Scorecard

Chulmleigh v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 05 May 2013 at 2.30pm
Match was Drawn

Match report Martin Weiler reports

Chulmleigh (or Chulmleigh and Mid Devon as their scoreboard describes them) was a relatively late fixture in the history of the Erratics; the first game only being played in 1999. But it has been a popular one ever since.

Firstly there is the magnificent setting. The home side’s website accurately describes the ground as having “beautiful and tranquil surroundings with distant views across the Taw Valley and on to Dartmoor”. The game is usually one of the early season fixtures and it can be pretty cold. Thankfully this game saw a continuation of a warm spring so it was more a case of sun lotion than triple sweaters. With birds very vocal and sheep in the adjoining field it was an almost perfect afternoon.

Secondly Chulmleigh play cricket the right way. Again their website is spot on: “We are a traditional village cricket club. We play no league cricket but that does not mean the cricket we play is anything other than competitive and hard fought”. This match certainly bore that out.

A nice touch at the start. The pavilion bell was rung (Lords style) to accompany the players onto the field. The bell is dedicated to the late Brian Dearnley who by coincidence I used to work with for many years. Brian umpired in our inaugural game with Chulmleigh and loved his cricket.

The first hour or so was as good cricket at this level as you are likely to see. A real battle of bat and ball with Nigel Rutherford in particular keeping up his good start to the season. A stinker of a delivery snared one of the opening batsmen superbly caught one handed by Jonathan Kirby behind the stumps. Nigel took 2-16 off his 8 overs.

Lucky Bandu, Matt Cook, Chris Ferro and Varun Kothamachu all kept up the tight pressure but Shearman (75) and Heimann (62) were in fine form. They brought up the 100 in the 23rd over and the third wicket only went down with the score at 140. Chulmleigh looked set for a large total. Chris Ferro’s confidence wasn’t helped at one point when just as he was about to bowl Nigel Rutherford stopped play to suggest that a newly parked car beyond the boundary might want to move.

To the credit of the Erratics we hung in there and Chulmleigh faltered. A key bowling change was the introduction of Jeff Haynes whose cunning slow deliveries soon had the batsmen in trouble. Jeff took 4-40 and he was supported by 13 year old Ben Abrahams who weighed in with a very creditable 2-33. The bowlers were aided by some excellent catching (two snapped up by Martin Wright and a quite brilliant one handed diving catch in the deep by Chris Ferro).

The last six wickets went down for only 19 runs with Chulmleigh all out just before tea for 212 off 41.1 overs (this was a timed rather than overs match).

After an excellent tea stretched out in front of their refurbished thatched pavilion and joined by several Erratics supporters (Peter Thomson, Simon Orpen and Linda Isaacson, Triin and the Rutherford clan) we set about our reply on a track that one local said was “as hard as it has been for a year”.

It was tough going to start with but Chulmleigh showed their sporting spirit by calling Martin Wright back after a bump ball catch. Martin rewarded this honesty by taking a suicidal second run and getting himself run out.

Runs were slowly accumulated and after 15 overs (when the last 20 overs started) we were 64-1. Jonathan Kirby (41) and Lucky Bandhu (36) both continued their excellent early season form but were out as they started to accelerate. As the shadows lengthened Chris Ferro took up the mantle of the run chase and his 46 brought the Erratics tantalisingly close. Ben Abrahams gave signs of a very promising career ahead of him as he struck a quick and aggressive 12 just when it was needed. A massive six by Nigel Rutherford (13 not out) off the first ball of the final over gave a glimmer of hope but in the end it was honours even with Erratics at 201-7 off 35 overs.

A proper game of cricket followed by a proper watering hole at the Old Court House in the attractive village centre. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Chulmleigh Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
212 (41.1 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nigel Rutherford8.031628.002.00
Lucky Bandhu3.002000.006.67
Matt Cook6.003000.005.00
Chris Ferro5.002600.005.20
Varun Kothamachu8.0034134.004.25
Jeff Haynes7.0040410.005.71
Ben Abrahams4.0033216.508.25
Gary Abrahams0.10000.000.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 7 wickets
0
201		        
Martin Wright Run out  7
Lucky Bandhu Caught  36
Jonathan Kirby Caught  41
Matt Cook Caught  8
Chris Ferro Lbw  46
Martin Weiler Caught  0
Ben Abrahams Caught  12
Nigel Rutherford Not Out  13
Gary Abrahams Not Out  3
Jeff Haynes  
Varun Kothamachu  

Chulmleigh Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.