London Saints

London Saints C.C vs Sunderland C.C At Old Haberdashers CC – 2nd July 2017 Match Reporter Ed Price

Sunderland 181 – 9 (Thomas 3 – 17, Pearce 2 – 36)

London Saints 155 – 9 (R. Griffiths 33, Pearce 25, Price 20, Nanton 20)

Right, let’s get this out of the bloody way. I’m briefly going to break from journalistic prose (forgive me Andy Jones) and readily admit that I dropped a few “half” catches. Ok the first one was a total dolly and I apologise profusely to Tony – I also dropped Richard Griffiths, intentionally, while fielding for other team. The skipper reckons it was six, I’m saying two drops and two more catchable attempts were put down! For the record I did manage to keep hold of a stinger which I’m sure no one will ever remember.

Anyway, on with the match report. On the back of a fantastic run chase against Hermits the week before, London Saints entered the game in high spirits. Especially with the news that Sunderland had been struggling for numbers all week. Upon our arrival-few, including the oppo with who he was about to turn out for, noticed an Indian chap in a tracksuit nonchalantly smacking away throw downs on the rugby field. More on him later although I’m guessing those of you who weren’t present can guess where this one is going.

Saints lost the toss and were put into field. Nanton was first up to bowl and managed a decent return of 9 dot balls in his first two overs with Grimes bowling pretty tight in between.

Indeed, first blood went to Grimes who managed to bowl a handy looking Jones for 31 – a reprieve for Price who just dropped him two balls earlier.

The second wicket fell to the skipper however with Mayhew taking a catch at square leg. The batsman in question, Duddridge, seemed to be at the crease for eternity while only facing a handful of balls. Tomkins also went for a duck in DT’s first over with Wathan taking a good catch.

Sunderland began to get into the swing of things with Groves and Howey batting well (wasn’t Howey the dogshit centre-half for Newcastle in the ‘90s? I seem to remember him later playing for City and gifting Shearer with an easy goal after a backpass straight from the kick-off).

Groves was temporarily forced off with a calf injury and replaced with the useful looking Diphankar who was mentioned at the beginning of the report. He was dismissed for a duck thanks to Price’s wayward (understatement) bowling. (Ed: You do yourself down Ed as this was a vital wicket as he looked as though he could score loads). This would not be the last we saw of the ringer though.

All of a sudden Sunderland had gone from 72-2 to 74-4.Howey then went on to form a new partnership with Smith and by the time Sunderland’s next wicket had fallen, they were 139-4.

At one point Steve Grant felt his hamstring and was replaced by emergency fielder Diphankar (a kind offer from Sunderland) who had an arm like an absolute rocket. DT duly stuck him on the boundary and Saints were forced to have two men backing up on the stumps. Indeed the said Dip almost decapitated Speedtwin with one return.

Paul Pearce posted some reasonable figures and was able to snare the wicket of Smith for 25 and following batsman Costello for 6.

Son-in-law no.2 John Griffiths (I was told call you that John, many thanks for the lift btw) and Richard Griffiths also had a bowl and Sunderland lost their last two wickets to run outs, ending on 182 for 9.

It was now Saints into bat.

It soon became apparent that Sunderland were definitely a makeshift outfit. Enquires from the scorer as to who the bowler was were met with shrugged shoulders.

John G took the strike and was walking off before Sunderland had properly taken their fielding positions. Our new friend Diphankar was the culprit and in fairness to John, it was an absolute peach of a Yorker.

Mayhew hit the ropesy with a nice boundary before going for 6 with the injured Scones at the other end having to have John G as a runner. Many predicted a comedy run-out but Steve actually looked in decent touch. Diphankar popped up again and bowled Steve for 14 with a snorter.

Wathan went for a duck (Ed: his 48th for the club so well on his way to his half century) with Saints on 24-4 before Pike and Pearce decided to try and stick around for a while. Both batsmen managed to see off Diphanker by putting as much of their bodies and willow as possible in front of the stumps without playing a shot.

The change bowlers offered some respite. Pearce, with his tail still up from the week before, batted well and Pike managed to find the boundary a few times before failing to swat away a pie which took his middle stump for 20.

Pearce resumed his innings with Richard Griffiths and ended up on a respectable 25. Richard, who was being referred to by all on the boundary as “son in law no.1” (maybe because John was umpiring at the time) batted well on his way to making 33.

Nanton came in and clubbed some boundaries, including a vicious 6 before forgetting to move his feet and going for 20.

Speedtwin went for a duck off the bowling of Diphankar aka the “Borehamwood Express” before the Skipper and Grimes finished off the innings, making 10 between them.

On the third from last ball, with Saints 35 runs behind, DT coerced Grimes into running a 3 from a leg-by. Surprisingly both men ended up at their crease at the same time with DT clearly showing the exertions from his 10k run earlier on! (Ed: I’m sure this was the other way around ?)

Final score:

Sunderland: 182 for 9 of 35

LSCC: 155 for 9 of 35

MOTM: Richard Griffiths made 33 with the bat and bowled 5 excellent over for just 13 runs. (Ed: Has Tony got any more son-in-laws?). Special mentions to Paul Pearce who is now officially a no.4 batsman and to Tony Grimes who can run faster than DT after 70 overs of cricket! (and some tight bowling)

Champagne moment: Apparently someone dropped a few catches but I can’t remember his name.

Sunderland

Durridge ct Mayhew b Thomas 4

Jones b Grimes 31

Groves not out 30

Diphanker b Price 0

Howey b Thomas 58

Tomkins ct Wathan b Thomas 0

Smith ct Price b Pearce 25

Costello b Pearce 6

Wright run out 7

Addison run out 3

Extras 17

Total 181 – 9 off 35 overs

Nanton 6 – 0 – 31 – 1

Grimes 7 – 0 – 38 – 1

Price 2 – 0 – 18 – 1

Thomas 7 – 2 – 17 – 3

R Griffiths 5 – 0 – 13 – 0

J Griffiths 3 – 0 – 23 – 0

Pearce 5 – 0 – 36 – 2

 

London Saints

J Griffiths b Diphanker 0 (golden)

Mayhew b Wright 6

Grant b Diphanker 14

Wathan b Wright 0

Price b Tomkins 20

Pearce ct ? b Costello 25

R Griffiths b Jones 33

Nanton lbw Jones 20

Speedtwin ct ? b Diphanker 0

Thomas not out 6

Grimes not out 4

Extras 27

Total 155 – 9 off 35 overs

 

Diphanker 6-2-16-3

Wright 4-0-21-2

Tomkins 5-0-23-1

Smith 5-0-14-0

Costello 4-1-18-1

McGirr 4-0-28-0

Howey 3-0-11-0

Jones 4-1-19-1

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