Scorecard

Marldon v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 28 Jun 2015 at 1.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 1 run

Match report Arriving into the village of Marldon, tucked away deep in the Devon countryside, we were greeted by a misty light drizzle that continued well into the afternoon with sunshine promised later. Maybe this was the reason that their skipper for the game, John Roberts, fancied a bowl and put us in to bat.

We had been asked to start earlier than scheduled at 1.00pm due to some players’ families having tickets to see Boyzone, but nothing seems to happen in a rush in Marldon and we eventually started about 1.30pm.

Our skipper, Martin Wright, had explained the straight sixes only rule, and Fraser and Mark Philips strolled out to open the innings. After scoring a run in the first over, Fraser Chave then strolled back up towards the spectators and players sheltering under the oak tree, edging one that reared up on him, looping up to be caught at gulley. His one consolation being that he was out for 104 if you continued his knock of 103 n.o. from the previous weekend.

This meant that my conversation with Chris Cook was cut short as he was next in at three. It was great to see Chris again and playing a game for the Erratics. He didn’t disappoint, immediately batting comfortably and stylishly, playing late and keeping the scoreboard ticking over with ones and twos before accelerating with seven “4”s in a row. Mark Phillips was doing his best to play himself in with a single and then a classy drive to the offside boundary, but then edged one to slip and was gone, to be replaced by the skipper. We needed a good partnership from these two and they obliged with a solid 58. The bowling had been mixed with some decent pace from the young Rowsell (only 13!) and a few looser balls from Williams and Slough dispatched to the boundary from Wright and Cook. Several terrific shots only secured singles though because of a very slow and wet outfield, plus an increasingly swollen and wet ball. The wetness on the ball probably contributed to a couple of incidents later in the innings.

Martin feathered one to the keeper and immediately walked bringing in the notorious Nigel Rutherford who was licking his lips at the sight of the short boundaries, although because of the rules, it was tricky to deliver his trademark sixes. He and Cook put on a useful 24 partnership then out of nowhere, Cook went, lbw to young Rowsell, two balls before drinks.

The big guy, John “Slim” Roberts the skipper, had brought himself on to bowl I noticed rather nervously, as I made my way back to the crease after drinks. However, it was the young Rowsell that claimed his second big wicket (no not mine!), Rutherford, with another lbw and Kirby then strode out, looking forward to one of the things he enjoys best in life, hitting a cricket ball, preferably to the fence. He didn’t enjoy the first ball he faced from Roberts though, which was a beamer which he just managed to hook away. The bowler apologised several times but didn’t slow his pace, as I found out when he shortly bowled me all ends up.

Classy Phil Power, the best dressed Erratic?, came out and played some truly lovely late shots and made a useful 17 before being bowled by the returning opening bowler, Williams. The drizzle had started to ease off and the light became a bit brighter. During this time Kirby had been facing some demanding bowling but took the game by the scruff of the neck (sorry for cliche) and hit a variety of trademark cuts moving the innings towards a defendable score.
Haynes replaced Power and after some stalwart resistance was caught behind and Ben Youngman went in.

I remember watching Ben compose himself and then a fast paced ball bounced straight up at him...he ducked but into the ball and it caught him smack on the jaw. I could hear the crack from where we were sitting on the boundary. Players gathered round to help him but he managed to walk off unaided with a huddle of worried players. Without dwelling on the details, he has a double fracture of his jaw. Annie Chave and Suki drove off with him to Torquay hospital.

The game continued with Sophie Florides bravely joining Jonathan for the final few overs before Kirby was finally out, bowled by Lancaster for a valuable 27.
Tea was a bit subdued and we were all thinking about Ben. We didn’t know it was broken at this stage, but he had certainly received a hard blow.

We picked ourselves up and made our way back onto the field with sunshine now spreading across the ground and areas of blue sky growing by the minute. So the reply started chasing 170 on a drying wicket and outfield. Our bowlers though were outstanding. Rutherford and Florides opened the bowling and kept it tight and on good lengths. The fielding was very efficient with few drives getting through but after one early wicket they stuck in and Rowsell and Slough, their number three, gradually accumulated with some text book batting. However it was slow, the run rate was going up and pressure built up with Power, Cook and Chave all being miserly, giving nothing much to hit at. Haynes joined the fray and his first four overs were very economical.

The pressure began to show with two run outs courtesy of efficient work by Cook and Kirby and their skipper decided to move himself up the order and come and biff the ball around. Sophie Florides and Jeff Haynes were both attacked with two batsmen really trying to move the score along with plenty of wickets in hand. Our skipper brought Cook back on to try and get some control back but the run rate had come down to 5 an over. Then with two overs to go they needed 9.

The final over they needed 5 to win. The scoreboard was topped up ball by ball. 1 dot, 2 dot, 3 a single, 4 a single, 5 a dot. They needed 3 off the final ball, everyone was on the boundary, could their skipper clip one through to the boundary? Come on Rutherford! He bowled the final ball of the match, it was hit and they started running, they got one and then...a run out. We had won by 1 run!!

A nail biting finish and Ben, who had returned with Annie and Suki, was able to watch it from the sidelines. He had a nasty injury but he’s a brave chap and will hopefully recover quickly and be back bowling for us again soon.

We retired to the Church House Inn for a welcome pint after all the drama. All of us discussing a wonderful Erratics team effort, and with their friendly team Marldon is fast becoming one of our favourite fixtures.

Report by Dan T.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 13w 1b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
17
170		        
Fraser Chave ct Lancaster b Williams 1
Mark Phillips ct Roberts b Williams 9
Chris Cook lbw b Rowsell 59
Martin Wright ct Pragnell b Slough 12
Nigel Rutherford lbw b Rowsell 20
Daniel Thistlethwaite b Roberts 7
Jonathan Kirby b Lancaster 27
Phil Power b Williams 17
Jeff Haynes ct Pragnell b Lancaster 1
Ben Youngman retired not out (Hurt) 0
Sophie Florides Not Out  4

Marldon Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Lancaster7.02924.501.29
Williams8.0035311.674.38
Garside4.003300.008.25
Slough8.0146146.005.75
Rowsell5.0127213.505.40
Roberts5.0019119.003.80

Marldon Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 6w 2b 12lb 
for 4 wickets
27
169 (40.0 overs)		     
Rowsell ct b Rutherford 86
Gore lbw b Rutherford 1
Slough Run out  41
Roberts Not Out  10
Glanfield Run out  4
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Sophie Florides7.003700.005.29
Nigel Rutherford8.0230215.003.75
Jeff Haynes8.023000.003.75
Phil Power5.001700.003.40
Fraser Chave7.001700.002.43
Chris Cook6.001600.002.67