Scorecard

Clyst St George v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 28 May 2023 at 2.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 6 Wickets

Match report A glorious May bank holiday weekend – when better than to play our oldest and friendliest of rivals Clyst St George at their idyllic Bohea Field ground. Clyst had been formed 40 years before the Erratics so were a well established club when the Unicorns were looking for their initial fixtures. Our first surviving scorebooks from 1938 and 1939 include Clyst as opponents. Since then we have played Clyst more than any other team – 108 times to date. No other team gets near this – Lustleigh (82 games) is next on the list.

So it is not surprising that close links have been built over the years. So close that the very smart honours board in the Clyst clubhouse lists three Erratics (Chris Cook, Matt Cook and Chris Ferro) who have captained their 1st XI. All this was foreseen in Clyst’s centenary publication in 1994. The booklet finishes by saying that ‘added talent in the form of, amongst others, the stylish and effective Chris Cook (from the Erratics – longtime adversaries) will undoubtedly strengthen the Clyst hand’.

The line ups in today’s game very much reflected the excellent relationship between the Clubs. Clyst’s first team were away in Plympton playing a Wombat Cricket Devon T20 second round match. This left them short of players for our fixture. Selector, Fraser Chave, came to the rescue and generously provided no less than four Erratics to bolster the Clyst team. No mean cricketers, either – namely Anuj Tiwari, James Smart, Duncan Chave and Chris Ferro (the latter two with strong Clyst credentials to add to the mix).

The Erratics dressing room had its usual pre match focus on injuries. It’s a miracle we ever make it onto the pitch given the lengthy concerns raised over backs, knees, hamstrings. And pretty soon we are hurting even more as Anuj (fresh from his maiden century for Stokeingteignhead the previous day – congratulations Anuj!) and James hit us to all parts of the ground. With the score on 70 captain Fraser turned to his talisman Ben Yarde-Buller. Ben is in tremendous form with the ball this season and fresh from a 4fer against Newton Popplefield immediately bowled Anuj for a belligerent 35 (6 4s and 1 6). Unperturbed James continued on his treacherous way before Ben also snaffled him for a run a ball 62 (10 4s and 2 6s). The sixes high over the netting into neighbouring properties (Duncan also got in on the act) did prompt several Erratics to wish for the Marldon rule of a dot ball for such excesses.

Despite the rapid start Clyst did falter mid innings as the Erratics slowly reined them in. Ben took another 4fer and Phil Power two, supported by superb catching by Matt Crawford (2) and Fraser. It was great to see Ben Youngman back on the field and bowling a miserly 6 overs for just 16 runs. Oscar Cammack also weighed in by demolishing the stumps and sending the bails into a light show. Clyst were 178-8 at the completion of their 40 overs (Duncan 23 not out).

And so to the highlight of the day – a classic cricket tea provided by Paul and Wendy Laverick, doyens of the Clyst family. The table was full of delights from sandwiches to scones with cream and jam to pizza and melon slices. All on display in facilities that just get better and better as Clyst develop on and off the pitch. The whole set up is so impressive these days. And well done to Clyst for their promotion to the Devon league A divison in which they had beaten Budleigh Salterton the day before by 82 runs. A fixture and result that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. It was particularly fitting, given the history of this fixture, that the Erratics were well represented in the supporter ranks including Peter Thompson and Richard Hitchcock who had played so many games here. And how good to welcome Jonathan Kirby who is looking very close to a return after his nasty hand injury at Newton Poppleford.

The Erratics set about their task with a flourish particularly Lee Grant who scored a quick fire 26 in a first wicket stand of 32 with Fraser. And so to the wicket came Chris Cook – he who Clyst had such high hopes of back in 1994. Together with Fraser he laid the foundations of our victory. Fraser hit a masterly 54, patient when needed but hard on wayward bowling as his 9 fours attest. Looking back at the records it is interesting to note that it took from 1934 to 1961 for an Erratic to score a century. And it was Jeff Stanyer (113) who broke this duck against – who else – but Clyst St George. He enjoyed himself so much that he repeated the trick (128 not out) against the same opponents the following season.

Things have changed a bit since then and Chris Cook has now scored 45 tons for the Erratics. Not quite today but Chris, as he steered us home in the company of Nigel Rutherford and Martin Weiler, did hit another remarkable milestone. With his 67 not out he reached his 200th score between 50 and 99.

Chris timed his innings to perfection, never panicking and always with an eye on the required rate. The winning runs came up with just eight balls to spare. As so often a close run thing with Clyst. Of those 108 games, the Erratics have won 36, lost 34 and drawn 32 with 6 abandoned. What lovely symmetry! And so very fitting for such a historic fixture.

Martin Weiler

Clyst St George Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
4w 1b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
7
178 (40.0 overs)		     
Anuj Tiwarj lbw  B Yarde-Buller 35 32 6 1 109.38
James Smart ct  M Crawford b B Yarde-Buller 62 62 10 2 100
Narender Dhayal ct  M Crawford b B Yarde-Buller 25 29 4 86.21
Brijendra Singh lbw  B Yarde-Buller 0 1 0
Ryan Miszka b  F Chave 0 3 0
Jim Brooks ct  F Chave b P Power 4 16 25.00
Joshua Wells lbw  P Power 14 25 3 56.00
Duncan Chave Not Out  23 38 2 1 60.53
Tom Murray b  O Cammack 3 24 12.50
Daniel Wells Not Out  5 11 45.45
Christopher Ferro  

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Nigel Rutherford5.002700.005.40
Oscar Cammack6.0032132.005.33
Ben Yarde-Buller8.0140410.005.00
Mark Hailwood8.004000.005.00
Fraser Chave3.0011111.003.67
Ben Youngman6.011600.002.67
Phil Power4.00924.502.25

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 15b 1lb 
for 4 wickets
17
179		        
Fraser Chave b  J Smart 54 68 9 79.41 1
Lee Grant b  D Wells 26 24 5 108.33
Chris Cook Not Out  67 103 9 65.05
Nigel Rutherford ct  J Smart b J Smart 9 25 36.00
Matt Crawford b  J Smart 0 1 0 2
Martin Weiler Not Out  6 11 1 54.55
Oscar Cammack  
Mark Hailwood  
Phil Power  
Ben Yarde-Buller  
Ben Youngman  

Clyst St George Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Daniel Wells8.0512112.001.50
Ryan Miszka6.003400.005.67
Anuj Tiwarj6.012500.004.17
Narender Dhayal5.402700.004.76
James Smart7.0130310.004.29