Scorecard

Heads & Tails v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 23 Apr 2026 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 5 Wickets

Match report Match report by Martin Wright

It was a gorgeous spring evening. The shadows lengthening, the trees greening, and the outfield best described as flowery.

Newton St Cyres CC was bathed in the rays of the falling sun, becoming ever more threatening to cricketers’ vision as they approached the horizontal. The pitch here is artificial, and tends to play truer from one end than the other – a factor which any Erratic seeking an explanation, if not excuse, for what ensued might seize upon.

Skipper Lee Grant won the toss and elected to bat, sending your correspondent in to open with Ric Lindsay. Ric was gloriously dominant from the off: one straight drive in particular drew purrs from the spectators, and it was a surprise to everyone when he fell for a quickfire 22. But that just brought Chris ‘Silky’ Ferro to the crease.

To say that Chris peaked early isn’t to deny the quality of the rest of his innings: it was just that his first scoring shot – played to his first ball faced – was the apogee, the ne pas ultra, of any action that can conceivably be performed with a cricket bat: a simple, perfect late cut, as though he’d gently tapped a puppy on the head to send it skating across the grass to the boundary. From the depths of Len Hutton’s grave rose a soft Yorkshire murmur of approval.

Chris followed with some fine drives and clips, even as the Heads and Tails attack tightened up, before being bowled by a beauty which just held its line enough to beat a defensive push.

Your correspondent, meanwhile, was having a mixed time of it. I came into this season, a) wondering if it would be my last while daring to hope it might not be; and b) deciding I was going to take a more positive, assertive approach to my batting (not unrelated to (a)). So this was the first test of my resolve. In one respect, I passed this with flying colours, in that I don’t think I played a single purely defensive stroke. But given the proportion which I mis-hit, mis-cued or (more often) just missed… Well, anyway, I got a couple away to the rope before being bowled trying for another.

Matt Crawford was unlucky to have a screaming lofted off spank find the hands of mid-off, and Skipper Lee, with Erratics’ sole six, was his usual dominant self, until he wasn’t. Whereupon the innings folded somewhat – not for want of trying. “A lot of swing, but not much ding”, as one observer (Hailwood, M.) summed up a particularly effortful, yet unrewarded, flurry from a batter who struggled to get the ball past an alert infield.

The watching Erratics, meanwhile, amused themselves by speculating on possible law changes, viz: if the ball strikes any piece of clothing or accoutrement worn by the batter, they have to remove it. An unsuccessful appeal by the fielding side results in a free hit. Such speculations were brought to a merciful close by the end of the innings.

At 118, we felt we might be un peu sub-par.

Since the sun was now spearing its rays directly into what would be the batters’ eyeline at the eastern end, by mutual agreement the Heads and Tails innings was played exclusively from the western one. Which just happened to be the end where the bounce was a little more true. But no excuses! Indeed, none appeared to be needed, as Erratics started strongly, tying down the opening pair then prising them and several others from the crease. Mark and Roger Putnam were tight and testing, and Nigel ‘Rockets’ Rutherford almost impossible to get away – living proof that a man doesn’t need functional knees to be borderline unplayable.

Lee affected a sharp stumping, and Tim Fawcett a run out by completely missing the stumps he was aiming at, but fortunately finding Lee ready to take the bails off at the other end. The scoring rate climbed to eight an over, and 118 looked like plenty….

Until first Fenton, and then in particular Crockett and Scofield, took charge, coinciding with some marginally more…benign…bowling from Tim, Tom Joshi-Hartley and Ben Yarde-Buller. The latter, it must be noted, was making his first outing since his hip replacement last year, given which he was surprisingly more or less on the money. He, and the others, were just unlucky to come up against Crockett and Scofield with their eyes firmly in and their blood up.

In the end, Heads and Tails won it at a canter with nearly three overs to spare. But all was forgiven and forgotten over generous portions of curry and chips in the pub. All except the memory of Ric’s purring straight drive, and Ferro’s late cut for the ages. They linger long, and so they should.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 12w 1b 2lb 
for 7 wickets
17
118		        
Richard Lindsay Caught  22 20 4 110.0
Martin Wright Bowled  23 33 2 69.70
Chris Ferro Bowled  26 22 4 118.18
Matt Crawford Caught  8 11 1 72.73
Lee Grant Caught  11 5 1 1 220.0 1
Ben Yarde-Buller Caught  1 2 50.0
Tom Joshi-Hartley Not Out  5 9 55.56
Nigel Rutherford Bowled  3 12 25.00 2
Roger Putman Not Out  2 3 66.67
Tim Fawcett  
Mark Hailwood  

Heads & Tails Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Tom Dowle3.001500.005.00
Nigel Emmanuel4.0023123.005.75
Steve Arthur-Wallis3.001900.006.33
Dan Fenton4.001929.504.75
Chris Odgers4.0027213.506.75
Neil Richardson2.001226.006.00

Heads & Tails Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 10w 6b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
19
119 (17.1 overs)		     
John Quicke Stumped  0 4 0
Nigel Emmanuel Caught  5 9 1 55.56
Dan Fenton Run out  16 22 1 1 72.73
J Simon Bowled  1 6 16.67
Colin Sheer Caught  0 2 0
Matthew Crockett Retired Not Out  33 26 4 1 126.92
Ben Scofield Retired Not Out  34 20 2 3 170.0
Neil Richardson Not Out  10 6 2 166.67
Steve Arthur-Wallis Not Out  1 3 33.33
Chris Odgers  
Tom Dowle  

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Hailwood4.011427.003.50
Roger Putman2.101100.005.08
Nigel Rutherford4.011226.003.00
Tom Joshi-Hartley3.002900.009.67
Tim Fawcett2.002300.0011.50
Ben Yarde-Buller2.002300.0011.50