Scorecard

Denbury v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 01 Aug 2010 at 14.30
Match was Drawn

Match report Summary: Match Drawn

Denbury 241 for 4
A.Longstreet 93, R.Longstreet 80, P.Holmes 62
N.Rutherford 11-1-54-2

Erratics 178 for 8
J.Kirby 64, C.Ferro 31, A.Forrester 20

Report: Jonathan Kirby

With only 7 players signed up by Saturday morning, it looked as though this game might not go ahead - not a great start for my first game as selector. However, late arrivals in the form of Jeff Haynes and John Nagle, coupled with some help from Nick Leslie at Denbury who found us two players meant that we go ahead after all.

We arrived at Denbury in light drizzle, a happy contrast with the situation last year. The sun came out, Denbury batted, and Peter Thomson's proverbial Black Ox trod on the collective foot of the team as their openers reached 96 without loss off the first 10 overs. The fact that this was achieved against the bowling of Messrs Rutherford, Nagle and Ferro will speak volumes to most of you.

The stumping by Andrew Forrester of R.Longstreet off the bowling of David Pearson brought some welcome cheer. 123 for 1 off 12 overs. Had the Black Ox raised its hoof? If so, it was only to bring it down again. The score raced on and passed 200 with still nearly an hour to go as the drizzle started again. 242-2 as Nigel Rutherford finally ended A.Longstreet's stay at the crease. The scoring slowed, finally. Nigel grabbed another wicket, as did Phil Ellis, leaving Denbury on 260 for 4 at tea, off the 35 overs we bowled them. I suppose we might have bowled them more, but there had been a lot of fetching as opposed to fielding.

Tea was excellent, outdoors, in the sunshine. The mood among the Erratics was good too. After all, if they had scored that many, why couldn't we score that many plus one? There was always the draw to play for too, as captain Ferro had secured a timed game for us rather than a 40 over battle. This proved just as well, because after 10 overs of our innings we had reached the dizzy heights of 31 without loss, fully 65 runs shy of where Denbury had been at that stage. An Erratic win already seemed highly improbable and if we had been playing a 40 over game the next 30 overs would have been pretty much pointless, except as practice.

And so to the Big Question of the day: should each innings start with a new ball?

Even before the end of the Denbury innings, our bowlers were wondering if the ball would hold together. Having been subjected to a violent pummelling by the Denbury batsman and moistened by drizzle and wet grass, it was already soft and somewhat out of shape by the time we batted. Now, the Denbury bowling was accurate and their fielding was tight, but it's also true that this soft pudding of a ball was not going to go anywhere very far, or very fast. Or was it just that we bowled faster and they hit harder? Would a new ball have helped us? Perhaps this is one for the pub rather than the website...

Whatever the reason, scoring was not easy. Andrew Forrester was caught as he tried to force the pace. Young Mike Rendle (having bowled well himself) was undone by a cunning slower ball and Chris Ferro was eventually undone by one that kept low. That his innings of 31 included only one boundary will, again, tell you something of the conditions.

However, we did manage to occupy the crease. Personally, having been bowled when on 49 the day before, I was delighted when a ripple of applause told me that I had reached 50 after a long time and a sticky start. Denbury captain Simon Hickey had gone first ball, playing on to a ball which had been wide of the stumps. I had very nearly done exactly the same thing myself and was fortunate to have survived.

Seeing the ball wasn't easy. Nigel Rutherford was bowled for 2, and Paul Rendle's departure next ball saw Mark Phillips having to fend off a hat-trick, which he did with aplomb.

Now, at this stage of the game we were clearly having to play for a draw. This brings me to the matter of the run-out of Mark Phillips as we chased a second run. Was this second run an unnecessary gamble? I hadn't thought so, but I reckoned without Mark's concern for the care of his bat. As he admitted to both me and Chris Ferro afterwards, the reason he didn't run his bat in is that he doesn't like doing it for fear of damaging it. So, although his bat was some way over the crease when the bails came off, it wasn't grounded and he had to go. I offer the plea of "not guilty" to reckless running.

Denbury now started to apply real pressure: short forward square, leg slip, two slips, gulley, silly mid-off. I succumbed to a gloved catch to the keeper, Jeff Haynes was bowled after holding out for a while but Phil Ellis and John Nagle held out to the end of the 46th over we faced and the draw was secure.

Drinks in the pub afterwards were in the convivial company of the Denbury team. Less than 24 hours earlier, it had looked as though there might be no game. As it is, we had a draw, and it could have been worse - Hickey (Junior) who had scored a brisk 90 against us earlier in the season, had not turned out for Denbury today. He had busied himself with a double-hundred for Torquay earlier in the week and next week will be playing for Warwickshire, we were told...



Sunday 1st August
v Denbury @ Denbury
2:30pm

Phil Ellis
Chris Ferro (c)
Andrew Forrester (wkt)
Jeff Haynes
Jonathan Kirby
John Nagle
David Pearson
Mark Phillips
Nigel Rutherford

+ Mike Rendle and his father Paul Rendle from Abottskerswell

Denbury Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
8w 10b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
19
260 (35.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
John Nagle5.003900.007.80
Nigel Rutherford11.0154227.004.91
Chris Ferro3.003200.0010.67
David Pearson7.0058158.008.29
A.N. Other14.003300.008.25
Jeff Haynes2.001400.007.00
Phil Ellis4.0019119.004.75

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 41w 6b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
54
178		        
Chris Ferro Bowled  31
Andrew Forrester Caught  20
A.N. Other1 Bowled  0
Jonathan Kirby Caught  64
Nigel Rutherford Bowled  2
A.N. Other2 Caught  0
Mark Phillips Run out  1
Phil Ellis Not Out  1
Jeff Haynes Bowled  4
John Nagle Not Out  1
David Pearson  

Denbury Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.