Scorecard

Ottery St Mary v Erratics Cricket Club Erratics on Sun 10 Aug 2025 at 1.30pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 60 runs

Match report Mark Hailwood reports...

Is Duncan having a midlife crisis? He has bought himself a new Erratics shirt with devil-may-care short sleeves! He has a new bat! These may seem like mild symptoms of a crisis, but this is Duncan we are talking about. We should expect a relatively understated response to the ennui of ageing, rather than a sports car and a new girlfriend. Just keep an eye on him, is all I’m saying.

One could be forgiven for feeling old when playing Ottery St Mary, who probably took more wickets than they possess National Insurance numbers. (Curiously they only used two specific forms of dismissal to take those four wickets: caught and bowled Olive Brandom or lbw Bob Cope – he of Teign Valley fame, one of their few experienced pros, and still bowling probing off breaks). They are a model of what a good league club with a Sunday side should be like. Lots of kids getting a game, but good kids who can bat and bowl without diminishing the genuine contest between the teams; supplemented by a smattering of proper village cricketers; supported by the first team captain batting down the order; and led brilliantly by Aussie skipper Brett Venables, who knows how to make sure all players on both sides enjoy the game. This has quickly become one of our favourite, and most friendly, fixtures.

That said, this was not a game that will live long in the memory, at least not in terms of specifics. There were no stunning headlines to match Pete Colclough’s record breaking 5-fer of the day before [longest ever gap between 5-fers being the record, his last one coming in 1988, possibly before most of the Ottery team’s parents had been born…]. Fraser did make a trademark serene 50 which was a pleasure to watch, but he has done that 27 times before, so they didn’t stop the presses. There was not a huge amount of drama or tension in the game, with the Erratics gently drifting to a comfortable 60 run win. I guess when Tom Jeacock came to the crease, the aforementioned Ottery firsts' skipper, there was a chance that an explosive knock from him might take it close. But Phil quickly snuffed out that threat, and things ambled along to their foregone conclusion from there.

But in a sense, this was the sort of game that makes an even more important contribution to Erratics folklore than any with a striking individual performance or stunning plot twist. It was the sort of game remembered not in the specifics, but in the round: the sun shone down on a picturesque ground; the game was played in an impeccable spirit; good humour was exchanged within and between the teams; the captains made sure everyone was included; the bar was open; there was a proper tea. It was all very good for the soul. On cold winter nights it is memories of days like this one that sustain us.

Anyway, in the absence of any great drama to write about, I thought I’d take a few lines to celebrate Phil Power (and not just because him and Jon Perkin were the only Erratics to get me a birthday present this year…) It was Phil who took the most important wicket in this game, a sharp caught and bowled of a high-quality batter. And this was no surprise. Phil has always been an excellent bowler, but he seems to be getting better still with age. In the past three seasons he has been good for 20ish wickets, at an average of just over 15 and an economy rate just under 4.5. He also holds the record for the oldest scorer of an Erratics 50 (a record JK is keen to break, though Phil has every chance of getting another soon, and he was on fine form again in this game).

But more than his evergreen cricketing talents, Phil is just a pleasure to play cricket with. I don’t know anyone who starts so many sentences with ‘I love…’ And what Phil loves could range from ‘that shot you played over midwicket’ to ‘that new short sleeved shirt you are wearing’ to ‘that pub Jon Perkin took me to for a romantic lunch’. Or, indeed, to any of the myriad small details that make up the rich tapestry of a day with the Erratics, and which he has such a good eye for.

This positivity is infectious, and generously shared. When I finished a rather bruising opening spell in this game (for me, not the batters!) he was quick to pick me up with a pat on the shoulder and a supportive remark – ‘you’re too hard on yourself’ – which always means a lot coming from a valued teammate.

I hope all this doesn’t embarrass him, though I’m sure it will a bit, because he’s also a humble chap. But I just can’t help it: I love Phil Power.

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 3w 11b 3lb 
for 4 wickets
18
215		        
Duncan Chave ct O Brandom b O Brandom 43 70 7 61.43
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami lbw B Cope 34 34 5 100
Lee Grant ct O Brandom b O Brandom 30 27 4 1 111.11 1
Fraser Chave Not Out  57 49 9 116.33 2
Phil Power lbw B Cope 16 16 2 100 1
Alex Perkin Not Out  17 15 2 113.33
Martin Wright  
Anuj Tiwari  
Mark Hailwood  
Sean Webb  
Phil Power  

Ottery St Mary Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Louis Salter6.023200.005.33
Lawrence Salter4.002900.007.25
Bob Cope7.0036218.005.14
Gabriel Salter3.001300.004.33
Brett Venables3.002900.009.67
Oliver Brandom7.0227213.503.86
Harry Sharp4.012500.006.25
Tom Miskin1.001000.0010.00

Ottery St Mary Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2b  
for 10 wickets
2
155 (29.2 overs)		     
Harry Sharp ct L Grant b A Tiwari 19 33 3 57.58
Brett Venables b A Tiwari 12 10 2 120.0
Louis Salter run out  (F Chave) 21 33 1 63.64
Gabriel Salter b A Perkin 14 22 1 63.64
Sammy Wilkins lbw P Power 3 10 30.0
Tim Wilkins b L Grant 9 22 1 40.91
Tom Jeacock ct P Power b P Power 13 6 3 216.67
Lawrence Salter ct F Chave b S Webb 13 10 3 130.0
Oliver Brandom Not Out  46 29 9 158.62
Tom Miskin run out  (P Power) 1 1 100
Bob Cope ct F Chave b L Grant 2 3 66.67

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Mark Hailwood5.003900.007.80
Anuj Tiwari4.001025.002.50
Alex Perkin4.0014114.003.50
Fraser Chave4.001300.003.25
Phil Power4.0022211.005.50
Sean Webb3.0018118.006.00
Lee Grant3.201929.505.70
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami2.001800.009.00