Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Philanthropists on Sun 19 Sep 2010 at 14.00
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 75 runs

Match report Summary:

Erratics 213 -9 Declared
M Cook 51; Ferro 44; Rutherford 26; Weiler 20; Myton 20

Philanthropists 138 all out
M Cook 3-20; Myton 3-28; Burrows 1-11; Rutherford 1-13; J Thomson 1-12

Erratics won by 75 runs.

Match Report: Martin Weiler

This was a good competitive game of cricket and The Erratics can take a lot of pleasure from a hard fought win.

The visitors to Dunsford were The Philanthropists from Plymouth. Formed in 1981, they are a group of social cricketers who, as their smart shirts advised, were in their 1,000th match season. An indication of their approach was the delight shown when invited to play a timed game – “Good : proper cricket - we don’t get asked to do that very often these days” reflected one of them.

This was their last match of the season but for some it nearly didn’t happen at all. They had been given directions to Dunsford via Doddiscombleigh and had virtually given up hope of finding the ground.

But one of their number was sure of the way. Simon Topping used to drive up and down the A38 to play for us before finding a like minded team nearer Plymouth. It was good to see Simon again and he was at the crease as the game reached a crescendo.


Chris Ferro won the toss although his description of the event made you wonder about the state of the pitch: “The coin came down three quarters heads and a quarter tails”. He chose to bat.

Openers Nigel Rutherford and Phil Ellis were sent out with the instruction to “take it easy and play yourselves in”. Nigel took no notice and quickly hit a few boundaries. When we questioned Chris on this disobedience he came out with a whole new concern: “No, it’s when Nigel gets into the 20s that I get worried for him”. This led to quite a debate on what to call this affliction with the “twitchy twenties” being settled on.

Almost inevitably Nigel perished with his score on 26. He was bowled by a beauty – James Burrows who saw it all as the umpire at the bowler’s end said “there is no shame in that – it was unplayable”.

With both openers departed it fell to Chris Ferro and Matt Cook to give a batting master class as they drove classically and repeatedly to add 95 for the third wicket. They were finally out in quick succession and to almost identical shots – caught in the deep; Matt for 51 and Chris 44.

An Erratic wobble started to take shape as we slumped from 135-2 to 164-7. A too moderate total loomed before Martin Weiler and Jim Myton raised the tempo with 20 apiece. Both hit sixes with Jim’s landing in the pavilion doorway as spectators scattered. Chris Squire also deserves an honourable mention for two distinctive boundaries. He was so excited he then ran himself out!

This late onslaught enabled an early declaration at 213-9 off 37 overs. But not before we had the pleasure of seeing Peter Thomson batting with son Jim – a combined family age of 117 at the crease.

And also not before a bit of Erratics history was made. Jim became the first Pink Unicorn to go out to bat with the new Mongoose bat. It didn’t seem to do him any harm as he bashed a four and remained unbeaten on eight.


And so to tea – and yet more evidence of the benefits of our new tea making arrangements. A sumptuous feast with tortilla, pizza and fruit replacing the traditional sandwiches. How nice too to have several families present enjoying the simple attractions of rural Devon.

As our visitors started their innings there was relief that Peter Thomson was ready too. Our wicket keeper had delayed the game at Tedburn earlier in the season by suddenly announcing that he had only put one pad on and having to scamper back to the pavilion to find the other one.

James Burrows and Jim Myton are as good an opening pair of bowlers as any you will find at our level. They were meanness personified and after 11 overs the score was only 23. But we hadn’t made a breakthrough and so it was still game on; especially as there was plenty of time left.

Nigel Rutherford finally broke the deadlock with a cleaned bowled pearler and we waited to see if this was going to turn the game. It didn’t. The upper order continued to bat stubbornly with odd flurries of hitting so that when the 20 over point came they were still handily poised at 89-2. It could go either way.

The Philanthropists needed to raise the run rate at this point but accurate bowling kept them to just 10 runs and the loss of a further wicket in the next five overs. So now it looked like a draw was the most likely result. Especially when Jim Myton turned down an LBW appeal off his own bowling!

Yet slowly but surely we started chipping away aided critically by a needless run out. As the evening gloom descended we closed in. With just a few overs to go Simon Topping came to the crease soon to be joined by the number 11. Simon survived a lively over from Jim Myton but was finally bowled all ends up by James Burrows to concede the game. All out for 138. Simon reflected like the true Erratic he once was: “I’m always vulnerable to the straight one”.


We had bowled 42 plus overs - a triumph of tight bowling. James Burrows 8.1 overs for just 11 runs; Jim Myton 10 overs for 28; Nigel Rutherford 8 overs for 13; Matt Cook 7 overs for 20 and Jim Thomson 4 overs for 12.

So plenty to reflect well on as we shared a convivial drink with our visitors in the Royal Oak. They entertained us with stories of their annual tour – one of which was to the Scillies; bringing back happy if wet memories for several Erratics.

This was an excellent day’s cricket and the wonderful news is that while that is season over for The Philanthropists we still have another month to go!

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 12w 17b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
35
213		        
Nigel Rutherford Bowled  26
Phil Ellis Bowled  0
Chris Ferro Caught  44
Matt Cook Caught  51
Martin Weiler Bowled  20
Paul Molins Bowled  0
Chris Squire Run out  8
James Burrows Stumped  0
A.N. Other1 Bowled  20
Jim Thomson Not Out  8
Peter Thomson Not Out  1

Philanthropists Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.

Philanthropists Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 4w 16b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
22
138 (42.1 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
James Burrows8.1311111.001.35
A.N. Other110.032839.332.80
Phil Ellis5.004100.008.20
Nigel Rutherford8.0413113.001.62
Matt Cook7.022036.672.86
Jim Thomson4.0112112.003.00
 
Photos and video of Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Philanthropists on Sun 19 Sep 2010 at 14.00