The tour began on Friday 2nd March with John Fry leading Oropesa & Sutton in a friendly match against a local side, Forty Club of Spain at the Columbus Oval, around a back-drop of mountains situated on the outskirts of Benidorm.
With temperatures around 25 degrees Celcius Oropesa & Sutton were thankful to win the toss and bat first on the artificial surface. John Lambe and Dave Mitchell opened for Oropesa & Sutton and both looked at ease in the opening few overs, with John Lambe using his experiences from last year's tour by adjusting his technique well on the hard surface. He played some great drives through both the offside and onside as he and fellow opener Dave Mitchell began to tear into the homeside's opening bowlers of J.Braithwaite and W.Curness. Lambe, though did enjoy some luck as he was twice put down by the close in fielders off the unlucky W.Curness. The two openers put on 91 runs for the first wicket in just over 15 overs and were looking well set, until Curness finally broke through when he had Dave Mitchell (35) caught behined. The home side sprung to life from this dismissal and first change bowler G.Evans (2-31) got some seam movement on the surface and firstly dismissed Sam Seadon, who lobbed a delivery up into the hands of Braithaite at mid-on and then three balls later got through the defences of Dave Mercer as both batsmen fell without scoring. Suddenly Oropesa & Sutton found themselves at 92 for 3 off 16 overs and somewhat on the backfoot, but John Lambe kept Oropesa & Sutton ticking over with a fine array of shots as he eased past his fifty in some style. He was supported by Dave Lewis (24) who looked in top form until he was bowled by Braithwaite (2/54) and then Lambe(79), who after crashing two consecutive four's, was dismissed after playing on from J.Braithwaite. After these quick dismissals, skipper J.Fry played a real responsible and timely innings for the tourists as he led Oropesa & Sutton through the last 15 overs with some exquisite shots as he raced to a half century. He was given excellent support by batsman/keeper, Russell Coombe as they put on 60 runs for the seventh wicket. When J.Fry was out stumped off the last ball of the bowling of J.Braithwaite (2/54) , Oropesa & Sutton declared their innings on a rather average score of 224 for 6 after 39.5 overs.

The Forty Club of Spain in reply made a real disastrous start, from which they never really recovered. Both openers C.Doveston and W.Curness went for ducks as they fell in quick succession. C.Doveston was clean bowled from a nippy delivery from N.Clark and W.Curness edged one into slip off C.Quinton. P.Stansfield got the home side off and running, until he was trapped LBW by N.Clark for just 12 and then the miserly C.Quinton(2/3) struck again bowling C.Cooper for nought, making it three ducks on the home side's score sheet. As the hot Spanish sun gazed down, Forty Club of Spain were going down quicker at 20 for 4 in just the ninth over. The Forty Club batsmen were finding the combination bowling of N.Clark and C.Quinton too much to handle and things never really eased up when P.Diaper, D.Lewis and D.Mercer bowled some excellent bowling spells and almost ripped through the middle order.
G.Evans (27) had a brief flurry before he was caught by Chris Moore as wickets kept on falling and Forty Club were starring at a heavy defeat. But from 55 for 7 and into the last hour of play, the home side began to fight out a successful rear guard action as Oropesa & Sutton threw everything at them, with Sam Seadon, Nick Clark and Dave Mitchell failing to knock over the last few batsmen. J.Braithwaite finished with a respectable 43 not out, as the match tamely finished in a draw with the home-side closing on 112/7.

Sat 3rd Mar

Oropesa & Sutton 272/6
Sporting Alfas 268/9

Although a little disappointed in not getting their tour off to a winning start, Oropesa & Sutton were relatively satisfied with their first match performance and headed into the all important Cup match on Sat 3rd March versus Sporting Alfas high in confidence and expectation.
The warm and sunny Spanish weather continued around the resort of Albir, and a small partisan crowd settled around the Columbus Oval full of anticipation of an exciting encounter and they were not to be disappointed. John Lambe was delighted to win the toss and once again Oropesa & Sutton chose to bat first in the blazing Spanish sunshine.
After last year's close low-scoring encounter, Oropesa & Sutton knew they had to make a solid start and post a big total for Alfas to chase down and the tourists did just that with skipper John Lambe leading the way with the bat.
He was the backbone of the innings and continued his good form in Spain with another good batting dispaly.The Alfas opening bowlers were a little wayard, with Sam Lupson bowling alot of wides and no-balls, however the junior Spanniard captain found away through Dave Mitchell's defences with a ball that nipped back and suprised the other Oropesa & Sutton opener. J.Lambe though continued from the previous day and grew in confidence every ball, with his delightful slog-sweep shots, a la Mal Loye style and also with his punchy firm drives as he went onto reach his second consecutive fifty of the tour. Sam Seadon made up from the previous day as he carved out an impressive 39 runs at a healthy rate as he and Lambe put on exactly 100 runs for the first wicket. The introduction of Alfas leg-spinner G.Crompton proved to be a handful as Oropesa & Sutton found him more of a different proposition to the other bowlers who were dispathced with some ease around the Columbus Oval. The leg-spinner was unfortunate not to grab a few wickets early on as the Oropesa & Sutton pair escaped with some outside edges. He did though have both S.Seadon (39) and D.Lewis (20) both stumped by keeper A.Shafiq as they failed to read his wrong-uns. J.Lambe just began to explode with some aggressive strokeplay, but he just began to loose concentration in the intense Spannish heat and he was stumped just 6 runs short of a deserved century trying to blast away the medium pacer Grindy(3/52) who enjoyed a good comeback. The Oropesa & Sutton batsmen continued to be positive and inventive in their scoring, with D.Mercer hitting a sparkling 34 from 40 balls and Russell Coombe a dashing 30 runs. With wickets falling regularly during the last 15 overs, the tourists built some useful partnerships in-between and reached 272 for 7 off their 40 overs, which would have satisfied skipper John Lambe.

The Alfas innings in reply mirrored Oropesa & Sutton's innings with one player acting as the rock and being supported with useful contributions down the order. After Oropesa & Sutton made a good start with the hard toiling N.Clark getting P.Pennick caught in the slips by J.Lambe, Alfas began to take control and steadily see off the opening pair of Oropesa & Sutton opening bowler's S.Seadon and N.Clark. Oropesa & Sutton did miss some chances in the field with A.Shafiq being dropped three times, as Oropesa & Sutton made life struggled in the sweltering hot conditions. The Alfas opener A.Safiq made Oropesa & Sutton pay for their mistakes as he breezed past his fifty in style with some cracking sixes and boundaries.

He and G.Compton, who proved to be just as effective with the bat as the ball put on 164 run partnership and Alfas were in complete control at 187 for 1 off 26 overs. The match though then began to change back into Oropesa & Sutton's favour as quick wickets once again began to fall easily. After a shaky start P.Whightman(3/52) tamed the Alfas pair and he was rewarded as he got G.Compton (68), who was well caught by Sam Seadon. Alfas then began to panic and Sam Seadon got back into his bowling stride when A.Shafiq edged behined after just reaching his century. It was a great knock by the Pakistanian, who hit an incredible 9 fours and sixes in his knock of 103.

After getting the dangerman out, Oropesa & Sutton were even more delighted when Seadon had G.Howe out for LBW first ball from a delievery which nipped back nicely. He was denied a hat-trick though as D.Climent survived Seadon's next ball, only to go very shortly as P.Whightman struck again bowling D.Climent. Oropesa & Sutton were on a roll and now looking firm favourites as Alfas were tottering at 201 for 5 off 30 overs. The match though then began to sway from one side to the other, with Alfas' Grindy determined to guide his team home. The boundaries were cut down as Oropesa & Sutton fielded like tigers in the late afternoon Spanish sunshine. Alfas lost wickets at regular intervals as Oropesa & Sutton bowled sensibly towards the end as the run-rate got big on the home side. The final 3 overs though saw Alfas eventually find some boundaries through C.Grindy, as Alfas looked to creap home at the final hurdle. D.Mitchell had to bowl the last over with Alfas needing 10 runs to win. S.Lewis was clean bowled for four and then C.Grindy(39 not out) lost strike and Alfas needed 4 runs to win off the last ball. D.Mitchell bowled and the ball flew through to keeper Russell Coombe and Oropesa & Sutton had sealed the win and retained the Valencian Cup. Sporting Alfas closed on a highly respectable 268 for 9 and Oropesa & Sutton Skipper John Lambe was highly commendable of his players and the hosts for playing their part in a truly great match.

Sun 4th Mar

Oropesa & Sutton 170 all out
Sporting Alfas XI 171 for 9

The final Sunday match was again played in hot and summer like conditions and Oropesa & Sutton selected a side mainly from the social players of the party for a 12-a side friendly against Sporting Alfas Sunday XI.
Oropesa & Sutton captain Matt Leweis chose to bat and he opened with P.Liddiard. Both M.Lewis and C.Moores fell cheaply, but P.Liddiard (18) and S.Barry (28) battled away and steadied the ship for the tourists. The Alfas bowling proved to be steady and they regularly chipped away and got regular wickets. Oropesa & Sutton's tailenders, C.Quinton (28) and D.Mercer (28) lifted Oropesa & Sutton from a lowly 122 for 8 to a more respectable, but yet still below par score of 170 all out off 40 overs.
Oropesa & Sutton bowled superbly in reply, with P.Wightman, who at one stage bowled 4 consecutive maiden overs (1/16) and S.Elliot (1/28) getting both openers respectably with a menacing line and length. S.Elliot getting the dangerous A.Safique, who played in the previous day's cup match caught behined, with keeper S.Barry taking a tidy catch down the leg side. Alfas began to break away after the openers finished their spells, but P.Diaper (3/24) who was the pick of the other Oropesa & Sutton bowlers pinned Alfas back down and had R.Safique brilliantly taken at backward sqaure leg by S.Elliot. The match then tiltled from one side to the other, with Oropesa & Sutton dropping some chances in the field, but S.Barnes (2/53) and C.Quinton (2/40) came back well to knock over the lower order cheaply. Alfas, though kept their nerve and slowly kept chipping away in the run chase and made it home by one wicket, with last-man Packiam hitting the winning runs with a boundary off the second ball of the last over. The match and the tour ended on a loosing note, but both sides, like they had all tour played the game in a brilliant spirit.

Paul Eldridge