Witham Friary v London Saints – Sun July 12th 2026 at Witham Friary CC – 30 overs
Witham Friary 204 – 7 (H. Dowson 2-20, G. Dowson 2-42)
London Saints 165 – 7 (McIntyre 41, Mousley 26, G. Dowson 23)
On a hot but thankfully breezy day, I was able to take shelter under a tent kindly provided by Witham. Witham batted first and we opened with Nanton and George on a big improvement from yesterday, Nanton should’ve had 2 wickets to add to his economical bowling spell. Henry came on to remove both openers, to catches – both unexpected in different ways: Mike took a great diving catch at long leg and DT took an even more surprising catch at mid-off despite not looking at the ball.
Unfortunately, the arrival of, Cambridge Blue, Pritchard at the crease, coincided with yesterday’s bowling hero, John G, being brought on to bowl. 2 overs and 40 runs later, John was mercifully taken off, much to the relief of anybody in Witham with a greenhouse. Pritchard retired soon after on 50 and we got a bit more control of the run rate. Dickie took 2 great catches off DT and Paulie, and George picked up a couple of wickets in his comeback over.
Unbeknown to me, Pearcey seems to have a big fan club in the West Country, and there was a palpable level of excitement under the tent, when Paul bowled 5 dot balls to Tucker Junior – could he actually bowl a maiden? (Ed they are not actually as rare as you’d expect as Pearcey has bowled 3 maidens since 2014……..in his 255 overs). Maddie had zoom camera in hand to capture this historic moment. Unfortunately, Paul’s 6th ball landed closer to the cows grazing in the lower meadow, than the pitch. this was followed by another no-ball and a wide, before thankfully the over was over. Maddie now has a lovely photo of a rather bemused 7 year old batsman and a red-faced Dad, chuntering away to himself. I expect she is using it as her screen saver. Johnny M got a late wicket and they finished on 204-7. There were 3 dropped catches and a missed opportunity from Flatliner (i.e. he was too incompetent to get his hands on the ball), but it was looking much worse at one point.
After the usual lovely Witham Friary tea, we opened with Jonesy and Mike, but unfortunately it was all 
rather turgid, and we only had 30 after 10 overs, with Andy on 8. At this point, Mussolini strode out to the pitch and hooked Jonesy from the game. We were all rather bemused under the tent, Jonesy has batted much slower than this, and not been forcefully retired. As Jonesy trudged off the pitch, hurt and bewilderment etched across his face, I must admit to shedding a tear (Ed- Unfortunately sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the team – Il Duce) It reminded me of the first time I had seen the Fighting Temeraire by Turner, except that the Temeraire was in better condition when it was towed off to the scrap yard.
Henry replaced Andy and hit his first ball for 6, and then we all wondered why DT hadn’t done it earlier. Even after Jonesy’s ejection, despite useful contributions from George, Dickie and Johnny M, we were always well behind the run rate. Lana got a very entertaining 3 not out and John (Carol) was bowled by Tucker Senior late on, for us to finish 43 runs short. John has asked me to point out that Tucker Senior was 8 and 3/4, and big for his age. Mr 6-0-66-0 rather bitchily pointed out that if John hadn’t bowled, we would’ve won the game, but this isn’t strictly true, we would’ve needed Pearcey not to bowl too. In our last tour game at Witham, it was nice to be competitive, and I think we will all miss playing there.
MOM Dickie had another great game but just pipped by Mike, with a fine 41 and a great catch.
Terence champagne moment: Mike’s surely catch of the season at long leg
Negative champagne moment: Who says you shouldn’t kick a man when he is down – White Viv’s 8 singles off 48 balls in the heat of the run chase (Ed – very harsh Andy !!)
Witham Friary
Charles ct McIntyre b H. Dowson 24
Matthew ct Thomas b H. Dowson 22
Pritchard retired 50
Cooper ct Cushion b Thomas 15
Wild ct Cushion b Pearce 29
Gibson b G. Dowson 14
O. Tucker b G. Dowson 1
J. Tucker b Mousley 5
Stranetor not out 98
Clegg not out 8
Extras 28
Total 204 – 7
Nanton 3-0-8-0
G.Dowson 6-0-42-2
McIntyre 3-0-29-0
H.Dowson 4-0-20-2
Griffiths 2-0-40-0
Sykes 4-0-13-0
Thomas 3-0-15-1
Pearce 3-0-16-1
Mousley 2-0-11-1
London Saints
Jones retired 8
McIntyre ct Clegg b Cooper 41
H.Dowson ct Brad b Gibson 7
Mousley run out 26
Sykes b Pritchard 2
Nanton b Tucker 5
Cushion not out 21
G. Dowson run out 23
Griffiths ct ? b Stranetor 2
Lana not out 3
Extras 35
Total 165-7
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