Printer-friendly page
Pete Berkeley and Johnnie Griffiths ponder the mystery of Where's Jon?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
WEST XI
235-5 off 35 overs (Cronin 1-17, Wathan 1-21)
LONDON SAINTS
142 all out (Hotston 28, Loomes 23)
THE day started inauspiciously as London Saints failed to field a full XI for the first time in living memory. Holidays, the demoralising season of constant defeats and family duties were maybe all contributory factors.
Acting skipper Pete Berkeley (captain's record: P9 W0) woke troubled by a teamsheet of only nine players. Then veteran batsman Eric Shadick woke up in Sussex and did his back in putting a bottle of milk back into the fridge.
Could the day get worse? Er, yes.
Eric, bless him, hobbled up by train to Bedfordshire (let that be a lesson) and manfully comprised the entire slips cordon by himself, with wicketkeeper Gary Burrell alongside. (What IS Gary's true role in the team. Is he a bowler, batsman or wickie?)
Our old foes West XI batted first under bright blue skies with clouds a scudding by, a bit like (Where's) Jon Loomes second, ten-ball second over which put the willies up the umpires, but failed to disrupt West XI openers Rawlings and Chris (118 118) Wright. (Don't ask, you had to be there) (Enough brackets: ed).
Now, to be fair to Pete, we didn't have a lot of regular bowling options beyond the skipper himself, Where's Jon?, Steve Keenan and Johnnie Griffiths. Wath and Gary Cronin did well as occasional bowlers but before their spells, West's skipper Chris Wright and Number 3 Mr Dane filled their boots as LSSC toiled in the sun.
But what a difference it could have made if we'd held our catches. The first ball of the innings saw a slash through the slip. Then, in no particular order, Eric, Johnnie Griffiths, Gary Cronin and Where's Jon all put down good chances which got West XI off a slender hook. But Pete took two deep on the boundary - there's a clue - to dismiss their skipper and also a very upset Aussie who insisted Cronin's cunning full toss was above waist height and was therefore a no ball. His fault for being 6' 6".
The middle spell of West's innings proved costly but LSSC had a reprieve when Dane pulled a calf muscle and went off - but only after asking how close he was to a century. As it was 83, he decided to protect his calf and average and their run rate dropped like a stone.
But 235 off 35 overs is a big target. Had we held catches, kept the bowling a bit tighter and had 11 men - which despite the assistance of a guest fielder, still left gaps in the field - we might have faced a target of 180-190, eminently achievable in the conditions and on a pitch that ran steeply down to the boundary.
The arrival of Paul Pearce and Lulu - while his wife Debbie was in France - lifted spirits when Pete negotiated with a confident West XI to allow Paul to bat. Paul immediately bundled Lulu into the car and left her in the garden at his nearby home while he retrieved his kit, remembering to give Lulu a bone. Because Lulu is his dog.
LSSC quickly set off in pursuit of the total, Gary Cronin hitting a six in the opening over, before getting out just as quickly by being stumped. "I knew that was coming," said Gary, as he came off, which begged the question of why he went down the pitch in the first place. But that was not before our other opener, Johnnie Griffiths was out, picking out gully with the softest of lofts, to leave us at 16-2.
From there on in, LSSC proceeded to give wickets away with a startling array of top edges, soft half volleys and pinpoint soft shots to fielders. Only Where's Jon? managed the dignity of being bowled, with seven falling to catches. And West XI held all theirs.
It was all the more disappointing as most batsmen looked set to score. Neil Hotston (28), Paul Wathan (15). Where's Jon? (23), Paul Pearce (17) and Steve Keenan (16) all did the hard work of getting going. Gary was Eric's very eager runner, the incident of the milk bottle in the night having restricted his running. And fielding. Remarkably there were no ducks. Our nemesis Dave (George Roper) Laing took three wickets to remind us of how we also failed to take a win off West XI two years ago, when George took five.
LSSC subsided to a 93-run defeat. But we were not far off victory, debatably. A couple of early wickets, a couple of catches and a couple of decent knocks... if only. So Pete (P10 as skipper, W0) then had to break the news that subs were £9 each and tell Where's Jon that this week's howler from our raw but talented young recruit was that his prized 150 shirt was still hanging in the dressing room.
Champagne moment: Eric coming worse off in a battle with the milk bottle.
Man of the match: Neil Hotston - a rare appearance, but a reminder of how strong our batting line-up used to be. A virtuoso selection of powerful shots, undone when he looked set for 50.
SCORECARD
WEST XI
Rawlings b. Berkeley 21
Wright c.Berkeley b. Griffiths 77
Dane Ret hurt 83
Barling c.Berkeley b.Cronin 1
Walton B. Wathan 2
Allerton C.Cronin b.Loomes 8
Rennie not out 9
Allerton R. not out 10
extra 24
Total 235 for 5
Loomes 7 0 51 1
Keenan 7 0 29 0
Griffiths 7 0 64 1
Berkeley 6 0 47 1
Wathan 4 1 21 1
Cronin 4 0 17 1
LONDON SAINTS
Griffiths c.Rennie b.Allerton 4
Cronin st. Barling b.Rennie 11
Hotston c&b Laing 28
Wathan c.Walton b.Allerton 15
Loomes b. Laing 23
Burrell c.Walton b.Laing 1
Pearce c.Bender b.Rennie 17
Berkeley c.Barling b.Bicknell 7
Keenan c.Walton b.Bender 16
Shadick not out 8
extras 12
Total 142 for 9
Allerton 7 1 38 2
Rennie 5 0 26 2
Laing 7 0 24 3
Bicknell 7 0 37 1
Bender 2.5 0 17 1
