Scorecard

Marldon v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 01 Jun 2025 at 1.00pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 10 Runs

Match report Match report by Martin Wright.

As every classicist with a knowledge of ancient Athenian history (pretty much every Erratic, surely?), knows, the legendary Solon (630BC – 560BC) drew up the first code of laws which its citizens should live by. The Athenians, it is said, were so impressed by the detail and precision of these rules – even if some of them were hard to understand - that he was feted as Solon the Lawgiver.

Later, however, he fell out with his fellow-citizens, was forced into exile, and fled to Cyprus, where he died.

Or so historians believed …

But evidence has now come to light that, in fact, he and a small band of followers made their way west, sailing out of the Mediterranean, up the coast of Gaul, and eventually making
landfall on the coasts of Dumnonia – close to the town of Paignton in present-day Devon. Travelling inland, they arrived at a small hilltop fastness, and settled there, making themselves at home by drawing up a series of detailed laws suited to the culture and, in particular, the topography of their refuge. This evidence has been now been confirmed by the latest DNA research, which demonstrates beyond doubt that a surprisingly high proportion of the residents of the area are directly descended from ancient Athenian stock.

It also perhaps explains the derivation of the name of the village concerned: in proto-Dumnonian, ‘Ma-rl-Don’ literally means ‘Place of the Incomprehensible Rules’.

Thus it was that, some two and a half thousand years after Solon’s arrival, Erratics arrived at Marldon CC’s ground – already famed for its complex rules governing boundaries – to be presented with a new stipulation, of which the Lawgiver himself would be proud, viz: if a ball is hit over the boundary between the designated trees and does not bounce back into the field, it is a dot ball, and the batter is warned that if it happens a second time, it will also be a dot, and he will be compulsorily retired. Got that?

Fraser Chave did.

After Skipper Jonathan Kirby had called the coin wrong, so proving himself to be a Useless Tosser (Reader: this was the last useless thing he did all day), we were inserted. Fraser opened with your correspondent, struck a couple of handsome fours, then launched a magnificent pick-up six….which soared out of the ground. At the wrong angle. Dot ball; and Fraser was duly warned of his fate should he do it again.

A couple of balls later, a juicy short one on leg presented itself, complete with a little card wrapped in pink ribbon inviting Fraser to repeat the shot. He set himself for it nicely…then remembered the latest Rule, and half pulled out of the stroke, but not before the ball had plopped off the edge, and so into the keeper’s gloves.

Solon strikes again.

Marldon’s opening bowlers were both testing – especially Sophie Kirkup, who bowled a nice tight line, finishing with 2-24. Dhruba announced himself by striking his first delivery on the up past point for four, while your correspondent managed to find the boundary a few times before falling to his old weakness of going through with the stroke too early, popping a simple catch to midwicket.

Annie (on my return to the scorer’s table): “You got 23, Martin.”
Martin: “Ahhh, 23 English runs.”
Annie: “Are you sure? I think some of them were Irish.”

Dhruba perished soon after for a promising little cameo, then Jon Perkin received Cricket’s Cruellest Moment of the Day – a ball that kept so low it was almost subterranean by the time it took out his middle stump. There followed a mini-wobble as Erratics’ middle order fell away somewhat, before the reliable late-middle-order powerhouse of Lee Grant and Anuj Tiwari first stabilised the Erratiship, and then sent it steaming ahead. Anuj struck some powerful blows, before instructing his batting partner that they must make sure they were still there at the end of the innings. Lee agreed. Anuj duly hit his next delivery straight into the hands of long-on.

This brought yesterday’s centurion, Duncan Chave, to the crease. Cautious (and doubtless somewhat stiff after Saturday's heroics), he soon opened up, hitting the ball with characteristic crispness, and closing unbeaten to give himself a weekend average pushing 140. At the other end, Lee purred away in overdrive, repeatedly finding the boundary with strokes all round the wicket. Fielders scattered; Lee scattered them further. Fielders rearranged themselves to block off a shot; Lee reached deep into his quiver and selected another, unstoppable one. One on-drive, struck with immense power as he advanced down the track, sending the ball searing to the rope, was the undoubted highlight.

With 200 in our sights, Skipper Kirby was bowled going for glory, and Erratics closed on a healthy 194.

After a tealess (“boooo””- A.Chave) tea, Erratics took to the field. Skipper Kirby expertly rotated his bowlers, opening with Fraser and Anuj, and then shuffled through a pack containing Dhruba, Matt Hewson, Lee, and for one teasing over, himself. They combined to keep Marldon quiet, but not quiescent; opener Rowsell kept the scoreboard ticking. But Erratics gradually whittled away Marldon’s middle order, with a combination of bowlers disturbing the wickets, and two fantastic pieces of fielding: first, Anuj with a bullet of a throw to the far end to run out Kirkup. Then, Duncan shrugging off any sense of post-century lassitude, took a brilliant one-handed catch at slip off Matt (whose pick’n’mix wobblers gradually evolved to be more pick than mix). Dhruba too, snaffled a wicket to complete a nice all-round day. Jonathan positioned his field carefully, with gun fielder Anuj guarding the shortest boundary, and the wonderfully willing and energetic Jay Hughes, a valuable loan from Stokeinteignhead, racing around the legside fence to cut off fours and turn them into singles.

But the pick of the bowlers were Fraser and Lee, who ran through the rest of the order, but not before a splendid display of clean striking by Thomson had taken Marldon tantalisingly close – despite the customary confusion caused by the arrival of a runner, and eventually, after a sprawl to make his ground, the arrival of a runner for the runner. I think. Your correspondent, who’d been out in the sun longer than is good for him at his age, was becoming a little confused by this point…

All results were possible until the final two balls, and so, thanks to expert skipperage, brilliance and luck, Erratics triumphed in ideal fashion, following the Three Principles of Erratics Cricket, which of course are as follows:

First (essential): Everyone gets a game.
Second (ideally): It’s a close game.
Third (nice to have): We win.

A set of moral rules even Solon could approve of.




Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
7nb 9w 3b 1lb 
for 10 wickets
20
193		        
Fraser Chave ct G Thompson 13 24 3 54.17
Martin Wright ct M Barnard 23 41 5 56.10
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami ct O Knox 11 25 2 44.00
Jon Perkin b O Knox 0 9 0
A.N. Other b M Barnard 3 15 20.0
Mark Phillips b M Barnard 1 2 50.0
Lee Grant b S Kirkup 63 39 9 3 161.54 1
Matthew Hewson ct O Knox 0 4 0
Anuj Tiwari ct N Knox 21 22 5 95.45 1
Duncan Chave Not Out  32 26 7 123.08 1
Jonathan Kirby b S Kirkup 6 8 1 75.00

Marldon Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Grant Thompson5.0117117.003.40
Sophie Kirkup5.4124212.004.24
M Barnard7.022739.003.86
Sean Scott2.001700.008.50
Ollie Knox6.0030310.005.00
Cam Lamming6.014000.006.67
Neil Knox3.0134134.0011.33

Marldon Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 9w  
for 8 wickets
11
183 (35.0 overs)		     
Sam Rowsell ct F Chave 49 71 8 69.01
Nick Morris b D Goswami 3 20 15.00
Stuart Kirkup run out (A Tiwari) 12 10 3 120.0
Sean Scott b L Grant 2 12 16.67
Neil Knox ct M Hewson 5 10 1 50.0
Grant Thompson b F Chave 77 49 16 1 157.14
Cam Lamming b L Grant 3 12 25.00
Adam Claridge b L Grant 18 23 4 78.26
M Barnard Not Out  2 4 50.0
Ollie Knox Not Out  1 1 100
Sophie Kirkup  

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Fraser Chave7.0025212.503.57
Anuj Tiwari7.004000.005.71
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami7.0054154.007.71
Matthew Hewson6.0034134.005.67
Lee Grant7.012036.672.86
Jonathan Kirby1.001000.0010.00