Extract from "I Zingari, Australia - England Tour 1977" which describes the club's 'cricketing adventure' - an assault on the playing fields of England to coincide with an Anglo-Australian Test series and the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Seventeen matches were played in July of which 5 were won, 3 drawn and 9 lost. Barry Eastment's 6-16 in this game was the best bowling performance by an IZ player on the tour.

Match No. 16-Wednesday, 13th July, 1977

 versus

 SYDENHURST RAMBLERS AT WOOLMER HILL

 I Zingari Australia in batting order:
B. L. H. Powell, M. T. McKaughan, C. Alexander, D. J. Hoskins, R. Coleman, R. B. Tubbs, P. Coleman, T. R. H. Savill (c), E. G. Wiles, J. R. Hoyle, B. A. Eastment.

 Despite a thorough briefing by the Tour Transport Officer, no less than three car loads of 12 tourists experienced extreme difficulty in their endeavours to locate the Woolmer Hill playing field. Indeed, it was some three-quarters of an hour after the scheduled starting time for the match before the final IZ vehicle (driven by none other than "Bilko" himself) glided rather sheepishly into the ground.
In the interim, T. R. H. Savill had fortunately won the toss and, after some quick reshuffling of the preconceived batting order, the IZ innings commenced on a rather green wicket, sporting visible signs of dampness-the legacy of an overnight shower of rain.

 Not so fortunately, M. T. McKaughan's innings terminated before the opening run of the match had been registered. With the new ball swinging dangerously late in the heavy atmosphere and cutting sharply off the seam on the first soft track encountered so far, the No. 3 batsman, Cam Alexander, later admitted that he had no alternative but to play from memory. However, having amassed only seven runs, Mr Alexander's memory was to fail him.
Although handicapped by a torn hamstring muscle, Don Hoskins determinedly assisted Bruce Powell in a valuable third wicket stand which realised 35 runs. This also happened to be Powell's personal score when the partnership was broken with the toppling of B.L.H.'s "castle" in the dying moments of the morning's session of play.
The first twenty minutes of post-luncheon cricket saw the demise of Messrs Tubbs and Hoskins. The brothers Coleman mounted a partial recovery with a partnership of 28 runs which nudged the IZ total along to 6 for 96.
Tim Savill then joined Philip Coleman and, in the ensuing 45 minutes, the match captain personally contributed thirty of the forty runs scored during his stay at the wicket. An excellent captain's knock but the IZs had mustered a mere 136 runs for the loss of nine wickets when T. R. H. Savill made way for the first B. A. Eastment innings of the tour. In fact, it was J. R. Hoyle who was the dominant partner in the last wicket stand which took the total to 143-the lowest completed innings by I Zingari so far on tour.

 The Sydenhurst Ramblers' opening bowlers, Rodney Turrell and Chris Terry, had delivered 41.1 overs between them in capturing nine of the IZ wickets at a joint cost of only 97 runs. The one scalp to escape these two fine exponents of swing bowling was that of R. B. Tubbs, who had lost his middle stump when shouldering arms to a Jeremy Browne off-cutter!!
Any faint hopes of a Sydenhurst Ramblers' collapse on the first and only "bowlers' wicket" encountered on tour seemed completely unfounded when seventeen runs had been posted by the Ramblers' opening batsmen after only one over apiece from Messrs Hoyle and Alexander. However, the second and third overs by John Hoyle earned him the prized wickets of Messrs Wiseman and Child - both falling to smart catches in the slips.
At the conclusion of a penetrative six-over spell by J. R. Hoyle, Barry Eastment was all but "watering at the mouth" as he placed a ring of close-in fielders around the bat in preparation for his first over on this sharply turning wicket. In fact, it was the final ball of Eastment's second over which captured his first victim and the Ramblers' total stood at 3 for 47 as the players immediately adjourned for the tea interval.
In the first two overs after tea, Barry Eastment struck again. The Sydenhurst Ramblers were now reeling at 5 for 53 and the IZ total of 143 suddenly assumed new respectability. The next seven overs bowled by Alexander and Eastment yielded only eleven runs without further loss but it was then that Mr B. A. Eastment produced a double wicket maiden. The two byes which also emanated from that memorable over saw the Ramblers' score teetering on 7 for 66.
To this point, all seven Ramblers' wickets had fallen at the same end of the wicket. The luckless Cam Alexander had bowled thirteen consecutive overs from the other end, conceding ten runs in his opening over and only ten further runs in his subsequent twelve overs, seven of which had been maidens! Thus, when the Ramblers' opening bats-
man, Mr N. Harper, finally succumbed with 31 hard fought runs to his credit and his team's total at 8 for 70, it was especially fitting that it was an Alexander delivery that had removed the last principal barrier to an IZ victory.
Alexander and Eastment were to capture one more wicket each in their very next overs and the Sydenhurst Ramblers had been routed for a total of 75 runs, the last eight wickets falling for only 28 runs. Credit for this victory belonged fairly equally with all three of the IZ bowlers used by Mr T. R. H. Savill.
However, it should be noted that the bowlers received unparalleled support (by tour standards at least) from their fielders on this overcast July afternoon. Eight catches were offered by Sydenhurst Ramblers' batsmen and all eight were safely accepted by the astutely placed IZ field. Indeed, no less than seven individual fieldsmen held catches during the Sydenhurst Ramblers' innings -surely something of a record when one considers that Mr J. R. Hoyle and Mr E. G. Wiles had snared one each only eleven minutes apart!

 I Zingari Australia 143 (B. L. H. Powell 35, T. R. H. Sa1fill 30, R. Turell 5/52; C. A. P. Terry 4/45) defeated Sydenhurst Ramblers 75 (B. A. Eastment 6-16).

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