Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Denbury on Sat 02 Jul 2005 at 2pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 1 wicket

Match report by James Burrows

The omens were grim from the start. Against the backdrop of Channings Wood Prison and beneath a lead grey sky the ground was damp, cold and windswept. Gunshots rang out in the murk as Matt Cooke and Sid Thomson took up their positions at opposite ends of a dramatically bowed wicket. The pitch was lifeless and the ball refused to come on to the bat and sadly Matt, playing his first match, got under one delivery and lifted it to the fielder in a wide gulley position. He was replaced by Jonathan Kirby who flashed his blade through the drizzle until he was bowled by a ball that moved away for 16. Sid crafted and grafted employing a range of Thorpe like shots, anchoring the innings as the usual procession of Erratics batsmen came and went. Ian Lisk added handsomely to the score with a gritty 30 until the pressure to up the run rate and the slow track took their toll and he was caught striving for the boundary. Sid was still there at the end with a fine 71 accumulated in challenging conditions against accurate bowling, the team finishing on 165 for 6 off the forty overs.
The weather brightened a little during the tea break so we took the field under lighter skies with the earlier drizzle long gone. An early wicket was soon forgotten as Colclough and Hickey Sr began to score in considered fashion. A dreadful delivery took care of the big all rounder and he was replaced by his son who began to up the pace. The Erratics bowlers could not extract anything from the track and with alarming speed the score had gone from 66 for 2 to 135 for 2. The game was disappearing like a bolted horse when it took a remarkable twist and the wickets started to fall. For the second time in the day Ian Lisk was putting on a determined show, this time with the ball while the Jonathan, our captain, searched for the breakthrough and kept the team as alert as he could.

The Denbury innings disintegrated and they lost 5 wickets with no improvement to the score, another two fell for two runs. They had started the day with ten men, the Erratics providing a substitute fielder for the first half of the game. So in reality the game was now over at 137 for 9, however, very sportingly Jonathan had agreed to the introduction of a substitute batsman who had been a spectator throughout the day.

Unsportingly he strode out with a runner though he was only used for strike retaining singles as the late addition to the game proceeded to bludgeon deliveries, good and bad, over the boundary for a string of 4s and 6s. They started what was to be the final over needing 11 to win, the first two balls were subsequently dispatched bringing the scores level. As was later pointed out the next four deliveries could have been played straight back to the bowler and Denbury could have declared at the end of the 37th over having saved the game.

In reality it was by now obvious that within their ranks were some people who were more posessed by the desire to win than to have a great game of cricket on a miserable day. The third delivery flew over the boundary, the grey pall settled over the pitch and a dejected Erratics team trudged off quietly seething or hugely disappointed.

We were to receive apologies and a couple of jugs of beer in the pub which did something to restore a sense of goodwill and the evening finished amiably, if a little late for some.

=============

Jonathan Kirby: It transpired that the "spectator" was usually Denbury's opening batsman - when fit. I was maybe a bit naive in allowing him / anyone to walk out and bat at number 11 when they had not taken any part in the game before that. And I was even more generous, or plain wrong, in allowing him to start with a runner, but who would have expected someone to walk in and slog two 6s and three 4s in next to no time in order to win a game that had technically been lost. I felt like shit, because although it wasn't me who had failed to play the game with proper spirit and respect, it was me who had allowed the opposition to do so. Many of our team were seriously annoyed (to say the least)and I felt particularly bad for our bowlers who had worked so hard to put us in a winning position, especially James Burrows and Ian Lisk. Who'd be a captain?

The resentment continued for some time, and was much discussed. Although there was no official boycott of the Denbury game after that, there were several players who declined to make themselves available for it for a few years afterwards.


Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 9w 16b  
for 6 wickets
26
165		        
Matt Cook Bowled  2
Sid Thomson Not Out  71
Jonathan Kirby Bowled  16
Martin Pitt Caught  1
Peter Hinds Bowled  0
Ian Lisk Caught  30
Simon Topping Run out  6
James Burrows Not Out  11
David Pearson  
John Pearson  
Peter Thomson  

Denbury Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Denbury Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 8w 2b  
for 9 wickets
15
166 (36.3 overs)		     
S Hickey ct Burrows 56
S Arnold ct J Pearson 0
P Colclough lbw Burrows 27
M Hickey lbw Lisk 38
A Longstreet b Lisk 0
G Hewett lbw Burrows 0
N Leslie Run out  0
T Nickels b Burrows 0
T Maggs Not Out  1
J Durban  Lisk
J Longstreet Not Out  28

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
John Pearson5.0018118.003.60
James Burrows15.0255413.753.67
Matt Cook4.002500.006.25
Ian Lisk9.3242314.004.42
Peter Hinds2.001500.007.50
David Pearson1.001100.0011.00