Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Denbury on Sun 24 Aug 2008 at Unknown
Erratics Cricket Club Won by three wickets

Match report It’s Sunday 24th August, and it’s not raining. It is decidedly damp in the morning, but our fears that yet another game would be lost to the weather were confounded. There was even a passing similarity to an old-fashioned summer at various times in the afternoon, when the sun actually shone on our game at Dunsford against the cricketing denizens of Denbury…

I lost the toss, but Simon Hickey, the Denbury captain, chose to field first on the basis that the ground would continue to dry out through the afternoon, such that a sweetly driven ball would, post-tea, be able to plough its way through the long grass of the outfield and complete a journey to the boundary rope. I’m not sure that I was entirely able to conceal my delight at an outcome that I considered ideal for us, but anyway, this is how it came to pass that Messrs Ferro and Chave opened the Erratics innings. Earlier this season, this pair had an opening stand in excess of 100 runs against Lustleigh, so the rest of us settled down to relax and enjoy the spectacle. However, Denbury’s opening bowlers proved highly useful, and it wasn’t long before a frustrated Ferro was returning to the pavilion. He would later take his revenge on Denbury for this humiliation, but for now the stage was set for Greg Richmond to join Duncan to fight the good fight. With increasing confidence on a sticky, difficult wicket, and in the face of some very tight bowling the pair added 69, when Duncan paddled a catch to square leg with his personal tally standing at just 49.

The general consensus among Erratics was that 150 would be a competitive score. The first hour had seen just 50 runs scored, albeit for the loss of just one wicket. Between 3:30pm and the close of the innings at 4:45pm took our score to 167. Matt Turner was a casualty of this increase in pace, with my insistence on taking an improbable single. Paul Molins and Jonathan Davies flashed briefly and then David Pearson flayed magnificently for a score of 19 off not many balls faced. It remained true throughout the afternoon that an aerial assault on the boundary rope would always be more successful, and this was David’s preferred method of attack. I’m sure there was one Denbury fielder who will have been fined, for missing a catch at deep mid-wicket off the penultimate ball of the innings which then went to four, to great applause from the pavilion. Tea… I’m not sure that Matt had forgiven me yet for that run-out. “Yeah, there was a single there, I guess” he grumbled, “for you and Usain Bolt – without his pads.”

If the Denbury opening bowlers had seemed intimidating to us, I dare say that our opening pair of James Burrows and Chris Ferro must have struck no less fear into the hearts of the Denbury batsmen. In his first over, James saw a nick fly through the slip cordon at catchable height…this was to prove typical of James’ continued misfortune, bowling well but without luck. I should perhaps say that with only nine fielders, plus Harry Molins, the slip cordon only consisted of one person. Oh for the luxury of a full team! However, at the other end, Chris was working off his frustration at not getting much of a bat. In an opening spell that I have to describe as sensational, he took the first five Denbury wickets with no more than 20 runs on the board. Unlike the more orthodox Burrows, Ferro found success with fast full tosses - one took out a leg stump, and another uprooted an off stump. Of particular note though, was a caught-and-bowled of supreme athleticism, and which Chris later described as his best catch in the last five years. He might even have had the first six wickets if he had been able to hold onto a stinging return that would probably have reached the boundary had his hand not got in the way. At 20 something for 5, had the heart been ripped out of the Denbury batting? No. This Denbury team seemed to resemble little the teams we’ve faced from two or three years ago or more, though there were still one or two familiar faces among them. Their middle order of M.Hickey, R.Longstreet and captain S.Hickey went on the offensive smacking the ball to the boundary in all directions. Nine fielders (plus Harry) were clearly not enough. So, up stepped David Pearson. Unable to staunch the flow of runs initially, he then got one to turn significantly…clean bowled. It was the breakthrough we needed. Greg Richmond then took three wickets in a tight spell, and it was left to Jonathan Davies to end the Denbury innings about 30 runs shy of our own total.

This is a game that was played in a positive and friendly spirit by everyone. Denbury should be thanked for this, and I am certainly looking forward to next year’s game against them. It was friendly, but it was also competitive, and might have gone either way. You might call this the best kind of game. We were a bit lucky, however, because both sides were spared the embarrassment of having their youngest players put in a potentially decisive situation. Harry Molins was not required to bat, and (showing great resolve) fielded at fine leg at both ends throughout the Denbury innings. The young Denbury lad had a similar role in the field, but he did have to bat. With about 30 runs needed, the final adult Denbury batsmen was unlikely to engineer a victory for his side, but what if only half a dozen runs had been required? How hard should we have tried to get the young lad out? He wasn’t much bigger than little Harry. Would we have set James or Chris onto him, or would we have gone soft and maybe lost the game as a result? As it happened, the unfortunate youngster left a wide ball from Jonathan Davies which then hit a divot which diverted it onto the stumps, so we were spared the decision as to how much of a chance to give him. My feelings on this matter remain quite strong, and I am reminded of the view expressed by our President, that young players should only take part in our games if they can compete on equal terms with everyone else.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 12w 1lb 
for 7 wickets
15
165		        
Chris Ferro ct R. Longstreet 8
Duncan Chave ct A. Longstreet 49 5
Greg Richmond ct S. Hickey 34 3
Jonathan Kirby ct Leslie 18 1
Jonathan Davies ct Vanderwaal 9
Matt Turner Run out  2
David Pearson Not Out  19 2
James Burrows Not Out  1
Harry Molins  
N.O. One  
N.O. One  

Denbury Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Keeling4.001200.003.00
R Longstreet10.0138219.003.80
A Longstreet11.0031215.502.82
Leslie5.0030130.006.00
S Hickey7.0030130.004.29
Vanderwaal4.0023123.005.75

Denbury Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 2w 1lb 
for 10 wickets
5
119 (32.1 overs)		     
Holmes b Ferro 3
A Longstreet b Ferro 1
M Senior ct Ferro 4
Cheesman b Ferro 1
Keeling b Ferro 0
M Hickey b Pearson 37
R Longstreet ct Richmond 38
S Hickey b Richmond 25
Vanderwaal b Richmond 2
Leslie Not Out  2
J Senior b Davies 1

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Burrows8.003200.004.00
Chris Ferro9.021853.602.00
David Pearson5.0032132.006.40
Duncan Chave3.002100.007.00
Jonathan Davies4.10818.001.92
Greg Richmond4.00723.501.75