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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Friday 20th July
London Saints cricketers may not be that talented but they are a hardy bunch and showed admirable resolve simply by making it to Frome through Friday’s horrendous weather. The traditional Golf event was reduced to an early evening 9-hole event as travel times were severely affected. Skipper DT’s carload spent the day on the M4 arriving at 6.30pm following a 7 hour trip from North London. The boys were then shown up by Johnny Quinn’s long suffering, Sheena, who pipped Miguel Mayhew to golfing glory.
A few beers and a Mateus Rose fuelled curry followed amid discussions as to how we might spend our weekend in the absence of any cricket taking place. Golf/alcohol seemed to be favourite.
Saturday 21st July
Witham Friary v London Saints (35 overs)
London Saints 91 all out
Witham Friary 92 for 6
A morning spent looking skywards at the leaden clouds did nothing to suggest that the match against Witham Friary would take place but it was agreed that we should travel to the village in order to assess the pitch and provide an excuse to visit the ‘pub in a time-warp’ – The Seymour Arms.
The team gathered outside the hotel although wicket-keeper, Garry ‘Psycho’ Burrell, was missing with rumours abound that he and his young girlfriend, Anna, were seen in the Harry Potter queues outside the local WH Smith.
So onto Witham and despite a soggy pitch, the match was on…..
Our hosts, obviously appreciating the effort that was made to get there, decided that a match would take place no matter what despite the heavens opening once again as the teams took the field.
Openers Mayhew and Jones looked solid enough although it soon became evident that boundaries would be scarce as the ball struggled to swim through the outfield.
Quinny came in at 3 after Trevor fell foul of the fickle finger of Smudge! He looked solid for his 17 which turned out to be the top score and as the innings progressed amidst the wet conditions it became apparent that a meagre target of 110-120 would be competitive.
The returning Neil Hotson provided brief entertainment and to quote Andy Jones. ‘If Christopher Reeve had ever got the use of his legs back, he would have ran like Neil’!
The rain continued for an hour into our innings making conditions impossible. Running is tricky at the best of times for us old codgers but the slippery surface meant turning for a second run near impossible – needless to say no 3’s were ran (nothing new there then). The vast majority of runs were scored in singles with all but 3 failing to make double figures as LSSC as usual tossed away their wickets.
Smudge’s eccentric umpiring and his unusual signals always provided amusement although Garry Burrell wasn’t laughing as his was the only duck – meaning that what is usually a wide open contest probably won’t be!
Tea at Witham is an eagerly awaited event although for the first time in this fixture in was taken in the village hall. (Cricket in the rain followed by home made cakes in a village hall – very PG Wodehouse).
I will let the photos do the talking here and as I write this I am imagining tour absentees Pearce, Griffiths, Speedtwin and Dewy salivating over their keyboards!
We reluctantly made our way back onto the field convinced that the extra ballast on board would help us keep our feet in the slippery field – it was not to be for some of us.
Tight bowling was the order of the day as run-ups were slower than usual. A lack of short balls (hopefully) would restrict boundaries as had happened with us.
Johnny Loomes either bowled pearlers or was too short – but at last he christened his new spikes by taking his first of the season as DT did well to take a catch in the covers.
The bowling was generally very good with DT the pick of the bunch and Keenan giving nothing away and unfortunate to not take wickets. However, Witham’s innings was based on a solid innings by opener Merry who made 30 and they always had the target in hand although our periodic wickets gave us hope.
This is the third match against Witham and the first year saw us comfortably beat a team made up of Dads of similar ability to ourselves and their young and gobby sons. Last year we won a close affair as the kids were slightly older and attending good cricket schools. A year on and these boys are letting their cricket do the talking; in particular Tom Wills (who is 14 but looks younger) and attending a renowned cricket school at Sherborne and it showed in both his batting and bowled. We don’t often come across anyone that well coached.
The real entertainment was in the fielding (or lack of it). Berkeley took a spectacular tumble which caked him in mud at which point he realised that he hadn’t bought spare kit for the Sunday game. I guess when you get to the age of 50, diving around in the mud is simply demeaning. Keenan and Quinn were not going to lower themselves and Andy Jones was intending to see out his spell in the field with dignity – and he so nearly did. Wills and Macomas, a partnership that must have broken some sort of record given their respective heights, steadily steered Witham’s ship home and as the final run was scored amongst some confusion, a previously pristine Jonesy, fielding in the covers went a**e over t**!
So that was that, a better game than we thought possible given the conditions although as we considered defeat against the last team that we beat, had we batted out the full 35 overs (we used 32) and not panicked about our low score we may well have had enough to win.
Champagne moment: The fielding mishaps (too numerous to all be mentioned above) dominated and Jonesy falling at the last gets it.
Man of the Match: The bowlers did their best to defend a meagre target; DT gets the vote for 3 wickets (and 7 hours behind the wheel).
London Saints batting
Mayhew lb J.Wolf 9
Jones b. J.Wood 14
Quinn run out 17
Hotston b. C.Wolf 4
Wathan ct. C.Wolf 6
Shadick b. Shepherd 4
Thomas ct. T.Wills 10
Berkeley run out 2
Keenan ct. Hyam 9
Loomes not out 2
Burrell lb t.Wills 0
Extras 14
Total 91 all out
Norton bowling
J.Wood 7 0 17 1
J.Wolf 7 0 20 1
C.Wolf 7 1 13 2
Shepherd 7 1 23 1
T.Wills 2.5 1 4 2
Hyam 1 0 7 1
Witham batting
Merry bowled Thomas 30
J.Wolf ct. Thomas Loomes 9
C.Wolf ct. Burrell Berkeley 5
Higham bowled Thomas 13
J.Macomas bowled Thomas 5
Tom Wills ct.Burrell Quinn 13
I.Macomas not out 5
J.Wood not out 1
Extras 10
Total 92 for 6
London Saints bowling
Berkeley 7 1 17 1
Loomes 5 0 25 1
Keenan 7 5 13 0
Thomas 7 0 15 3
Quinn 7 3 14 1
The day of course did not end there as a fine evening in the aforementioned Seymour Arms ensued (an ironic name for a pub as you’re guaranteed to never see again if you consume enough of the Scrumpy)!
We were treated to a BBQ with the very latest in gazebos keeping out the rain which became torrential – our 10.30 am start against Norton was looking most unlikely which probably explains why some of the team over indulged more than they normally would the night before a game.
The night was rounded off with a game of ‘Killer Bar Billiards’ hosted by Lugs Bergman with a special guest, renowned porn star, Dirk Bikkenberg who kept us all entertained.
Sunday 22nd July
Norton St Phillip v London Saints (40 overs)
Norton St Phillip 269 for 6
London Saints 181 for 9
A busy Sunday morning with breakfasts to be consumed, papers to be read, hotel bills to be paid, cars to be retrieved, and a 10.30 cricket match against quality opposition to consider.
Once again we made our way to the ground convinced that we would not be playing given the previous nights weather and once again we were proved wrong. The Norton groundsman did a sterling job in preparing a wicket that actually improved as conditions dried out through the game.
DT won the toss and put Norton into bat, confident of skittling them out for a lowly target which we would knock off and into the pub for Sunday lunch in The George.
At the halfway 20 over point we were holding our own with Norton at 88 for 3. Opener Finch had batting well for his 42 when bowled by ‘John Where’s Junior’ Loomes for our 3rd wicket after Berkeley and Keenan had taken early wickets.
However, John’s wicket bought together a partnership of Bees and Hodgson who scored 63 and 102 respectively and the entire dynamics of the game changed. Good balls and bad balls were treated with equal contempt. Whilst The Wath (twice) and Quinn took excellent catches, the fielding suggested that a few ales had been consumed the night before (actually the fielding suggested we’d been drinking all morning) – I won’t name any names here.
Only Steve Keenan, who had been protected by the skipper, was saved any punishment.
Eventually, timely wickets by DT and Steve ensured that the rate across the latter overs slowed and whilst the score was hefty, it could have been worse.
A straight turnaround saw Trevor Mayhew, supported by Andy Jones get us off to a fine start with regular boundaries. Trevor in particular was taking the game to their bowlers and just showed us what we are missing in the majority of our games. Running is no longer Andy’s strong point and so it proved as he was comfortably run out on 34.
The opener’s fine example was not followed as wickets tumbled. Injured Quinny considered a runner but decided that getting out was less hassle and was the first of 3 ducks when LBW to the accurate Ansty. Neil Hotston looked like he was up for a challenge, but he wasn’t and was clean bowled by the accurate Ansty.
Out strode Wathan having been warned by Neil that Ansty was accurate – and so it proved as he was bowled for a golden duck!
Eric Shadick completed the trio of zeros and further wickets fell for miserable scores.
Trevor who seemed to slow up as he obviously lost confidence in his partners eventually succumbed on to that b*****d Hodgson when on 58.
Meanwhile on the boundary, DT was getting agitated by the absence of Little John, who was due to bat at 8 but had gone missing – again.
A quick phonecall established that he had joined his Dad, ‘John Where’s Senior’ and Dirk the pornstar in The George for a quick roasting with all the trimmings.
Keenan’s wicket saw John, dropped to 11, not prepared and had to be dressed by Andy Jones, before joining an irate Skip at the crease for the final wicket.
What followed was pure theatre as the pair added 54 runs with John scoring a swashbuckling 40 with the ball going to all parts! This was the second highest 10th wicket partnership in LSSC history.
So a moral draw was achieved as both remained not out and next Sunday’s meeting will be preceded by Sunday lunch in Berkhampstead.
So another enjoyable tour comes to a close. The idea of the early Sunday start is so that we can get away and avoid the traffic. However a few beers watching The Open Golf in the pub was far preferable followed by a mere 4 hour trip for the DT mobil back to London!
Norton St Philip batting
Finch bowled Loomes 42
Barnes ct. Quinn Berkeley 0
Ansty ct. Wathan Keenan 9
Bees bowled Thomas 63
Hodgson ct. Wathan Keenan 102
Mowat not out 25
Mason lbw Berkeley 4
Solanki not out 9
Extras 15
Total 269 for 6
London Saints batting
Berkeley 8 0 66 2
Keenan 8 1 19 2
Thomas 8 1 32 1
Loomes 8 0 49 1
Wathan 3 0 23 0
Jones 2 0 15 0
Quinn 3 0 39 0
London Saints batting
Mayhew ct. Hodgson 58
Jones run out 34
Quinn lbw Ansty 0
Hotston bowled Ansty 7
Wathan bowled Ansty 0
Shadick ct. Hodgson 0
Burrell lbw Finch 5
Berkeley ct. White 3
Keenan run out 2
Thomas not out 19
Loomes not out 40
Extras 13
Total 181 for 9
