Newton Poppleford v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 26 Jun 2008 at Unknown

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Newton Poppleford v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 26 Jun 2008 at Unknown
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report In bold lettering on the road side of the convenience building that borders the Newton Poppleford cricket ground is written THE PAVILION – as if to delude the casual visitor to the village into believing that the Prince Regent left his mark here, as well as in Brighton. Unpredictably, there were twelve Erratics standing in front of it by 5.45, awaiting the arrival of a key to open the doors of the changing-rooms. More predictably, the start was delayed until 6.20, with the sky greying over minute-by-minute. It was a good thing, I think, that the ball which eventually arrived on the pitch was a white one. Playing conditions required that batsmen must retire on reaching 30, and that ‘as many people as possible’ should bowl (the Erratics used 8, Newton Poppleford all 10).

I’ll use a paragraph to celebrate Chris Ferro’s captaincy. The important thing is to recognise that the players are more important than the result – but that isn’t the same as saying that the result doesn’t matter. It was important that Max Ellis should get three overs, and, at the other end of the age ratio, that John Pearson should, too. That’s an example of captainly intuition. And then there’s the careful construction of a batting order, by which, as things turned out, Chris won us the game. (A captain can’t do everything, of course – and Oliver Kirby was the only one of our team who didn’t get a crack of the whip this time.)

The Erratics, it has to be said, did not distinguish themselves in the field. Ed Keedwell, to be sure, held on to the sort of steepler that, on historical average, is more likely to strike an Erratic on the head than to be caught, but he spent the rest of the innings playing the ball with his feet, with the kind of mixed results that might be expected from an Exeter City midfield reserve. And our resistance to running batsmen out might have been modelled on Jacques Tati’s tennis. If a batsman was yards out at one end, the ball went to the other. And on the one occasion when it was properly returned to the bowler, Phil Ellis hurled it at the wicket from all of two inches – and missed. But the pièce de résistance was David Pearson’s. Picture this: the ball is played to him at gully, and the batsmen embark on a ludicrous run. Does David panic? Not a bit of it. Cool as a cucumber, he picks up the ball and glides to the wicket. The batsmen haven’t crossed yet. David’s intention is clear enough. He will remove the bails with the batsman ten yards short of making his ground. At this point, my memory carries me back to an era of adolescent innocence. I knew that there were mysterious bits of a woman (what Dylan Thomas once called ‘a wild guess below the waist’) that were supposed to trigger a reaction, but I’d never made contact with them. And when the opportunity arose – when a decisive movement might have carried me to fields of paradise I’d not yet trodden – my courage failed me. So it was with David. Like an undiscovered erogenous zone, the bails eluded his tentative hand. Even then, he had time to go back for a second adventure – but that’s not how the masculine psyche works. You had your chance, and you missed it. End of story.

Fortunately, our batting exceeded reasonable expectation. “They got 20 runs too many”, Chris Ferro suggested to me in the break between innings. But Martin Wright and Greg Richmond opened the innings with a magnificent flourish. The partnership came to an oddly gentlemanly end, though. Having just hit a towering six over long-on, Martin drove what might have been a catch to mid-off, who missed it. My impression was that Martin felt sorry for the fielder and was strolling down to commiserate when he was run out by the length of the pitch. Undeterred, Greg took over – a six into the pavilion and an on-driven four that Tom Graveney would have relished (please, Mrs Richmond, can Greg play the occasional afternoon game for us?) – until forced to retire on reaching 30. There was a bit of a wobble after that, while Sam Cook tried to pick out a fielder who could catch him, David Pearson was working out where best to hit the ball, Phil Ellis was performing manoeuvres with his body that took me back to the days when coal was delivered by soot-faced men with sacks over their backs, and Matt Turner was falling l.b.w. to a daisy-cutter. But Ed Keedwell kept company with the skipper, who timed his innings so well that he struck the winning boundary with the vicious off-drive that would, anyway, have signalled his compulsory retirement. There was a bit more ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the Cannon Inn after the game than is ideal. I need more convincing that Newton Poppleford is a genuinely ‘social’ team. But they’re strong opponents, and the wicket is uncommonly fast for a Devon track. The late Nick Birbeck would enjoy batting on it.

Newton Poppleford Batting

Player name		Runs
extras TOTAL :	11w 7b for 9 wickets	18 136 (18.0 overs)
M Raistrick	ct Richmond	5
A Raistrick	Retired Not Out	32
Stott	lbw Keedwell	21
Manning	ct J Pearson	20
Coombs	ct J Pearson	6
Last	ct Ellis	14
T Clay	ct Ferro	3
K Clay	b Ferro	12
Thomas	ct Ellis	0
Stone	Not Out	1
Marsh	Not Out	4

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player Name	Overs	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
Phil Ellis	3.0	14	2	7.00	4.67
Greg Richmond	2.0	15	1	15.00	7.50
Ed Keedwell	2.0	12	1	12.00	6.00
David Pearson	2.0	11	0	0.00	5.50
Max Ellis	3.0	19	0	0.00	6.33
Chris Ferro	3.0	21	2	10.50	7.00
John Pearson	3.0	18	2	9.00	6.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting

Player Name		R	4s	6s
extras TOTAL :	2nb 7w 7b 1lb for 5 wickets	17 137
Martin Wright	Run out	24	4	1
Greg Richmond	Retired Not Out	30	3	1
Sam Cook	ct Marsh	6
David Pearson	ct Manning	10	1
Phil Ellis	ct T Clay	9
Matt Turner	lbw T Clay	0
Chris Ferro	Retired Not Out	31
Ed Keedwell	Not Out	10
John Pearson
A.N. Other1
A.N. Other2

Newton Poppleford Bowling

Player name	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Average	Economy
M Raistrick	2.0	0	11	0	0.00	5.50
A Raistrick	2.0	1	6	0	0.00	3.00
Stone	2.0	0	26	0	0.00	13.00
Thomas	2.0	0	17	0	0.00	8.50
Marsh	2.0	0	3	1	3.00	1.50
Last	2.0	0	18	0	0.00	9.00
T Clay	2.0	0	12	2	6.00	6.00
Manning	2.0	0	14	1	14.00	7.00
Coombs	2.0	0	10	0	0.00	5.00
Stott	1.1	0	10	0	0.00	8.57

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