OCs continue to dream in Florida

Following seven days acclimatising in New York, the OCCC landed in Florida full of energy and with high hopes of finally realising the dream of winning the prestigious Sarasota International six-a-side tournament.

Rob Merry and Matt Crump joined the squad direct from London and the Wednesday was spent boating before sunset drinks and the infamous “Turkey Trott” Bar Crawl. This year’s kit included NFL warm-up tops, socks, sunglasses and above all OCCC branded bottle openers to be handed out all over America.

Early on Thursday we took the field against the New York Police Department and amassed 75 for 1 in 5 overs before restricting the NYPD to 55 and claiming our first victory. The win was enhanced by the OCCC’s first ever NFL style entry on to the field with the announcer calling individuals out.

For the first time and in a somewhat controversial manner Eds Copleston decided we should use the time in between games for a 10-over warm up fixture against a group C side – same result a comprehensive victory. The Greenies proved a tougher opposition as we faltered with the bat early on and only managed 55 runs which was never enough against a quality side. The evening was spent at the traditional thanksgiving venue of the exclusive Bijou Café as Rick Johnson joined the tour as manager.

Friday morning and the Sussex Sharks appeared eager to beat their fellow countrymen but again Copleston won the toss and batted as Crump and Howard continued their form we made the highest score of the tournament (85) and won by a comfortable margin. We secured our place in the semis with another commanding performance against Sarasota Marlins scoring 65 to the opponents 50.  A celebratory champagne meal at the pacific rim ensued before a day boating around for a scene to perform the tour photoshoot.

This year’s gala dinner saw the unveiling of the new OCCC reversible DJ’s, extravagant dancing and bidding for every prize in the auction. A house party ensued before the side gathered for finals day and a familiar opposition – Houston.

Houston batted with confidence early on but we kept ourselves in the game with some excellent fielding – leaving us 124 to win off 10 overs. Crump (35) and Howard (30) got the crowd’s favorite off to a solid start and we were up with the rate before a flurry of wickets left Watkinson and Copleston needing 40 off the last two overs. Watkinson rolled back the years with some excellent timing as before falling to Gatting and we were left needing 15 off three balls.

Copleston hit the first ball for 6, the next for 4 and needing 6 to win off the last threw some controversial words towards Gatting, halting the game for a while (is anyone remotely surprised that DEMG would sledge an Ashes-winning captain). We failed to win as the last ball was missed (by the aforementioned Copleston who for once fails to give himself a namecheck) but we had given our best against a strong Houston side which we had beaten in every department off the pitch.

Another fun tour had and thank you to the Parry’s once again for their hospitality. We have 12 months to launch the next campaign and above all create some more outrageous OCCC kit.

See y’all next year

Eds Copleston