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Steve Keenan is seen here being reprimanded by senior-pro, Tony Grimes and newly-crowned LSCC player of the year, John Griffiths, on his familiar late show.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
'tie'
Noun
1. a long narrow piece of material worn, esp. by men, under the collar of a shirt: eg. John Quinn’s shirt was pristine at the end of the cricket meal - he had dribbled his food over his tie instead.
2. a regular commitment that limits a person's freedom and threatens his marriage: eg. it's a bit of a tie having to play cricket every weekend in the summer, darling, but I don’t want to let Dave Thomas down
3. a match or competition in which the scores or results are equal: eg. the game was heading for a draw when Pearcey called for a second run in mad attempt to tie the match
4. a bond or link: eg. the friendship and mutual respect means there will always be a strong tie between London Saints and Ex-Blues
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And so it was that London Saints visited West Wickham for the 20th time for their traditional end of season encounter with Ex-Blues.
The game marked the end of a good season for the Saints, particularly after the thrashing by Gents in the opening fixture back in May.
The team bounced back and arrived in Kent with three wins, a draw and eight defeats under their belts (as well as, by the look of it, quite a few pies and lagers).
The bulk (!) of the team arrived by rail and, despite Steve Keenan missing two trains this year instead of one, there was little to suggest that this was to become an historic occasion.
The weather was perfect – a bright late summer day with a little breeze which got Paul Pearce excited as he span a few down the artificial track as we waited for Lord Lucan’s arrival.
The main source of amusement seemed to be White Viv – back after missing three months with a torn Achilles tendon – who had in his absence morphed into Jack Nicholson.
The toss was lost (yes lost) by the skipper and Ex-Blues – with their younger, fitter players looking remarkably like a cricket team – chose to bat.
The home team made a steady start against Lord Lucan and Pete Berkeley, notching up a 50 partnership before DT decided to bring on himself and Gavin Van Marle.
DT set Lucan the task of sweeping the boundary, which he did with the combined grace of Darcey Bussell and Pepe Le Pew in heat.
The change immediately proved effective with the skipper clean bowling McEntyre on 19.
Soon after, Gavin – vying with White Viv/Jack Nicholson for top spot of the “true” bowling averages – bowled Brophy.
However the runs continued to flow, until Hilda Berkeley caught Nicol off Tony Grimes, with the teenager just three short of what would have been a fine half-century.
With more than one flying over the cuckoo’s nest the skipper’s thoughts turned to Jack Nicholson and Pearcey to make a breakthough.
Desperate times call for desperate measures and after two desperate deliveries to the dangerous-looking Yarris, Viv/Jack fooled him with one on the stumps which was returned for a straightforward caught and bowled.
The wicket sent Viv to his rightful place as the season’s top bowler.
Pearcey, who had shown fleet of foot in the field, then fooled Beavis by mixing his slow deliveries with slower ones as the match swung in Saints’ favour.
But Harris, who we were told only started playing cricket five weeks previously, showed an astonishing eye for the ball as he clattered a quick-fire half-century before Clive Dunn, his main victim, bowled him for 52.
However, Tony’s celebrations were curtailed when he spotted Lucan skipping in from the boundary to congratulate him, having apparently applied a thick coat of rather fetching dark red lipstick.
His concern turned to relief when it was revealed that Mr Keenan had been busy eating blackberries while searching the bushes for balls that had been hurtling past him.
Gary Burrell then helped mop up the Ex-Blues tail – when Psycho first bowled Hinton and then ran 20 yards to make a fantastic catch to dismiss last man Howse off Gavin – as the home side were all out for 207.
Pick of the bowlers was DT, who redeemed his two dropped catches with a very impressive 1-11 off five overs.
Tea quickly dispatched, recent centurians Trevor Mayhew and John Griffiths strode out to bat hopeful of repeating their record breaking heroics in the county a few weeks previously.
It was not to be, however, as JG116 was caught off “Only Started Playing Five Weeks Ago” Harris for 5.
That brought Lord Lucan to the crease, elevated up the order as all those with a chance of winning the duck trophy traditionally are at Ex-Blues.
Incredibly Finn Quinn – five ducks from six innings – could still have had the trophy snatched from his grasp had His Lordship got a golden duck.
However, Lucan defied the odds to crack a couple of boundaries, and in doing so added Finn’s name to the proud list of London Saints ducksters.
Soon though there was concern when news reached the boundary that both Trevor (hamstring – “I can run a marathon but don’t ask me to run up and down a cricket square”) and Mr Keenan (old age) were struggling to move. The concern was not, of course, for the health of their teammates but the increasing likelihood that two of us would be required to go out as runners.
But Lucan soon dispelled any fears when he was dismissed for eight.
That brought Andy Jones and Trev together for the first time since the infamous diamond duck incident three months previously.
Predictably, within a few balls there was a carbon copy of the incident but this time it was Trevor who was run out and the Saints found themselves 48-3.
Much then rested on the shoulders of Professor Damien Chalmers – enjoying a fine season with the bat – and White Viv/Jack, but just as both were looking settled the latter was caught with a foolhardy attempt to hit a six over mid-off.
That wicket was soon followed by dismissals of Hilda (8) and Clive Dunn (6), both bowled by Yarris, and Psycho for a duck and then Prof Judith for 16.
It seemed that the match had slipped from Saints grasp, despite extras keeping the score ticking along with a regular supply of byes.
With ten overs still to play and three wickets left, DT and Vincent van Marle set about giving it one last go at snatching victory, or at least a fighting draw.
The skipper was soon into an impressive stride, clubbing a succession of boundaries, and picking off ones and twos with some good running between the wickets with GVM.
Gavin eventually was out lbw for a hard-fought 4, bringing Gary Speedtwin to the crease.
Soon the three of them (DT, Speedo and Mr Extras) were piling on the runs until Gary was out lbw for a fine 13.
So enter Pearcey, with 33 runs to win off the remaining 18 balls.
The runs continued to flow and as the tension rose Saints needed three to win off the last ball with DT facing.
Willow connected with leather but there seemed only a safe single.
But with the ball already collected by the fielder Pearcey called for a second run, obviously backing his turn of speed.
However, with DT still five yards from making his ground the Ex Blues keeper dislodged the bail before the ball had reached him and in the confusion our hero scampered home to tie the match.
It was only London Saints' second match to end in a tie having achieved a similar result against Sunderland in 2000 and was a just end to a match played in the best sporting manner.
CHAMPAGNE MOMENT
The match was strangely short of the usual quota of slapstick moments, but DT managed to sow some earlier confusion when he signaled that a ball he fielded had NOT gone over the boundary by moving his left arm horizontally side to side.
Gary Burrell running catch was another high point, but in the end there was nothing to compare with PAUL PEARCE calling for a suicidal second run on the final ball of the match and actually making his ground to tie the match. But the moment was completed by Pearcey’s comment as he was praised for his courage: “I only went for it because I didn’t want to lose by one run - I’d actually forgotten that it was a timed game.”
MAN OF THE MATCH
We certainly could not have achieved the result without the considerable help of the 57 runs provided by Mr Extras. But the real match of the match was DT for his magnificent spell of bowling (5-2-11-1) and his swashbuckling innings for an unbeaten 43. Not bad for an old bloke.
Ex-Blues batting
McEntyre b Thomas 19
Nichol ct Berkeley b Grimes 47
Brophy b Van Marle 1
Yirrell c + b Jones 22
Beavis b Pearce 9
Harris b Grimes 52
Brown not out 20
Hinton b Burrell 10
Mouse ct Burrell b Van Marle 1
Extras 26
207-8 (37.1 overs)
LSCC bowling
Keenan 5 0 19 0
Berkeley 5 0 25 0
Thomas 5 2 11 1
Van Marle 5.1 0 37 2
Grimes 3 0 33 2
Pearce 5 0 32 1
Griffiths 3 0 17 0
Jones 2 0 12 1
Burrell 4 0 16 1
LSCC batting
Mayhew run out 28
Griffiths ct Beavis b Harris 5
Keenan b Hickey 8
Jones ct ? b Hickey 11
Chalmers ct Beavis b Bambi 16
Berkeley b Yirrell 8
Grimes b Yirrell 6
Burrell ct ? b Beavis 0
Thomas not out 43
Van Marle lbw b Beavis 4
Speedtwin lbw b Dilley 13
Pearce not out 8
Extras 57
207-10 off 37 0vers
Match tied!
