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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
In time honoured fashion, London Saints cricket tour to Somerset commenced with a Golf tournament on Friday afternoon at Frome Golf Club. Modesty forbids naming who took the honours but Reggie and Wath had howlers and were left substantially out of pocket. Gary Cronin may have finished joint 2nd with Sheena The Bandit Queen depending on whether he scored 22 or 32 points but he proved to be a real trooper simply getting round with his oh so sore foot (suffered kicking his lawnmower – happy to say that the Flymo came through unscathed). Lord Lucan scored a respectable 29 and John Quinn 27 – the rest were rubbish. In fact Reggie Betts and Sheena Quinn played the course on all 3 days - Sheena 3, Reggie 0!
The majority of the touring group ended Friday night with an excellent curry while the slightly posh crew were hobnobbing at a dinner party.
Anyway, onto the cricketfest.
Witham Friary v London Saints (35 overs)
Saturday 19th July at Witham Friary
Witham 138 for 6
London Saints 102 all out (Berkeley 27, Griffiths 15)
Once again tour opposition proved to be a mix of experience and youth and Witham fielded some excellent teenagers who proved to the difference between the sides.
DT got back to toss losing ways and so we took to the field. Witham had an excess of players and so we took one of their lads, Matt Barton, who proved to be a tidy younger fielder in a 12 a side game.
Witham made a slow start with Saints producing some disciplined and tight bowling with openers Loomes and Keenan offering little and the subsequent bowlers continuing the trend. The pitch was proving to be extremely slow so it was a case of keeping the ball in the right areas. We had to wait until the 11th over for the first wicket; Thomas bowling Hyam with a ball that shot through. DT was involved with the next wicket in running out J.Wollf, who had shown us enough to suggest it was a crucial wicket. Opener Hyam’s frustrations got to him as he swung across an accurate delivery from Berkeley to lose his wicket for 16. John Griffiths took wicket number 4 which bought together Witham’s most fruitful partnership in Forrester and C.Wollf. They increased the run rate considerably for Witham who had been standing at just 50 runs after 25 overs. An increasing number of balls were shooting through and proving tricky for Speedtwin behind the stumps. Following his hammering at the polls, John (Manboobs) Griffiths has decided to assert himself and to demonstrate this vented his anger at our wickie with a few choice words (despite the tender ages of some our oppo).
Despite the late flurry, Witham were restricted to a total of 138 which left us in confident mood as we made our way to the church hall to enjoy one of the highlights of the season – a Witham Friary tea!
The fair on offer was once again of the highest order in both quality and quantity. No less than 4 ‘other halves’ had produced the feast – where do you find women like that?
Anyway, back to the match and the home team took to the field and stood around waiting for a good 10 minutes whilst Andy Jones dibbled, dabbled and generally procrastinated in getting himself ready. This also best describes the early overs with his batting partner, John (Mr Gobby) Griffiths. However, their wickets didn’t look in too much danger – all we needed was a good solid start. Cue Smudge!
Much of Friday night’s conversation over dinner comprised the art of umpiring with the lads giving Dave a few pointers. It was revealed that he of the fine cricketing brain, Reggie, had on a previous occasion advised Smudge to give every 3rd appeal.
Sure enough, with 24 on the board after 6 overs, Smudge received a ridiculous (3rd) appeal from Witham’s youthful opening bowler, McComas. Jonesy had taken a significant stride down the wicket but Smudger’s finger was up in no time.
Jonesy was doubly upset as one of the youngsters had subjected him to a vicious tirade of sledging by mocking his allegiance to Aldershot FC.
It may seem early in the innings to call it the ‘beginning of the end’ but this is London Saints. 24 for 0 soon to became 27 for 6!
Quinny went for a suicidal run out having not faced a ball for the first duck – Diamond Duck!
Up next Cronin who was moanin’ about his toe. Cleaned bowled and as he limped back with Quinny (his runner) he confessed that he had given his wicket away as he was scared of his toe being struck – Stupid Duck!
Wath got out in true Wath style – yee-hah – yet another Duck!
Lucan spoilt the run of ducks with a contribution of 2 before watching the ball hit his stumps followed by our young debutant, Matt Barton, who was cleaned bowled by his brother for a Duck(ling)!
While all this nonsense was going on, opener Griffiths was stood at the non-striker’s and was joined by skipper DT. Unfortunately, John didn’t last much longer as he was caught by the annoying teenager for 7. At least that’s what the scorebook said. The fella filling the scorebook in was enjoying a day long scrumpy diet and 7 runs in 19 overs is slow scoring even for JG!
DT and Berkeley put together a promising partnership that for a while threatened to make a game of it but when the skipper was bowled with 40 runs still required the game looked up. Berkeley, Loomes and Quinn Junior went in quick succession and Saints were left bowled out 37 short.
So off to the legendary Seymour Arms for a consolatory BBQ washed down with Butcombe Bitter and Scrumpy with our excellent hosts. Much of the night was spent pawing over the scorebook looking for John’s runs which he decided was 15 in 19 overs.
Champagne moment: Contenders include Andy Jones alternative fielding with a flying header – Witham’s scorer’s antics which included listing Loomes as ‘Blute’ and allowed the author to bowl 8 overs when a maximum of 7 were allowed – JG bawling out Speedo on several occasions – The winner goes to Gary Cronin for his overall contribution summed up by a ball that landed 2 feet in front of him when fielding at second slip. The batsmen took a comfortable single as ‘keeper Speedtwin scrambled round to field while Gary looked on.
Man of the match: To quote John Quinn on Saturday evening: ‘much as it pains me to say but I think Berkeley was man of the match.’ Must have been the scrumpy talking.
Witham’s innings
Hyam Bowled Thomas 16
Shepperd Bowled Berkeley 13
J.Wollf Run out 5
I.McComas Bowled Griffiths 9
Forrester Bowled F.Quinn 27
C.Wollf Not out 29
J.McComas Run out 16
Extras 23
138 for 6
London Saints bowling
Loomes 4-1-8-0
Keenan 4-1-6-0
Berkeley 8-2-14-1
Thomas 6-1-16-1
Griffiths 5-0-24-1
F.Quinn 5-1-31-1
J.Quinn 3-0-29-0
London Saints innings
A.Jones LBW – Bowled J.McComas 8
Griffiths Ct – Bowled J.Wollf 15
J.Quinn Run out 0
Cronin Bowled J.Wollf 0
Wathan Bowled Roddick 0
Keenan Ct – Bowled Forrester 2
Barton Bowled Barton 0
Thomas Bowled Shepperd 14
Berkeley Bowled C.Wollf 27
Loomes Bowled C.Wollf 4
F.Quinn Bowled C.Wollf 1
Speedtwin Not out 0
Extras 31
Total 102 all out
So fuelled by a big boy breakfast it was off to Norton St.Philip who we have been crossing swords with for 16 years now but rarely getting the better of –
Norton St Philip v London Saints (35 overs)
Sunday 20th July at Norton St.Philip
Norton 116 all out (Thomas 4-17, Finn Quinn 2-22)
London Saints 102 all out (Wathan 17, Keenan 14)
In more recent years this fixture has started at 11.30am in order to finish earlier and help with the tourist’s journeys home with the tea taken at the end of the game. The result being it’s all over to the pub to catch the closing holes at ‘The Open.’
Once again we fielded first and opened the bowling with our youngest pair in many a year in Loomes and Quinn Junior and a fine performance they both put up.
Finn was the first to strike as Finch top edged to Berkeley at cover. He soon doubled his tally clean bowling Kirkbride with an excellent ball.
Johnny Loomes got a well deserved wicket as The Wath took a good catch at mid-off and so Norton were losing wickets and struggling to set a rate.
However, Norton’s Mowatt was beginning to assert himself with some solid strikes but partners went on a regular basis with Keenan the next to strike, clean bowling Carson.
No-one can ever accuse the skipper of not attempting to give everyone a game. And so with Norton looking desperately short of runs he decided to make a game of it by giving The Wath a couple of overs with the ball (see figures).
DT decided to make up for it by taking some wickets. His haul of four included two fine takes by Speedtwin behind the stumps including Mowatt for 47 and a fine legside claim to remove one of Norton’s better batsmen, Solanki.
Norton finished with a total of 116, bowled out after 34 overs.
With no tea interval it was a quick turnaround between innings and Norton took straight to the field – and then waited for Andy Jones to prepare himself! This time it included a trek to his car which was parked at the top end of the field so we had the unusual sight of our openers simultaneously walking out to the square from opposite sides of the pitch.
Once again it looked as though AJ and JG were to give us the steady start that we required to reach a modest target with Jonesie’s late cuts proving effective and the pair looking sprightly between the wickets. Cue rush of blood – Jones does not like batting for very long and handed the home side a wicket with a comfortable run out.
Quinn Senior and Berkeley saw off a few overs but neglected to score too many runs against tight bowling and the required run rate was fast becoming a problem. Quinny went for a catch in covers and Berkeley was out guilty of backing up (a rare thing) as The Wath drove into the opposite wicket via the bowler’s arm. Speedo hit a 4 with his favourite shot and in came Keenan who put on a promising stand with Wath. Mowatt’s bowling was proving to be a problem as he bowled both these two. DT had a flurry and had the Skipper and The Lord managed to protect their wickets then victory looked a possibility – not to be.
Mowatt caught and bowled ‘Blute’ for a golden and Finn was the final wicket but not before Nick Head, replacing the injured Cronin, surprised both sets of players by hitting a fine drive through mid-on for 4.
So there we have it – two disappointing defeats that were so similar that not only did we score the same total in each game but Mr Extras top scored with 31 in both games – if only our batsmen could produce such consistency.
Champagne moment: Contenders included JG having everyone searching the hotel for his car keys at check out time; they were in his kitbag - Lord Lucan’s sprinting races up the slope when fielding; the first against Nick Head and then versus The Wath; much to everyone’s surprise he won them both causing a rethink of many people’s choices for the relay team – but Andy Jones takes the honours for his grand entrance.
Man of the match: Quinn the younger bowled an excellent spell along with Blute and Wath unusually stuck around for 17 to steady the innings but it's Dave Thomas, ably assisted by G.Jones who takes the honours.
Norton’s innings
M.Finch Ct. Berkeley, Bowled F.Quinn 4
Baines Ct. Wathan, Bowled Loomes 4
Kirkbride Bowled F.Quinn 12
Mowat Ct. Speedtwin, Bowled Thomas 47
Carson Bowled Keenan 8
J.Finch Run out 0
Williams Bowled Thomas 9
Solanki Ct. Speedtwin, Bowled Thomas 10
Masson Bowled Thomas 10
Albiston Not out 1
White Bowled J.Quinn 0
Extras 11
Total 116 all out
London Saints bowling
Loomes 6-2-7-0
F.Quinn 7-1-22-2
Keenan 5-0-17-1
Berkeley 5-2-10-0
Thomas 6-0-17-4
Wathan 2-0-23-0
J.Quinn 3-0-9-1
London Saints innings
A.Jones Run out 11
Griffiths Ct, Bowled Masson 1
J.Quinn St, Bowled Solanki 6
Berkeley Run out 1
Wathan Bowled Mowatt 17
Speedtwin Bowled Solanki 4
Keenan Bowled Mowatt 14
Thomas Bowled Finch 11
Loomes C&B Mowatt 0 (golden)
F.Quinn Bowled Mowatt 2
Head Not out 4
Extras 31 (again)
Total 102 all out (again)
Footnote: Not exactly a hardy bunch these townies. For the second successive year, half of the team have come back with dodgy tummies – poor loves! There have been various opinions put forward as to the causes – Scrumpy, veggie burgers, rich coffee cake, Seymour Arms not washing glasses.
Anyway here’s Reggie’s take on the crisis-
“I reckon it was all that crap flat beer we were forced to consume over the weekend. The body cannot function properly without loads of chemicals. I suggest that before we book up another tour someone checks it out the make sure there is plenty of lovely creamy frothy JOHN SMITHS around!! At least when you chuck up on John Smiths the CREAMFLOWS smoothly”.
