Roadrunners v London Saints at Houghton Regis, July 13, 2025
Roadrunners 125 (Thomas 3 – 20, Cowley 3 – 31, Cushion 2 – 7)
London Saints 123 (Cushion 20, Cowley 20, Sykes 12, Jones 11)
Man, this was a frustrating game.
An impressive bowling performance had skittled out our old rivals Roadrunners for 125. Sure, the pitch was tricky, hard and dried out with a variable bounce and speed, but with less than four an over needed, surely a victory was on the cards. Sadly, this was not to be and London Saints fell to à disappointing defeat.
DT had won the toss and elected to field (chiefly because both openers were still on the M25). But despite having his tactics compromised, London Saints struck early – with Guy Cowley bowling out two Roadrunners with the first three balls of his opening over. But the home side soon regained their stride, with the impressive Vinny clubbing some excellent boundaries. But with the score on 74-2, DT bowled Vinny – sparking a Roadrunners collapse. Within four overs they had lost five more wickets, leaving them on 96-7. This spell included an Ed catch to reward Oscar for some tight bowling, an excellent stumping by Ben off the bowling of Dickie (after the pair had swapped wicketkeeper/bowler duties), two wickets for DT (his 498th and 499th) – another clean bowled, plus a heart-in-the-mouth catch by Pearcey at mid-off (who even chested the ball into his hands – but probably only to justify showing his bruised nipple to anyone who’d cared to see it) and an excellent caught and bowled by Dickie.
Roadrunners had a brief lower order rally before Pearcey (bowled) and Guy (lbw) mopped up the tail. It was a very tight and competent day in the field, leaving a seemingly straightforward stroll to victory – needing just 126 to win at less than four an over in the allotted 35 overs.
After a welcome 30-minute wait for the lovely homemade tea to arrive, London Saints began their chase with White Viv (making his 150th appearance and 150th innings) and Dickie. The score moved on steadily without any dramas – apart from when DT shouted his frustration after a great drive by Dickie to just inside the boundary resulted in just one run as White Viv (knackered knees and back) and Dickie (broken foot and no sleep because of a “dickie” tummy) decided there was no need to overexert themselves in the heat.
But the 35-run partnership ended when White Viv top-edged to a fielder. Guy joined Dickie and there seemed no cause for alarm as they continued to move the score along. But with the total on 55 Dickie was trapped lbw by Roadrunners’ quick Stephen. Oscar joined Guy and set about the bowling in a positive mood. However, the introduction of Roadrunners’ other new fast bowler Vinny – in tandem with the ever-accurate Rich at the other end – proved a turning point.
First, Guy, then Oscar, Ben, Ed (the first of three ducks of the innings) and Pearcey followed in quick succession – with the score tumbling from 81-2 to 92-7. The ship was steadied by DT and Dave Nanton (unable to move after pulling a hamstring while fielding – more about that below), who batted with Ed as a runner (more about that below too).
But with score on 121-7, just five runs short of victory, the Oneliner/Ed combo was bowled by Stephen. All was not lost, though, as Andy Mayhew strode to the crease on his 200th innings for the club. However, Vinny ended hopes of making it a double celebration by bowling Andy for the third duck of the London Saints innings. So it came down to the last pairing of DT and Tiger’s mate, Nick to get London Saints over the line. But Roadrunners ran out winners when Stephen bowled DT.
It was a tough defeat to take.
Man Of The Match
There were several candidates, notably Guy Crowley for his two wickets in his first three balls and 20 runs. But Dickie Cushion gets the vote – firstly for turning up after having been ill, then for keeping wicket before coming on to claim two wickets for just seven runs in a four-over spell and then scoring 20 as opening batsman.
Terrence Collis Memorable Moment:
Guy’s three wickets and the tight spells from Oscar, DT and Dickie which tied down Roadrunners after the dismissal of the free-scoring Vinny were all memorable. But Ben Collis’s brilliant stumping off the bowling of Dickie was the pick of a fine performance in the field.
Smudger Smith Champagne Moment:
There were not many mad moments but there were some controversial ones.
Firstly, who was to blame for Oneliner’s injury that put him on the sidelines after just four overs? Was it Tiger for suggesting the field change which meant Dave had to run a lot farther after the ball? Was it Andy who should have stopped the ball in the first place, which would have meant Dave wouldn’t have had to run so far (from the position Tiger suggested) to chase down the ball? Or was it Guy for bowling a leg-side wide ball that was hit to the boundary? Or was it indeed à four – because in all the commotion of Dave pulling up injured, the umpires thought he had given up because the ball must have been over the line and so they signalled a boundary. The rest of us also thought it had gone for a four, when it was in fact only a two. but in fact it had stopped short so should have only been two runs. Dave didn’t realise that they had signalled a 4 as he was too busy grabbing the back of his leg in agony and he only found out during the tea interval. None of us realised at the time that those two runs would have meant the difference between defeat and a tied game.
The next controversy also involved Oneliner as he bravely hobbled to the middle with Ed as his runner to try to bat for us and chase down the runs. There is not enough space here to go into all the palava this caused and the initial objections from the Roadrunners skipper, “that he should have been consulted and this wouldn’t be allowed in first class cricket”. DT pointed out that it’s not first-class cricket and we were playing on a crap pitch with a very bumpy outfield at the end of an industrial estate and that this was supposed to be a friendly match. Anyway, common sense prevailed, only for Ed to be hit on the head by a throw from a fielder in the next over when he was acting as Dave’s runner and answering DT’s almost suicidal call for a single. The ball rebounded off Ed’s head to the boundary with DT sneakily trying to run a 2nd run (off Ed’s head). More commotion and quoting of of the laws of cricket by the Roadrunners captain, with more mumbling about first-class cricket and the spirit of the game. DT wisely withdrew his claim for the second run as we wanted to be invited back next year – but the England v India verbal and near-physical clashes in the Test match had nothing on Roadrunners v London Saints!
Nanton’s pulled hamstring was not funny but him showing his long photofile of his cricketing injuries in the pub after the game was astonishing. Andy Mayhew, channelling his inner John Griffiths as umpire, raised some eyebrows with his trigger finger lbw decision against Dickie and prompted the comment from Oneliner: “His finger went up faster than if Superman was a proctologist.” But it has to be Andy Mayhew (London Saints’ former opening batsman and its first centurion) who strode to the crease on his 200th innings for the club with high hopes of scoring the winning runs in what would have been an epic victory. Even the tea ladies were excited. But alas it was not to be as he didn’t lay his bat on the ball in his all too brief innings (with some wag (who lives not too far away from this venue questioning whether Andy’s ‘ innings ‘ should qualify as his 200th as his bat never got near the ball ?.
Roadrunners
Mark c Price b Sykes 22
David b Cowley 3
Garth b Cowley 0
Vinny b Thomas 45
Matt st Collis b Cushion 20
Stephen b Thomas 2
Adil c Pearce b Thomas 3
Rich c & b Cushion 0
Chris not out 10
James b Pearce 5
Ollie lbw Cowley 1
Extras 14
TOTAL (29.3 overs) 125
Nanton 2-0-8-0
Cowley 4.3-0-31-3
Collis 4-0-21-0
Sykes 5-0-13-1
Thomas 6-1-20-3
Cushion 4-2-7-2
Pearce 2-0-17-1
London Saints
Jones c Adil b Ollie 11
Cushion lbw Stephen 20
Cowley Rich 20
Sykes b Vinny 12
Collis lbw Vinny 7
Price lbw Rich 0
Pearce b Vinny 0
Thomas b Stephen 8
Nanton b Stephen 8
Mayhew b Vinny 0
Nick not out 0
Extras 37
TOTAL (26.4 overs) 123
Cristiano 4-0-14-0
Ollie 4-0-20-1
James 3-0-23-0
Stephen 6-1-30-3
Rich 4-1-9-2
Vinny 6-2-19-4
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