Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Peartree on Fri 26 Aug 2016 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 8 wickets

Match report With grim determination Martin Weiler beats the earth with his bat once more. No longer can this cricketing contest be called crepuscular for night has fallen. It is truly dark. Martin can barely see his batting partner at the opposite end, let alone his comrades in the not-too-distant pavilion. He stands alone.

Somewhere out there in the dark, something moves. “The bowler”, thinks Martin. He’s not wrong. In a rush of air, he hears something travel towards him. “The ball”, he rightly guesses. It has to be a guess because this is a ball that now travels unseen. Martin certainly doesn’t see the ball. Not at all. But neither does the wicket-keeper, and somehow the ball misses both of them anyway, as it travels at its sportingly slow pace through the blackness towards the boundary. Later, we are told that it has just trickled over it. 4 byes.

So it was that with the final ball of the 17th over, the Erratics passed the Peartree total of 142-4 from 18 overs, and Martin Weiler became perhaps the most successful and certainly the most literal Night Watchman in Erratics history. (Perhaps we could add “Taking the Black” to our end-of-season awards?)

How had it come to this? Well, earlier in the evening, Peartree CC had reached Tedburn in their minibus at 6:15pm, some six and a half hours after leaving Southampton and two hours later than they had planned. Travelling west on the Friday afternoon of a bank holiday weekend, they had encountered a lot of slow-moving traffic. The cheerful carousing as they arrived confirmed that copious quantities of alcohol had been consumed en route, but why should cans and bottles of cold beer stay closed in a hot minibus on an infernally long journey? We felt for them.

By agreement, Peartree batted first. It seemed sensible because Penny had successfully mustered 11 Erratics who had all arrived in good time and were kitted out in whites and ready to go before 6pm. As the effect of the beers wore off, the Peartree batsmen moved from sluggish to sloggish and eventually to stylish. The ball-by-ball encouragement from the boundary became less and less necessary as the total became increasingly imposing. The short boundaries at Tedburn are not kind to bowlers, but all five of ours acquitted themselves well.

Historians will speak of this day as having been bright and sunny. Given the absence of light in which the game ended, it was ironic that we had begun the game bowling from one end only because the sun shone directly in the eyes of the batsman facing up the hill. It was so bright that the umpire had to stand close to the stumps in order to see the line of the popping crease, as he explained to Gareth who had asked if he could stand back a bit. “Don’t worry”, I explained, “Gareth never no-balls”. Two balls later, Gareth did. He couldn’t see the line of the crease either. We cursed the sun. Perhaps that was our mistake.

Final credits must go to Krupakar, Phil and Andrew who gave our innings the momentum we needed to chase down the Peartree total. Also to Nick, who helped us close to the finish line with an innings of just 3 balls that included 2 boundaries.

And thanks to Peartree for their contribution to an unusual game, but one played in a sporting manner. Either side could have declared the lack of light ridiculous and called for the game to be abandoned, but they allowed us to persevere and enjoy the satisfaction of a win. Peartree also offered to put some money behind the bar for us in our clubhouse. If only we had one!

Jonathan Kirby

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 12w 7b 3lb 
for 2 wickets
23
146		        
Jayakrupakar Nallala Caught  27
Phil Power Retired Not Out  31
Andrew Forrester Retired Not Out  30
Martin Weiler Not Out  16
Nick Walding Not Out  8 2
Jonathan Kirby Not Out  7
Mark Phillips  
Mark Hailwood  
Gareth Oughton  
Penny Price  
Jeff Haynes  

Peartree Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Peartree Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 8w 3lb 
for 4 wickets
13
142 (18.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Gareth Oughton4.001728.504.25
Nick Walding3.002400.008.00
Phil Power5.004000.008.00
Jeff Haynes4.0043143.0010.75
Mark Hailwood2.0013113.006.50