Scorecard

Tedburn St Mary v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 18 Oct 2009 at 12.00
Erratics Cricket Club Lost 8 runs

Match report Match Report: Peter Thomson [Capt and WK]

[For those interested in cricket records: am I the only person to have played a game on his 46th wedding anniversary in the second half of October?]

You’d think, from the scoreline, that we squandered an opportunity to win, but that isn’t quite true. There was a brief spell, towards the end of the 96-run partnership between Paul Molins and Sid Thomson, when we were up with the required rate, but it would have been extraordinary if we’d made it across the line. The fact is that Tedburn scored their runs at fractionally more than six per over, and we scored ours at fractionally less than six per over. There’s probably a Latin tag for ‘Splendid in Defeat’.

Having won the toss, I took the advice of those who’d played through the previous Sunday’s downpour to put Tedburn in. The main events of their innings were as follows:

1) Owing to the invention of wides, Phil Ellis’s first over (up the hill) lasted almost as long as the first movement of Beethoven’s Third. After that, he bowled very well, presumably on the French principle of recouler pour mieux sauter.

2) The first seven balls were all fielded by James Bryant, making his first appearance for the Erratics after a prolonged period of dormancy. James works in the personnel department of the University, but I’m prepared to forgive him that for the excellence of his bowling.

3) On 4 October, Paul Molins took 6 for 32 in ten overs v Dunsford. On 18 October he took 1 for 68 in seven.

4) That was almost entirely due to another brutal innings by last week’s top scorer, Neil Branton. It included nine sixes, most of them tailored to the peculiar orientation of the Tedburn wicket. I was getting quite bored by the time Phil Ellis bowled him for 88.

5) During her second spell, Penny Price got the elder Rich unutterably l.b.w.. The Tedburn umpire (soon to be their wicket-keeper) gave him not out. The batsman’s response was to say to me sotto voce, ‘I gave his missus a box of apples this morning’. Penny bowled him two balls later.

6) Since Tedburn had only nine men, we got them all out (213 for 8) in the final over of the 35. So we won on wicket count!

There’s not much to say about our innings. Chris Ferro was out to the first ball of the second over, to a rank long-hop which he hit to a fielder who’d been hiding behind the square-leg umpire. (Hiding behind Chris Mellett! He was a very thin fielder.) Martin Wright batted in his own inimitable style. It’s not so much his stroke-play as his way of surveying the field and calling for, or declining, runs that leaves our opponents with the impression that he’s a visiting celebrity. I think we should cash in on that next season. Let’s rumour it about that he does the voice overs for Strictly Come Dancing. That should be worth about twenty runs. And after Martin had got himself nonchalantly bowled, Molins and Thomson (not me!) hit and ran themselves to a standstill. Some of the stolen singles were brilliant. Alas, though, we’re not a six-hitting team. It was the boundaries that beat us. They scored 27 of them (including sixes), we scored 16. (Admittedly, Allison’s fielding on the short boundary cut off several screamers that the Erratics wouldn’t have got near, and they set defensive fields from early on.) No wonder Paul and Sid were tired.

The game was a fine end to a contradictory season. In terms of the ratio between losses and wins, I should think it’s the worst the Erratics have had while I’ve been playing for the team (since 1974, in other words), but there’s a positive feeling about the club. Some new players have emerged – Chris you-can-count-on-him Mellett, Ed Paleit and, if we’re lucky and the Coaver Club isn’t, Ben Nathan and James Bryant – and only a few old ones have gone. Even so, the selectors often have problems finding a balanced team. It would be great if more members made themselves regularly available.

Tedburn St Mary Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 10w 7b  
for 8 wickets
19
213 (34.1 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Phil Ellis7.0038312.675.43
Penny Price7.0135135.005.00
Paul Molins7.006800.009.71
A.N. Other17.0136218.005.14
Chris Ferro6.1032132.005.19

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
8nb 16w 13b  
for 4 wickets
37
205		        
Chris Ferro Caught  3
Martin Wright Bowled  18
Paul Molins Bowled  54
Sid Thomson Not Out  79
Chris Squire Bowled  2
Chris Mellett Not Out  12
Phil Ellis  
A.N. Other1  
Penny Price  
Peter Thomson  
N.O. One  

Tedburn St Mary Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.