Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Mystics and Magicians on Sat 31 Jul 2010 at 14.30
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 5 wickets

Match report Mystics 160 for 7
Chave 49, Myton 44*. Orpen 3-43

Erratics 161 for 5
S.Cook 61, Kirby 49. Webb 2-26

Erratics win by 5 wickets

Match Report: Peter Thomson

By this victory, we reclaimed the Chairman’s Cup. I’ve forgotten when it was last in our possession. So long ago that one of our blue ribbons has passed away in the interim. (I say this despite the fact that, whichever side wins the Cup, it resides on a window-sill in our house for the rest of the year.) This remains, even after 26 years, a unique fixture, one in which the teams don’t so much compete as intermingle. For example, two of the major contributors to the Mystics’ total (Duncan Chave and Jim Thomson) are also Erratics, and two of the major contributors to our convincing reply (Sam Cook and Chris Squire) are also Mystics. Take it as read, then, that the game conducts itself in great good humour. The day was warm. There were spectators galore. The evening garden at the Royal Oak invited a poem from Rupert Brooke (a corner that’s ‘for ever England’) or a painting from Watteau (languid figures on a lawn).

Having spotted from Cornwall Gareth Oughton’s struggles to assemble a team, Jim had selected a Mystics eleven that gave the Erratics a sporting chance. Graham Sharland helped by looping a return catch to Andrew MacRae. It was a long time before we took the next wicket, though. That was when Jim Thomson, startled by the number of overs he’d spent in occupation of the crease, left it for so long that I had no alternative but to stump him off Simon Orpen. It was the same bowler who interrupted the belligerent innings of Adi Borley by bowling him, Adi having completed his pull to leg several seconds before the ball actually reached him. (I haven’t the score-book with me, but I think Simon might well have collected four wickets: he’s not as easy to play as people think.) There followed two of Jim’s more provocative selections. Dan Shepherd hasn’t had much opportunity to play cricket during his diplomatic contributions to the relaxed world peace we all enjoy so much, and Tom Hurle had never featured in a game before this one. I think it was Ed Keedwell, bowling a neat in-swinger from the Moretonhampstead end, who bamboozled him.

That brought Jim Myton to the wicket to join the ever-present Duncan Chave, and we had a bit of ball-retrieving to do. 200 was still on the cards when Alan Peacock took a sharp catch to dismiss Duncan, to be replaced by his son – quickly off the mark with a controlled pull behind square. This is the sort of last ditch moment in which a man calls on his son-in-law to bowl. And yes, it was Uncle Chris Squire who persuaded Fraser Chave into an injudicious stroke that carried the ball – just – into the hands of a diving Alan Peacock (much to Alan’s chagrin on two grounds: taking a supererogatory catch and destroying the mechanism of a shoulder he’d already damaged while bowling). At which point, with a ball remaining in the over (Chirpy was cheated!), Jim declared the innings closed. And I haven’t even mentioned the nostalgia evoked by the sight of John Somers getting his arm most of the way over for eighteen balls, and a fine spell of four overs from Sam Cook, during which he managed to keep Duncan on his toes and dismiss John Somers with a split finger off a slip catch that he did well to see.

Our innings started inauspiciously when Guy Clarke, Penny Price and Andrew MacRae were dismissed cheaply by Sean Webb.

It was the partnership between Sam Cook and Jonathan Kirby that did most to win the game for us. When Sam’s on song, he hits boundaries with an ease that looks almost lazy. The score had reached 111 by the time he was out l.b.w. to Chirpy Healey. (I had the impression that he was walking before the umpire raise his finger.) Jonathan went on, chipping Jim Myton to (and sometimes past) third man from just in front of his lowered eyebrow, but the game wasn’t yet won when he was out to a bail-clipper. Alan Peacock, despite an immobile shoulder, batted calmly on, but there was nothing calm about Chris Squire’s innings. Three crisp fours and we were home.

Saturday 31st July
v Mystics & Magicians @ Dunsford
2:30pm

Team (in batting order): Guy Clarke, Andrew MacRae, Penny Price, Sam Cook, Jonathan Kirby, Alan Peacock, Chris Squire, Simon Orpen, Ed Keedwell, John Somers, Peter Thomson (w/k and captain).


Mystics and Magicians Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 16w 3b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
23
160 (44.0 overs)
     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Penny Price6.011500.002.50
Andrew McRae7.0110110.001.43
John Somers4.011200.003.00
Alan Peacock6.0028128.004.67
Sam Cook5.011100.002.20
Simon Orpen7.0143314.336.14
Ed Keedwell5.0024124.004.80
Jonathan Kirby2.00900.004.50
Chris Squire2.00414.002.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5w 4b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
10
161
        
Guy Clarke Caught  7
Andrew McRae Lbw  7
Penny Price Bowled  0
Sam Cook Lbw  61
Jonathan Kirby Bowled  49
Alan Peacock Not Out  13
Chris Squire Not Out  14
Simon Orpen  
Ed Keedwell  
John Somers  
Peter Thomson  

Mystics and Magicians Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.
 
Photos and video of Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Mystics and Magicians on Sat 31 Jul 2010 at 14.30

100731-Mystics (2).jpg

'The day was warm. There were spectators galore.' The Erratics host the Mystics at Dunsford in 2010.

100731-Mystics (14).jpg

Andrew McRae opens for the Erratics against the Mystics at Dunsford in 2010.

100731-Mystics (15).jpg

'When Sam’s on song, he hits boundaries with an ease that looks almost lazy.' Sam Cook's 61 helped the Erratics to a win over the Mystics at Dunsford in 2010.

100731-Mystics (22).jpg

'It was the partnership between Sam Cook and Jonathan Kirby that did most to win the game' against the Mystics at Dunsford in 2010. Here, Jonathan adds to the total.