Our final match in Mumbai gave us the opportunity to play at the 'Oval', a massive green area in the middle of Mumbai where 8 games of cricket are going on simultaneously. The game was scheduled against TATA Consultancy Services, the company who Sonny Singh (The former Ballymena professional) our host in Mumbai is employed by. Sonny has regaled us with stories from his time in Ballymena, most of it has to be said involving a certain Mr Jimmy Boyce.

The game was to be played under 20/20 rules, and captain for the day Paul Stafford managed to 'negotiate' the toss to allow The Grasshoppers to bat first. Helped by some poor catching Andrew Nixon and Ben McKnight got the innings off to a flying start. McKnight carried on his good form to make 25 and Andrew Nixon fell for 33. The loss of Cowden, Kennedy, Mark Nixon & Cameron Grieve in quick succession slowed the momentum, and it was left to the two veteran left handers Michael Turkington & Ray McCavery to rescue the innings with a partnership of 60. Running well between the wickets both men were left exhausted the end of the twenty overs. In a final total of 139 Turkington was undefeated on 34 & McCavery on 22.

Peter Maxwell took a wicket with his first delivery, and bowling straight through his 4 overs returned superb figures of 2 for 14. Paul Stafford also picked up 2 wickets but with Ashwin still at the wicket TCS were probably slight favourites. However in an attempt to increase the run rate TCS managed to be involved in 4 run outs, which swung the balance decisively in favour of The Grasshoppers. Excellent death bowling from Andrew Cowden & Mark Nixon ensure a victory by 7 runs.

Andrew Nixon 3-0-23-0
Peter Maxwell 4-0-14-2
Cameron Grieve 3-0-23-0
Paul Stafford 4-0-24-2
Mark Nixon 4-0-31-0
Andrew Cowden 2-0-12-0


An excellent performance from all involved was followed by lunch underneath the canopy providing the shade from the boiling sun. For most it will be an afternoon spent resting by the pool.