Renault F1 CC at Sanford St Martin Cricket Club ground. Twenty overs.
With those curmudgeons at the Met Office foretelling a great soak for the weekend - beginning this evening - it was with eyes looking to the heavens that we assembled at the picturesque (but only the second best ground in the county according to our opening bat) Sandford St Martin. Trees lining the ground on all sides, the hum of agriculture and the buzz of light aircraft overhead, with a well-stocked clubhouse and very friendly opposition, make this fixture one of our favourites on the calendar. After an exciting game last year that saw us victorious having batted well first up and fielded like demons (fielding demons, not evil demons), the same was on the agenda for tonight, and a good, fresh wicket promised runs aplenty. Skipper Gareth Jones won the toss and opted to bat, and it was with a sigh of relief, the sun peaking through the clouds and rain nowhere in sight, that we got underway. To the great envy of other, Dave-less local clubs, Bodley are blessed with many Daves, and two of these fine fellows opened the batting - Freeman and Shackleton - with a close field and a man back on the shorter boundary in front of the clubhouse. Renault had a fair few youngens amongst them (outrageous, isn't it?), bolstering the experienced regulars, and the opening salvos were subsequently of decent pace with somewhat unexpected swing and a mean crosswind further moving the ball in the air and after pitching. Tough batting at times, by the looks of it. But the Daves all eat bowlers for breakfast and these two were soon scoring well, with some lovely shots behind square from Freeman and the now routine textbook drives from Shackleton. With the score ticking along Freeman reached his retirement (25 in this game) before most of us had even looked at the batting order. Next in was Bodley's Yorkie (his official title) Gavin Robinson, who was quite dramatically lbw soon after arriving. But moving on... Shackleton continued to run hard as Leigh McKiernan joined him to set about the bowling with relish. Unusually for Dave, he was batting sans helmet, giving the sizeable crowd a fine display of his wafting bouffant as the wind lapped at his lapels. Class. Perhaps distracted by this alpha display, Leigh was unfortunately out stumped shortly after entering the fray, bringing the skipper to the crease and a rebuilding job to be done with the score needing a boost. With this in mind Gareth played out a fine maiden, leaving the ball outside off stump with an unconventional technique of swinging the bat quite safely nowhere near it. The hirsute Shackleton had by this point been inexplicably caught behind, another victim of the swing and crosswind - though the pitch continued to play well, so far as the bounce was concerned. With the crowd being deprived of a Tim Philipson show by a good catch, Asad was now at the crease with the skipper, as the overs ticked down. They both kept swinging and ran hard, and after some boundaries from each, Gareth finally brought the bat down straight to send the ball arcing over the clubhouse to land just inches from his opposite number's parked car. Lost in dreamy appreciation of the shot for the next few overs, he was soon out clean bowled trying to do the same again. Club spirit guide and rambunctious elder statesman of world cricket Andrew Milner joined Asad, and quickly put his new titanium knee (the gold one is being forged for next season, we're told), to good use. So keen was Andrew to charge the bowlers and run twos that he was enthusiastically stumped having batted well and lifted the score past 100. Local tinker and man-about-the-shire David Busby was in next, twirling his bat around in anticipation of the glory to come. The crosswind and inswinging deliveries had come as something of a surprise to all, and had accounted for several wickets, but scoring had still proved harder than it might on a good wicket. We very much hoped the same would apply when roles reversed. With precious little left to score from, one more was added by buzzer and the score settled on 115-6 from our twenty. A bare minimum really, and probably about twenty short, we thought. But who knows? A quick turnaround, more analysis of a few dismissals in the absence of DRS, and out we went. Asad and a revved-up Leigh took the new ball, and with that short boundary well covered by two of our Daves, one of whom was creatively using a nearby bench as a fielding aid, Asad charged in. With a very fine third man (that's you Tim, you fine young thing) and a slip in place the edge was on the cards as the crowds fell silent for the first ball. Ball pitches on a good length and lifts nicely off the wicket, flying past the outside edge of the bat and clipping the top of off stump to the disbelief of the unfortunate batsman. As perfect a first ball as you'll see, at any level Renault are 0-1 from 0.1 overs and congratulations rain down upon the bowler. Leigh bowls a tidy first one and in Asad's second the edge is found from a similar ball to the first wicket, this one finding the edge and thudding into Gareth's gloves behind the stumps. Two down, Bodley going well. Runs start to come more easily now though, with some hard hitting stretching the field and bowler's lines straying. But in Asad's third over another wicket falls, this one captured by Gav as it flies straight into his chest at point. Well held, and they're three down. Surely we're on a roll, surely we are? No. No Sir. Renault have two baseball players in the side, one of whom we've seen before, and one we haven't. The former is finally prised out of the crease after causing a little havoc and a great attempt in the deep by Dave Busby to take a skier, as Gav gets one straight and through the batter to take off the bails with a beauty. With one batter now retired for a destructive 28, the fours continue to come for Renault and the total looks about twenty, maybe thirty runs short, as we'd feared. Credit to Alec Paton and Stu Ackland for running their legs off out on the boundary, but we just didn't have the runs this time, and the clubbing of the baseball-inspired batters got through the field almost every time. With Stu and the venerable Milner finishing up the bowling after Shackleton gave the crowd a look at his long gallop, things were kept tight at the climax, but the winning runs were struck with a single from Milner, a reminder to the skipper to get him out of his pattern of siestas and wine tastings, and to bowl him sooner! All in all a very good game, against a genuinely lovely team that we always enjoy playing. A hearty tea was served up afters, and the bar opened with beers for all, and a Dubonnet for Andrew. We'll be back to this glorious ground next year hopefully, with a win on our minds. Well played all, and thank you to Renault for hosting. GJ.
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Note from the Ed.Generally always written late on the night of the game. Any accuracy or sparkling prose is purely accidental. Archives
September 2019
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