London Erratics Cricket Club

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 22 June 2003
London Erratics v Harpsden
at Harpsden

So close, so satisfying

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Unusually, the Erratics arrived early, and with twelve players; Martin Parsley nobly volunteered to be umpire/cheerleader. Weather: cloudy, but hot and humid, with sporadic light rain in the Harpsden innings. Harpsden won the toss and elected to field.

The season’s best opening stand gave rise to hopes of a good score; when Tristan Ward was out to a fine diving catch it was surprising that his own nice shots hadn’t yielded more runs. Felix Meller survived a chance, but looked in belligerent form, and the half century was passed barely behind the exacting timetable demanded by the skipper. Peter Andrews (who scored a five in addition to his boundary tally) was going along nicely when he was Dunabinned on the front foot.

With John Truscott playing some gorgeous shots, the later order still doubted whether they would be needed. John’s snick to the keeper came as a surprise; but Michael Evans contemptuously carted the offending bowler for a couple of boundaries in the same over, and then casually swatted a six over midwicket. But the loss of three big hitters within a couple of runs of each other was alarming — David Miliband (playing his first game since July 2000) was able only to steer the ball into point’s hands (Þ) .

Matthew Neal and James Rivington dug in, and with occasional flourishes of the bat pushed the score along (Þ) . The antics of the opposition captain in moving around in the field during the bowler’s run-up led to verbal exchanges; James’s mood was not improved when he skied one to the captain at mid-off, and Matthew was also aggrieved when he was out. The tail failed to wag, and the innings ended on a slightly sour note.

LONDON ERRATICS — batting				4s	6s
*†	Ward	caught	7	1
	Andrews	lbw	26	4
	Meller	bowled	23	3
	Truscott	caught	13	1
	Evans	caught	21	3	1
	Miliband	caught	1
	Neal	bowled	9	1
	Rivington	caught	16	2
	Green	NOT OUT	0
	Dunabin	caught	0
	Walker S	caught	0
142 all out
Fall of wickets: 1–38, 2–57, 3–74, 4–101, 5–101, 6–103, 7–137, 8–137, 9–142

The Erratics took the field in determined mood. The young pacemen quickly found life in the pitch, and kept the batsmen on their toes. The Harpsden No. 1 was years too late on a fizzing Felix delivery (Þ) , and his replacement gave John a good low catch at gulley. The young No. 4 displayed admirable grit and technique to survive the opening onslaught.

With Felix’s line beginning to stray, and with Sam Walker (Þ) unlucky not to have any success (the umpiring decisions weren’t going the Erratics’ way), Tristan turned to John and Matthew. Matthew leaked runs (and more wides), but he induced a top edge to cover and a leg glance to the keeper; and John’s accuracy was too much for another two Harpsden men (including the dogged No. 2).

The opposition skipper quickly signalled his intentions by giving John the charge and ploughing him to the midwicket boundary; there was (perhaps premature) pause for thought, and Tristan turned to David and Felix. When the skipper hit Felix straight to James at mid-on, the game was pretty much wrapped up in a most satisfying way ... oops, dropped it. Felix clattered the stumps of the other batsman, then lost his line again and gave the Harpsden umpires more excuses to stretch out their arms.

It’s now getting tight. David has been doing quite a good job, but little flicks and edges are bringing runs. The target is 23 off six overs (three wickets in hand) when Tristan turns again to Sam — and his second ball traps the No. 9. Ten runs off David’s next over seem ominous — but Sam responds to another snicked four with a beautiful inswinging yorker. Eight runs or one wicket needed for victory. Agony as six more runs come off the next over. It’s now or never, Sam. Dot ball ... Dot ball ... The Harpsden skipper pushes into the covers and calls for a quick run, Peter dives and flicks the ball along the ground to Tristan, who demolishes the stumps ... the square-leg umpire slowly and reluctantly raises his finger, and the Erratics are dancing with joy.

Harpsden top scorer: wides (35).

HARPSDEN — batting
1		b Meller	0
2	lbw	b Truscott	28
3	c Truscott	b Meller	0
4	c S Walker	b Neal	13
5	c Ward	b Neal	0
6		b Meller	7
7		b Truscott	5
8	not out		34
9	lbw	b S Walker	3
10		b S Walker	5
11	run out		0
141 all out
Fall of wickets: 1–5, 2–17, 3–60, 4–62, 5–71, 6–83, 7–103, 8–121, 9–135

Erratics won by 1 run

2003 Season

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