London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Saturday 1 September 2007
London Erratics v Kilndown & Lamberhurst
at Kilndown

Valuable win
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Head caught 47 4  1 
Rivington run out 0    
† Khawaja N c & b 39 2   
Berrigan bowled 12 1   
Van Zyl lbw 14 3   
Ward bowled 4    
Beckles NOT OUT  39 5  2 
Coetzer bowled 0    
Lubbe caught 2    
Langley NOT OUT  0    
* Andrews    
187 for 8 dec
Fall of wickets:  1(Rivington)–0, 2(Head)–108, 3(Khawaja)–109, 4(VanZyl)–129, 5(Berrigan)–136,
6(Ward)–140, 7(Coetzer)–140, 8(Lubbe)–163
A group of Erratics, reinforced by some overseas talent and graced by the alias "The President's XI", convened at the Globe and Rainbow, Kilndown, Kent, to enjoy the hospitality of the President himself, Lord Mayhew, former Cabinet Minister and still a guiding hand in this quiet corner of the Garden of England. The Erratics won the toss and elected to bat.
The batting order was simplified by a groin injury to skipper Peter Andrews earlier in the week, which reduced him to batting at 11 and meant that James Rivington and Jim Head would open. Before the spectators had taken their seats, these two gentlemen found themselves at the same end, after a square drive by Jim had been muffed by point. On one view, it was James' call, his call of "yes" was correct, Jim's failure either to run or shout "no" (or anything else) was incorrect, but James should have observed that his partner was in a trance (thinking about his dodgy knee) before he reached the other end. There was an afternoon and a tea break in which this and other views of the episode could be debated.
Nasir Khawaja and Jim then put together a century stand, which required considerable skill against bowlers who knew how to use a wicket producing variable bounce. This laid the platform for a middle order assault/collapse as tea approached. The man most suited to the conditions was Rawle Beckles, whose style resembled an Olympic hammer thrower. One shot disappeared off a car roof into neighbouring cottage gardens, another into the next field; one or two more tempted the fielders, but happily Rawle survived until tea and boosted the target from competitive to steep.
KILNDOWN — batting
1   b Beckles 9
2   run out 38
3   c Langley b Beckles 1
4   lbw b Coetzer 21
5   b Coetzer 17
6   c Andrews b Coetzer 3
7   run out 5
8   c Coetzer b Rivington 3
9   c Berrigan b Lubbe 2
10   b Andrews 2
11   did not bat
124 all out
Fall of wickets: 1–17, 2–23, 3–76, 4–90, 5–103, 6–104, 7–114, 8–115, 9–121, 10–124

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Beckles 5 1 13 2
Langley 6 0 22 0
Van Zyl 4 0 23 0
Coetzer 6 1 20 3
Ward 2 0 18 0
Lubbe 4 4 0 1
Rivington 2 0 17 1
Andrews 1.1 0 3 1
Head 1 1 0 0
Kilndown knew they would probably get around 37 overs (in the event, thanks to the Erratics' sporting and efficient bowling, they would have had 39 had the game gone the distance). A hostile spell from Rawle set them back, helped by a remarkable catch from Richard Langley at point off a full-blooded slash. But they upped the tempo against the fast bowling of Marius Van Zyl, one of our Kolpak players — one remarkable tennis smash shot by the vocal bearded opener sent a high bouncer into the adjoining field for six. But Marius produced a tracer-like throw from the long-on boundary to run out the bearded one dawdling on a single.
Tristan Ward's slow bowling was dealt with roughly. But Ed Coetzer settled into a good line and length which was effective against batsmen under pressure to score nearly 5 an over off the last 20. More good catching (including an unexpected slip catch by Peter) worked us through to Kilndown's small boys, who had fielded gamely. James and Willem Lubbe (the latter bowled dead straight for four consecutive maiden overs) picked up a wicket each. And then, with an eleven-year-old batting on his own because a nine-year-old had declined to take the field, Peter took a short run and, after some initial radar difficulties, snaffled the last victim, still with eight overs to spare.
Kilndown felt afterwards that they should have got close with better shot selection by their main performers.
[PA]
Erratics won by 63 runs
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