Scorecard

Spitchwick v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Fri 07 Jul 2023 at 6.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 3 Runs

Match report Report by Matt Cook:

Spitchwick, a panoramic exhibition of all the best bits of dartmoor: rolling hills, dark woodland, granite tors, sheep-cattle-horses. Beer in cartons! Cricket!

All arrived for this T20 fixure from independent dripping taps - highly arrhythmical - especially Hugh and Anuj, who had perhaps been overly cautious in avoiding rush hour, arriving a full forty minutes before even the first local had assembled. Eventually all players found their way to the ground (not necessarily an easy thing to do, in this case). Father was captain and after a pitch inspitchion, he divined through the toss of a coin, that the Earattics should field first. Spitchwick set off at a rapid clip, especially notable was some smart running between the wickets which did not redound to our credit as a fielding team. Mix in a few lusty blows to the leg boundary, and we were glad when the opposition skipper, who had had beans in his britches throughout, fell shy of his retirement score.

After that followed a period of calm, in which the captain’s two-overs-per-bowler policy kept the opposition guessing. Paul Carr did well with a tight line, though a nimble-footed opposition batsman with a low centre of gravity, insisted on reverse sweeps and ramps, sometimes to effect. A trickle of wickets continued until we met with a force to be reckoned with, a burly young batsman with one major scoring stroke. What a stroke it was however, that slammed the ball to the deep-mid fence, uphill, one bounce, sometimes that bounce far beyond the jumping boundaryman.

Finally he gave up his wicket, and that signalled the end of a major threat. The odd four from the rest of the order lifted the opposition score to a gettable 119. Well, I say gettable…

Erratics opened up with Duncan Chave, and young Sean, an Exeter University 5th team player - so not all that then? Doch. Here we bore witness to one of the most classy openers yet seen among Erratics. Zonk, zonk, zonk. Retirement thirty in beautiful groundstrokes in no time and fuss at all, leaving the opposition with the assumption that the game was already as good as over.

A few wickets then fell, but the pace continued, with Dunc and I scoring a few good blows. When my own wicket fell, I think we were about 100-3, needing just 20 to win. It was then that the middle order struggled to score versus some canny bowling, and frustration led to dismissal after dismissal. Anuj managed to hold up an end and stop the rot, but overs and wickets were running out.

My dad had put himself right down the order due to a wrist injury sustained in league cricket that was causing him significant jip. Nevertheless, his turn finally came with five balls of the last over remaining, needing 13 from it. He rose to the occasion and smote a 6 high and handsome onto the practice net, at which moment the opposition were greatly fretting. This refamiliarisation with the vicissitudes of this game we love so well, was now causing them to hawk desperate instructions to one another. The opposition skipper for example, had lost none of those beans from his britches (or whatever the expression is) and with each passing delivery was a-hopping with increasing animation behind the stumps. To his delight however, dad’s follow up to that scintillating six was to chip the ball up in the air so that it might fall into safe and grateful hands. There would be no heroic finale this time (although Cook C may have masterminded many others), but it had been a mighty good game- right down to the wool-strewn wire.

Spitchwick Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
119 (20.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Fraser Chave3.00616.002.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
5w 1b  
for 8 wickets
6
116		        
Duncan Chave lbw  R Hibert 29 29 4 100
A.N. Other Retired Not Out  31 22 6 1 140.91
Valentin Haemmerli b  R Hibert 0 1 0
Matt Cook ct  J Thurston 21 13 3 1 161.54
Fraser Chave ct  J Thurston 9 17 1 52.94
Andrew Forrester ct  D Faulkner 1 8 12.50
Hugh Sheridan ct  J Thurston 0 1 0
Anuj Tiwari ct  D Faulkner 2 7 28.57
Paul Carr ct  R Hibert 4 16 25.00
Phil Power Not Out  1 3 33.33
Chris Cook Not Out  8 3 1 266.67

Spitchwick Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
M Partridge3.001400.004.67
D Saxton2.00900.004.50
S Polesworth2.002000.0010.00
R Hibert4.0034311.338.50
J Ellis2.00900.004.50
D Faulkner4.021628.004.00
J Thurston3.011133.673.67