London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 19 May 2002
London Erratics v WPP
at Beckenham

Capitulation
A strange game — nearly 250 runs scored, but only four batsmen got into double figures. And there was no exciting denouement here, so let’s not beat about the bush — the Erratics were humiliatingly thrashed. And one is left to wonder how?
A 50 overs match, played at the HSBC Sports and Social Club, on a lovely sunny day. WPP won the toss and elected to bat. The Erratics’ youthful attack bowled with zest, and we were pretty pleased with ourselves to be going in at lunch with WPP on 102 for 5 off 29 overs. The opposition seemed not nearly as strong as it had been two years ago, and all sorts of incautious predictions were made.
But it was all change after lunch. The No. 2 accelerated, and then the No. 8 (promoted up the order) sent us scampering after the ball. There was then the farce of their No. 10 being allowed to bat on by himself for the final wicket — taking their score (in so far as the scorers could understand what was going on) past the psychological barrier of 200.
WPP’s third highest scorer — wides: 32 (“we’re playing one-day wides”).
WPP — batting
1   b Montgomery 17
2   c Dimopoulos b Ulhaq 90
3   b Montgomery 3
4   b Meller 5
5   c & b b Haria 2
6   b Haria 0
7   c Andrews b Heller 1
8   c Heller b Montgomery 41
9   run out 3
10   b Meller 7
206 all out in 48 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–48, 2–53, 3–62, 4–81, 5–87, 6–135, 7–148, 8–189, 9–192

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Montgomery 12 1 48 3
Ulhaq 7 0 44 1
Meller 10 1 43 2
Haria 12 2 39 2
Heller 7 0 24 1
When the Erratics came to bat, the vigorous youth of the side perhaps became a disadvantage. Fifty overs is longer than we ever get to bat, and we needed someone to settle in for the long haul and build an innings properly. Instead there was a succession of extravagant swishes against bowling that certainly did a bit but which was only dangerous if not treated with respect. There were some shocking shots played against the leg spinner (their No. 8, who really enjoyed his day with 7 wickets for 16).
And I suspect we just didn’t have the mental stamina — once Corin Dimopoulos was out in the first over, the team knew it was beaten. James Rivington, who went in at 4 for 3, was soon simply trying to drag the Erratics score above 50 or reduce the margin of defeat to less than 150 — in vain, as he was eighth out with the score on 40.
Believe it or not, the opposition have emailed to say they hope to have the fixture again next year!
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Dimopoulos bowled 0    
Andrews caught 3    
Meller caught 0    
Montgomery lbw 7 1   
Rivington bowled 21 1   
Haria stumped 5 1   
Ulhaq bowled 0    
Dunabin caught 0    
Middleton bowled 0    
† Walker NOT OUT  0    
* Heller lbw 1    
41 all out in 21.5 overs
Fall of wickets:  1–1, 2–4, 3–4, 4–14, 5–24, 6–24, 7–26, 8–40, 9–40
Erratics lost by 165 runs
2002 Season
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