Blaggers

We’ll be hosting a skittles evening at Babbacombe CC from 7pm on Sunday 21st February. Please come along and have some fun, and bring along other/better halves (and, of course, anyone who you think might be interested in joining!)

If you haven’t already, please bring your 2010 subs along as this will be your last chance to cash in on the free cap offer – anyone who hasn’t paid up by then will have their name removed from the members list.

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I suppose it was inevitable, after arranging my wedding in a cricket-playing country, that a match would be on the cards at some stage. After all, seven of the guests were paid-up Cavaliers, and once the likes of Kerry, Terry and Bob had been persuaded it was a good idea told they were playing we actually had a full eleven.

I wasn’t expecting The Gambia Cricket Association to field their national team against us, despite my vain attempts to convince their president that we were just a ‘friendly, social team’, but it was a real privilege to spend my first afternoon as a married man playing against them.

It was our first and probably possibly only experience of international cricket, played at the Medical Research Centre in Fajara. The pitch itself was some moth-eaten matting rolled over a strip of tarmac, and the setting was astonishing. Vultures and flycatchers watched from their perches atop boabab and acacia trees, and the Cavaliers lost the toss and were put in to bat.

The first over was a stern examination. The opening bowler was tall, quick and got good and inconsistent bounce off the matting. It took him two balls to work out I could just about keep out his full deliveries, and one more to note that I’d never seen a ball bounce much above the waist before. His fourth ball was short and banged in hard; fortunately I picked the length and fell to the floor just in time to save my face from being smashed in. I somehow managed to get off the strike next ball, and was so relieved to be at the other end for the next over that I chipped a slow delivery straight back to the bowler and was out caught-and-bowled.

I like to think the bowlers calmed down a little after that. My role in the team is very much ‘convince the opposition that we’re rubbish’, and in that sense I’d performed impeccably.

Chip was next man in and posed photogenically in ‘watching it fly to the boundary’ postures before missing a straight one that sent his middle stump cartwheeling across the scrub.

Juice-presser Alex, on his debut, looked impressive but was out shortly afterwards, though he did have the rare distinction of being one of the few Cavaliers to hit the ball hard enough to be caught. When Si was bowled shortly after a painful full-on collision with a Gambian bowler, the Cavaliers were 16-4 after four overs and in desperate need of a partnership.

Fortunately, James and Bob Fulford were next in, and proved able ship-steadiers. The umpires had little tolerance of wide deliveries, and if we got through all our overs without getting another run off the bat we’ve have been able to tear up the scorecard and just say we got a respectable 80. We needed limpets, and we got ‘em. Of the two, James was the more exuberant – all his runs coming in one glorious on-drive, the Cavaliers’ only boundary – but it was Bob that would hang around longest. After James was out, Ed ‘The Wall’ Barrow became the first Cavalier to fall to ‘commentator’s curse’, and then Terry sauntered to the crease.

Bob and Terry were terrific to watch, Bob with his permagrin and Terry with his enormous moustache that gave the impression that independence had never come to The Gambia. Bob even, on occasion, looked like he actually knew what he was doing, far more than the rest of us. Terry, at the other end, leaned languidly on his bat and only called runs when it appeared there was no other option. Between them, the score rolled onwards and upwards, and for a while it looked as if the constant stream of wides might just take us over the fifty mark.

Then Bob, finally exhausted after what must have felt like several hours in the middle, tripped outside his crease and, seemingly mortally wounded, was stumped by about three feet. It was perhaps the most heroic four I’ve ever seen. He was only upstaged by Terry, still twiddling his moustache as he battled on to a noble and unbeaten five. We had been bowled out for 48, almost half those runs coming in wides.

Tea consisted of sausage rolls, pasties and cans of pop – no, really – delivered in little tin foil containers. The Gambians were really going to town on the hospitality front. The generosity ended when we walked back out onto the pitch, however, as the opening batsmen set about our attack with gusto. James didn’t bowl too badly, but in retrospect it was a mistake to give the new ball to new boy Alex, who went for 16 in his first over (incidentally, Alex was invited to train with the Gambian team after the match, and hopes to represent the national side in the near future. Good luck to him.) Not that it would’ve made much difference: James became the Cavaliers’ first-ever international wicket taker with a plumb lbw shout, and Andy responded to a shout of ‘top of middle’ by hitting the top of leg, but we were never in the game and The Gambia made their total easily.

We continued playing for a while after, to give everyone a chance to bowl and for the Gambians to have a little slogging practice. The field was brought in to give everyone a chance of a wicket, and man-of-the-match Terry responded with a wicket. The final cameo was yet to come, though, as a young batsman tried to contemptuously slog Bryan out of the park and was clean bowled with the final ball of the day. An extraordinary finish to a match we were all honoured to play in.

Scorecard to follow, hopefully.

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There was a great turn-out for the Cavaliers’ end-of-season awards dinner, held at the Cavendish Hotel (where else) on Friday 2nd October.

The awards were kicked off with a series of mini-awards produced by Si Cahill, commemorating some of the most memorable moments of the 2009 season, ranging from Catch of the Year (Chris Hubbard’s one-handed pluck on the boundary against Budleigh Salterton) through Hosts of the Year (Shaldon, of course) to Worst Off-field Injury (Ed’s ball in the face before the Palm FM game).

We then watched the Cavaliers highlights video put together by yours truly:

And then it was time for the awards…

Clubperson of the Year

A highly competitive award, this, with nominations going to Elaine Garland (treasurer and top supporter), me (for website design and fixtures), the ‘WAFs’ (Wives and Fiancees for coming along and watching us and driving us home from the pub), the Tea Ladies (particularly Sarah and Vicky), and James, Si and Kev for their help in umpiring and scoring.

The winner, however, was introduced by video:

Champagne Moment

The Champagne Moment was definitely the win over DOE – the moments just after the winning stumping will live long in the memories of everyone who was there.

We only had one bottle of champagne Cava, though, and Chalky’s 50 against Budleigh Salterton just pipped Jonathan’s 4-12 in the game against CLS to the award.

Newcomer of the Year

Another very close call, with a number of people running very close:
Chris Lennox, who hit the first ball he ever faced for six; Sam Hollis, who started to look good batting high in the order; Jonathan Mark for his excellent leggies; and Ben Stone, who bowled and batted with real aggression.

The winner, though, was Chris Hubbard, who we all thought was tremendously unlucky not to get a wicket in his début season and looks a great opening bowling prospect for next year.

Most Improved Player

Again, this one was very close, with any of eight or nine players up for the gong. Kev certainly had a strong case with much-improved bowling and a few runs down the order, as did Sam Hollis who got better as he settled into the game.

Charles Ryder was the worthy winner. Starting the season without really knowing his role in the team, by the end of the season he looked confident at the crease, but it was his bowling that really won him the award. The Cavaliers are fortunate to now have three spinners who look like taking wickets every time they came on.

Bowler of the Year

Three stand-out candidates, and there was barely a fag-paper between them. Si Cahill was always reliable and took wickets in just about every spell he bowled, and Kev was accurate, swung the ball regularly and ended the season with nine wickets. The winner was Jonathan Mark – always in the wickets, bowler of the ball that defeated DOE Cavaliers, and with 4-12 against CLS etching his name on the award. Ten wickets at 13.4 meant he was difficult to overlook.

Batsman of the Year

Nominations in this category went to Ian Chalk for a string of impressive performances and that 50, and also to Karl Wilcockson who was reliable and aggressive throughout the season. The winner by a landslide was yours truly – 306 runs at an average of 18 and significant knocks in all three wins ensuring there would be only one winner.

Player of the Year

The nominations went to Si Cahill, for 14 wickets and some hard-fought runs as well as being our most reliable fielder; Karl Wilcockson for excellence with bat, ball and gloves; myself for consistently scoring runs and some decent (if inconsistent) wicketkeeping; and Jonathan Mark for his bowling and terrific fielding at backward point.

Si’s all-round performances made him the worthy winner for the second year running.

Photos from the evening can be found in the Photos section of the site.

Then we all went and got pissed in the Old Mill. A great night.

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A club-record bowling performance from Jonathan Mark and a captain’s innings from Rich Blagden were enough to see off CLS in the fading light at Babbacombe,  but it was a close-run thing.

Skipper for the day James Ryder won the toss for the Cavaliers and put CLS in to bat.  His side couldn’t have got off to a better start; a maiden from Andy Ryder was followed by two wickets in two balls from Jonathan Mark, and after eight balls CLS were 0-2 and in trouble already.

However, opening bat Paul Gaiton and Jamie Chamberlain set about rebuilding the innings, and the pair put on 18 for the third wicket before Gaiton was bowled – again by Mark.  There was better to come for CLS, though, as Aaron Bowden joined Chamberlain at the crease, and both ran well and played some nice shots to move the score on to 43.

Then a moment of pure class; Bowden called a tight run, Si Cahill picked the ball up at midwicket and threw the stumps down to leave Bowden out by a couple of feet.  Had it not been a direct hit, Bowden would probably have made it home safely, but it was a superb piece of fielding.  When Cahill collected a leisurely spoon from Chamberlain to give Richard Hanniford his first Cavaliers wicket two balls later, CLS once again looked in trouble.  However, Janacker Vijae played some classy shots to score 14 before being caught-and-bowled by James, then Roy Chamberlain batted well with the tail before being bowled by Si Cahill.  The last few wickets fell with batsmen perhaps trying to be a little too aggressive a little too early, and Jonathan’s last over wrapped up the innings with a fourth wicket and a run out.  CLS had been bowled out for 90 off 16 overs, and it was a total that would test the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers’ reply got off to an unconventional start, as ‘Boycott’ Blagden hit the first ball of the innings to the boundary, but cosmic adjustments were made as first Chris Hubbard and then James Ryder departed for ducks.  The wickets brought the Cavaliers’ most reliable pair together at the crease, and Ian Chalk and Blagden began to turn the match in their favour.  By the time Chalky was out caught for 20, the score had passed 50, but his wicket brought CLS new hope.  Richard Hanniford followed shortly afterwards, but by now Blagden was seeing the ball well and finding the boundary regularly, and by the time he was bowled to a great yorker from Lee Chamberlain he and Si Cahill had taken the Cavaliers to within sight of victory.  Cahill, Dave Allen and Jonathan Mark all added runs, and it fell to Kevin Johns to hit the winning runs in the final over.

It was a great game, and a perfect end to the season for the Cavaliers. CLS played extremely well, especially considering that it was their first-ever match, and were unlucky to just lose out in a close finish. We look forward to the rematch next year!

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FOOTNOTE: While compiling the scorecard to accompany the match report, we discovered that the Cavaliers had actually scored 101 runs, not 91…

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Just to keep you all going while you’re waiting for the latest match reports to be uploaded, here’s a list of alcohol-based cricketers that Graeme and I put together in the pub this evening.

1. Trevor Bailey
2. Chris Gayle
3. William Porterfield
4. Gary Sobers
5. Grant Flower
6. Ian Bell
7. Ian Harvey
8. James Foster
9. Gordon Greenidge
10. David Morgan
11. Robert Croft
Coach: Merv Hughes

Further suggestions welcome.

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On the day England won the Ashes back from the Aussies at the Oval, the Cavaliers themselves came close to securing a draw in the beautiful setting of Budleigh Salterton. In the end, we got a tonking, but most Cavaliers who played will be surprised to learn that it was our heaviest defeat to date. The wonderful setting, the friendliness and good humour of the opposition and everyone at the club, and the performance of one Cavalier in particular meant that nobody minded getting beaten so heavily. We’ve certainly lost by fewer runs and had worse days, and I think Budleigh genuinely wanted to give us a good day out. They certainly gave us a great welcome.

The format was ‘timed’ and it was our first experience of this form of the game. We had to field until tea, then afterwards we’d have to bat up to six o’clock, and then another 20 overs. This all meant that we could, in theory, get a draw, and it soon became apparent that this would be our best chance of a result.

The Fathers and Sons of Budleigh Salterton took an over or two to size us up, then started hitting us all over the park. Of our seamers, only James managed to exert any sort of control, and the score was approaching 90 before P Conway decided to retire on 52. Relief was followed by jubilation when Kev had Richardson trapped lbw for 43 and Si bowled E Neilson for 6 – 120 for 3. Could be keep the score down a bit after all?

Erm, no. Rice and England were in it for the long haul, and eventually we let every one of our side have a bowl in the hope one of them would miss a straight one from laughing too much. It didn’t work; both batted to retirement at 50, and the only remaining wicket to fall was that of Hayes, brilliantly caught on the boundary by Chris Hubbard off Sam Conway’s bowling.

I should mention Sam at this point. We were a man short and Sam, who plays for Budleigh’s under-15s, offered to make up the numbers. Small boys often give us a hard time, and we were delighted to have one on our side for a change.

After a marvellous tea, we headed out to bat. We knew we wouldn’t get 253 for a win, even if we batted twice. All we could hope for was to see out the 35 or so overs that would give us an honourable draw.

It was made for me. The shots at my disposal are limited, so in limited-overs matches I struggle, because you have to actually hit some boundaries and try to score runs off good balls. Now, I wouldn’t need to. If there was a bad ball, I could try to put it away, but there was no pressing need to. For the most part I could leave deliveries and get behind the good ones.

I went out with St Geoffrey’s words ringing in my ears: ‘Don’t do anything daft. Drop anchor. Don’t get out. Bed and breakfast’ etc etc.

At first it went well; I felt confident even in the face of some good bowling, and I could almost hear the boys in the pavilion marvelling at my ability to avoid hitting the ball at all costs. I even hit a lovely on-drive that went to the rope. A dozen dot-balls later, though, I tried to repeat the trick through the covers; except the ball was slower, and I spooned it up to mid-off. Out for eight, and I haven’t even used up 200 balls getting it.

Things threatened to fall apart then as Matt, Chip and Dion all went quickly afterwards. There was to be one Cavalier performance to remember, though.

We’ve always know Chalky is the most talented batsman in the team, and this would be the day when he really showed it. He and Si managed to get the score past our first target, 28 (our lowest ever score), and looked comfortable, relaxed and confident at the crease. Moreover, he was controlled; no rash shots and looking for safe singles rather than risking big hits to the boundary. After Si was out he batted well with young Sam Conway, and it looked as if Chalky might just be able to keep long enough for the light to fail us.

Then disaster, as Chalky called Sam through for a quick single, Sam turned it down, and the stumps were broken with both stranded at the non-striker’s end. Sam had barely left his ground, and if it had been me I’d have told him to bugger off back to the pavilion, but being a small boy Sam walk disconsolately off.

Next man Chris made just one run, and Chalky was fast running out of partners. However, James – a much improved batsman this year – came in and intelligently gave Chalky much of the strike, and Chalky’s score gradually nudged up through the forties. There was only one scare as a short delivery hit high on Chalky’s bat, but the ball lopped safely into no-man’s-land in front of short cover. A couple of balls later and he was there; the first Cavalier to score 50, and done in style and against some excellent bowling too.

Unfortunately, even an on-form Chalky couldn’t save the game for us; he was bowled shortly afterwards, and Kev and Andy both departed for ducks, leaving James with 10 not out – our second highest score of the days.

So well done, Mr Chalk! Even if you did have to run out a small boy to get there.

Let’s hope we get the chance to repeat those sorts of heroics next year – Budleigh is a place I’d love to return to.

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Still working on this! Rich

Shaldon again? Good grief. You’d think the Cavaliers enjoyed playing there or something.

And we do.

‘They made us feel very welcome’ can mean lots of things.

It can, for example, mean that when you arrived there was a whole bunch of smiling people waiting for you at the club who shook your hands and then proceeded to cart you all over the part.

It can also mean that the tea was lovely and you had a great chat with their opening bowler just before he blew away your top order for three runs.

It can also mean that they got what you were all about and did their best to make sure you had a cracking day. Maybe they picked a mixed team that was closer to your level of ability than their usual friendly XI might be. Maybe they politely no-balled themselves when they got your batsmen out first ball. Maybe they retired gracefully when they looked in danger of scoring too many runs. Maybe they laid on food for you at the pub afterwards and didn’t mind when all your lads had to run off for a dinner appointment.

Shaldon do us a proper welcome every time. From that first game when we had the fly-over, a guard of honour onto the pitch and a first Cavaliers run for Grandad, they’ve been proper hosts time after time.

The latest visit got off to something of a dodgy start, as a sudden gust of wind through the clubhouse banged the tearoom windows shut, flinging two freshly-made (and unmilked) cups of tea over Kev’s back:

I’ve never heard swearing like it in my entire life – a kind of ‘FUFUFUFUFUFU…’ where the pain was so great that that it required many swearwords to tumble out at once.

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In the few short hours that have passed since Jonathan bowled That Ball, its story has already become somewhat embellished in my mind. A dramatic moment such as this needs rather more than just ’st Blagden b Mark’. In my mind’s eye, JM sees the batsman coming out of his crease to take it on the full, and drops it just a little shorter. The batsman can’t quite get to the pitch, and turns the bat to try to flick it away to leg, but a smidge of grip and the ball is past it. I could see he was going to miss it, and I’m ready; as the ball passes him, my hands are arcing smoothly towards the stumps, ready to intercept its course. It’s a race now, back foot against glove. The bails go off and I’ve got him; after a second’s consideration, the finger goes up. We’ve bloody well won.

I’m struggling to think of the last time I was so delirious about a sporting event. The Ashes in 2005 were won over a long afternoon of attrition, with a slow release of tension rather than a full-on victory cry. Kasprowic’s dismissal at Edgbaston is perhaps the closest I have felt when watching cricket. Perhaps only the poking boot of Solskjaer in 1999 has ever equalled the joy of that last wicket.

In the big scheme of things, it’s eleven blokes beating eleven other blokes in a park in Devon. But when it’s your mates scoring the runs, taking the wickets, holding the catches, it becomes something special. We started off, essentially, as a bunch of drunks with a video camera in a park, and fourteen months later here we are, winning our first match played on a level playing field, genuinely the better team, running around the square giving one another bear hugs and laughing like kids.

And it’s even sweeter to bask in the glory knowing that it was a real team performance that won it. Nobody hit a fifty or took a five-fer. But Ben, Karl and I set a solid platform; the lower order contributed valuable runs; almost all the bowlers took wickets, and we were sharp and competent in the field. Even I made up for an erratic performance behind the wicket with that stumping. There wasn’t one player who didn’t play a significant part in the win, and I think that makes it even more delicious.

The buzz is going to take a while to wear off. Excuse me while I go and run around the garden one more time.

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It was, at last, a glorious August day, with barely a cloud in the sky. DOE’s skipper Lee called correctly and put us in to bat. This is often the best way to ensure a short afternoon of cricket.

Karl and I made an encouraging start before he was out for ten, but it was when Ben joined me at the crease that things started to get really interesting. There’s nothing for sharpening up your running like a 19-year-old who confesses to ‘liking the quick singles’, and we took just about every run that was on offer – and one or two that really weren’t. Ben started to find the boundary, too, and looked nailed-on to be the first Cavalier to hit a half-century when he was bowled for 28 in the last over before drinks.

Wickets began to fall, most notably Jonathan’s unlucky direct-hit run out, and for a while the big three figures looked tantalisingly out of reach. But the tail wagged; Si (11 not out), Andy (10) and Sam (6 not out) saw us through the overs, and we were chuffed with a total of 124-9.

This, in all honesty, would have done us. It was our highest total to date, and we happily posed for a team photo in front of the scoreboard. But there was better to come.

The umpires must have had a chat at tea, because all of a sudden they became a little looser in their judgement of wides. I think I speak for all the lads when I say that I applaud their foresightedness and wisdom in being more generous with their calls.

Chris and Andy opened the bowling and both did well, Andy redeeming his expensive first over with a wicket courtesy of a brilliant catch by Karl to remove the big-hitting Bates. The ‘other’ Bates came in and put on 31 with Langridge, the latter’s retirement coming with the score at 55-2 after ten overs. The asking rate was only 4.50 per over despite a maiden first-ever over from Karl and, with eight wickets left, DOE must have fancied their chances.

From here, though some excellent bowling slowly dragged us back into the game. The next five overs went for just 14 runs and, with the rate climbing, DOE started to take chances. I was miles away from getting a close run-out, but wickets would not be too far away.

First Jonathan took a great catch off Si’s bowling, then Ben took a beauty immediately after I’d snatched at, and dropped, an easy chance from behind the stumps. 69-4 now; then Si bowled Lee Ansell before Ben took another one in the covers, and a close finish beckoned. Lee and Dave Harrop rallied in an eighth-wicket stand of 19, but when Sam tok a great catch to remove Lee and Si came up with a carbon-copy for Dion Manners’ first Cavaliers wicket on début, DOE were still 16 from victory with 20 balls left. Jonathan Mark, the tightest of the bowlers, was asked for just one more over…

Two dot balls, a bye and a couple of runs later, JM got one absolutely right. The celebrations will undoubtedly go on for a long time.

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Outside, it was warm and sunny, but the mood in reception was gloomy. Our guests from Sussex had had their match on Wednesday called off, and after spending the previous week in Ilfracombe watching the rain, it was perhaps a little ironic that a waterlogged pitch had ended their game before it had even started.

I’d blogged a few days before about my idea of Cavaliers Sevens, a limited-overs game designed to be played with few players and for a bit of a laugh. The Nomads were keen to give it a go, and after some hurried phone calls I managed to get Kev and Chip to form the core of a Cavaliers side.

We lost the toss and, unsurprisingly as nobody really knew how the game would play out, were asked to bat. With no boundaries, every run had to be actually run, and we made slow but steady progress. We ran aggressively between the wickets and this led to an early setback when I ran out Andrew chasing a run that wasn’t there, but we managed to avoid dismissals for the most part until the very end. A late flurry of wickets from James, and we were left with the princely total of 19 runs for our troubles.

Lloyd gave the Cavaliers team early hope with a wicket, and a great spell of spin from Andrew Guilford was not only miserly but also produced another wicket. (I understand Andrew isn’t allowed to bowl in his age group because his coach reckons spinners will get carted. What a load of rubbish. Andrew spins it both ways, bowls a great line and length, and has plenty of potential. How is a young spinner able to learn if he isn’t allowed to bowl? Criminal, if you ask me. Anyway.) For a while, we were on top, but JD Moore and Nick got in and put our middle-overs bowlers to the sword. The Nomads had it, unless we could produce some late wickets. And with three overs to go, it was up to the Cavaliers themselves to produce them.

First a run-out, in my first over. Then a heave from Andrew off Chip’s bowling produced a great catch from Robbie. Then, with just four balls to go, a repeat of Andrew’s shot from James picked out the same fielder, and the scene was set for a dramatic finish. Nomads were four ahead, so a wicket could win us the game.

My last three balls were all fast and hitting the top of off. James carefully got bat and body behind each and blocked them all out. Nomads had won by four runs.

Or had they?

A re-count from the scorers the next morning revealed that they had omitted the extras when counting the Cavaliers’ total. Four extras, to be precise. And so the scores were tied.

A fitting end to an exciting game. The rules proved a great leveller, it was tremendous fun, and everyone got a bit of batting, bowling and fielding practice.

And Kev scored seven runs without being dismissed!

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A bright morning at Babbacombe turned into a grey and damp afternoon that was only just suitable for cricket, and in difficult conditions it was the Nomads who prevailed despite a spirited batting performance from the Cavaliers.

Tony called wrongly at the toss, and I called wrongly in electing to field. The pitch was still dry, and I wanted our spinners to have the best use of it before the light rain began to fall. As it happened, the rain began to fall almost as we reached the dressing rooms, and by the time Jonathan, Si and Chip came on the ball was skidding rather than turning.

The Nomads got off to a great start, taking nine from James’s first over and 25 from a surprisingly-erratic Andy’s first three, and by the time the rain worsened at the seven-over mark they were already 49 without loss. The rain was heavy enough for us to take an early tea at that stage, and the match was reduced from 30 to 35 overs.

After tea, Hartridge and Jackson continued untroubled, offering few chances; a sharp one to Doug at second slip, an edge from James that didn’t carry to the keeper, and a couple of played-and-missed to Chris Hubbard. The outfield was now so wet that it was almost impossible to hit boundaries, and the ball sent droplets of water shimmering through the air as it aquaplaned along. The century partnership came up, and shortly afterwards the Nomads batsmen and umpires agreed to go off, prompted by some wet and dispirited Cavaliers. We’d been set 109 to win off 20 overs – presuming we could get out there again.

I opened the batting with yet another new partner, realising that Si’s big hitting and aggressive running could get us into the game if he could bat for long enough. ‘None of this Boycott stuff’ he warned me. I gulped; a straight bat is what I do best.

Even with me alongside him, Si took the attack to the opposition. It was now virtually impossible to reach the boundary – Si actually managed this three times, incredibly – but we ran well and often dangerously, and we reached our fifty partnership after just 52 balls. It was one hell of an achievement, in hindsight. The following ball, though, the momentum swung back in the Nomads’ favour.

First Si skied one, and was well-caught by Cruickshank. This precipitated a collapse, when we went from 51-0 to 51-4 in the space of eight balls. First Ben was bowled second ball on début, then Doug fell asleep and was run out chasing a quick bye, then Matt was bowled for a maiden golden duck. I was relieved when Jonathan came out and started to lay bat on ball, and at last we managed to get the score creeping up. We’d lost a couple of overs, though, and needed to get it moving rather more quickly.

Clive Porter came on with his wily spin, and won the game. Somehow he was getting the ball to turn to leg in the mud, cramping us for room; when I came down the wicket he dropped it short, and the drive was well-covered. When I missed a pull – the only scoring shot available to me – he bowled the next one dead straight, and I missed it for an lbw I almost walked to.

Chip gave us a little hope with a quickfire 13, but when he was stumped by a couple of inches the game was up. Chris, James and Jonathan all played well and showed that they’re all capable of getting runs, and Kev made a career-best 3, but we finished 23 runs short after a promising start.

As an interesting footnote, I plugged the match details into the Duckworth-Lewis calculator to see what D-L would have set us as a total. I was expecting it to give us a target of 130-140, as the Nomads had ten wickets and 15 overs left when their innings was curtailed. Thanks goodness we didn’t have it available to us or enough pedantry to use it; D-L would have actually set us 74 to win, and the team that batted and bowled best would have lost the game.

So well played the Nomads, and particularly to Andrew and Robbie, whose superb partnership was ultimately the difference between the two sides.

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