Scorecard

Tipton St John v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 08 May 2025 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost

Match report We’ll Meet Again:


Being set 128 to win felt like light relief for the Erratics. Surely a breeze! Let’s cut to the chase: it wasn’t. We fell short, and even though all results were still possible at the start of the final over, only one of them felt at all likely.

There's the summary, for our younger readers. For those who want more, here we go:

After a 2-minute silence observed by all players to reflect on VE Day, there was a fly-past by 3 vintage airplanes. This was a coincidence. Fly-pasts would persist, however, and these were not coincidences: balls flying past and over fielders, and also trickling over the boundary rope despite comedic Erratic scrambling. After 10 overs, Tipton St John has posted something like 80 for 1, and those on the fielding side were in fear of a right royal drubbing. A Tipton score the wrong side of at least 160 seemed perfectly possible, if not highly likely.

Somehow, the brakes went on. Sometimes, parsimony comes from unexpected bowling quarters, and sometimes batters seem to lose momentum of their own accord. Anyway, the newsworthy item is that George Mather secured his first wicket for the Erratics. And then with some tight death bowling from Lee Grant and Anuj Tiwari, the Tipton innings closed on a "mere" 127.

Initially, surpassing this score seemed well within our compass. With “Mighty” Martin Wright and Richard “the Gas” Lindsay at the crease, the runs flowed, with Richard in particular continuing in his “rich” vein of form. He was to be rewarded later with news of Bristol City’s 3-0 defeat by Sheffield United. As a supporter of Bristol Rovers (“the Gas”), would Rich have preferred victories for both the Erratics and Bristol City over defeats for both? We’ll never know. (However, we can be sure that the absent Mark Hailwood would have done...)

Once Rich had retired not out, on 30, and Martin had departed to a “fly-to” rather than a “fly-past” the Erratics’ batting was sadly nothing much to write home about. Despite perkin’ up towards the end, and 2 of the final 3 overs being bowled at left-handers with a tantalisingly close leg-side boundary, an Erratic victory was not to be.

But it had been a lovely evening of friendly cricket, played in gorgeous sunshine (ok, that’s hyperbole, it WAS quite dark towards the end), and both teams headed off to the pub together accompanied by the strains of a certain song made famous by Vera Lynn, sung by the VE Day picnic party on the riverside.

NB. We will indeed meet again: Sunday 6th July, same location.

Tipton St John Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 5 wickets
0
127 (20.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
112		        
Fraser Chave  
Matt Crawford  
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami  
Lee Grant  
Martin Wright  
Jonathan Kirby  
Oliver Kirby  
Richard Lindsay  
George Mather  
Jon Perkin  
Anuj Tiwari  

Tipton St John Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.