Printer-friendly pageWednesday, July 2, 2008
Match Report
London Saints vs Sunderland
29th June, 2008
Sunderland won toss
Sunderland 138 all out 33.5 overs (Grimes 4-15, Griffiths 3-19 [confirm this is correct, it is not a typo, and you have not gone delirious], Thomas 2-33)
London Saints 141-4 32 overs (T.Mayhew 54, Cotton 40 n.o.)
London Saints won by 6 wickets
There was a very emotional atmosphere as the lads gathered before the Sunderland game. Andy Mayhew is back from Tokyo for a few weeks (news has already circulated around Greenwich that he will be playing on Sunday against Cincinatti – it is the legions of supporters determined to get a rare glimpse of their hero that is anticipated to create the difficulty parking near the ground, and hence led to DT’s advise to come by public transport), also the lads were giddy with success following the Nelson Cup campaign.
Mood was only dampened by rumours of White Viv’s bad back, and fears that he would not be able to play. Fortunately, good news quickly followed as White Viv passed his pre-match fitness test at the local pool, and was on his way. Perhaps this would be an opportune moment to advise White Viv that it may not be a good idea for a man of his age to be throwing his kids about on the beach the day before a game.
I suppose it is a sign of the times – not that many years ago lads would be calling DT on the morning of a match because they had been on an all night bender, now he gets calls about varicose veins and bad backs.
Before the Sunderland innings had even started there was controversy, with Sunderland expressing concern that we have signed up a young, professional opening bowler as a ringer – one Mr Jon Loomes. The fact Jon was wearing a duck blue cricket outfit, akin to the one-day outfits worn by counties and countries, was the cause of the furore. When it was explained that John was not a ringer, but had instead forgotten to use Persil Colourfast and washed his cricket kit with his best blue boxer shorts, unpleasantness was avoided.
DT gave Jon Loomes and Dave Nanton the new ball. Both bowled some good balls, but also seemed to struggle with Sunderland’s left/right hand opening combination. I suspect a certain amount of gamesmanship from our oppo,, who contributed to our apparent inability to differentiate between left/right hander by sending both batsmen out wearing broad brimmed hats – a cunning trick. Both bowlers gained more consistency after a couple of overs each , but a combination of solid batting, lack lustre fielding, and a dead wicket meant both bowlers remained wicketless despite reasonable spells.
In the field there appeared to be a hangover from the Nelson Cup for the first hour, with a number of 4s when boot was used instead of hand, and Sunderland’s opener (who eventually fell for 56) being dropped on single figures off Jon L. I will not name the fielder who dropped the catch, fraternal loyalty is more important than journalistic accuracy, but DT is currently checking the records to see if it is the longest distance travelled to drop a catch in the club’s history.
What of Jonesy you ask? He pulled into the car park during the first over to the great relief and pleasure of his team mates, and was on the pitch fielding at slips by the 12th. More club records for DT to check, but I expect him to confirm that this is the quickest Jonesy has ever got changed and onto the pitch during his London Saints career – beating his previous record of 48 minutes vs Derby in 1998. Such giddy speed early in the day clearly had a detrimental effect on White Viv later, as the opposition, umpires, and fellow opener were kept waiting for 20 minutes whilst he phaffed around with various paraphernalia and medical aids before going out to bat – including a mysterious disappearance behind the scoring hut for 10 minutes.
Jon L bowled his 7 overs straight off, but DT replaced Dave Nanton to bowl the 12th over. Even DT struggled against the left hander, but in his second over finally got to bowl to the right-hander, and straight away had him snuffled by Tony in the gulley – this is the start of a busy period for Tony. The first wicket fell at 69, and marked an upturn in our fortunes.
Tony came on for Jon L, and despite his wicket DT continued to bowl below par , so quickly took himself off to bring Johnny G on. This reflects well on our skipper – firstly, he was willing to take himself off early for the good of the team; and secondly, he was willing to forgive the lack of a dive to a very presentable chance by the ex-councillor off the skipper’s bowling.
With the introduction of our family spin twins the game moved massively in our favour with both Tony and Johnny bowling extremely well, and took advantage of some hesitant (I thinks that’s probably the kindest description) batting in Sunderland’s middle order. Both lads bowled with great control, excellent flight, and a little spin to reduce the oppo to 82-2, 91-3, and quickly 97-7. There was a mini recovery as more experienced players supported Sunderland’s left handed opener who was still going strong. Eventually Johnny G bowled the opener for our 8th wicket at 117, and the final (9th, as Sunderland only had 10 players) wicket went to DT on 138.
An excellent recovery by Saints from 69-0, with some excellent spin bowling, supported by some indifferent batting. Surprisingly, of the 9 wickets to fall, only 1 was caught, and the remaining 8 all clean bowled.
After a pleasant tea, and waiting 20 minutes for Jonesy, the London Saints reply began.
Trevor had a great deal of good fortune early on, being dropped on 0 (relatively easy catch) and Chinese cutting past leg stump when on 2. Jonesy had no such fortune, and was caught behind off his first mistake. That brought Steve Cotton to the crease for the first time in a couple of years, and a stand of 81 between Steve and Trevor broke the back of the target. The partnership was characterised by the odd forceful shot, but primarily by some very good running between the wickets – taking full advantage of Sunderland being a fielder light, and setting a surprising deep field on occasions. Steve started his innings quietly, but expanded the longer he stayed at the crease, and timed his innings perfectly.
When the score reached 102, Trevor was given out LBW by Dave Nanton to a left arm over bowler pitching the ball halfway down the track. I would not want to abuse my position as writer of the match report, but it was a truly shit decision. The only appeal came from the bowler, and even he choked it back, but as I looked up ready to get in position for the next delivery I was somewhat surprised to see Dave’s finger in the air. I have the feeling that certain comments made on Dave’s return from his umpiring stint would have helped him in fully understanding the LBW rule, but just in case he’s still unsure – rule 28 e) section ii : if the ball pitches 1 ½ feet outside the batsman’s leg stump, under absolutely no circumstances whatsoever, including if you think it’s pretty straight, should that be given LBW. (I feel better now that’s off my chest – if there’s anyone reading this bit and thinking to themselves: ‘but what if…?’, stop it, there is no ‘what if..?’ it’s not out).
The good news though, is that the fall of wicket brought Tokyo Joe to the wicket. For those of you who have admired Andy’s batting over the years, you should be pleased to hear that his short cameo showed that he has lost none of his old abilities. Pre-batting he still makes repeated trips to the toilet, and even in his brief innings of 3 we saw a classic Andy Mayhew ‘yes, no, maybe, oops sorry’, and him only being saved from being run out coming back for a suicide second run by the wicky dropping the ball. His innings was ended by a combination of a shooter and his hair falling in his eyes – Skipper, rest assured I have got my Mum on the job, and she will nag him all week to ensure he gets it cut before Sunday.
Wath came in to replace Andy, and as Steve gained more and more confidence, the pair took us within 8 of our target before Wath was dismissed by an excellent quicker ball from their left arm spinner. These days, if you want a job done, then call in Damian and his new bat. Damian faced 2 balls, hit 2 4s, and victory was ours by 6 wickets with 3 overs to spare.
Champagne Moment: I’m going for Johnny G’s statement of the flipping obvious. Wath bowled well, but had a couple of double bouncers, with the most extreme pitching virtually on Wath’s toe and rolling along the ground by the time it reached the batsman. To which Johnny gave the following salient advice ‘pitch it up a bit more Wath’.
Man of the Match: potentially between 4 players, but Trev is discounted because he was lucky not be out for 0 (Ed - and he wrote the match report). Steve played a chanceless innings which was perfectly timed, Tony bowled extremely well, but I am going to award Man of the Match to Johnny G . Ultimately, the family spinning business gave us a reachable target after the oppo had made an excellent start; why Johhny rather than Tony, even though Tony got an extra wicket? Partly because Tony was MoM last week, and we don’t want him getting too full of himself (you know what these youngsters are like), but mainly because Johnny got the most important wicket when he bowled their Jones for 56 – an excellent piece of bowing. Fortune for John that he did bowl well, as his spell followed some of the most pitiful, desperate and unsubtle hints to the skipper that he wanted a bowl.
Sunderland Innings
Jones b Griffiths 56
Campbell ct Grimes b Thomas 33
Lambton b Grimes 3
Howey b Grimes 0
Lennox b Grimes 0
Banks b Griffiths 0
Marston b Griffiths 0
Thomas b Grimes 2
McGirr not out 11
Baker b Thomas 6
Extras 23
Total 138 all out off 33.5 overs
LSSC bowling
Loomes 7-1-29-0
Dave Nanton 5-0-14-0
DT 4.5-0-33-2
Tony 7-1-15-4
Johnny G 7-1-19-3
Wath 3-0-11-0
London Saints Innings
Trev LBW b Howey 54
Jonesy ct Keeper b McGirr 7
Steve C not out 40
Andy M b Howey 3
Wath b Campbell 6
Damian not out 8
DNB: DT, Nanton, Griffiths, Grimes, Loomes
Extras 23
Total 141-4 off 32 overs
