Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Cheriton Fitzpaine on Sat 26 Sep 2009 at 14.00
Erratics Cricket Club Won 105 runs

Match report [Paul Molins Capt]

Match Report: Jonathan Kirby

Some might say that the pitch played as consistently and reliably as this report. Others might not bother.

I took a great catch! Diving forward at mid-wicket, plucking the ball from the air no more than a couple of inches above the grass, cupping it safely in both hands. Fantastic! This is one of the joys of writing a match report! A relatively inconsequential moment can be given pride of place so that all the world can read about it.

I'm calling it inconsequential partly because I took an almost identically athletic catch at Marldon last week, which President Peter Thomson didn't consider worthy of inclusion in his report of that game. Perhaps such feats have just become a routine feature of Erratic fielding?

There's much to report on this win against Cheriton Fitzpaine. First of all, we have to note that Peter Thomson doesn't always get his way, despite his status as President. Although from atop his pillar of wisdom he had asked John Pearson to captain the side, John made it plain at Dunsford that he had not the slightest intention of doing so. Thanks go to Paul Molins for stepping in, marshalling the troops and leading us to victory.

Did the Gods punish Pearson for his disobedience? There were three fielding misses in his first two overs. Divine retribution? Mind you, my catch did mean he got one wicket by the end.

Thanks are really important. It's not good form to forget a significant contribution, as I did when giving a summary of the 2007 season, and failed to speak of Sid Thomson's maiden century for the Erratics. Here's a link to the game in question.

There was, in fact, an important Thomson family contribution to the smooth running of the game on which I'm now reporting: Rita, Annie and Kate quietly and efficiently washed up and cleared away after tea while the Erratics were busy with the business of bowling out the Cheriton batsmen. This kind of work often passes unnoticed and unthanked. Not today!

Annie and Kate's "other halves" were also busy. Duncan came tantalisingly close to scoring 50 after opening the batting when the Erratics were put in at 2:15pm.

Meanwhile, Chris fielded not only for the Erratics but also for Cheriton Fitzpaine who had managed to muster a mere eight players. (Note how I've managed to bury that fact a bit!) However, with Penny joining Chris in the field for Cheriton, it was as if they had about fourteen fielders, not just ten. Even though we bowled Cheriton out with 12 overs to go, that's still a lot of fielding that Chris and Penny did. Chris didn't mind; he explained that it was good training for the marathon he'll be running in a couple of weeks.

Thanks should also go to the Cheriton Fitzpaine players who did make it to Dunsford on what was a gloriously sunny afternoon. Good sportsmen they certainly are, as typified by one of their players who on returning to the field to umpire complimented me on the quality of my catch - which had dismissed him.

Frankly, I think he was overlooking the quality of the bowling: Penny picked up three wickets with a tidy spell, James was his usual excellent self (though he did resort to a nasty shooter to get rid of one of the openers), Pete was decidedly difficult for the batsmen, and Cliff ably snapped up the last wicket with a caught-and-bowled. All this was supported by some very tidy fielding, of course.

"Roy the Remorseless Hitter" (as one of his team-mates called him) was probably the star of the Cheriton batting side. He nearly took my left hand off at one point.

Only three Erratic wickets had fallen when we batted. The last of these had been that of Guy Clarke, on the very last ball of the innings, having batted really well in support of the chap who had opened with Duncan. That wasn't me. I had managed only a couple of thumps (Thomson-speak: thumps are entirely distinct from clatters or cracks) before getting a shooter like the one James served up later.

How could I forget him again? Sid made 90 not out, in an innings that was faultless except in that it wasn't quite paced well enough for him to make what would have been a well-deserved 100. Clearly, with nearly half our score to his name, this was the major Erratic Contribution of the Day.

There was an undefeated 100 in that the opening stand passed that landmark as we made our way to an eventual 190 for 3. That sort of score seems to cheer Peter Thomson up a bit (when we make it, as opposed to the opposition), so I think he was glad he'd turned up to watch the game.

His enjoyment was marred only by the Disobedience of Pearson, but I think we all actually managed to get a smile or two out of that as well.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 6w 4b 2lb 
for 3 wickets
17
190		        
Duncan Chave Caught  49
Sid Thomson Not Out  90
Jonathan Kirby Bowled  8
Guy Clarke Caught  26
A.N. Other1  
A.N. Other2  
Paul Molins  
Chris Squire  
Penny Price  
John Pearson  
James Burrows  

Cheriton Fitzpaine Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Cheriton Fitzpaine Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 13w 6b  
for 7 wickets
20
85 (25.2 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Burrows7.00000.000.00
John Pearson6.00000.000.00
Penny Price6.00000.000.00
A.N. Other26.00000.000.00
A.N. Other10.20000.000.00