Scorecard

Stokeinteignhead v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 13 Apr 2025 at 1.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Lost by 44 Runs

Match report Mark Hailwood reports…

As the tea-break bants reverberated around the dressing room, JK turned to me and asked, ‘is the match report writing itself?’

‘No, Mark is!’ some wag offered up from across the room.

And so we were back, for the 86th season of Erratics cricket, and it was all reassuringly familiar. In fact, it didn’t really feel like we had been away. Some people hadn’t even washed their kit since the last game. They say with proper friendships you can just pick back up where you left off even after a long break. Playing for the Erratics is a lot like that.

With the report not writing itself, I had to decide how to go about it. After encouraging people to embrace new formats – the podcast, the haiku, the interpretive dance – I thought perhaps I should lead from the front and do something funky. But this felt like an occasion for falling back into old habits, for reembracing our favourite Errati-traditions. So, I thought I’d just stick with the old school written format this time. Start it with a quote and go from there.

On the theme of the reassuringly familiar, much of what happened on this windswept hilltop high above the Teign had happened before. It would have been hard to date this game more precisely than ‘at some point in the last ten years’ if you had stumbled across it undated in the archive. Fraser Chave, Ben Youngman, and Mark Hailwood played together for the 100th time. With the Erratics fielding first, they all bowled entirely characteristic spells, to the ever-dependable Jonathan Kirby behind the stumps. Chris Ferro was impenetrable in the field. Matt Crawford was everywhere. Scoring was steady, the boundaries were long, Chris Prest anchored the Stoke innings. Tim Treeby kept score. Roger Putman was playing for the hosts… no wait, for the Erratics! Some things do change then.

And what we love about the Erratics is that pleasing blend of old and new, of tradition and innovation. Our newer comers made their mark on the occasion. Roger dislodged the gritty Prest with a cunning full toss; Dhruba started worryingly but improved rapidly to bowl some nice stuff that kept the dangerous John Robertson in check; Matthew Hewson put in a committed display of tumbling stops in the field; Jon Perkin was sharp behind the stumps as he and JK shared the duties. The blending of old and new was epitomised by Captain Tiwari – actually still fairly new to skippering the Erratics, but steering the ship like an old sea dog. He got everyone involved in the game with bat or ball, and managed the innings expertly to leave us with a total of 160 to chase down after tea. Four an over. Perfectly set up.

As we trudged off to the pavilion to warm up and grub up, Fraser asked me whether I would prefer my bowling to be described as ‘canny’ or ‘uncanny’. Having now had time to reflect, I quite like both, if that’s allowed.

The tea also contained familiar and novel elements. I’d like to think egg sandwiches and cheese and pickle sandwiches were on the menu the first time we played Stokeinteignhead back in 1990. What was almost certainly not a feature of tea on that occasion was a large speaker playing loud music whilst we ate. I could live with, maybe even enjoyed a little, what I assumed was some sort of ‘Chilling in Ibiza’ dance mix, but as this was being brought to us via Spotify – and a non-premium account – the ‘choons’ were regularly interrupted by adverts. This caused a few grumbles about commercialisation creeping into the grass roots game, a point reinforced by the corporate branding on the batch of mugs we were supping from. Still, as we wolfed down another Italian cake, we conceded that the Spotify adverts were appropriate at least: they were for Gaviscon heartburn relief. Those algorithms know their stuff.

As if all the familiarity of the occasion wasn’t reassuring enough, Anuj sent Harry and Chris out to open the batting. In these tumultuous times, what better antidote than watching these two seasoned pros go about their work. Watchful, but ever ready to seize upon anything loose, they eased us along to 43-0 from the first ten overs. An opening stand built on patience, prudence, and good judgement; subtle virtues often neglected in the modern game – and world. But not long after they posted a 50 partnership, John Robertson struck to dismiss Ferro, and then Harry retired on 50 to ensure others would get a chance to dust off their bats.

But we were stifled from then on. Stoke bowled very well, offering us little to hit, and only Jon Perkin was able to build any kind of innings – albeit not at the ever-escalating required rate. There was, to be honest, not much drama or jeopardy in the final 20 overs of our innings. Our hosts used 10 different bowlers, so it would be hard to argue that they had turned the screws too tightly. The problem was, they could all bowl. There was to be no biting of nails as the game petered out slowly and surely, and we finished up over 40 runs short.

Still, not every game can have a good narrative, and when one fails to have one there is only one option left to the match reporter – to emphasise that cricket was the winner! ‘Was it though?’ one disgruntled Erratic asked as we plodded back to the changing room. Perhaps they were just offering up some more bants, but it did get me thinking: who does win when a game is a bit boring? (I can hear Jon Bev thinking 'The winners, obviously'). I think losing a boring game still serves a purpose though. Nothing wrong with a bit of boring sometimes. Tolstoy called boredom ‘the desire of desires’. It leaves you hungry, restless, wanting more, wanting to go again. Eager for the season ahead, in other words. Mind you, if a game is boring, the match report doesn't write itself...

Stokeinteignhead Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
10w 1b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
12
165 (40.0 overs)		     
Hugo Longrigg b  A Tiwari 6 10 1 60.0
Joseph Liyo ct  M Hailwood 15 24 2 62.50
Chris Prestt ct  R Putman 34 61 7 55.74
Lishoy George lbw  F Chave 14 25 1 56.00
Vivek run out  (H Everett) 0 9 0
John Robertson Not Out  37 49 4 75.51
Ginhoy Joseph Retired Not Out  33 51 5 64.71
Siju Chacko Not Out  14 11 2 127.27
Chacko John  
Shanu Joseph  
Joby Varghese  
Rajesh Thundupurayidathil  

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Hailwood8.0029129.003.63
Anuj Tiwari4.0116116.004.00
Fraser Chave6.0112112.002.00
Roger Putman6.0026126.004.33
Ben Youngman5.02800.001.60
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami6.003700.006.17
Matt Crawford5.003500.007.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 1w 9b 1lb 
for 5 wickets
14
121		        
Harry Everett Retired Not Out  51 71 7 71.83 1
Chris Ferro b  J Robertson 10 32 1 31.25
Matthew Hewson ct  R Thundupurayidathil 2 19 10.53
Jonathan Kirby b  Vivek 0 2 0
Jon Perkin Not Out  25 59 3 42.37
Matt Crawford b  C John 5 29 17.24
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami ct  S Joseph 9 15 1 60.0
Anuj Tiwari Not Out  6 16 37.50 1
Fraser Chave  
Roger Putman  
Ben Youngman  
Mark Hailwood  

Stokeinteignhead Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shanu Joseph7.0038138.005.43
Joby Varghese4.001200.003.00
John Robertson5.01818.001.60
Lishoy George5.02500.001.00
Rajesh Thundupurayidathil5.0117117.003.40
Vivek4.03212.000.50
Chacko John2.01212.001.00
Chris Prestt3.01600.002.00
Siju Chacko2.001000.005.00
Joseph Liyo3.001100.003.67