Euratom Cricket Club - Ispra

The little Italian village of Ispra is on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, about 50 kms west of Milan & 30 kms south of the Swiss border & Lugano.

 By early 1981 the number of Britons at the Euratom Joint Research Centre Ispra had reached a critical mass. One afternoon Phil Kerrison & his brother Andy were playing cricket with Jerry Wells in his back garden when one of them suggested starting a cricket club. 

The rest is history.

 Euratom Cricket Club started life on 15th April 1981 when it was officially recognized by the European Commission as one of the sports clubs of the J.R.C. Ispra.

 The summer was spent practising in a ploughed field in Barza in preparation for the first game against near neighbours Milan C.C.. An inauspicious start to that game, including golden ducks for both Dai Berry & John Powell off the first two deliveries, led to the instigation of the “Mario Mallard” award, presented each year to the player collecting the most ducks in the season (see News page for update). Although Euratom lost that match they came back with a vengeance the following Spring to win the return game without losing a wicket. The club still had no home ground so the next game against a combined team from Rome was played at the American School playing field in Milan. Later in 1982 Euratom ventured as far as Rome to win a famous victory against the champions of the Rome league, the Villa Doria Pamphilli C.C..  1982 also saw the first game against the European School Varese, a fixture which never became a regular event in itself but which eventually led to the foundation of the E.S.V. C.C. & the development of the E.C.C. junior section. 

   By 1983 the club had negotiated use of the “Le Bettole” racecourse in Varese for its home games & this was to be the site of a good-natured thrashing from the New Zealand Ambassadors on world tour. That year also saw Euratom win the first edition of the Italian Championship in Rome against Spes Travel C.C.. In 1984 the club was forced to move to a small soccer pitch in nearby Ranco where on a bitterly cold & wet Autumn day ECC claimed another National title against the Roman champions. 1985 then turned out to be probably the club's most successful season so far, losing only to a strong Geneva C.C.  side & to the Castle Rising club from near King's Lynn. The A.I.C. Championship was won again but the highlight of the year was undoubtedly the win over the highly-rated Luxembourg Optimists.  By 1986 the club’s reputation had spread & Euratom was invited to the Upper Engadine to participate in the Lyceum Alpinum’s Annual Cricket Festival in Zuoz. To be placed third out of eight strong teams was an exceptional result & Euratom went on to win the A.I.C. Championship for a fourth successive year, this time beating Roma C.C. in the final in Bologna.

  During this period Andy Rice, Jerry Wells, John Powell & Dai Berry all represented Italy on three national tours to Britain.

  Exclusion from the championship in 1987 changed little for the club & during that year E.C.C. again beat its Italian opponents & lost to the Swiss ones, including C.E.R.N., Basel & Bern. By the following year the players seemed to have lost some of their competitive spirit, although the standard of cricket being played was undoubtedly higher than ever. New friends were made at the Zuoz Festival, whereas curry & cricket were the order of the day on a trip to Vienna as guests of Sushil Vadehra's Five Continents C.C..  Basel & Florence also visited us at Ranco but the increasingly cramped conditions there forced the club to move to the new sports stadium in Ispra.  1989 then saw some of the best E.C.C. performances ever, including wins over F.C.C.C. Vienna & the Amsterdam Hippos & a narrow defeat against the Lyceum Alpinum in the final of the Zuoz Festival.

 The early '90s saw the club settle into a circuit of fixtures with the clubs in Milan & Turin area, plus the usual sprinkling of touring sides from Munich, Vienna or Switzerland & trips to Monte Carlo & Cabris. Close relationships were established with the Idle club in Lodi & Euratom also supplied material assistance to fledgling club Ivrea & to Como whom Dai Berry both coached & captained.  July 1992 also saw the club's first tour to Britain, playing a series of matches around the Yeovil area with an unexpected degree of success. 

In 1993 E.C.C. moved to the secluded Taino Sports Ground. The improved playing conditions & friendly relationship with the local football club seemed to inspire new enthusiasm in the players & the pleasant surroundings saw more families attending the games again.  But, with a relatively small influx of new players in the mid-90's & several of the original "hard core" starting to fall by the wayside, some of the performances started to look a bit laboured, especially in the bowling department. Then the departure of founding President Jerry Wells & a few other key players, combined with a whole series of games being rained off, saw the end of an era & the club sank into the doldrums for a few seasons. 

  Rejuvenation came in 1998 from several unexpected sources.

Firstly the renamed Italian Cricket Federation, now recognised by the I.C.C. & C.O.N.I., began to promote junior cricket at all levels. Thus Chris Coldwell from the European School started to organise regular weekly nets for a group of  Under-13s who then performed creditably at the first ever tournament at national level that Autumn in Bologna. By the following year the group had grown so much as to necessitate the official foundation of the E.S.V. C.C. to allow all the players to participate in games. That year the two teams flew to Catania at Autumn half-term with a large group of supporters. To the spectacular backdrop of an erupting, snow-covered Mount Etna & a gangland shoot-out, both teams played exceptionally well to reap the rewards of regular practice & good coaching. In 2000 the tournament moved to Rome & despite two more good performances the results reflected the improved standard of junior cricket all over Italy. Then in 2001 a preliminary round was introduced to the competition. Euratom hosted this Northern Group tournament at Taino in early October with both the E.C.C. & E.S.V. C.C. teams qualifying for the final in Rome. After a long bus trip, the boys played an excellent week-end's cricket with E.C.C. losing narrowly in the final to traditional rivals Capannelle C.C. & the European School surprising many of their opposition with the standard of their play. The spectators were then treated to the sight of the two Ispra teams push-starting their 40-seater coach which had developed a flat battery! 

 With the Junior Section up and running, all that was needed was a shot in the arm for the First XI! This came about when an unlikely series of events suddenly produced a group of talented Sri Lankan players. Overnight the bowling attack was revitalised & for once it was our batsmen who were setting the records. Reinforcements also appeared in the form of several South Africans who were working locally on a helicopter project, boosting the ever increasing contingent of non-JRC employees playing for the club. 

 The 1999 seaason was thus highly successful & although many of the games in 2000 were washed out, ECC looked to field its strongest team ever in 2001.The fixture list was accordingly strengthened to include several touring sides from Holland, Britain, France & Switzerland. For the first time some of these "Home" fixtures would be played at Lodi for logistical reasons. As it turned out, a combination of terrible weather & an unforeseeable player shortage at critical moments meant that 2001 again proved to be a lean season when the 1st XI played very little cricket. Two highlights though were the opening game against a team from Surinam & the visit by the St.Andrew's Club from London who only scraped home against E.C.C. through the presence of a couple of Geordie "ringers".

Despite the problems of the previous couple of years, enthusiasm still ran high in Ispra under the guidance of new President, Martyn Dowell. The arrival of several good, new players to boost the ranks led to high expectations for the 2002 season. The increased number of fixtures was maintained & a trip to Grasse at the beginning of June to play the  Cabris Goats  was preferred to  participation in the Zuoz Festival.  In May a strong First XI just lost a great game against the Groenland touring side from Holland & the season was rounded off at the end of September with the traditional trip to Nice to play Monte Carlo C.C. at their Levens ground. 

  "Man-of-the Match" awards had started to appear in the Match Reports & “Mario Mallard” continued to flutter from one hapless batsman to the next. But 2002 also saw the inauguration of a new award, the "Golden Banana”, made on a match-to-match basis for the most inept performance by an E.C.C. player. At the end of its inaugural season this magnificent trophy, fit to grace any mantle-piece, rather surprisingly found its way into the hands of South African superstar Shalan Chetty amidst muttering of match-fixing amongst some of the older members. 

Mention must also be made of three ECC stalwarts who had sadly passed away during this period, Mike Ward, Ray Allardyce & John Powell. John in particular was E.C.C.'s outstanding player over the years & in recent times had also been its Captain. In Spring 2001 John finally lost his struggle with cancer & is sadly missed.  Thus on the last Saturday in July 2002 former ECC President, Jerry Wells brought his Wethersfield club from Essex to play a John Powell Memorial game at Taino  against a team of Euratom's "Golden Oldies".  The old-timers performed creditably well against their British opposition & the occasion was suitably rounded-off by some moving speeches & an excellent dinner together.

 At Junior level the logical shift from six-a-side to eight-a-side for national tournaments necessitated the re-assimilation of the European School players into the E.C.C. so that the Ispra club would be able to field teams for the first time in both the Under-13 & Under-15 age groups. The two strong squads both benefited from a week's coaching in March from I.C.C. Regional Development Officer Richard O'Sullivan. Two of the Under-15 players also made appearances in the First XI during the season, with Jamie Speed putting in a remarkable bowling performance against the Scaligero club in Verona & David Coldwell out-bowling his father & coach Chris in the game against Idle.

 Euratom again hosted the Under-13 Finals at Taino in early July in a round-robin tournament against the winners of the Bologna, Rome & Sicily groups. Torrential rain unfortunately ruled out any play on the Saturday, meaning an early start for all concerned on the Sunday morning on a pitch resembling a steaming, primordial swamp. The Euratom lads then pulled out some exceptional efforts all round to finally take their long overdue place as National Champions. Four of this team, Matthew Kilroy, Luke Jackson, Kristof Starost & Stephen Starost went on to represent Italy in the European Championships with Stephen selected as National Captain. At Under-15 level though, the competition was stronger than ever. In the qualifying tournament in late September ECC first beat both Trentino C.C. & local rivals Brera C.C. in some nail-biting 15-over games. But then the finals at the Rastignano Oval, just south of Bologna, against a strong Capannelle team proved too stern a task for the Ispra squad, especially in the absence of opening batsman & wicket-keeper Darragh Connolly who had recently broken an arm. But in the end manager Chris Coldwell's "everyone gets a game" policy proved to be justified when in the last game of the tournament  Tom Finetto & Zac Cole produced some outstanding performances to beat the talented Pianoro team & earn themselves the Runners-Up place. 

In 2003 Graham Starost took over as President from fellow tyke  Martyn Dowell who was retiring to umpire in the West Yorkshire league. It proved to be an exciting season with some new players arriving at the J.R.C. Ispra & with the inception of a new “friendly” league competition for the clubs in north-west Italy. The two major clubs in Lombardy, Milan & Euratom, were involved in a league cricket together for the first time since they had both dropped out of the Italian Championship in the mid-80s. The Presidents’ Cup, as the league came to be known, consisted of a series of 40-over games with most of the other clubs in the area, Trentino, Scaligero from Verona & the Idle club in Lodi. Despite an early victory against Idle, Euratom then took an unexpected beating from Scaligero’s rather quick, young Sri Lankans. Trentino were forced to withdraw from the league due to their Italian Championship commitments but then ECC were proud to inaugurate their new Ispra Cricket Ground with their clash with the “auld enemy” Milan. Milan won that game by 3 wickets but it looked to be the start of a new lease of life for the ECC. The “La Betulla” stables were an idyllic setting for a cricket pitch & the club had negotiated use of a large paddock for its games. With the mat laid for once on bare earth rather than grass, the pitch played quite well, although the rather rough outfield was to cause the occasional casualty & a large bruise between the eyebrows came to be known as a “Starost”. That season the E.C.C. fixture list also included a game against the Monte Carlo club, a first encounter with the new Kingsgrove club in Milan & an experimental trip as a representative Lombardy side to Grasse to play the formidable Cabris Goats. At the end of August the club's six-a-side enthusiasts also trecked up to Trento for the annual Trentino Sixes festival.

The Under-15s did well to qualify for the National Finals in Bologna in early July & David Coldwell & Stephen Starost were both selected for the Italian U-15 team to play in the European Championships in Bordeaux in early August.  Also the young but now experienced U-13 squad successfully defended their title as National Champions in their competition in October, largely due to the contribution of talented all-rounder Oliver Makin.

Thus Euratom entered 2004 with high hopes, a good player base & a nice ground.  Apart from the usual friendly fixtures & its Presidents’ Cup commitments, the club entered with confidence the Under 17, Under 15 & Under 13 competitions as well as the new First XI Serie B Championship, the Italian Federation’s first national competition with no restriction on foreign players.  

In May the Under 17 squad, which included some very young players, put up a very creditable performance at the National Finals held at the Gallicano Club near Monte Prenestini, but were predictably outplayed by strong teams from both Pianoro & Capannelle. In their competition the Under 15s beat a weak Bologna team but then just lost to the experienced Pianoro. 

The First XI 2004 season started with narrow defeats by Milan & Scaligero at the ICG. But unfortunately, despite the high hopes that had been held for the new ground, it soon became obvious that skitty Arab stallions were not compatible with flying red leather & the Euratom zingari were forced to up stumps & return to their former home in the woods at Taino.  Strangely the First XI continued to struggle in the Serie B all season. The highlights  of the year though were undoubtedly the visit to Taino by the GWR Cavaliers, who fielded 9 un-related Patels, & the ECC return trip to Wethersfield in Essex to play the second edition of the John Powell trophy. In this game Euratom were again just outgunned by the locals despite valiant efforts from many of the ECC former players & guests, who included Roddy Gibson, Trevor Walton, Tony Melvin, Graham Pasley, Ian Weitzel, Moreno Dalla Val, Rhys Berry & Bob Elston.  Surprisingly the Ispresi seemed to play better on the Sunday despite a night sampling real ale in a medieval barn.

In the Autumn the First XI managed just one more game, which they contrived to lose at the Radish ground in Lodi from a strong position against Idle C.C.. Disappointingly Monte Carlo were then forced to call off the traditional end-of-season fixture in Nice, which meant that for the adults the season fizzled out inconclusively.

Fortunately though the Under 13s had continued their winning habit with another successful defence of their National Title in July, with the result that four players, Kristof & Harry Starost, Kyle Berry & Murtaza Abbas Shamsi, were all selected to play for the Italian National team in the European Championships in Gibraltar.  Gareth Berry was also selected as travelling reserve. 

With the proposed expansion of the Serie B competition in 2005 & in view of the season’s poor results, the winter of 2004 saw protracted negotiations between Euratom & the Idle club with a view to fielding a stronger combined side in the First XI championship. At the end of the day though Idle decided, probably quite rightly, against the merger.  Despite player resources which now seemed quite meagre, ECC decided to sign up anyway for the Serie B. They say that fortune favours the brave & out of the blue the club was unexpectedly contacted by a large group of talented Pakistani players. Added to the existing contingent of Sri Lankans & a couple of new recruits from the JRC, the prospects for a successful season suddenly looked much better.  At Junior level the club had a pool of youngish players & decided to forgo the Under 17 competition, limiting itself to playing in the Under 13s & Under 15s.

The Under 15s beat Pianoro in the preliminary round to qualify for the National Finals which were then held in July near Tione di Trento. With none of its players over 13 & some only 10, the young team did well to gain one victory over the Roman champions Lazio, giving them third place overall in the national championship of ten teams.  From this tournament Kristof Starost was chosen to Captain the Italian National team in the European Under 15 Championships to be held in August.

On the basis of this performance the Under 13 squad also had high hopes of retaining its National title at the Capannelle racecourse in Rome in October.  However at that tournament they were to face some stiff opposition. Kristof & Harry Starost produced some miraculous bowling for Ispra to qualify from their group & then to win their semi-final against a team of Bangladeshis from Bologna, one of whom had scored a century in the previous 15-over game! Then in the final Euratom looked to be on course for another victory but some tight bowling at the death from Capannelle’s guest player Jakub Peret was enough to see the Roman team scrape home by a few runs.  

The First XI, in spite of its abundance of newly-acquired talent, had a surprisingly disappointing season. Batting collapses in winning situations were still all too frequent & the team encountered to its cost some very competitive umpiring in the Serie B games. This said, the standard of cricket in what had become a virtually Asian-dominated competition was very high & Euratom did well to gain the few league points that they did.  Perhaps the best fought battle was the game in Goito against newcomers Ayubowan Mantova, a game which in the end was abandoned in a torrential hail-storm.  

By the end of the season though many of the ECC hardcore had realised that the influx of non-JRC players was a double-edged sword & that the club was no longer providing games for the very people for whom it had been created. Reluctantly therefore in 2006 the committee decided to withdraw from the Serie B competition & to concentrate on providing cricket for its social players. Although this is a shame it could best be seen as the club settling into its rightful place in an Italian cricket scene which is developing at lightning pace. The trial year in Serie B was also positive in that it allowed the club to make many friends within the multitude of new clubs springing up in the region.  Also, if the projected Serie C tournament gets off the ground in the summer, the First XI may still be able to take part in one of the Italian Federation’s competitions.

The First XI fixture list for 2006 will include games against Milan, Idle (Lodi), CERN (Geneva), Monkswood CC from South Wales & almost certainly some “friendlies” against the Serie B sides in Lombardy. Much of the rest of the time will be spent coaching & running the Under 13s & Under 15s who will again take part in their respective national competitions.

to be continued…….

Any sides interested in organising a game with E.C.C. in 2006 should contact Fixture Secretary Dai Berry at   david.berry@cec.eu.int

   Keep up to date each season by following the match reports.

This is undoubtedly a very subjective view of our history but I appeal for leniency on the grounds that it is written by someone who has been an integral part of the club since that first day of practice in a ploughed field in Barza. My apologies for any selective memory lapses or straightforward mistakes. I have tried to be diplomatic, sometimes at the expense of detail. Any suggestions for improvement willingly accepted.

                                                                                    Dai Berry    25/12/02

1^st Revision  21/07/05

                                                                                    2^nd Revision   24/01/06