The Idle Cricket Club

The Idle Cricket Club


Idle araldica flat


Already over four centuries ago (as is demonstrated by the coat of arms reproduced here) the rampant owl on two crossed radishes associated with the motto “man is man” formed the heraldic device of a hitherto unknown group dedicated to mysterious practices, and the astonishing force of the case has incited the Idle Cricket Club to adopt the very same device.

The present club was founded in 1988 by a group of young ‘lodigiani’ [the word meaning those of Lodi] led by Paolo Riccaboni (first President and driving force of the Idle Club) and his brothers Marco and Vittorio. One or two members and players from the earliest period came from other teams, Milan and Como, and were in a position thus of having a minimum of experience; all the others went out onto the field simply through a love of adventure and the game.

The first ever match played, and obviously lost, by the Idle C.C. was on the 9th April 1989 and saw on the field (in batting order - with their personal scores in brackets) Vittorio Riccaboni (4), Marco Riccaboni (0), Uggè (0), Leonelli (0), Paolo Riccaboni (0), Banga (0), Cotta (11), Gendarini (4), Landi (0*), Paganotto (0) and Maiocchi (0).

The good health of the club after eighteen years, with three of the founding members - Vittorio Riccaboni, Marco Landi and Carlo Gendarini - still in whites, and its tremendous logistical and organisational development - we now have our own beautiful ground, a clubhouse / pavilion, we organise an international tournament and we regularly travel to away fixtures - is a testimony to the far-reaching vision of the founders.

Over the years many players have donned the club’s colours, some remaining, others obliged to leave as a result of moving elsewhere (in particular abroad) whilst others have moved on to more celebrated teams.

We would like to cite here the club’s first foreign player, David Hogarth, a sportsman famous for having practically learnt to ski in England and to play cricket in Italy, and, among the foreigners of the first hour, the fearsome Banga (instructed in Italian social life and female relationships by count Cotta).

Over the course of the years, then, and in date order, the following players, Italians and non-Italians, have arrived at the Idle Club: Steve Williams (the non-eater), David Pidgeon and Silvio Leydi (1990), Manoj Sachdev and David Blain (both at the end of 1990; David was probably the best batsman the club has ever had), Gian Carlo Attolini (1991), Stephen Osborne, Nirosha Ramanayake and Paolo Pisa (1992).

1992 is a year to be remembered. Not only did we leave the Campaccio ground for the Radish but we also won the Italian National 6 a-side Championship at Cortina, and we took part, under false pretences, in the European Cricket Cup at Worksop. Meanwhile, Vittorio Riccaboni was continuing his adventures with the Italian National Team.

Kamal Kariyawasam, Andrea de Vecchi and Hans W. Knüpfer joined us in 1993, Dilum Ramanayake, Robert Hasson, Massimo Boiocchi and Giovanni Torti in 1994 (along with the new astraturf pitch) and then John Skibinski (1995) and Damith Wellawattha and Naseer Kithcill (1996).

In that year, 1996, the club decided to withdraw from the the Italian Cricket Federation. It was a risky decision due to finding enought fixtures outside of the federation, but by the end of the year even the most doubtful had to change their minds. In the following year, almost as a wish to cement as much the internal relations within the club as the presence of the team on its own ground, we acquired and erected the pavilion. Now we were really a cricket club.

1996 also saw the first organising steps of the “Golden Duck”, an international 8 a-side tournament that the Idle C.C. organised out of nothing and which over the years would become a fixture not to be missed for many European teams.

New arrivals picked up again: Andrea Tassi (1997), Graham Kelsey, Philip Sanders, Peter Rapps, Luigi Rosa and Mario Martinoli (1999) reinforced the team and helped to fill up the gaps left by those who had departed.

The new millennium, as well as consolidating the competitive and friendly spirit which by now bound all the players, old and new, together, presented us with Sebastian Galperti (2001), Tommy Svensson (2002), Sandeep "Sunny" Singh and Adam Grapes (2003), Daniele Cancellieri (2004) and Lingendren "Raj" Rajendren (2005). In 2006, after some years outside the fold, Damith Wellawatta and Stephen Osborne returned and Dusantha Wickramaratne and Shanta Smararasinghe also joined us.

Many others have played with us, some for a match or two, some rather more, especially on our travels. All have become friends. To all of them a big ‘thank you’.

(traduzioni di Graham Kelsey)






E-mail: info@idlecricketclub.org