Scorecard

Longhorns (Tour) v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 31 Aug 2014 at 1.30pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 42 runs

Match report Tour Report

If too many cooks spoil the broth, then no Cooks at all makes for an odd Erratics tour. Still, despite a no-show from the tour organiser there were representatives from a number of the great Erratics dynasties—Chaves, Powers, Thomsons, Molinses—helping to keep tour traditions alive, alongside some newer family names—Abrahams and Hayeses—that promise a bright future for this annual beano. If the future is bright, however, this year's tour was more overcast with a touch of drizzle—at least in terms of on field results (and literally in the case of the weather for Friday's game at Frocester). We played three full games—Frocester, North Nibley and Longhorns—and they all ended in fairly heavy defeats.

Our performances were not without merit though, and in particular our quartet of teenage bowlers deserves high praise (and possibly a collective, boy-band themed nickname?). Our opening bowling pair of Harry 'Audrey Hepburn' Molins and Ben 'Purple' Hayes spearheaded the attack brilliantly all weekend, and finished with hugely impressive tour figures of 21-0-107-3, and 23-4-64-7 respectively. They were admirably backed up by the ever-dependable Fraser Chave and the fearless Ben 'AB' Abrahams. It was even said—neither in jest nor a state of inebriation—that we fielded reasonably well across the three games (helped, in large part, by the prevalence of teenagers). Nonetheless, all of our opponents managed totals in the region of 200 runs, on each occasion on the back of one or two big-hitting batsmen that we failed to either contain or catch.

Our attempts to chase down totals of 204 (Frocester) and 194 (Longhorns) never really got going. Batting first at North Nibley we fared better, making 187, which looked a decent total before their number three, Ed Lines (you can guess where this is going…) grabbed the, ahem, headlines, with a brutal knock of 90. There were some batting highlights though – Duncan made 57 not out against Longhorns, and should have had another half century at North Nibley but got himself out playing a 'Dunc-scoop' on 48. This had been preceded by an excellent opening partnership of 58 between Chaves Elder and Younger on a very damp and tricky wicket. As it dried out Martin Wright and Rob Hayes put on 80 together, finishing with scores of 40 and 53 respectively. And as the tour looked like closing with a whimpering Erratics collapse on Sunday afternoon Ben Abrahams lifted our spirits in the evening sunshine with a bustling 14 as part of a 54 run partnership with Duncan that ensured we at least ended the tour on a positive batting note.

Our leading run-scorer overall was Rob Hayes (scores of 53, 28, 35) whose imperious batting was a joy to watch, and he also did sterling work behind the stumps on Friday and Sunday (Penny also performed 'uninterestingly' behind the stumps on Saturday), taking some smart stumpings. Unforgivably, though, he did drop consecutive edges from his own son's bowling. Rob was also responsible for what was arguably the Champagne Moment of the tour, driving a golf ball clean over the River Severn from the Anchor beer garden, at his first attempt (Dan Thistlethwaite has this filmed, for any non-believers). Rumour has it this mighty feat has eluded all previous Erratics that have attempted it, including Chris Cook. Perhaps that's a challenge that will bring Chris back next year…

I think off-field frolics should remain largely unreported—you have to come along for those—or at least be left to the realms of hearsay, folklore and misremembering, but let's just say there were some great new hats provided by Phil Power, a dramatic game of late-night shove ha'penny, some rather unenthusiastic drinking of rounds of shots, quite a bit of your reporter getting lost, and—for Martin Wright only—aromatherapy massages at his luxury B&B. Roll on next year…

Mark Hailwood

For a further tour report see the North Nibley game.

[A.N. Other was George Hart of the Longhorns, who played for us.]

Longhorns (Tour) Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 23w 14b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
42
194 (40.0 overs)		     
S Berry b  Molins 4
J Bubb ct  Wright b. B. Hayes 0
M. Singh lbw  B. Hayes 14
Doris b  Molins 4
T Gay ct  Dan T b. B. Abrahams 25
T Taylor Not Out  87
Bash ct  Abrahams b. F. Chave 20
M Catless b  B. Hayes 26
A Webb Not Out  1
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Harry Molins7.0022211.003.14
Ben Hayes8.022036.672.50
Ben Abrahams8.0043143.005.37
Duncan Chave6.003300.005.50
Mark Hailwood5.002600.005.20
Phil Power2.001800.009.00
Fraser Chave4.0027127.006.75

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
152		        
Martin Wright Bowled  4
Daniel Thistlethwaite Bowled  0
Fraser Chave Caught  2
Duncan Chave Bowled  57
Rob Hayes Caught  28
A.N. Other Bowled  0
Harry Molins Bowled  0
Mark Hailwood Bowled  5
Ben Hayes Lbw  0
Phil Power Caught  0
Ben Abrahams Not Out  14

Longhorns (Tour) Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.
 
Photos and video of Longhorns (Tour) v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 31 Aug 2014 at 1.30pm

Erratics at the Anchor

As the sun set on the 2014 Gloucester Tour the Erratics pose for a classic 'album cover' team photo. Not quite as good as the famous 'Echo and the Bunnymen' pic, but a good one nonetheless.