Scorecard

Cheriton Fitzpaine v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Thu 18 Jun 2015 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 25 runs

Match report Mark Hailwood

"Every good match report should start with a quote", I said to myself in the car on the way home, just so I would have something to start with. When I finished talking to myself I reflected on the fact that our recent spate of dramatic games has served to raise Erratics' expectations: this result – a loss by 25 runs, chasing a total that required us to score at 8 an over – was by no means a disaster. Our bowling and fielding was of a good standard, and until the last 5 overs or so of our chase we were very much in the game. Yet it felt like a bit of a damp squib compared to the glut of competitive nail-biters we have enjoyed of late. Remember folks, we can't have a Marldon/Teign Valley/Lympstone/Bridford/Dunsford/Lustleigh every game. Just nearly every game.

The new positive, optimistic spirit of Erraticism was epitomised by Jeff Haynes – at the ground and fully kitted out a good 45 minutes early, and so taken by the 'New Erraticism' it had driven him to buy a new car. Out goes the inefficient, recreational coupe; in comes a brand new, efficient, purposeful, man-about-town 'City Go' – in off white with a red go-faster stripe to match Jeff's cricket jumper. Skip Kirby was full of go-getting positivity too – on arrival he declared he wanted 180, then went and won the toss and opted to bowl. "So, we keep them to 179 then, right skip?" came the quip.

Well, we went 26 better than that, and restricted our hosts to 153. The Cherries knew how to bat well on their own – rather small - pitch, and whilst they never got away from us nor did we take wickets or bowl dots often enough to put a strangle hold on them. The pick of our bowling was Greg 'the Leg', who claimed 3 scalps with his flight and guile.

Still, given the short boundaries and the strength of our batting line up our optimism continued to burn bright as we embarked on the chase. At one stage the Cherries had Carr bowling down the hill and Dent bowling up it, and it seemed only a matter of time before I.N. Surance-Claim would enter the attack, but whatever they threw at Krupakar and Jan made little impact. It was worth the 3 quid match fee just to watch another fine knock from Krups, who is in a rich vein of form indeed. With scoring shots coming all around the wicket, including 5 'longballs' (baseball terminology for a home run/six) he secured his 4th consecutive half-century (and his 6th in 7 innings dating back to last season). Ably supported by Jan, who in her first knock of the season hit some classy 4s of her own on her way to 22, we reached 80 without loss with 8 overs to go, and all was well in the world.

Then, unexpectedly, Krupakar was well caught in the deep, and the wheels started to come off. Lucky, undone by the slow bounce, popped one up to cover. Jan dragged on trying to up the scoring rate. Hailwood was in next, with clear instructions from Captain Kirby to 'channel Ben Stokes'. Unfortunately, dear reader, I batted more in the spirit of Stokes the St Thomas fruit and veg man (excellent raspberries, by the way), and after getting bogged down decided that suicide singles were the best approach. Mark P was my first run out victim, but on my next ill-advised call the skip stood firm and, quite rightly, sent me back to the danger end to fall on my sword. Greg Mac threatened a revival with some cleanly struck boundaries, before he fell fowl of an unfortunate ricochet-off-keepers-pads stumping. Fraser and Ben were then both castled in quick succession. All the while our skip had watched on helplessly from the non-strikers end, and with the run rate now beyond reasonable reach, it fell to Kirby and Haynes – those two beacons of shining optimism at 5.30, now reduced to the stoic flickering of dying embers in the chill hill top breeze – to retain some dignity by ensuring we batted out the overs, finishing with a total of 128.

We retired to the shelter of the Half Moon, where word got out that it was in fact Captain Kirby's birthday – and we all felt rather guilty that we hadn't managed to send him home, for home he had swiftly gone, with a suitable fillip. Sorry skip. Still, we necked a round of tequila slammers in his honour, and turned our attention to Sunday's fixture against the self-proclaimed 'worst team in Devon'. For those taken by the spirit of New Erraticism, this might be seen as a golden opportunity to get back to winning ways. For those in whom the Old Erraticism still lingers, it might sound like a potentially massive banana skin. We'll see….

Cheriton Fitzpaine Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 4 wickets
0
153 (20.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Lucky Bandhu4.001900.004.75
Ben Youngman4.0031131.007.75
Fraser Chave3.003000.0010.00
Mark Hailwood2.001400.007.00
Jeff Haynes3.0028128.009.33
Greg MacQueen4.0029214.507.25

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
128
(20.0 overs)		    
Jayakrupakar Nallala Caught  63
Jan Heaton Bowled  22
Lucky Bandhu Caught  0
Mark Hailwood Run out  3
Mark Phillips Run out  1
Jonathan Kirby Not Out  3
Greg MacQueen Stumped  9
Fraser Chave Bowled  1
Ben Youngman Bowled  0
Jeff Haynes Not Out  0
Penny Price  

Cheriton Fitzpaine Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.