Sarasota semi-final heartache

The third jaunt by the OCCC to the Sarasota International Six-a-Side festival ended, as in the 1999, in semi-final defeat. But again (and mystifyingly) we won many friends off the pitch and funded Cheetahs nightclub's operating costs for another twelve months.

For the first time we entered two sides - one in the main competition and one in the social league - and also brought an increasing number of supporters. We also introduced coloured kit to the Americans, chosing to play in a fetching navy blue strip with orange hats.

The first team lost just one of their group matches, defeating the fancied Houston side for the second year running and also seeing off last year's winners, British Airways. In the end we won our qualifying group by the narrowest of margins.

John McDermott sings My Way during the annual Festival dinner
In the semi-final we were again slightly the worse for wear after a particularly evil drinking session at the Festival dinner and never quite scored enough runs to challenge a strong Tornoto side.

Nick Read was again the pick of the batsmen, although Watkinson and Chetwode both showed signs of their big-hitting abilities. With the ball Chetwode was as parsimonious as ever, although in one match he managed to concede 21 runs from his over.

The social side were on paper probably the strongest in the group but we suffered from kit difficulties (Trevett opting to play in boat shoes after losing all his luggage) and the captain's rather strange agreement to a 7.30am start for one of the matches (we had to wait for dawn to break before we could start).

Off the field Nick Whitfield travelled in hope but failed to play a match after his cruciate ligament injury flared up whenever starting times were mentioned; he won an award for visiting Cheetahs on ever day throughout the tour.

The behaviour was generally good, although there was too much shopping done in many peoples' opinion, too little drinking and too long spent in burger bars and Denny's. Nigel Clark's behaviour on the outward journey leaves little reason to believe that he will make it to Australia without being kicked-off the flight.

First Team: Henry Watkinson (capt), Steve Bailey, Rick Johnson, Nick Read, Michael Chetwode, Richard Thomas.

Second Team: Will Bond (capt), Tom Trevett, Tim MacKenzie, Nigel Clark, Martin Williamson, ANO.