Charlton Down Mixed Eleven v Wembley Royals – 10 September 2011
Ah, the sun shining, glasses clinking as the watching spectators muse away the afternoon in a an atmosphere of pleasant conviviality, the occasional crack of willow meeting leather, in a scene peculiar to English village cricket. Yes these are the things the Dorset countryside offers the cricketer of yesteryear.
Unfortunately Saturday 10th September 2011 offered rain, more rain, wet outfield, no spectators and we thought no chance of cricket. But that would to reckon without the enterprise and never-say-die attitude of Shed, who jumped on the mower to cut water and grass, and the willingness of the two teams to give it a go anyway, as the alternative was to go home to the missus and do DIY.
Amazingly the game was only 30 minutes late starting and we opted to play a ‘time’ game, which is like 40 over’s but without putting the over’s on the board and you have the option to bat out for a draw if you can be bothered etc. CD bowled first but the skipper confused Philbert De Bergerac by asking him to open the bowling, causing him to leave the field to change his boots, which somehow took about half an hour, something about a stud!!!…..fill in your own version. The pattern was maintained as the field started to resemble a Saturday afternoon in Clarks shoe shop by the time the fourth player changed his shoes when asked to bowl.
Homeskin again bowled well for few runs and little reward, although Doylie bowled the opener, wickets were hard to come by. The introduction of Philbert and Merv to the attack was in many ways interesting, both took a wicket to drag us back into the match at around 50-3 and appeared to be bowling well. Then without the skipper realising both bowlers took time out to pop into Mrs Miggins well known pie shop, came back and shared the goodies out amongst the two batsman. For a period of about 3 over’s the ball disappeared to all parts, including 5 consecutive fours. I personally blame the captain. The game was getting away and the score topped 100, the light at the end of this particular tunnel had become an oncoming train.
At this point Rudo arrived and bowled as only he can, predictably removing Mohar the Royals top scorer for 30 whilst the dangerous Vinod got into his stride to heap more misery on the home team before the advent of Weasley and another sharp (stuck in the hand, without realising it was there) slip catch from the skipper removed him for 21. The wheels then started to fall off for the Royal’s as Weasley took 3 wickets, aided by Danny (the fish) Roach and a wicket from SiD to finish them off. All things considered 159 all out was a lot better than it looked at one time.
Having pulled the wood from the fire, we then chucked it into the furnace. Needing to bat before tea, so Homeskin could go and get the tea, two solid openers were sent out to negotiate the few over’s before tea. At tea CD were 9 runs for two wickets!! both Doug the plastic Aussie and zee German departing for 0. After tea thing got worse as Danny the Fish (1) and SiD (6) poured lighter fuel into furnace. The skipper arrived at the wicket but the fall of Bridget for a hard fought 19 left the score at 42 for 5 wickets and a fair old mountain to climb. To the rescue came Philbert the Long, who predictably tried repeatedly to cause a run out but continued recent form by hammering away repeatedly to rebuild the innings and enhance the score, before failing to sweep across a straight ball and departing LBW for 35.
The last 20 over’s had arrived with the home team needing nearly 5 an over. Homeskin entered the fray and brought a snooker cue out to bat, as he toe ended and top edged his way to a fast 20, bringing the run rate down to 3 an over, whilst the skipper in traditional manner gathered dots at the other end. More expansive shots were to follow and by the time Weasley got in only 16 runs were needed from 8 over’s and the recovery had nearly been completed. CD finished the job with 4 over’s to go, Weasley 8 not out and Doylie 41 not out to win by 3 wickets in another fine match.
The London boys were a good bunch and seemed to enjoy the barbecue and the beer, which was nice. Huge thanks to Swampy and Fagenti for popping down and helping with clearing up, washing up etc even though not playing and to the other team members who stayed around into the evening to socialise with the oppo and clear up at the end.
Your Cricket Correspondent
