Scorecard

Newton Poppleford v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 25 May 2014 at 2.30pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 54 runs

Match report Match report by Martin Wright

Apparently April was gorgeous. So they tell me. Sweltering in the 40 degree heat of a Mumbai traffic jam, I heard word of a balmy England bathed in sunshine and soft breezes. Come May, I come home, the heavens open, and prospects for play sink into the sog. Proof, perhaps, that the weather gods love football.

Washout follows washout, and apocalyptic rumours come in from outlying grounds… At Teign Valley, the waters rise to bail height and stray sheep float down to the sea… At Dunsford, the only evidence that there was once a cricket field takes the form of the tattered remnants of an umpire’s coat, flapping forlornly high in the branches where the floodwaters left it…

So after another night’s rain, the chances of play at Newton Poppleford looked slim. But this time the gods were smiling. The ground drains well, and the combination of sunshine, breeze and a heavy roller meant the wicket was fit to play.

As slow as a superannuated snail, maybe, but playable.

We arrived to find the Popplers already out there, practising catching. An intimidating sight, made less so by the fact they were grassing most of them – something carefully noted for future reference by Bandhu, eyeing the edge of his blade.

The arrival of Molins, P, prompted Wright to ask what had happened to Molins, H, much missed at Chulmleigh. “Ah, that was my fault”, replied Molins Pere. “He doesn’t do email, so I answer for him.” Much tutting ensued at the Unreliability of Youth, and whether a hipper technology than email (“it’s like, so 90s?”) might be required. Time for an ErratiApp perhaps? Someone should look into it. Any volunteers? Thoughts immediately turned to anyone not present: what about Mark Philips? His captaincy debut went well, and he’s been an uber-efficient Fixtures Secretary. “He’ll be Club Chairman in a year at this rate…. What else?…. Club Mascot maybe?.... We could have little fluffy Marks on our dashboards…”.

“He’s certainly fluffier than me”, growled Molins, though whether this related to hair or demeanour wasn’t entirely clear. Both, probably.

Skipper Kirby put an end to the banter by going out and winning the toss, and deciding to bat. He held up two fingers to Wright – a gesture he would surely replay in his head as Wright’s dismal innings unfolded, but which for now merely indicated he was going in at No 2, alongside Opener Chave, D.

We started slowly, tied down by some tight, not to say nagging, bowling from Thomas, E and Marsh, his testing wobblers as miserly as ever. Wright managed a couple of streaky slashes over point, but then retreated into his shell. Well, not so much shell as bunker. Well, not so much bunker as bomb-proof batcave 30 feet below ground. Chave, equally solid in defence, was rather more fluid in attack, unleashing a couple of fine drives, before falling to a deceptive beauty of a ball from Thomas, which held its line and then dipped into middle and off.

Williamson soon followed, bowled by another peach of an inducker, without troubling the Scorer (Thompson, J). This brought Lucky Bandhu to the crease, in a rich vein of form after his excellent 95* at Stokeinteignhead.

He, too, initially found the pace of the pitch tricky. He launched a couple of ambitious off drives, but was well through his follow through before the ball, having sunk into the sog, was wondering whether it could be bothered to bounce, or if it should just lie there, mouldering quietly.

With both batsmen watchful, the scoring rate dipped to two an over. There was in fairness, little loose on offer. Opener Thomas, E, completed eight overs for just 18 runs, picking up three wickets. Stone, on the money from the off, took 1 for 12 from six.

Beyond the boundary, the waiting powerhouse of Ferro, Kirby and Rutherford were huffing quietly, or so it seemed to Wright, painfully aware of his lack of va va, never mind voom. Before long, however, Bandhu had adjusted his synchromesh so he was in pace with the pitch, and moved up through the gears. Those fine, flourishing straight drives began to flow: one in particular ripped past mid-off to the rope with enough velocity to carry it across another field entirely; others were lofted clean over the bowler.

Wright, attempting to follow suit, could only manage a series of mistimed clumps. His end, when it came – a limp leading edge while attempting a nurdle off Hunter to give Bandhu the strike – was a mercy. As Scorer Jim (mercilessly) informed him, his laboured 12 had come off 46 balls and taken 61 minutes. It says something for the generosity of Erratics that he was applauded from the field (rather than pelted with rotten thigh pads). The applause was surely tinged with relief, as this brought Ferro to the crease.

How do I begin to describe his knock? I normally set aside at least 300 words for a Ferrinnings. So here goes: Strides to the wicket, calm, confident… briskly takes guard…a swift appraising glance around the field…turns his first ball neatly to a vacant midwicket, a curt call of ‘Yes’…

At which point the veil descends: Ferro runs; Bandhu doesn’t. Ferro, confident in his call, keeps running; Bandhu doesn’t. Ferro arrives within touching – not to say spitting – distance of his partner; Bandhu’s unmoved. The Keeper sounds the death rattle. Exit Ferro.

“I nearly ran out Lucky earlier”, Wright told him later, by way of consolation. “But he wasn’t having any.”
“Ah well, at least you tried…”.

Kirby came in, played over another slow looper, and was bowled. At 65-5, with barely 20 overs left, the Erratiboat was foundering. Enter Rutherford. Together, he and Bandhu first steadied the ship, then put fresh wind into its sails. Bandhu, now thoroughly accustomed to the pace of the pitch, started to test the field with some belligerent drives and pulls. It was far from easy pickings. The fielders were sharp, and the batsmen adept at picking them out. Several times, a shot that, with a yard’s width either side, would have screamed to the rope, met a stout long barrier, and no run resulted. The bowlers played their part too, aided by astute captaincy. Isaac Thomas, coming on third change when Bandhu and Rutherford were well underway, kept things tight by bowling on / outside off with a 7-2 field. University stuff.

The fielders were less reliable when the ball went in the air, with Bandhu the prime beneficiary. None of the chances was exactly straightforward, the ball flying off the edge and then gratifyingly navigating its way between – or in a few cases, bouncing off – slips and wicketkeeper. A lucky Bandhu indeed, but he rode it well, opening up as the innings went into the final straight, reaching a well-deserved 50, which he celebrated with a top-edged six, and powering on to an excellent 72 before being well caught on the boundary by Cox, A. Together, he and Rutherford had put on a lifesaving 99 for the sixth wicket.

They ran well wickets, too, although not without a stray hiccough. On one occasion, Rutherford put in an early bid for the season’s most loquacious run, with a fine monologue which went as follows (I noted it down at the time for posterity):

“No – Yes – No, No – Yes – No-No – Yes!”.

All in the course of 22 yards, and with a happy ending too. If only Ferro had been so chatty…

Rutherford’s knock was an object lesson in how to pace an innings. Quiet at first, watchfully playing the ball off the pitch, he opened up gloriously in the last few overs, launching some huge blows over long-on, including a soaring six off the ex-miserly Marsh, whose last over went for 19 – exactly double the runs conceded from his first seven. Rutherford – at No. 7 surely Erratics’ own Gilchrist – finished on 39*, and we had reached the relative heights of 172-6. The consensus had been that 150 on this slow pitch would be competitive, so we took tea in a state of some chuff.

An ample one it was, as ever here, including Poppleford-speciality scones - reminding your correspondent of his student-era trips for cholesterol boosting cream teas at the Southern Cross in this same village – by far the most hazardous substance-ingestion he experienced in three quiet years of study [sic].

Suitably stuffed, we took to the field, and Kirby opened with the steam-and-sail mix of Kothamachu and Chave, F – and it proved mighty effective, too. Chave bowled Thomas, I for a duck, and Varun cleaned up Lee and House, and soon Newton were reeling at 21-3. Cox and Clay staged something of a revival, with Cox in belligerent mood, particularly harsh on some early airiness from Williamson.

After seeing one blow sail over his head at mid-on, Wright dropped back 10 yards. Ideally, it should have been about 50. The next ball, another Cox shell soared towards him. Only the most charitable observer would describe Wright’s effort as a ‘leap’ – more of an arthritic lunge, perhaps. The ball connected briefly with a fingertip and careered on to the boundary, soon followed by a cursing fielder in search of pain relief. Annie, at least, was sympathetic - “Shame to come all the way from India to break a finger…”. Scorer Jim was less forgivingly terse, merely noting ‘Dropped’ at the relevant place on Cox’s tally.

Williamson had his revenge a couple of balls later, clean bowling Cox – a crucial wicket – and it was 55-4. Newton were well up with the rate, but as Kirby rang the changes, the wickets kept coming.
A rare Ferro loose ball – short and wide – did for Hunter, well held over his head by Williamson in the covers. Raistrick and Thomas, E, both threatened briefly with some powerful hitting. But Ferro cleaned up Raistrick as he aimed one ambitious shot too many, and Rutherford lured Thomas into a lofted drive that was well taken by Kirby at deep mid-off. It was a quietly courageous catch, as our Skipper had earlier also left the field in search of magic spray after bruising his palm while diving hard in an effort to snaffle a chance in the covers. (Are drummers’ palms insured? And if so, would such reckless behaviour be covered?)

Haynes and Bandhu continued the good work, bowling tight lines, and with Bandhu back to full pace, both batsmen and keeper found themselves tested by some rapid fire – though it must be said that. Molins was generally very tidy behind the stumps.

Clay resisted for a resolute 28, but no one stayed around long enough to keep him company, and the end came swiftly as Rutherford and Ferro stifled the tail. Kirby took another sharp chance off Rutherford to dismiss Stone, and Kothamachu applied the coup de grace, bowling Goldthorpe. Newton were all out for 118; a comfortable victory, in the end, by 54 runs.

All our bowlers had ‘turned up’, as they say. Kothamachu finished with 3 for 20 off 7 and Chave, F with a very tidy 2 for 12, also off 7. Williamson, expensive early on, recovered to 1-32, and both Haynes (0-25 off 5) and Bandhu (0-15 off 4) kept it tight. Ferro (2 for 2 off 4 overs, 3 of them maidens) and Rutherford (2 for 0), brought into the attack at third and fifth change respectively, were way too good for the lower order.

So, another fine, friendly game, and another fine victory, thanks to the excellent Rutherford-Bandhu axis and a strong all-round bowling performance. It was great to have both Peter Thompson and David Salter come along to show their support, with David joining us in the Crown and Sceptre, where we were fed dangerously generous helpings of that other local Poppleford delicacy, sausage-in-a-bap. So we were stuffed, but for once, not stuffed. As it were.



Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
172		        
Duncan Chave Bowled  14
Martin Wright ct & b 12
Danny Williamson Bowled  0
Lucky Bandhu Caught  72
Chris Ferro Run out  0
Jonathan Kirby Bowled  2
Nigel Rutherford Not Out  39
Paul Molins Caught  3
Fraser Chave  
Jeff Haynes  
Varun Kothamachu  

Newton Poppleford Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Newton Poppleford Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
118 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Varun Kothamachu7.432036.672.61
Fraser Chave7.031226.001.71
Danny Williamson4.0032132.008.00
Jeff Haynes5.012500.005.00
Chris Ferro4.03221.000.50
Lucky Bandhu4.011500.003.75
Nigel Rutherford1.01020.000.00