Bodley vs Aldworth CC at Aldworth, 35 overs Bodley's first match away from what is beginning to feel like a home ground at Great Tew took us down the A34 to the lovely village of Aldworth in Berkshire. In Aldworth sits a pub called The Bell Inn. It won CAMRA's National Pub of the Year in 1990, and received the accolade again for 2019. It is a grade II listed building and is the only pub in Berkshire with a grade II listed interior. Notably. it is also on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, so worth a visit for that alone. The pub is built of brick with a timber frame, and is said to have once been a medieval hall house or manor house before it became a pub. Built in the 15th century (or possibly earlier), with C17 and C19 alterations and a C20 addition, it has two rooms - a large panelled tap room with inglenook fireplace and quarry-tiled floor, and a smaller 'L' shaped room. The bar itself is a servery with sliding glass partitions and hatches, and has no bar fittings at all save for ebony handpumps, which were fitted in 1902. Besides its listing and awards, the pub is also notable for having been owned and run by the same family continuously since the 18th century. It is, as wikipedia has ably explained, quite marvellous, even in these socially distanced times where you cannot go inside the pub itself. As the Bodley eleven congregated around the pub before the game, one of our number bought himself a sandwich - nothing unusual about that. But upon attempting to eat the cheese roll, Phil realised his jaw was liable to be dislocated as the enormous wedge of cheese became apparent - another tick for the Bell Inn - proper sandwiches. Anyway, we were actually in Aldworth to play cricket, though Stuart was more interested in the locally brewed rhubarb cider on offer, but more of that later. With a full eleven, including two generations of Marshes - father Chris joining our new fielder of the year Thomas, and two generations of Shaws with James and Dan again forming a formidable pairing with bat and ball - we were raring to go and delighted after skipper Matthew Neely won the toss and elected to bat under rapidly warming skies. Neely and cheese sandwich fanatic Phil Burnett opened the batting, promptly discovering the pitch had been replaced by a scale model of the Somme. Dig in, get your eye in, see of the quicker bowlers, and then hope it'll be just as hard for them to bat on was the mantra. But as Barnes-Wallis bounced his way along the wicket and the openers ducked and weaved the wickets began to fall and it was clear this was going to be a very tough innings. Matches at Aldworth are rarely high-scoring, but being the visiting team makes it doubly difficult as caution reins the batters in. Thomas Marsh, batting at three and in partnership with Arthur Keegan-Bole, did exactly what was needed and put the bad balls away playing late and getting right over the ball - whilst keeping the rest of them out. Arthur was looking good at the other end, hitting shots, running well, building a partnership. It was perhaps inevitable that the pitch would do for someone eventually though, and with Arthur bowled by a good ball, wickets fell with some regularity thereafter - James, Dan, Gareth, Tim, and Stuart all going for less that they'd have liked. Thomas was out for a superb 29, an occupation of the crease that allowed others to scramble a few and let the wides build up as the bowlers searched for wickets. To cap the innings off Chris and entertaining David Busby put together a stellar twenty four run partnership to give Bodley a commendable total of exactly 100. Well played all - a tough pitch, with some good bowling, and sharp fielding from Aldworth. As with previous match reports, there is a distinct lack of tea in this week's dispatch due to the ongoing restriction of teas being provided. Instead, the coolbag competition was won by Matthew Neely for a very modern royal blue number with fabric strap and contrast lining. Well done Matthew. In other tea-related news Gareth and Arthur were stunned to discover that bananas placed in the vicinity of sandwiches impart their otherwise delicious taste onto that sandwich. Like putting a ginger biscuit in the biscuit barrel. So that explains why people use those silly plastic banana cases. Phil finally finished eating a weeks supply of cheddar in one sitting, and with the sun now really beating down on us, Bodley trudged back onto the field to defend 100 and then go to the pub. With thirty five overs to get the runs, a Bodley win was going to require ten wickets, so attacking fields were set and Phil charged in. Remember folks - Phil took the final wicket to win us the match by one run in last years fixture, and so it was utterly splendid that with his first ball this year he clean bowled a clearly over-excited opening better. What a start! Sadly, subsequent batters had more restraint and combined with a little more confidence to play some shots, Aldworth were able to push the score along and take advantage of the gaps in the field. Great work on the boundary by Dan Shaw in particular kept the rate slow enough to give us a chance, and at halfway another couple more wickets had fallen - making three for Phil - with still half the runs to be made. As Bodley toiled in the oppressive heat, the runs came for Aldworth, slowed temporarily by a wicket for Arthur, and then a late brace for Dan as he collected quite remarkable figures of 2-8 from four overs. Not to be outdone, Phil's final analysis was 3-13 from seven - again, a great performance. In the twenty fifth over the winning runs were finally scored, though only after an exiting maiden from Phil's last over, and a game that was closer than it looks on paper, was Aldworth's victory. Well played and thank you for the game, we had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. Both teams then enthusiastically retired to The Bell for a socially distanced bit of rest and rehydration, before heading home to nurse sore knees and dream of runs that never were. Next match is old friends Hendricks XI at Stanton St. John on Sunday 16th. Can't wait. 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 2020
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