London Saints

Back down to earth

Sunderland supporters are the only APSCIL team that we now meet on a regular basis (there was a time when our fixture list comprised of Derby, Sheff Wed, Norwich and several others) and we have now faced them on 47 occasions and whilst the Mackems have generally fared better than us on a head to head basis, it has appeared in more recent years that they have suffered similar problems as London Saints – age!
Or so we thought!
The first thing that was apparent on turning up at ‘Old Habs’ was that it was a ‘tad boilin’! The second was that our opponents had taken on a more youthful appearance in comparison to recent years. It was these ‘kids’ that were to be our undoing.
DT’s run of winning the toss continued and he nominated to bat. Nothing tactical in his decision – based purely on the concern of his elder statesmen toiling in the field in the hottest part of the day.
Johnny G and Father in Law opened up and whilst the start was slow, it was steady. ‘Clive Dunn’s’ score may have left the impression of wanting to head back to the shade promptly but his wicket did not fall until over number 9.
Damo was his replacement and was soon into his stride hitting boundaries on a regular basis but before long JG had departed having expertly cut to gulley.
Wath came in and his partnership with The Professor proved to be the backbone of Saints innings putting on 50 runs. However it was Wath’s departure that signalled a mini collapse of 4 wickets for 6 runs which included the skipper’s second duck of the season.
Gavin and Finn offered small respite from the misery but it was clear that we were heading for the somewhat forgettable tea sooner than hoped!

So back out there and a good opening over from Finn was followed by an eventful one by Gav. What was to be the only wicket came when Lambton top edged a chance to Damian in the covers who made good ground to snap up the chance.
The next couple of balls provided a cameo of the rest of the innings as the newly arrived Marshall despatched the shoddy deliveries for 10 runs. The number 3 took no time to settle and regularly found the boundary even though the bowling was not too bad by our standards.
Dave Nanton was the pick of the bowlers, once again proving that his Nelson Cup showing was a blip.
DT once again tried different options but chances were few, the best of which came in what was to be the penultimate over (see champagne moment). The final over lasted just two balls; Quinny Senior was obviously in a rush to draw proceedings to a close (see bowling figures).
So that was it. One of London Saints’ more forgettable days but at least the sun shone and Coldharbour is next up (which is never forgettable).

Champagne moment
As previously mentioned, the match was heading towards it’s inevitable conclusion and the only real unresolved issue was that of champagne moment. Well you can always rely on Johnny Griffiths in such circumstances. With just the one wicket taken and Marshall having taken Saints to task it would have been nice to have bagged him. Such a chance came as he launched his drive skywards through deep mid-off from Hilda’s otherwise excellent ball. The Wath was well positioned to protect the boundary but the ball was dropping too short for the catch but never fear…….Who was this hurtling around the outfield at breakneck speed despite a tea of 11 sandwiches, several cakes and a jam doughnut with a dodgy sell by date? Yes it was the baked crusader, Johnny Gee and to everyone’s surprised the ball was claimed – momentarily! What should have been a catch ended up a diversion of the ball past Wath and over the boundary!

Man of the Match
The rose amongst the many thorns was a swashbuckling innings of 37 from Professor Chalmers. Freed of wicketkeeping duties, his MOM award was capped by a fine catch to take the only wicket of the innings.

LSCC batting
Griffiths: Ct, Bowled Campbell 18
Grimes: Ct, Bowled Campbell 4
Chalmers: Ct & bowled Campbell 37
Wathan: Bowled Miekle 16
Berkeley: Ct, Bowled Campbell 1
Nanton: LBW, Bowled McGirr 10
J.Quinn: Ct, Bowled Miekle 4
Thomas: Bowled Miekle 0
Van Marle: Run out 10
F.Quinn: Bowled Woolston 9
Speedtwin: Not out 0

Extras: 14
Total: 123 all out
31.4 overs

Sunderland batting
Campbell: Not out 34
Lambton: Ct Chalmers, Bowled Van Marle 0
Marshall: Not out 73

Extras: 17
Total 124 for 1
17.2 overs

LSCC bowling
F.Quinn: 3-0-17-0
Van Marle: 3-0-25-1
Nanton: 4-1-4-0
Thomas: 2-0-11-0
Grimes: 2-0-17-0
Berkeley: 2-0-12-0
J.Quinn: 1.2-0-25-0

 

Pete Berkeley

Become a Member

Become a member of London Saints from as little as £5.

Join Online

Twitter

Facebook