London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Saturday 17 June 2006
London Erratics v The Times
in Dulwich

Tons of runs
Click on (Þ) symbol for photo images
THE TIMES — batting
1   c Prasad b Heller 29
2   b Heller 61
3   not out 103
4   b Fitzmaurice BJ 20
5   not out 18
6  
7  
8  
9  
10  
11  
261 for 3 dec
Fall of wickets: 1–65, 2–115, 3–206

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Prasad 7 0 40 0
Heller 11 0 67 2
Berrigan 8 1 34 0
Rivington 4 0 42 0
Fitzmaurice BJ 2 0 30 1
Khawaja 2 0 17 0
Dunabin 0.2 0 10 0
Richard Heller had recruited the team for this new venue, the Griffin Club, in Dulwich Village, but as he was still recovering from ’flu, he asked James Rivington to act as captain. Hot, sunny day. The Erratics won the toss and elected to field.
Parag Prasad started tidily, but Richard Heller struggled with his length. On a slow pitch, anything short was punished, and the small boundary accentuated the damage; fortunately the Times batsmen were too cautious or indolent to run any singles. The fifty was passed in the 8th over, and it was a relief when Richard was top-edged to Parag. The field spread for the No. 2, but he continued to club the ball through it. Brian ‘I haven’t bowled for a year’ Berrigan came on and hit the spot immediately. Richard had steadied himself, and his perseverance was rewarded in the over before drinks.
The Erratics briefly seemed to have the upper hand. Time to risk a fourth bowler. Team mates would later kindly say that James had actually bowled quite well, but that didn’t stop the batsmen being disrespectful: his short spell conceded both the 150 and 200. With Brian flagging, Brad J Fitzmaurice agreed to have a go: his first two deliveries were (1) high and (2) wide; the third knocked over the castle.
But the No. 3 was now slogging everything in reach, and the later bowlers suffered. James noisily ordered the field around, invariably one shot too late. Honourable mentions to Jonathan Green for his unusually nimble fielding, and to debutant Billy S Fitzmaurice for his youthful fearlessness. Another boundary off Chris Dunabin’s second delivery gave the No.3 his hundred, and The Times a total that was satisfyingly one more run than our humiliation of them last year. As we trudged off, grateful for the declaration, the question was: would we capitulate as tamely as our opponents had?
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Dunabin caught 0    
Prasad caught 44 8   
Khawaja NOT OUT  113 21   
Berrigan stumped 20 3   
Evans bowled 6 1   
† Bush NOT OUT  18 1  1 
Green J    
* Rivington    
Fitzmaurice BJ    
Heller    
Fitzmaurice BS    
215 for 4
Fall of wickets:  1(Dunabin)–5, 2(Prasad)–80, 3(Berrigan)–123, 4(Evans)–160
The match ball had been lost off Chris’s first delivery; their Michael Evans (umpire for the day) sneakily produced a replacement ‘old’ ball that was as new as a ball could be without still being wrapped in tissue paper. But it was the slowness of the pitch that caused the initial problems, and Chris (Þ) succumbed to one that stopped on him.
The partnership between Parag and Nasir Khawaja (Þ) was always going to be crucial. Parag (Þ) looked classier than any of the Times sloggers, and caressed any loose bowling to the boundary. The fifty came up in the 11th over; to his team mates (Þ) Parag looked set for his own half century, when he unluckily miscued in the last over before the final twenty.
Brian got off the mark with a boundary; but when the unimaginative opposition finally opted for some spin, Brian couldn’t quite time his trademark skip down the track and flat-bat through mid-wicket. He was unluckily ‘stumped’ by a ball that bounced back off the keeper. Michael Evans hit a lusty blow or two. Bill Bush gave a swashbuckling cameo, no doubt inspired by the appearance of a groupie (though it wasn’t clear that she actually saw any of his big hits, not even the lovely six).
But the game was saved by Nasir’s well-judged, well-paced knock — patient, yet forceful. As the shadows lengthened, he pulled the ball to leg to complete a handsome hundred (Þ) . This achievement was rendered all the sweeter by the fact that Nasir was badly dropped off the last ball of the day (one of six catches that The Times put down).
Match drawn
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