Scorecard

Broadclyst v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 17 Jul 2022 at 2.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 6 Runs

Match report Match report by Martin Wright

With the Met Office issuing an Amber Alert for Extreme Heat as Sunday dawned, match manager Penny Price issued her own pre-game notice, advising us to bring suncream, hats, plentiful liquids, portable defibrillators, mobile air-conditioning units….and, more importantly, an appetite, as the only alert really worth noticing was that there would be tea!

With the ground baked hard by the seasonal sun, Skipper Fraser Chave won the toss and sensibly decided to bat. Lee Grant and Your Correspondent were despatched to open, and did so clearly in an Amber Alert state, watchful and cautious against some decent opening bowlers, with Davey in particular swinging the ball late at a lively pace. With the help of some generously porous wicket keeping, we nonetheless managed to chug along at four an over, with Lee hitting some chunky boundaries, until both perished attempting to force the pace.

Tim McMath and Jonathan Kirby also enjoyed relatively brief stays at the crease – Tim unfortunate enough to play on, and JK succumbing to the temptation of a lofted drive. But at the other end Andrew Forrester, promoted to No. 3, showed that he was made of sterner stuff. A recent alumnus of the Harry Everett School of Batting, he would have made his coach proud by the way he combined impressive stickability, seeing off the swing of Davey and the pace of Daldorph, with some fine attacking shots when the opportunity presented itself. A neat leg glance, a sharp late cut, and a flourishing cover drive, all of which went for four, should linger long in his memory.

Andrew provided the perfect foil for Anuj Tiwari. He too started cautiously, presenting a confident forward defensive, but showing early signs of imposing himself on the bowling when he sent one of Davey’s impressive away swingers zinging back through mid-on to the rope.

Then, as the sun beat on and the bowling attack started to fray at the edges, Anuj took charge. Advancing several paces down the track, he made perfectly respectable deliveries into full tosses to be launched out of the ground, and as the field spread, ran aggressive singles to keep up the momentum. Anything short was sent searing to the boundary: in this mood, when Anuj struck the ball, it stayed struck.

The scoring rate soon went from sluggish to decent to more than respectable, the century partnership reached and exceeded, and as the innings drew to a close, all attention was on whether Anuj could reach the first ever ton of his life. Fraser attempted a complex – not to say confusing - semaphore to encourage him, although all agreed that Anuj was hardly likely to block out the final over. Tantalisingly, he closed just short, on a seriously impressive 96 not out. His maiden ton can only be a matter of time.

Tea was taken, mainly in the shade, and then it was our turn to field. 184 seemed a decent score, but with a flat, fast outfield, and some powerful strikers in Broadclyst’s ranks, there was no cause for complacency.

Nigel Rutherford was his parsimonious self, spearing the ball in and giving the batters nothing to work with; at the other end Oscar Cammack came flying in, full of pace and power, hitting the keeper’s gloves hard. Oscar is increasingly accurate these days, posing a real threat, and it was he who drew first blood when Fraser caught a fine catch at point to dismiss Daldorph, A. Oscar was shortly after in the action again, running back from extra cover to take a spiralling sliced drive from Walker, P (jnr), over his shoulder.

Enter Daldorph, G, carrying a well-deserved reputation for batting prowess. Like Anuj, he started cautiously, but confidently. Slowly, he and Pooley rebuilt the innings, until Lee cleaned up the latter with a full, straight delivery. Daldorph was joined by Tregedeon, and together they kept Broadclyst in the hunt in the face of some relentlessly probing bowling from Fraser and Lee. At no point did Broadclyst get away, but at no point did they lose touch with the rate. The game was finely, deliciously balanced. But there was always a sense of impending threat from Daldorph; even when simply leaning into a crisp forward defensive – which he did rather a lot – he exuded a confidence that suggested that, as and when he wished, he could hit the ball harder. A lot harder.

So when Anuj spilled a difficult chance on the long-on boundary, it felt for a while as though the game too might have slipped through our fingers. But Erratics fought on; Fraser marshalled his attack and his field expertly, and the fielders responded with some fine stops: Mark Philips flinging himself to his left to cut off a searing cut from Daldorph; Jonathan speeding and sliding across the turf like a man a third of his age at fine leg; Fraser, Oscar and Anuj sharp and athletic throughout. Behind the stumps, Andrew was his reliable self: neat, organised…er, there’s a word for it, it’s just slipped my mind for the moment, like, when your desk’s a mess and you clear it all up and leave it nice and…something-or-other. Anyway, like that. Battered off the field by a nasty blow on the wrist, Andrew was replaced by Tim, who stepped up to the role with aplomb.

Shortly before the blow, Andrew had taken a sharp edge to dismiss Tregedeon off Anuj – and then, finally, with 10 or so overs remaining and the rate required nearing double figures, Daldorph made his move. Or rather moves, taking on the best of our bowlers – and they were all at or near their best – with some clinical but brutal hitting, sending the ball back over their heads and out of the ground, or crashing square of the wicket to the rope. Ably supported by Davey, he looked to have timed his acceleration perfectly. And then he launched Lee back over long-off, and there was Jonathan. In went the ball to his hands, and out it bobbled. In again, out again. And again. And again. On the fourth or fifth juggle, it finally rested in his palms. (“I was just knocking it up, so I could get hold of it properly”, Jonathan explained.)

The game had turned, decisively, this time, and with just a few overs left and the best batters in the hutch, Broadclyst had run out of road. Oscar and Lee closed it off, and Erratics squeaked home by six runs.

An excellent, close game, which, appropriately enough, had hovered on amber throughout, with neither side completely getting away, neither side ever completely downcast, everything poised, on the threshold of possibility throughout.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
8w 5b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
14
184		        
Lee Grant ct Tregedian 18 29 3 62.07
Martin Wright ct Davey 13 31 2 41.94
Andrew Forrester Not Out  37 66 3 56.06 1
Tim McMath b G Daldorph 1 10 10.0
Jonathan Kirby ct Tregedian 5 9 1 55.56 1
Anuj Tiwari Not Out  96 63 13 3 152.38
Fraser Chave   2
Nigel Rutherford  
Oscar Cammack   1 1
Mark Phillips  
John Curtis  

Broadclyst Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
E Davey7.0315115.002.14
P Walker (jnr)4.001800.004.50
S Tregedian7.0134217.004.86
G Daldorph4.0114114.003.50
R Scott5.003500.007.00
P Walker (snr)6.004700.007.83
D Parker2.001500.007.50

Broadclyst Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 3w 9b 5lb 
for 9 wickets
22
178 (35.0 overs)		     
D Pooley b Grant 24
A Daldorph ct F Chave B. Cammack 0
P Walker (jnr) ct Cammack B. Rutherford 5
G Daldorph ct Kirby B. Grant 72
S Tregedeon ct Forrester B. Tiwari 26
D Urch b Tiwari 0
E Davey ct F Chave B. Cammack 22
P Walker (snr) b Grant 5
D Parker Not Out  2
K Horne run out (Cammack) 0
R Scott Not Out  0

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nigel Rutherford7.0128128.004.00
Oscar Cammack7.0142221.006.00
Lee Grant7.0135311.675.00
Fraser Chave7.022900.004.14
Anuj Tiwari7.0130215.004.29