Scorecard

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics v Four Counties Nonentities on Sun 27 Jul 2025 at 3:30pm
Erratics Cricket Club Won by 6 wickets

Match report DHRUBA DAY:

Dawn broke on Sunday 27th July 2025 with no prospect of cricket for the Erratics. Not only had the game with Chulmleigh the day before been cancelled for shortage of players but today's game with South Brent had just been cancelled for the same reason, albeit with only South Brent who could not field a team, leaving an Erratics squad stranded.

Cue Roger Putman at 7:27am: “Tour side looking for a game today if feasible to organise? Is TV free?” Cue Lee Grant at 8:12am “I’m keen, if we’re able to raise a team”, and Dhruba himself at 8:41 “I’m in” – or words to that effect.

There followed a frantic recruitment drive, because several of the Erratics who’d originally planned to play had by now made alternative plans. Lee led the drive, and the WhatsApp messages flew around. Three and a half hours later, we had enough players to make the game viable, including Samuel and Jassi from Exwick, and Richard Gaunt from the touring side.

Now, the Four Counties Inn, located at No Man's Heath near Tamworth, was a pub said to sit on the boundary of four counties: Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, and Warwickshire. In this pub, it was possible to place a chair with a leg in each of these four counties, apparently. It’s difficult to test this nowadays because the pub has been converted to an Indian restaurant, they say. This is the kind of arcane knowledge that can be gleaned from talking to the Four Counties Nonentities, the touring team who, by 12:15pm had got themselves a game on what will surely become known as Dhruba Day.

The Four Counties Nonentities batted first in our 25-over game. Samuel and Jassi opened the bowling for us with pace, energy, and accuracy. And like those earlier WhatsApps, the ball flew. Off the bat. Although Jassi had some early success, and although Lee skittled one batter, pace was not key to success from a bowling perspective, not with a parched Teign Valley across which a cricket ball would race to the boundary, even along the ground. No lush, slow outfield here. Not this day.

Roger Putman will surely argue that, having reached 64, A.Cooper was beaten in the air by flight, guile, drift and cunning. Others might suggest that this first of three stumpings was more a case of a batter retiring by suicide, so to speak. Then there was a run-out, thanks to quick fielding by Ollie Kirby, but the next three wickets to fall were all taken by…

DHRUBA!

Unless you’ve faced him in the nets, fielded at slip or kept wicket to him, you may not be aware that Dhruba turns the ball really sharply. He regularly beat the bat today, leading to two more stumpings and a catch at slip that put him on a hat-trick. He was too modest to take this opportunity, however.

Despite these bowling heroics, our visitors finished on a daunting 202 – a target of more than 8 an over. Ted Lasso might always “believe”, but there wasn’t much belief in the Erratics changing room as we prepared to bat.

Meanwhile, Washington Sundar and R A Jadeja were battling their way to centuries at Old Trafford. Maybe there was something in the air…?

Our innings began with all the jovial sledging that an opener can expect when he’s playing for the opposition. Richard Gaunt looked comfortable despite this. He and Dhruba began sedately, until Richard was caught off the bowling of Finbar. And then what little hope we might have had evaporated as Alex, Lee, and Ollie all promised briefly, but had to go.

But this brought Jassi to the crease, to join Dhruba, and while at Old Trafford the batting was focussed on resistance, at Teign Valley it was more about assault.

Listen. I’ll say it. You look at someone like Lee and you’re not surprised when you see the ball disappear over the boundary. But Dhruba is slight of build and yet, like Anuj, is somehow able to send the ball high and mighty to all parts. It’s amazing to watch! Ably assisted by Jassi, who finished on 66*, Dhruba raced to a century that included twelve fours and five sixes, and in which he didn’t even look to break sweat. The coup de grâce came when, with nearly 2 overs still remaining, he lofted a straight drive to the boundary to bring up not only his maiden ton, but also an Erratics victory.

No wonder they’re already calling it “Dhruba Day”!

Congratulations to him, and to everyone who helped make the game happen.

=====

Footnote: Dhruba’s final act of the day was to delegate match reporting duties to me. He felt he’d already done enough. And I agreed with him.

Four Counties Nonentities Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
11b 1lb 
for 7 wickets
12
202 (25.0 overs)		     
J Wright ct  Jassi 3
A Cooper st  Putman 64
J Gaunt Run out  62
C Baynes b  Grant 1
H Gaunt st  Goswami 48
O Goodwin st  Goswami 4
F ct  Goswami 0
I Cooper Not Out  2
A. Goodwin Not Out  4
A.N.Other  
A.N.Other  

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Samuel Exwick6.014800.008.00
Jassi Exwick5.0035135.007.00
Alex Perkin3.002500.008.33
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami4.0036312.009.00
Roger Putman4.0025125.006.25
Lee Grant3.0018118.006.00

Erratics Cricket Club Erratics Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
9w 1lb 
for 4 wickets
10
204		        
A.N. Other1 Caught  8
Dhruba Jyoti Goswami Not Out  102 12 5
Alex Perkin Bowled  4
Oliver Kirby Caught  2 1
Lee Grant Caught  6
Jassi Exwick Not Out  66
Jonathan Kirby   3 1
Roger Putman  
Samuel Exwick  
A.N. Other2  
A.N. Other3  

Four Counties Nonentities Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.