California: The Napa Valley Cricket Club (NVCC) will host their seventh annual World Series of Cricket match at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa on Sunday.
The match marks the halfway point in the clubs 2018 season and will be played on the Midway Green, on the western side of the Expo.
As ever the game will be hotly contested as the Rest of the World (RoW) team of members look to retain the trophy they won in 2017 against a strong American & Australian (AA) team, with the annual contest tied at 3-3.
With cricket being the second most popular sport in the world, after soccer, the NVCC uses their annual World Series match to showcase the game and encourages locals and visitors alike to come watch, and learn about, the game.
Cricket is played in over 100 countries worldwide and close to home the game has a strong and passionate following in the South Bay.
“It’s our big day out each season” said NVCC president Rob Bolch, an Australian, of the World Series match “and with almost all of our playing members available for the match it means the cricket will be of a very good quality from both teams who again this year are looking pretty balanced.
We’re always welcoming new members to the club with this year being no exception and the addition of members from New Zealand, Australia, and India means both sides will have strength in depth.
So when we add all of the players together we’ll have players from Australia, America, Ireland, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand, India, and Pakistan playing the World Series match.
And when we add in non-playing members we can also add Brazil and Jamaica which I’m guessing makes us one the most internationally diverse organizations in the Napa Valley.” continued Bolch “It’s a fun day out for the family with supervised activities for the kids, food from Compadres and beverages from our sponsors Clos du Val and Anchor Steam Brewing.”
New Zealand born winemaker Martin Mackenzie captains the RoW team for the 2018 match and he has strong pool of players to choose from.
“We have a great team for the 2018 World Series.” says Mackenzie “And while we’re missing some of our stronger players we have a lot of strong all-rounders who will be effective with both bat and ball.
It will make for a great contest, for sure! Off the field I’m really excited to be playing the match at the Expo in downtown Napa as a number of family and friends will be coming along for the day to enjoy the spectacle.”
Australian all-rounder John Leake will again be captaining the AA team in 2018 and he’s looking forward to the challenge of taking back the trophy.
“The World Series is always a great day out for family and friends and we’re looking forward to putting a strong team on the field this year to take back the trophy.” says Leake “We have great depth in all departments with the addition of a couple of new members this season.
As always we’ll be expecting big things in the field from our American members and their “baseball arms” being singularly effective at keeping the run scoring down.”
The toss for the game, to decide who bats or bowls first, will take place at 10.15am with Napa Valley Expo Board Chair, and Yountville Mayor, John Dunbar performing the task.
Commentary on the game will be provided by Australian born NVCC member Scott Curwood.
During the innings lunch break and during drinks breaks, explanations of the game and its rules will take place at the “pitch” area in the middle of the ground.
Admission is free for the day with food from club sponsor Compadres Rio Grille and refreshments from Clos du Val and Anchor Brewing on sale.
An instant cellar drawing with wine worth in excess of 2000 dollar will take place both at the lunch break and at the end of proceedings to raise money for the club.
Tickets will be on sale on the day for $5 each or $20 for five. UNI