While avoiding doom scrolling by instead browsing the Cricket Archive miscellaneous matches, I noticed that Essex played France at Versailles in 1991 for David East's benefit. Does anyone know/ remember anything about the game. And where in Versailles was it played? It looks like a full Essex side and no doubt everyone had a good time, but there must be a story behind this.
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France v Essex
Essex in France 1991 (DE East Benefit match)
Venue Versailles on 17th June 1991 (40-over match)
Balls per over 6
Toss Essex won the toss and decided to bat
Result Essex won by 70 runs
Umpires P Brihaye, BJ Meyer
Essex innings Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S-Rate
*GA Gooch c Mohammad Hafiz b Sultan Shazada 34
JP Stephenson c Rogers b A Karunanayake 8
N Hussain c Payne b Sultan Shazada 6
+DE East c S Karunanayake b Karunaratne 26
DR Pringle c Mohammad Hafiz b Rogers 5
NA Foster c Payne b Ebert 61
MA Garnham c Ebert b Brumant 11
TD Topley st Payne b Brumant 1
SJW Andrew run out 7
JH Childs not out 5
PM Such b Brumant 0
Extras (1 b, 3 lb, 1 nb, 12 w) 17
Total (all out, 38.3 overs) 181
Fall of wickets:
1-42, 2-53, 3-57, 4-68, 5-118, 6-152, 7-163, 8-170, 9-180, 10-181 (38.3 ov)
France bowling Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Wides No-Balls S-Rate Econ
Ebert 7 0 42 1 1 1 42.00 6.00
Hewitt 4 0 17 0 1 - - 4.25
A Karunanayake 8 0 27 1 - - 48.00 3.38
Sultan Shazada 2 0 11 2 8 - 6.00 5.50
Rogers 6 1 16 1 - - 36.00 2.67
Brumant 7.3 0 29 3 1 - 15.00 3.87
Karunaratne 4 0 35 1 1 - 24.00 8.75
France innings Runs Balls Mins 4s 6s S-Rate
Mohammad Hafiz c East b Andrew 0
S Karunanayake b Andrew 8
A Hall c Gooch b Foster 22
*SM Hewitt lbw b Stephenson 6
Sultan Shazada b Andrew 27
PR Rogers b Stephenson 0
+JVN Payne b Childs 7
A Karunanayake c Such b Childs 8
V Karunaratne c East b Gooch 25
LT Brumant not out 1
J Ebert c Childs b Topley 0
Extras (1 lb, 5 nb, 1 w) 7
Total (all out, 35 overs) 111
Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-26, 3-39, 4-41, 5-42, 6-51, 7-61, 8-104, 9-110, 10-111 (35 ov)
Essex bowling Overs Mdns Runs Wkts Wides No-Balls S-Rate Econ
Andrew 8 0 29 3 - 4 16.00 3.62
Pringle 4 0 16 0 - 1 - 4.00
Stephenson 6 4 4 2 - - 18.00 0.67
Foster 2 0 7 1 1 - 12.00 3.50
Childs 7 2 24 2 - - 21.00 3.43
Such 5 0 20 0 - - - 4.00
Gooch 2 0 9 1 - - 12.00 4.50
Topley 1 0 1 1 - - 6.00 1.00
