A double tour in 1930

On September 27, 1929, the Flamingo board made a bold decision. The following year, no fewer than two teams would travel to England, a novelty that caused a lot of nervousness. Many predicted a complete fiasco for the B-team, and it seemed that the latter prophecy would come true, because after an initial stampede it rained cancellations.

Nevertheless, on August 7, 1930, 22 Flamingos were able to embark from Vlissingen to sail with their own flag over a turbulent sea to England. The day after, everyone had arrived at their starting location and a telephone connection was established between the Eastcliffe Hotel in Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex) and the Officer's Mess of 'The Black Watch' in Colchester to share each other's findings. The B-team had already won in Frinton-on-Sea, where secretary, Hugo van Manen noted that the opposition could be described as very weak. The A-cracks had fared less well. They lost to the Colchester garrison.

Contrary to the not very high expectations, especially the B-team did not perform badly in the following days (two wins, three draws and two losses). The quality often rose far above itself. According to Van Manen, this was mainly due to the excellent captaincy of Guus Hamburger. He turned a mediocre combination on paper into a formidable team, a heterogeneous set of cricketers into a harmonious whole. His players were very grateful to him and showed it. Van Manen was to continue leading Flamingo teams for many years to come.

The A tour also went very smoothly. Led by Tonny de Beus, the young team played enthusiastically against generally strong opponents. Van Manen: "A revelation was the success of the bowlers, both individually and collectively. The fast bowlers Jhr. W. van den Bosch and R. Schill certainly did more on the usually soft wickets than was expected of them, but Glerum and in the end De Beus also filled the gap in a dignified manner, caused by the failure of Sodderland and Jansen and the sickness of Koeleman.”

At the end of the tours, a joint visit was paid to the fifth Test Match between England and Australia at The Oval. As guests of the Surrey board, the Flamingos enjoyed, from the Pavilion, the decisive battle for The Ashes won by the Aussies led by Bill Woodfull. It was the end of a tour that many participants would remember for a very long time.