superb opening spell of seam bowling, Ansari's wily control and Basra's controlled pace a perfect pairing that limited Sylestone to just 47 from their powerplay, chasing 331. The mounting run rate forced poor shots. While Tiati was batting with poise at one end, he struggled to find partners at the other. Prithviraj Borkar cut a swathe through the middle order, Basra returned to send more stumps flying, and sub fielder Ramesh Naokar's flying intervention from point further contributed to the slide.

Meanwhile Tiati bravely plugged away. After weathering the seamers, he batted with greater finesse against the spinners and, after surviving a very tough caught behind chance, didn't give Aryavarna any opportunities. But his hundred took up 121 balls, and even though he then began to accelerate, twice slog sweeping Aarav Singh for six on a tough day for Aryavarna's spin allrounder, there was too much left to do. No one from Sylestone's lower order contributed like Menon and Sumal, and Ansari returned with another wonderful display of left arm seam. After Tiati raided his first over for 14, he then conceded just 4 off his next 3, and accounted for Sylestone's captain, caught behind off the shoulder of the bat. He added the late wicket of Hackett, by which time the dust had already settled on the win.

Aryavarna are now guaranteed a podium finish in the tournament, but Patil stressed at the post match press conference that they were not ready to settle for that. "We don't want to just say, we've come this far, that's good enough: we want to keep winning!" he insisted. Aryavarna will now head to an intensive two-day training session before their meeting with Paradystopia, with one day devoted to batting, bowling, fielding, and general fitness, and the other to learning how to pronounce their opponents' names.

[Indusse]

OOC: Scorecards for documentation purposes.

Hanalia Batting
Batter                                                 R   B  4s  6s   SR
Caolan Duran              c Shankar b Jagadeesha      24  41   3   0   58.54
Janice Wyatt (wk)         b Bakhtayar                 18  26   2   0   69.23
Elsbeth Sanders           c Bauman b Jagadeesha       54  72   5   1   75
Trey Peterson             lbw b Behrouz               45  58   4   0   77.59
Ammad Harper              c Pyarilal b Chand          29  35   3   0   82.86
Kirsten Lindsey           st Shankar b Behrouz        12  20   1   0   60
Brittney Hall             c Farzhjan b Tyler          27  31   2   1   87.1
Keaton O'Neill            b Jagadeesha                 6   7   1   0   85.71
Ursula Underwood          not out                      8   6   1   0  133.33
Kelvin Rhodes             not out                      5   5   0   0  100
          EXTRAS          (1 b, 4 lb, 6 wd, 1 nb)     12
           TOTAL          for 8 wickets              240   (50 ov; 4.8 RPO)
Did not bat:            Nellie Romero

Indusse Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Milind Bakhtayar             10   1  38  1    3.8  
Karthik Chand                10   0  52  1    5.2  
Humbanalli Jagadeesha        10   1  44  3    4.4  
Nicholas Tyler               10   0  48  1    4.8  
Ashkan Behrouz               10   0  46  2    4.6  

Indusse Batting   (Target: 241)
Batter                                                 R   B  4s  6s   SR
Praveen Sisodia           c Wyatt b Rhodes            82  76   9   2  107.89
Herman Bauman             b Romero                    23  28   3   0   82.14
Shankar Singh Patidar     c Duran b O'Neill           46  44   5   1  104.55
Mahmud Farzhjan           lbw b Underwood             15  19   1   0   78.95
Arvind Pyarilal           c Sanders b Rhodes          21  24   2   0   87.5
Sherlock Maxmuller        c Wyatt b Hall              14  17   1   0   82.35
Nicholas Tyler            not out                     24  24   3   0  100
Ashkan Behrouz            not out                      8  11   1   0   72.73
          EXTRAS          (1 b, 4 lb, 5 wd, 1 nb)     11
           TOTAL          for 6 wickets              244   (40.2 ov; 6.05 RPO)
Did not bat:            Milind Bakhtayar, Karthik Chand, Humbanalli Jagadeesha

Hanalia Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Nellie Romero                 8   0  51  1   6.38  
Kelvin Rhodes               8.2   1  48  2   5.76  
Brittney Hall                 8   0  44  1    5.5  
Keaton O'Neill                8   0  52  1    6.5  
Ursula Underwood              8   0  44  1    5.5  

Venue: Lewes Park, Neverend
Season: GCF World Trophy VI
Player of the Match: Praveen Sisodia
Match Result: Indusse won by 4 wickets

Indusse Batting
Batter                                                      R   B  4s  6s   SR
Praveen Sisodia           c Wolslager b Gledhwiladen       31  35   4   0   88.57
Herman Bauman             c Buhvithen b Ahbihlhohdhen      64  69   7   1   92.75
Shankar Singh Patidar     c Twaddle b Hastuthen            42  46   4   1   91.3
Mahmud Farzhjan           c Bercier b Enright              73  71   8   2  102.82
Arvind Pyarilal           c & b Wakin                      19  20   2   0   95
Prajyoth Rana             c Firembee b Gledhwiladen        61  42   6   3  145.24
Nicholas Tyler            not out                          23  15   2   1  153.33
Ashkan Behrouz            not out                           5   3   1   0  166.67
          EXTRAS          (1 b, 4 lb, 7 wd, 1 nb)          13
           TOTAL          for 6 wickets                   331   (50 ov; 6.62 RPO)
Did not bat:            Milind Bakhtayar, Karthik Chand, Rishwat Harshwardhan

Ko-oren Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Harrison Gledhwiladen        10   0  68  2    6.8  
Boyd Ahbihlhohdhen           10   0  63  1    6.3  
Mitchell Enright             10   0  64  1    6.4  
Seymour Hastuthen            10   0  61  1    6.1  
Emory Wakin                  10   0  70  1      7  

Ko-oren Batting   (Target: 332)
Batter                                                      R   B  4s  6s   SR
Reginald Twaddle          c Patidar b Harshwardhan         29  27   4   1  107.41
Lyojall Firembee          b Chand                          18  15   2   0  120
Idhuhdhane Buhvithen      c Tyler b Behrouz                74  68   8   2  108.82
Conor yAraidd             lbw b Harshwardhan               46  44   5   1  104.55
Dominique Bercier         c Rana b Bakhtayar               81  67   9   3  120.9
Emory Wakin               c Patidar b Chand                19  18   2   0  105.56
Adelmoed Wolslager        run out (Pyarilal / Patidar)     22  16   2   1  137.5
Mitchell Enright          b Behrouz                        12  11   1   0  109.09
Harrison Gledhwiladen     c Sisodia b Harshwardhan         11   8   1   1  137.5
Boyd Ahbihlhohdhen        not out                          11   6   2   0  183.33
Seymour Hastuthen         not out                           2   1   0   0  200
          EXTRAS          (2 b, 4 wd, 1 nb)                 7
           TOTAL          for 9 wickets                   332   (46.4 ov; 7.11 RPO)
                        

Indusse Bowling
Bowler                       Ov   M   R  W   Econ  Ext
Karthik Chand                 9   0  66  2   7.33  
Milind Bakhtayar              9   0  58  1   6.44  
Rishwat Harshwardhan        9.4   0  67  3   6.93  
Nicholas Tyler                9   0  72  0      8  
Ashkan Behrouz               10   0  67  2    6.7  

Venue: Park Central Oval, Orean
Season: GCF World Trophy VI
Match Result: Ko-oren won by 1 wicket

[Kimi-Suomi]

Just keep going. Jatka vain eteenpäin. Words that echo in the minds of those a part of, or supporters of, the Karhut. This format is a slog, one that demands only the strongest of wills and the endurance of mad men and women in order to survive, and the Karhut have slogged their way into the Top 8 with how Lorcán Ua Tuathail and Mika Linnankoski have set this team up. But this road was far from over, and the tests were only going to get harder from here - so what could we do now? Was there still anything left in the tank?

Persoonaton nukkevaltio, a nation of robotit, would be our 2nd opponent in the Lower Bracket, and while we knew this one was going to be closer than anyone expected, I don't think many expected just how close everything got. In Dover's Bastion, the bots wanted to bat first, and so they went into the fire, and our bowlers did the rest. Lasse Pöysti got 3-45, Finn Levi Olthuis got 2-61, and the best the bots could manage was 58 from the Pneumatic-Hammertron. They ended up getting bowled out for 239 with over 4 overs to spare, and at this point, everyone felt that we had done enough.

And then the chase began. And it ended up going down to the wire. Everyone was trying to get us over that line, but the bots knew how to bowl, and they certainly pushed us all the way to the light. It was close...really, really, really close. As in, with 1 over to go, Anna-Leena Härkönen had the bat, and she had to score 10 to win it...and she ended up scoring 12 with a ball to spare. It was nervy as all hell, and most of the country had heart palpitations, but we did it. We got the win. And with it...Top 6.

Now comes the biggest moment so far. A date with cricketing powerhouses Sylestone in Neverend. A date that will either see us in the Top 4 or finish 5-6th overall. A big moment in our cricketing history. We will be the underdogs, but they lost in the Upper Bracket to a dominant performance from Aryavarna - so who knows how they will be feeling.

If we fall here, then fair enough. Mutta vaikka uurastus olisi raskasta, taistelemme aivan loppuun asti.
NOSTA KUIN KARHUT!

---

SCHEDULE/AJOITTAA (Group 2)
MD1: vs Etelä-Guinea [Austroguinea] (UR) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 5 wicketillä (T-1st)
MD2: vs Darmen (4) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover V 82 juoksulla (T-1st)
MD3: vs Crpostran (22) - Lewes Park, Neverend V 31 juoksulla (1st)
MD4: vs Pyhä Margareta ja Aureliet [Saint Margaret and the Aurelies] (UR) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre T 12 juoksulla (1st)
MD5: vs Jack ja Ruby [Jack and Ruby] (UR) - Sawyer Memorial Ground, Bede V 8 wicketillä (1st)
MD6: vs Quebec ja Shingoryeo [Quebec and Shingoryeo] (16) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa V 10 juoksulla (1st)
MD7: BYE (5-1)
-----------------------------------------------
WR16: vs Milchama (8/4-4) - National Centre of Excellence Oval, City Centre V 2 juoksulla
WQF: vs Plough Saaret [The Plough Islands] (1/1-3) - Folenisa Cricket Ground, Folenisa T 7 wicketillä)
LBR3: vs Vunymoninen [Vunymonia] (UR/4-6) - Racecourse Ground, Talbott V 70 juoksulla
LBR4: vs Persoonaton nukkevaltio [A non-descript puppet nation] (UR/4-3) - The Bastion Dover Cricket Ground, Dover V 2 wicketillä
LBQF: vs Sylestone (2/4-1) - Lewes Park, Neverend

[The Plough Islands]

Congratulations to Paradystopia on a well earned victory, and thankyou for breaking (half of) the curse I seem to have been under for the last five years! (admittedly, I was slightly distracted yesterday evening - any fleeting unhappiness that I might have felt when I first saw the score, went away quickly after I looked at the Super League Grand Final result a few times, and it still feels like a headline from a strange, strange alternate universe!)

Even with the timescale of the loser's bracket - and I am only about half certain how I will get a post done on the train tomorrow - this roleplay was quite fun to write; Paradystopia was a huge help in that regard - they sent over a scorecard outline early this morning and, honestly, I made very few changes - and the best of luck to Ko-oren; when our two nations are involved, everything tends to come naturally by now. I am wondering what other fixtures there are that have been played in every edition of a tournament - granted, the World Trophy only goes back to 2020, but still...

---

"RUN!"
Constable Sarah Ashe was startled out of her thoughts a little by Dimitry Andreyev's call; there were forty runs needed for the Plough Islands with only two balls remaining in the innings, and the volume of the crowd from inside the Folenisa Cricket Ground - a pink, riotous noise, distinct from other cricket crowds, and including what Ashe was reasonably certain was a large amount of atemporal squeaking - had almost drowned her batting partner out. But run she did, crossing with Andreyev and comfortably reaching the striker's end before the ball thudded back into the gloves of Tarquin Buckley-Greaves.
The single was signalled by Burnadette Taylor, the flames from her claw rippling the air as Ashe tried to look through them at the distant figure of Harvey Oddfish, cleaning off the ball as he prepared to bring the match to a close. The Erroropolisish left-armer ran in with the ball, Ashe shaped up to receive it, and soft-handed the yorker back down the pitch, watching it roll away and trying not to look at the racing, scrambling, triumphant grey and pink clad fielders as they ran towards each other at the moment of victory. Even though the format meant this was not the end of the Foxes' run, and though the result had been obvious since before Ashe came out to the crease, it still felt a little hollow to see it become reality, in the same way that you could brace yourselves against the walls as much as you wanted, but it would not stop you from dropping when the trapdoor sprung.
She was shaken from her thoughts by an arm around her back. "Hard luck, officer." Genevieve Burton-Hawley was sincerely trying to disguise at least some of her joy, which Ashe appreciated, even though she was doing a terrible job at it.
"Thanks." Ashe reciprocated the gesture. "You were just too good for ourselves, today"
"Eh, I dunno if we all were." Burton-Hawley looked out at the celebrations. "Look at some of those pricks over there. I swear I'm stopping half of them from losing the game on their own sometimes."
"You bowled quite well, earlier?" Ashe responded, hesitantly but sincerely.
"Yeah, I had to. Oggy was giving it large in the changing room about being God's gift to cricket after his century, and I had to try and take him down a few pegs before he said something crass again. It's the problem with a sport that runs on alcohol. Any decency between their ears or legs goes out of the bloody window as soon as they have more than two cans.". Ashe's train of thought had caught up to her hearing, and she tried to hide some of her instinctive reactions as Burton-Hawley continued. "I imagine it's the same with your lot, although given you've got a woman as captain you're probably a bit more civilised..."
Ashe had no time to be non-committal in response, as the Paradystopi all-rounder drew Ashe into a conspiratorial embrace. "Remember, you know why they call it broad daylight?"
"...oh?"
"'Cause women light up the world!" Burton-Hawley cackled, as she softly punched Ashe on the shoulder, before losing her grip on the New Hibernian as Robert Jangletrousers caught her attention. The Plough Islander caught the very start of the conversation - something about a personalised towel that had gone missing - before it all faded into the background, and for lack of anything else remaining to do, she began the long trek back to the Folenisa pavilion. Andreyev had already returned, and Ashe tried to mentally brace herself for the conversations that would inevitably arise when she was back in the changing room with her teammates. All thirteen of them.
Naomi Salisbury was absent, in a way that felt obvious even without counting the green shirts in and around the balcony. After taking 5 for 33 against Kimi-Suomi despite coming in and out of the game repeatedly, Salisbury had told Denis Wormwood from the Plough Islands Gazette - as well as some of the other media covering the tournament - that she had been playing in pain from a trapped nerve in her shoulder, and that she had fought to be allowed to play against the Bears, with a support network that included Weaver and Terry Gibbs helping her with massages and strapping to alleviate the pain. That support network had not included Donaghy.
The Foxes head coach had only found out the full details when he read the first drafts of the reporting later in the evening, and had clearly been irked when he had spoken to Weaver about it back at the hotel, but the captain had assumed the issue had been resolved; in any case, Salisbury had been bowling with no issues on Friday evening aside from some residual stiffness in her collarbone from the strapping. However, on Saturday morning, there had been an early wake-up call at the hotel, and Salisbury had been put through an impromptu fitness test alone, before having the opportunity to shower or eat. She had told Ashe that she thought she had passed, but that Donaghy immediately instructed her to do net bowling for a further half hour, summoning the constable to provide opposition and leaving to breakfast with the rest of the team. Neither player felt that there were any issues with Salisbury's bowling, but they had returned to the hotel to find that Donaghy had declared that she had failed the test, and that Andreyev would replace the left-arm spinner in the team as part of a two-pronged pace attack.
Ashe had not seen Salisbury since then, and she completely understood why that might have been. The two-pronged pace attack had failed on a pristine batting wicket in the morning, with Baxter being flayed by Jangletrousers and Locke for 81 runs, and Andreyev bleeding 64 more, and Paradystopia had relished batting the life out of it before leaving the Plough Islands to chase down 286, with wide boundaries, against a bowling attack that had already had a good look at the surface. It had been a tough task from a purely technical point of view, but Ashe had only been able to tell Weaver about Donaghy's "fitness test" during the lunch break, and she suspected there was a strong correlation between that and the Redcliff man stressing repeatedly that "no individual is bigger than this socialist team", in a number of conversations over on the quiet end of the balcony which the team collectively pretended not to have heard.
Frustratingly, Donaghy was right. Maybe Locke and his team were just too good on the day. Maybe Salisbury would have been like Ashe, toiling through the middle overs for little return other than a slightly better economy rate than the pacers. She might, though, have kept the pressure on further after the early wickets, and restricted Paradystopia to a lower total. Possibly she would have got Locke for 23 rather than 123. Cricket was a sport of but whats and if onlys, and Ashe was rational enough to realise that just because the multiverse could have collapsed a certain way did not mean it was going to.
Logic was one thing, and emotion was quite another. When Ashe finally got up the pavilion stairs, there were a few perfunctory pats and sideways looks, but unlike when the Foxes had lost to Aryavarna and Liventia, there was also a lot of silence. Nobody in the squad seemed particularly keen to be the one that opened the lock on the Salisbury issue, even as the atmosphere in the room indicated that everyone knew by now. The only attempt at breaking the tension came from Weaver asking if anyone wanted to speak to the papers, but a circle of worried glances followed by a quiet "No, nothing, as usual." from Donaghy, his blue eyes flicking from player to player with intent, caused the gloom to settle once more.
Ashe sighed, and turned to make her way down to the showers. She had never been especially concerned with interpersonal questions outside of her immediate friends and closest teammates, but the scene back in the dressing room had left her troubled by the feeling that something was happening, and it was happening right now, and she was too blind to see it. The projection screen outside the balcony was now showing the scores from across Liventia, and she had seen that Ko-oren were on course to win against Indusse; that would, at least, provide a calm backdrop for whatever chaos may or may not unfold.

WORLD TROPHY PREVIEW: OLD FRIENDS, REUNITED AT THE DEATH
by Denis Wormwood, Sporting Correspondent, in Folenisa

Defeat at the nimble and unconventional hands of Paradystopia leaves the Plough Islands with one "life" remaining in the double elimination stage of the Global Cricket Federation World Trophy, and yet there are many among the small band of travelling islanders that will almost have preferred the result to a victory, if solely because it reunites Shauna Weaver's team with their old friends and rivals from across the Celestial Ocean, fellow Anaians from the Halcyon Archipelago, Ko-oren. Indeed, so entwined are our two nations - sixteen One Day Internationals, including both sides' fifty over debuts, and the final of the third World Trophy in Garihnkatar - that perhaps it would not really have been a World Trophy had the Dragonflies not met the Foxes.
Mitchell Enright has led his team from strength to strength since our last meeting, at the fifth World Trophy semi-final in Montebello, with Ko-oren lifting the World Test Challenge trophy in Garihnkatar in January, and he heads a One Day International squad that includes just four players over the age of thirty. Like ourselves, they had a few missteps in Liventia, losing to Ko-oren and Sharktail in the group stage, but Marsden's side have been consistent even when they have rarely looked dominant, grinding out relatively narrow wins with a very Ko-orenite meritocratic efficiency.
Cricket by chart and spreadsheet suffered a setback when the Dragonflies fell to an Aryavarna comeback - the Swami Army having made quite the habit this tournament of taking down Anaian nations - in the quarter finals, but overcame Indusse in a dramatic, high scoring match at the Park Central Oval, as half centuries from Dominique Bercier and Idhuhdhane Buhvithen gave them a strong start chasing the Blue Marauders' 331, before the Gehrennan last wicket pairing of Boyd Ahbihlhohdhen and Seymour Hastuthen saw them over the line with four overs to spare.
Ko-oren will therefore be the team on the up, having the advantage of momentum against the wounded Foxes, and it is Weaver and head coach Paul Donaghy who will feel the pressure of their situation more acutely in their tactical decisions and team selection at the National Centre of Excellence. The expectation would be that Naomi Salisbury, much missed in the attack against the Paradystopi batting, will return against the Dragonflies after injuring her shoulder against Kimi-Suomi, but the 12 hour turnaround required by the lower bracket schedule means that many decisions will be taken as much on the basis of fitness as on playing form, and it is difficult to speculate on what an XI might look like from the back of a coach in the Liventian desert.
The goodwill and hopes of their comrades and fellow travellers will remain undimmed for the Plough Islands, but it may well be the mental strength of Weaver's players that matters more in the proverbial last chance saloon. In that respect, the real opposition may not be Ko-oren themselves - with games against the Dragonflies always proving to be happy, relaxed occasions in the past, and nothing to indicate that this time will be any different against Enright's team - but the schedule, and the consequences of perceived failure. After three weeks on the roads of Liventia, sleeping in unfamiliar beds and training on variable surfaces, the line between performance and pitfall can seem very, very thin indeed.
Even should they lose, though, the Plough Islands must take heart from the last four years of performances against the best resourced nations in the multiverse, and be proud of what our small country has achieved. Few teams can have outperformed their notional standing in the capitalist world as well as the Foxes have, and hardly any can have done so as often, and as consistently, as Weaver and her comrades. Whatever the result later today, we are in a golden age of Plough Islander cricket, one that the law of averages dictates is surely not over yet.

---

PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
XI FOR WORLD TROPHY VS.    KO-OREN

        PLAYER           BAT   BOW
#15 ANL Weaver           RHB      
#4  WC  Barrett          RHB      
#1  SLC Weaver (c)       RHB   RLB
#14 ADM Tyrie            RHB   RLB
#12 CAV McCulloch        RHB      
#10 P   Hodgeson         LHB   SLW
#11 IT  Lebed (w)        LHB      
#2  DV  Andreyev         RHB   RFM
#3  S   Ashe             RHB   ROB
#8  LNC Geddes           RHB   ROB
#13 NA  Salisbury        LHB   SLA

[Ko-oren]

You might like to know some Gehrennan words for common cricket terms. Also, some might not like to know any of this.

Bats(wo)man: Tahriten (Tahri-t-en 'the one who willows')
- Opener (1-2): Neweth (Ne-(i)we-(o)th 'one two [ordinal number suffix]')
- 3-5 or 3-6: Mirot ('stem/trunk'), as in the middle, main part of something

Bowler: Mezhen (Mezhe-en 'the thrower')
- Spin: Gakhithen (Gakhith-en 'the one who twists/winds')
- Pace: Gopihem (Gopi-h-em 'the one who is fast')

Wicketkeeper: Zudikedhpemen (Zudi-kedhpem-en 'the catcher behind')

Fielder: Kedhpemen (Kedhpem-en 'the catcher')
- Slip: Semem (Sem-em 'the one who is beside')
- Square leg: Zhetorsemem (Zhetor-sem-em 'the other one who is beside') also Zhesem
- Midwicket: Bazhetorsemem (Ba-zhetor-sem-em 'the far other one who is beside') also Bazhesem.
- Mid on: Mezhedinsemem (Mezhe-din-sem-em 'the one beside the bowler') also Mezhesem
- Mid off: Mezhedinzhetorsemem (Mezhe-din-zhetor-sem-em 'the other one who is beside the bowler') also Mezhetorsem
- Point: Bozuhem (Bozu-h-em 'the one who is across' because many batsmen 'square up' while looking slightly diagonally, inadvertently looking at point, well before they get set for a ball)
- Cover: Babozuhem (Ba-bozu-h-em 'the far one who is across' named after Bozuhem/point, but further away)

---

Down to its final chance (once again) in the World Trophy, the Dragonflies' path runs through the Plough Islands (once again). Between the GCF and regional Anaian events, they've been our opponents most often - 15 times - and we're a nice and even 7-and-7 against them, with one tie, believe it or not. So once again, the tie must be broken and for the foreseeable future, one team will pull the balance towards them in the series. Nobody will want it any other way, though. Neither team will have a lot of surprises for the other and is a World Trophy really a World Trophy without a Dragonflies-Foxes fixture?

The Ko-orenites enter this team with some confidence, after a few stumbles in the group stage and the early relegation to the losers' bracket, having defeated opponents of note and international pedigree in the last week or so. Bercier might not have done much in domestic cricket but his international contributions are nothing short of miraculous, and the youngsters have been solid as well. There's not been much reason to review their roles under Enright, but as the stakes rise, so does the pressure on their inexperienced mentalities.

The Plough Islanders' camp is looking a little different: it's not one of happy coincidences and self-confidence, but one of a lot of questions. Will Salisbury be back in time, and how are they doing after several weeks on the road? All the other regular names are there: Lebed, Ashe, the Weavers, so no matter what, they'll prove to be fine opposition for the Dragonflies.

Ko-oren, being a somewhat bigger country, has its players get used to being on the road for a while between longer domestic seasons - in some cases, players will spend weeks away from home between back to back away first class fixtures, playing for a non-local team in the other formats. Say that Bercier, from the area around Ilohbonu (Willowbourne), plays for East Surbourneshire in the One Days: that means playing only one match close to home until the first class format returns and he gets to play for his home base again (because it's - unfortunately - common for players to play for different teams in different formats, regardless of what the purists have to say about it). And that's on top of a rumoured Constellation competition that was hesitant to include Ko-oren in its story: that, too, could mean three weeks away from home in a chain hotel in Tridhara or Phulanagar in Arhoren, playing well-meaning but unprofessional foes like Yuktaksoren and Devanagoren. It is what it is.

Before that, though, there's a big match on the schedule. The Plough Islands aren't ranked first for nothing (and we're third, and no slouches either) and it'd be great to get some revenge for the outcome of the previous World Trophy's semifinal (Plough Islands win by 4 runs).