These were the first official games to take place at the new cricket ground on the western outskirts of Prague. The ground, in a large open space, will greatly improve when a concrete wicket is laid in the next few weeks - planning permission is promised from the Prague City Council, but these things take time. The present matting on grass arrangement led to the ball behaving unpredictably, a fact which contributed in great part to the weekend's low scores.
On the Saturday, Warsaw totalled 117, with two batsmen, Rajesh and Sandeep, scoring in the high twenties. For Prague, Colin Glover cleared up the tail to end with a tidy 3-12. It was a case of "what might have been" for Prague, as they dropped eight catches - none of them easy, but all of them valuable. Largely due to Tim Close's 4-24 and Nick Singh's 3-18, Prague were skittled out for 81, giving Warsaw a comfortable victory.
The Sunday was a different story. A more committed Prague team soon had Warsaw at 12-2, John Corness taking both early wickets. A big-hitting partnership of 48 for the 6th wicket between Nick Sinha and Sunny gave the Warsaw total some respectability, but there was not much substance to the tail, and they were eventually all out for 107. The Prague run chase was relatively trouble-free, and a 4th wicket partnership of 47 between Ian Bryan and Sean Nazerali nearly saw them home. They ended up winning by six wickets, with 4.5 overs to spare. The 55 runs of Ian Bryan, batting for two hours in sweltering heat, and scoring double the next highest score of the weekend, was the outstanding performance.
One added bonus from the weekend was that the ground's highly visible location (the 22 tram runs right alongside) ensured that a number of spectators came along to find out what was happening. This included two Czechs who had lived in cricketing countries and played the game, and were delighted to discover they could renew their acquaintance with the game in Prague. Along with Prague C.C. stalwart Tomas Kral, they could form the nucleus of a Czech team.
Prague travel to Vienna for the first round of the Austrian Cricket Association Tournament next week, and the following week entertain Saumur C.C. from France.