London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 26 August 2007
London Erratics v Beamers
at North London Cricket Club, Crouch End

Hard work thrown away
Click on (Þ) symbol for photo images
BEAMERS — batting
1   b Eltringham 31
2   b Stephenson 0
3   b Stephenson 18
4   b Eltringham 11
5   b Eltringham 25
6   b Eltringham 0
7   c Rosson M b Booth 16
8   b Booth 22
9   c Rosson M b Rosson D 0
10   not out 14
11   b Booth 0
178 all out in 37 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–13, 2–69, 3–74, 4–113, 5–113, 6–135, 7–137, 8–137, 9–178, 10–178

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Stephenson 8 2 28 2
Green T 6 1 40 0
Eltringham 8 0 35 4
Rosson M 4 0 14 0
Booth 7 2 20 3
Rosson D 4 1 24 1
Match manager Richard Heller brought along 12 players in addition to himself; the opposition kindly agreed to let the Erratics give all 12 a game; but Richard himself, with an injured shoulder, handed the captaincy to James Rivington. A 40 overs game. The Beamers won the toss and elected to bat. It was as the Erratics took the field that they realised they didn't have a keeper in the side: Matthew Neal instantly volunteered, even though he had never done it before. A wonderfully warm sunny day after the recent dire weather.
Michael Stephenson (Þ) should have got the No. 2 twice before finally ripping one through. The next pair started to find the short boundaries: the last ball of Tim Green's spell (Þ) went for six. With the Erratics continuing to show no inclination to take catches, Michael (Þ) resorted to hitting the stumps again. And in his first over, Matthew Eltringham (Þ) removed the dangerous other opener with a beautifully flighted ball that did everything.
But the Beamers seemed to have an endless stream of hard-hitting batsmen, and when drinks were taken after 18 overs, they had reached 96 for 2. After the 20th over, Jonathan Green was replaced in the field by the twelfth Erratic John Booth. Young Matt Rosson (Þ) was doing a fine job with the ball, and Matthew E proved his bowling had more than shock value by bowling two in two.
In Matthew E's final over (the 28th of the innings), he worked his magic again. At the other end, John was now bowling economically: he pushed Matt R back to long on, and the batsman obligingly picked him out perfectly. And in the first over from younger brother Dan Rosson, Matt R calmly took a stinging catch at cover. It was all smiles as the Erratics congratulated each other on their slick performance in the field, and looked forward to keeping the total down to 150.
But the 9th wicket pair ran well and picked up runs where they could. A further 21 frustrating runs were added before John finally wrapped things up in two balls. Extras had proved quite damaging: 41, including 19 (harsh?) wides.
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
* Rivington bowled 26 3   
Andrews caught 20 3   
Green T caught 4 1   
Eltringham bowled 50 5  3 
Poulter lbw 27 5   
† Neal caught 13 1   
Rosson M bowled 3    
Dunabin bowled 4 1   
Stephenson caught 0    
Booth stumped 1    
Green J NOT OUT  2    
158 all out in 36.1 overs
Fall of wickets:  1(Andrews)–41, 2(Rivington)–47, 3(GreenT)–51, 4(Poulter)–97, 5(Eltringham)–143,
6(Neal)–148, 7(RossonM)–151, 8(Stephenson)–151, 9(Dunabin)–155, 10(Booth)–158
The Erratics innings had a reasonable start, as a feisty James hit some pleasing front- and back-foot cover drives, and an out-of-form Peter Andrews ran well. In the 12th over, Peter was pouched at slip trying to give himself room. In the next over, James punched six more runs then was surprised by a quicker ball (again). Tim hit a sweet boundary to bring up the fifty, but popped one up to mid-wicket two balls later. Three wickets gone in a rush.
Matthew E and Tony Poulter took time to find their touch and their running lacked some understanding — when drinks were taken after 19 overs, the total was only 68 — but they kept the score advancing. Tony enjoyed two heaves against a new spinner with a curious action, then swiped once too often.
This spurred Matthew E to cut loose, hitting three sixes in consecutive overs, including one over a neighbouring pavilion. The fielding side had gone quiet. Another fine four took him to fifty, applauded by his team mates. Scorer Robert Waller predicted "He'll get out now", so skipper James shouted the helpful advice "Don't get out"...
Five wickets down, but the required rate was only 4 an over. Did the Erratics have the nerve to chip away at the target? Matthew N had his eye in, but skied an ambitious shot against a returning quick. Matt R played a couple of nice shots, but fell to a spinner ... and Michael was given out caught behind second ball — big blow. Chris Dunabin ran the quick down to third man for four, and was bowled next ball. Jonathan kept out the pace bowler, but John was too rash against a spinner.
So much of this match had been right: the Erratics had bowled out a team with a strong batting line-up, and had chased competitively. But we still lost.
Erratics lost by 20 runs
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