Scorecard

Newton Poppleford v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 30 Jun 2016 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 2 runs

Match report One of the lessons we might have learned from history is that the Erratics are not really a side cut out for the brutality of 20-20 cricket. In this form of the game, big hitting is extremely valuable, because a score achieved at a rate of less than 6 per over is rarely defendable, not least when we play Newton Poppleford - exactly 10 years ago, we amassed 196 runs against them, but won by only 3 runs. Big hitting is not what the Erratics normally indulge in, bar 1 or 2 players, perhaps. To encourage the practice, this report will therefore begin with the Big Hitter Awards, since the Erratics batted first…

In 3rd place, we have Fraser Chave. Umpiring at the bowler’s end, I was nearly killed by Fraser driving beautifully, but straight at my face. Dramatic evasive action (I was thinking more of the runs than self-preservation, of course…) meant that the ball could race to the faraway boundary. Fraser was also the only one of our batsmen forced to retire not out when his personal score reached 25.

2nd place goes to Matt Cook, who repeated Fraser’s shot but causing much less alarm to the umpire as the ball sailed way, way, way over his head to the same distant destination. Kudos to Matt because this was, as I recall, only the second ball that he had faced.

1st place goes to the batsman who delivered genuine shock and awe with a straight drive back over the head of Newton Poppleford’s quickest bowler, at a height even greater than Matt’s mighty blow. Stunningly, the shot was nearly repeated a few balls later, but though it came down with more than a dusting of snow on it, the ball this time landed only three quarters of the way to the boundary and laid still in the crater it had made there. Take a bow, Ben Youngman.

A mention in dispatches goes to "Martin Weiler the Wanderer – the laughing cavalier, his woollen armour yellowed with experience” (Tipton St John, May 2011) who clouted the ball to distant parts a couple of times before being suckered by a desperately slow one.

With a scattering of other contributions, notably from Extras (who should perhaps have retired at 25, but went on to make 32) the Erratics reached 115, which is a reasonable score for us as a team in this kind of game, but which also felt very much below par.

At this stage, Mark Phillips’ name must go forward as a contender for the Wobbler Award. Fraser called him for a quick single (or did he not call him and just run?) but it was too quick for Mark, who insisted immediately and angrily to Fraser that there had “never been a run there” before heading grumpily to the pavilion where he repeated the assertion to watching Erratics before calming down and apologising like the gentleman we all know him to be. Was there a run or not? At least Mark went for it, creating the possibility of achieving it. Refusing would have made the run-out a certainty.

And so to the Newton Poppleford innings, which started with a biff to the boundary and continued with many more. Matt Raistrick was particularly brutal and destructive in depositing the ball well over the boundary rope. As the bowling of Oughton, Youngman and Chave was most piteously slain, it became quickly apparent that we were going to lose this one.

Nil desperandum. Big hitters quickly reach 25 not out and then have to retire. Nonetheless, Newton Poppleford were well ahead of the run-rate and had wickets in hand. Faced, it seemed to me, with certain defeat, skipper Matt Cook turned to Mark Phillips and me to bowl. I think it's fair to say that neither of us call ourselves bowlers and I assumed that we would be carted comprehensively in a quick conclusion to the contest. Not so. Phillips picked up two wickets courtesy of catches from Cook and Chave, and by the end of the 15th over, Newton Poppleford still needed 13 runs to win.

But the batsmen had become becalmed. It was as if of hemlock they had drunk. 9 were needed from the last 4 overs, but in another masterstroke of captaincy, Matt had Oughton and Youngman bowl from the opposite ends to how they had opened. They bowled utterly brilliantly, both wicketless, but with improbable parsimony in this final phase of the game. Coupled with some tight fielding, Newton Poppleford came up just 2 runs short of our total.

What a game!

All credit to Newton Poppleford and their sporting approach. Sadly, Dan Thistlethwaite had had to leave the field after injuring his knee, but they immediately provided us with a sub fielder, totally unprompted.

In the final few overs, that sub fielder was none other than George House, their captain. At extra cover, he was immediately adjacent to me in the field and I could see him groaning as the win slipped away from his team. In the final over, he even fielded a ball dexterously and made a pretty good fist of getting it back to wicket-keeper Andrew Forrester for an attempted run-out. He must have been severely conflicted in that moment, but showed himself to be a true sportsman.

The narrowest of wins, and an object lesson in never giving up.

Jonathan Kirby

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
115		        
Chris Ferro Caught  8
Jonathan Kirby Bowled  6
Mark Phillips Run out  1
Fraser Chave Not Out  26
Matt Crawford Run out  2
Martin Weiler Caught  11
Daniel Thistlethwaite Caught  10
Matt Cook Bowled  4
Andrew Forrester Bowled  2
Gareth Oughton Run out  6
Ben Youngman Not Out  7

Newton Poppleford Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Newton Poppleford Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
113 (20.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gareth Oughton4.011100.002.75
Ben Youngman4.012300.005.75
Fraser Chave3.0021210.507.00
Matt Cook3.0026126.008.67
Mark Phillips3.001527.505.00
Jonathan Kirby3.001500.005.00