802/09/08 The season so far and so much still to look forward. People's opinions were divided when the LCA increased to eight teams, some people thought quantity would reduce the quality. Myself, as Chairman, felt the increase in the number of teams would give more people more of an opportunity to play the wonderful game of cricket on the island. One thing that cannot be denied is that the league this year has been the most competitive since the first Championship was contested back in 2005. With the exception of Lanzarote CC all the other clubs have beaten, or been beaten, by their rivals. This has gone on throughtout the season starting with the Fisherman's beating Playa Blanca who went on to win against Los Diablos who in turn beat the Fisherman's before they (The Fisherman's) beat St George´s who then defeated Playa Blanca. Even the introduction of the CHB Colts has had positives come out of every match, with two of the lads scoring fifties this season,in all but two of their games they have managed to bat all of their alloted 30 overs and they have opening bowlers who are growing in confidence and ability to the point where one of them has been approached to join one of the adult teams next season. For me all this can only be good for the LCA and with the association sending a team to the La Manga T20 International Competition can only highlight the good work all of the club´s offices are doing and we are hoping to move upwards and onwards for a bigger and brighter future for cricket on the island of Lanzarote. We will be having a presentation and race night on 13th September at 8pm at Oceans Lanzamar in Puerto del Carmen. We will presenting the LCA Select XI players with their kit as well as making the raffle draw for the free weekend in the Costa Calero and other prizes. Come down and the boys a good send off as the first LCA touring team. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the players and umpires who have given up their free Sundays to officiate the league and cup games and hope that this will continue for some time to come.

706/08/08 Lanzarote league winners. Lanzarote CC have won the league agian this year without even playing a match. The only team that could have caught them were the Fisherman's Inn. However they lost to Los Diablos by 6 wickets which handed the League winners cup to Lanzarote for the second year running. That is not the end of the matter this season though. The competition format for 2008 is a league where every team plays each other once. The top four teams then play-off for the LCA Championship and the bottom four teams play-off for the Plate Sheild. Last season Lanzarote finished the league in top spot, unbeaten, but they couldn't continue this form into the play-offs and lost to St George's in the Championship Final. Lanzarote will now play the team that finishes 4th, with 2nd playing 3rd in the other semi final, with the two winners going head to head in the Championship final and a chance to get their name on the coverted LCA Championship Sheld. In 2005 it was Lanzarote and St George's in 2006 and 2007. Mathematicaly all teams down to 7th have still got a chance to finish in the top 4, however realisticaly three from Playa Blanca, St George's, Fisherman's and Los Diablos should be contesting for the Champioship with the one missing out sure to be favourite to win the Plate competition. Even though Playa Blanca are 2nd they could still slip out of the top four if they lose their last game against St George's and Diablos and Fisherman's win their last two games both of which are against Commitments and The Dragons. This would be a turn around of gigantic proportions as Playa Blanca's run rate is significantly greater than their rivals.

628/07/08 Tenerife's visit and cricket development in Lanzarote Last week Tenerife sent over a select team to play against Lanzarote CC and the league took advantage of their presence to put the LCA select XI for La Manga through their paces. Although Tenerife beat Lanzarote CC in the morning the select XI proved too strong for them in the afternoon and won a very competitive match by 15 runs. Looking forward to 2009 I will be talking to all the clubs in the league to get their feedback as to what might be needed to develope cricket in Lanarote. The League commitee will be meeting in the next few weeks to prepare an action plan for 2009 and beyond. There are some interesting ideas I will be putting forward including, Kwik Cricket in local schools, the introduction of two leagues with promotion and relegation, coaching and umpiring courses, as well as adopting the CE format for our league which would allow some kind of Champions competition with the winners from Lanzarote, Tenerife and mainland Spain all competing for the Spanish Champions title. If anyone is interested in umpiring or cricket coaching courses then contact me at this website or direct to my email; talbotjack@hotmail.com.

504/07/08 The La Manga Squad and the Chairman's U-Turn After consultations with certain members of the selection commitee and my family, I have decided that it will be possible for me to go to La Manga as manager and representative of the LCA. It would be remiss of me not to apologise to my Vice Chairman who was prepared to take my place and I hope he will still be joining us in La Manga. The Squad is taking shape with the original 24 being reduced to 18. This 18 have been divided into two groups of definates and probables. I must at this point that everyone who plays cricket inthe LCA is still in with a chance of making the squad and it will be like that until the end of August when we finally annouce the 15 man squad. The definates are:- Danny Bagley (capt) FCC, Des Stonier (v-capt) StGCC, Jamie, Geoff and Pete FCC, Browny and Jim StGCC, Liam and Steve PBCC, Frankie, Suki and Deepu LCC, Ian J LDCC. The Probables are:- Joe DCC, Phil A and Pete StGCC, Gary LDCC and Paul CCC. Thanks again for your support. Cheers The Chairman.

431/5/08 Challenge Cup Draw On Friday 30th May there was a fund raising evening to try and raise funds for the tour to La Manga. I would like to thank Jim and his staff at the Fisherman's for their efforts as well as everyone who came to support the event. It was a great success and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. One of the events this evening was to draw the quarterfinal matches for the knockout challenge cup. The LCA Vice Chairman, Will Spencer and Fisherman's Inn CC Chairman Jim Hammil made the draw in front of an expectant crowd. The first out of the hat were Los Diablos v Fisherman's, and then Dragon's v The Colts, the winners of these two matches will meet in the first semi final. Commitments were then draw against last year's finalists Lanzarote CC. Which left Playa Blanca v St George's. The second semi final will feature the winners of these two matches. All in all an interesting draw as it will not be a repeat of last years final as Lanzarote and St George's have been drawn on the same side of the draw. The latest news regarding La Manga Is that myself, as Chairman, will not be able to attend the end of season competition as I have family commitments on that weekend that have just come to light. However the Vice Chairman, Will Spence who is a more than adequate replacement, will represent the LCA. Although I will remain as part of the selection/organization committee. Thanks for checking out all that is happening in cricket in Lanzarote. I will be back soon with more Chairman's thoughts.

321/03/2008 Bulid up to La Manga 2008 On Thursday 20th March the LCA started their preparations for La Manga 2008 by picking 25 players to play in a friendly match on Sunday March 30th. Danny Bagley (Captain), Des Stonier (Vice Captain) and myself (Manager) decided that a match between all the possible candidates for the trip would be a good starting point. However it must been said, at this point, that every player in the league will still be considered throughout the course of the season and nothing is set in stone. There is always the possibility that new players might join the league and present players will improve and force their way into the touring side at anytime between now and September. We are hoping to start the match at 10.30am next Sunday, but the venue will not be known until early next week. After two hours of discussion the twenty-five players were selected and after a further 40 minutes the two teams were picked. The Captain's Team is made up of 3 Fisherman's, 3 Lanzarote's, 2 St George's and 1 player from the Commitments, Los Diablos, Playa Blanca and the Colt's. The team in full is:- Danny, Geoff and Jamie, FICC. Suki, Sonu, and Jacki, LCC. Browny and Pedro Pete, StGCC. Steve, PBCC. Ian J, LDCC. Rhys, CCC. Mike, CHB ColtsCC. The Vice Captain's Team is made up of 5 from St George's, 2 Lanzarote's, 2 Los Diablos, 2 Fisherman's and one each from Playa Blanca and the Commitments. The team in full is:- Des, Joe, Jim, Nathan and Phil A, StGCC. Frankie and Deepu, LCC. Craig and James, LDCC. Pete and Jim, FCC. Paul, CCC. Liam, PBCC. Good Luck to everyone involved and we will be looking for support from all the cricket community on the island to raise money for the trip. Starting with a BBQ at Lanzamar after the match on the 30th March from 3.30pm onwards, with all money raised going towards the costs of the trip. Thanks again for your support, in anticipation. Jack Talbot, LCA Chairman.

218/03/08 Old Foes at Loggerheads continued. The 2007 season also saw the introduction of the plate competition as well as the league's first official sponsors, Naturally Floors SL. It also threw up some early season surprises as St George's lost their first two games of the season to Lanzarote and Fisherman's. Los Diablos and the Dragon's made history early in the season, as well, by winning their first league games. With St George's sitting bottom of the league half way through the season it looked like their would be a new champion by the end of the season. However St George's won their last three group games to qualify for the championship play offs in 3rd place behind Lanzarote and The Fisherman's Inn. Playa Blanca, Dragons and Los Diablos were set to play for the first ever Plate Trophy. In a crucial encounter Fisherman's fell three runs short in an incredibly close match with St George's. It was a similar story in the Plate Competition as Los Diablos missed out on a final appearence in their first season, losing by just 1 run to the Dragon's. Playa Blanca went on to win their first trophy beating the Dragon's with relevant ease in the Plate Final. Lanzarote and St George's (4) met yet again in the Championship final with St George's coming out on top for the second season in a row. So the meeting last Sunday in the first 15/15 Knock Out Cup Final turned out to be their 5th meeting in a major Lanzarote Cricket Association Competition Final. However looking at the amount of talent present in the teams competiting in this season's Championship I think that both Lanzarote and St George's will find it difficult to make it a 6th meeting in this seasons final, taking place in September 2008. It would be remiss of me not to welcome two new teams for this season, The Commitments, Playa Honda and CHB Colts. I would also like to wish all 8 teams the best of luck for the coming season and that all games are competative and fair with appropriate conduct from all involved. Thanks for your support, Jack Talbot, The LCA Chairman.

117/03/08 Old Foes at loggerheads again As the Chairman of the Lanzarote Cricket Association it was with pride and pleasure that I watched two of the Associations founder members disputing the first major trophy of the season. It seems only a short while ago when a group of local workers were challenged by the only cricket club on the island, Lanzarote CC. It wasn't plesant, let me tell you, as the game was played on gravel with the wicket made by rolling out a coconut mate. How cricket ever got going as it has on the island is quite amazing, having been personally involved in the absolute hammering we recieved. But with true british grit that team kept coming back for beating after beating until the first league was formed by three teams, St George's CC, Playa Blanca CC and of course Lanzarote CC. Therefore sitting there reminiscing I got to thinking how many major finals have these teams played against each other since the forming of the first Championship in 2005. Well in the first season's Championship final Lanzarote continued thier early domination of cricket on Lanzarote by beating St George's (1). By 2006 the interest had grown and 5 teams competed for the 2nd Championship. The two new teams were The Dragons and the Fisherman's Inn. Although the new clubs performed valiantly Lanzarote and St George's (2) again featured in the end of season finale, but this time St George's came out on top. Playa Blanca showed they were developing as a team by inflicting a historic defeat when they beat Lanzarote in one of their league games. In early 2007 the first LCA cup competition ended with the two old foes facing each other, with St George's coming out on top again (3). By the start of the 2007 Championship Los Diablos entered the arena to make the total number of teams upto six.