Printer-friendly pageTuesday, August 1, 2006
35 over match at Berkamsted
LSSC 159 for 9
West XI 161 for 2
Just 5 minutes walk away from the busy commuter station at Berkhamsted you can come across an idyllic country setting, with the local cricket club's two pitches and a school playing field surrounded by meadows that are home to gently bleating lambs. Of course when Saints batted first against our hosts, West XI, you could add the sound of ducks quacking, and Tony Grimes was unlucky to contribute the first following a mis-timed pull in the second over.
Pete Berkeley was promoted to number 3 and was happy to play second fiddle to in-touch John Griffiths whilst the wise heads on the boundary edge professed themselves happy with Wests' ploy of using their opening bowlers' full allocation of overs from the start as there wasn't much expected from the remaining West IX. Such optimism doesn't usually work for Saints, and the ex councillor was promptly stumped off the first change. Batting at 4 can give me a nose bleed these days, but the new bowlers didn't seem that easy out in the middle. Pete and I took the score close to 100, but off over 20 overs.
It should still have been set up for the big hitters, but things rarely go to plan and Gary Burrell's run out off the bowler's foot and Wath's 2nd ball wa-hoo re-awoke the ducks. We were lucky to add Gavin Van Marle's 7 to the middle order contribution because he only turned up via an expensive taxi ride from wrong ground. I'm told that Gavin frequently relies on Mr. Keenan for directions and/or transport so I can only conclude that this was an accident waiting to happen.
We rather needed Pete to stay around at the other end to complete the job, but he departed, hitting out after an excellent 60 runs, so hopes of a defendable total lay with the tail. Paul Pearce rose to the occasion with some timely boundaries and a run 3 to the distant and unguarded long leg boundary - more anon. But I'm afraid 160-9 was rather short of par.
Tea was ample on a pleasant but not over-hot afternoon, and Little John & Wath set about making early inroads. It might have happened as opening bat Bapu edged towards Paul Pearce's midriff at slip. That's usually enough for any ball, but Paul had uncharacteristically opted to conclude his tea with a slice of melon instead of another cake, and that may have contributed to the spilled catch. On such trifles (or veg) can great plans fail.
After 10 overs, Wests were not that far ahead of Saints, but Mr. Bapu and captain Wright were slamming the required boundary early in the over count and could pick off ones and twos with ease. They were also looking well set and accelerated to take the score to over 100 at the 20 over drinks break. This wasn't bad bowling from Saints, but very good batting with a great awareness of how to pace an innings.
The breakthrough was unexpected, well for me anyway, as I managed to take a catch at point (and I won't forget to mention that it was one handed) and then Wath clung on to a skier in the deep off the dangerous Kiwi wicket keeper/batsman. We rather knew it was too little too late but a couple of dropped catches didn't give Wests much to think about on their way to a convincing win. Another 30+ runs from our side would have helped as well.
Man of the match. Pete Berkeley who was the only batsman to pass 25 on the way to an assured half century.
Champagne moment. Over the last 25 years or so we've often had both batsmen running towards the same end, but never before when one was sprinting for a third run and the other looking for relief at the end of a mighty two. The skipper nobly paused half way down to allow Paul Pearce to complete his second and turn for that punishing uphill and up-wind slog to the bowler's end, rather than overtake him before the popping crease. (It had to be a special moment to beat Gavin's phone calls from his cab. Good job he wasn't checking the meter.)
LSSC
Griffiths st 23
Grimes ct 0
Berkeley ct 60
Shadick ct 14
Burrell run out 0
Van Marle b 7
Wathan b 0
Pearce not out 23
Chalmers b 2
Thomas ct 10
No Balls 6
Wides 14
Byes 1
Total 160 – 9 – 35 overs
West XI
Wright ct Shadick b Pearce 53
Bapu not out 69
Barling ct Wathan b Grimes 12
Rennie not out 16
No Balls 2
Wides 4
Leg Byes 5
Total 161 – 2 – 29 overs
Loomes 6 – 1 – 19 – 0
Wathan 4 – 0 – 21 – 0
Berkeley 4 – 0 – 24 – 0
Thomas 3 – 0 – 19 – 0
Grimes 5 – 0 – 26 – 1
Pearce 5 – 0 – 30 – 1
Griffiths 1 – 0 – 8 – 0
Van Marle 1 – 0 – 11 - 0
