Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment
Sunday 6 August 2000
London Erratics v WPP
in Beckenham, Kent
Erratics stuffed (full of lunch)
45 overs match
WPP won the toss and elected to bat.
| WPP — 210 for 7 in 45 overs | LONDON ERRATICS — 121 all out in 38.5 overs |
| Jones | 13 | 0 | 52 | 0 | Andrews | caught | 7 | ||
| Bond | 15 | 1 | 69 | 3 | Bingham | caught | 10 | ||
| Purcell | 8 | 1 | 30 | 1 | Berrigan | bowled | 40 | ||
| Ward | 9 | 0 | 57 | 1 | Ward | stumped | 7 | ||
| Purcell | lbw | 1 | |||||||
| catches: | Bond | caught | 3 | ||||||
| Rivington, | * | Rivington | caught | 2 | |||||
| Walker, | Dunabin | caught | 2 | ||||||
| Ward | Bush | caught | 13 | ||||||
| † | Walker | NOT OUT | 2 | ||||||
| Jones | caught | 15 | |||||||
Lost by 89 runs
| NARRATIVE |
| Richard Heller had recruited a team of varied talent for this match; but his nose having gone under the surgeon’s knife during the week, he passed the captaincy to James Rivington. Weather: sultry, some sunshine later. |
| Jeremy Walker became the seventh keeper the Erratics have used this season, and he filled the gloves with aplomb. The bowling attack was also not typical, but all credit to Mark Jones, Oliver Bond, Stuart Purcell, and Tristan Ward for keeping the WPP score down — well below the opposition’s expectations. A key moment was when the beefy No. 5, who the day before had apparently thrashed 136 not out, swung at Tristan’s leg spin and was caught at long-on by James Rivington. In spite of a hearty barbecue lunch, a tight performance all-round ensured that WPP were unable to accelerate in the last few overs. |
| Things looked even better when the Erratics innings got off to an electric start (by the end of the third over, the score was 26-1). The chase was still on when the third wicket fell at 71, but the innings suffered a setback when Bill Bush gave Stuart Purcell out lbw in the over before tea, to make it 78-4. The wheels came off after tea — the fatal blow coming when Brian Berrigan, typically looking as though he could win the match on his own, yorked himself. Ten overs after the resumption, the Erratics had slumped to 89-8. Hefty blows from Bill Bush and Mark Jones kept the margin of defeat below three figures. |
| The game ended with the sort of result many must have feared at the outset, but it was pleasing to have kept the game genuinely close for two-thirds of its course. On a pitch giving the bowlers assistance, WPP were ultimately too good for the Erratics batting (except, of course, Brian) — and perhaps a tad too ‘competitive’. Hospitality: one could get used to it. Nice to see Robert Waller, who arrived in time to chronicle the Erratics batting collapse in the scorebook. |