Hendricks XI at Stanton St. John, 35 overs Scorecard - www.pitchero.com/clubs/bodleiancc/teams/255079/match-centre/0-5243463/scorecard After what seems to be an interminable succession of close fought defeats, Bodley regrouped yet again to face old rivals Hendricks – a touring Team that has traditionally offered a stiff challenge during their annual stop-off in Oxford. With Bodley occasionals Tim Saunders and Ross Quest, Hendricks represent that rare thing – competitive, convivial social cricket. Moreover, the promise of a bottle of the self-same Gin being up for grabs for the Bodley player of the match has always added an extra degree of verve to Bodley performances so the contest certainly promised to be entertaining. The question was how close would it be given Bodley’s agonising recent run of form which has seen them score well but just fall short of the line? The absence of veteran Spin-Meister Andrew Milner only added to the uncertainty about how the old Maestro is doing. Well to allay any fears, we are reliably informed that it has yet again failed its MOT but Milner hopes for progress once he gets it to the garage. To hopefully offset this blow and add to the frisson Bodley welcomed back legendary top scorer and pouch-supremo Mike Webb, as well as Silver Streak Phil Burnett, who deigned to don the whites once again after several weeks indulgent honeymooning in California. With the rest of the ranks filled by the usual suspects Bodley fielded a strong side, though the question, as always, was what would Hendricks be serving up today at the still parched Stanton St John? Having won the toss Gareth Jones opted to Bat and, having finally located the scorebook and committed the batting order to posterity, sent Bodleys own Robson and Jerome out to the middle to open proceedings. Celebrating his birthday, and with a not inconsiderable run tally already safely banked, Matthew Neeley was keen to add to his haul and inch ever closer to the magical 500 mark for the season. At the non-strikers end, as-per, and now re-acclimatised to stoical European sensibilities following his reluctant return from his Californian ‘Research Study’ of Dystopian Naturist Poetry, opening partner David Shackleton had much to prove to a Bodley batting order that was beginning to make him look more than a little conventional and pedestrian. Like the old Maestro, a Bodley innings can sometimes take a little time to get going, which does little for the nerves on the boundary as overs seem to pass at an alarming rate. And yet there seems to be that special cricketing ‘flux capacitor’ in the Bodley psyche these days, whereby the ever-present uncertainty that surrounds any Bodley innings is marginally less likely to morph into blind panic at the merest provocation. And so it proved today, with early stoical defence by Neeley married to the languid Shackleton style that seemed to blunt the Hendricks attack. And with the latter clearing the boundary early doors with a devilish flashing high-elbow, the runes were looking positive for Bodley – even more so when a chance from Neeley was put down in the field. The question seemed to be could Bodley build on the early promise with a sustained partnership, and just how damaging would the dropped chance prove to be? Time would of course tell, but meanwhile out in the middle the melody of leather-on-willow was increasingly unchained and the score started to accumulate, as all on the boundary always knew it would. With the 50 now up in the tenth over it therefore came as something as a shock when Shackleton’s elegant Riverdance at the crease proved his undoing, falling to an LBW decision that, somewhat remarkably, was not delivered by doom-finger Ackland. The fall of the high-elbow brought Young-Gun Dan Shaw out to the crease, and it isn’t long before he finds his range and the boundary, and adds new impetus to the innings. It comes as a bit of a blow therefore when he drives hard for the boundary and is caught in the deep off Gilbert. Is this the start of a characteristic wobble by Bodley? As James Shaw strides out to the middle concerns are allayed, and with good reason for before long he has the measure of the bowling and is finding the gaps in the field and tearing up and down the wicket, keeping the runs accumulating and the strike rotating. Before fully getting into his stride however, and in an eerily similar fashion to Dan before him, James searches for the boundary only to be well held in the deep. With both Shaws falling to expansive shots, there is always a danger of pulling up the drawbridge and circling the cricketing wagons, and so it was under this deluge of discursive metaphors that Philipson made his way out to the middle in the 16th over with 84 runs on the board. Under strict self-imposed orders to at least try and watch the ball, the omens were not good as the traditional heave across the line made an early and entirely predictable appearance. Fortunately the damage did not prove terminal for once and after a few balls the new partnership with Neeley started to yield results, with Bodley finding the boundary from both ends and the score beginning to tick along in a reassuring manner. With things proceeding nicely now was certainly not the time to discover yet new ways to get yourself out, but fate, alas, determined otherwise, and so it fell to Philipson to experience the curious sight of a crashing leg-side ball ricocheting of his boot back onto the stumps. With the traditional chuntering trudge back to the pavilion for what felt an under-par 21, the baton was resolutely passed to Captain Jones, who hoped to once again tap into the rich seam of runs he had been mining this season. With fifteen overs remaining and 123 runs in the bag the question that seemed to be pre-occupying the assembled Casandras’s on the boundary was would Bodley continue to accelerate and post a 200+ score, which seemed to be the minimum that would be required against a Hendricks side that has always scored heavily. The answer was not long in coming as the Neeley-Jones partnership settled, and as the innings drew to a close and legs grew tired the bounty of boundaries started to come thick and fast. At the close of the final over Bodley had amassed an impressive and competitive 217 runs for the loss of only four wickets, with Jones retiring on a hawkish 31 and Neeley – after surviving a dropped no ball and snick behind on the final ball – posting a new personal best of 85 not out. And so to lunch, which this week had been prepared by Bodley’s very own culinary ambassadors James Shaw and Stuart Ackland, who served up a veritable glut of home-baked cakes and biscuits, sandwiches – with grated cheese no less – and the usual accompanying fare of treats of various descriptions, all washed down by tea the colour of time-worn linoleum. Faced with such a panoply of cake Busby was in seventh-heaven and it would prove difficult to encourage him to emerge from his cloud of crumbs and take to the field. Once assured that there would be the odd slice left over which would serve as either a congratulatory treat or consolation nibble after the match, he reluctantly joined the rest of Bodley as they took to the field, determined to take the game to Hendricks and curtail the chase. With the useful looking Gelsthorpe and Metcalf opening for Hendricks, Burnett and Dan Shaw carried the hopes and dreams of Bodley on their youthful [ahem…] shoulders. As always they didn’t disappoint, with the probing line and length of Burnett and fierce raw pace of Shaw combining to produce a discombobulating experience for the batters and a classic passage of containment cricket. With resolute hard-running in the field and a fanatical determination by James Riley to cut off all potential boundaries, when Gelsthorpe was caught by Burnett off Ackland in the 12th over Hendricks had been restricted to only 40 runs. When Metcalf and Minchinton both fell to Ackland in the 20th the score had limped to only 66 runs, and Bodley were beginning to consider the possibility of securing a much sought victory. Tempering such thoughts for Bodley veterans however was the presence of Ross Quest at the crease, a destructive batter of the type that had seen so many potential victories snatched from the grasp of Bodley over the years. And it wasn’t long before that characteristic languid swing was making its mark and finding the boundary, and with bit-hitter Oli May to follow it seemed that the Hendricks middle order was going to try and make a game of it afterall. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that however, as even the best batters can’t turn a game if they are not on strike, and the middle spell of James Shaw and Ackland was a model of asphyxiated ambition, with the danger contained and the required rate growing ever larger. Irrespective of any performance on the field however, Bodley have learned to never take anything for granted, and so there was a palpable sense of relief when Quest misjudged a vexing Ackland delivery that found his pads and sent him back to the pavilion for a well-struck but under-par 29. When May followed soon after, bowled by Neeley for a likewise under-par 4, Hendricks seemed to be faltering in the chase and it seemed that only some distinctly odd turn of events would conspire to deny Bodley the victory. All hopes now seemed to rest on that eternal question – would the Hendricks tail begin to wag? Tasked to prevent this, and desperate to atone for his sins with the bat, Shackleton was next up, and as he cantering up to the crease with his Mozza-lite-quiff wafting in the breeze it was clearly evident that he had become yet another disciple of Bodley’s former ‘Director of Fitness’ Stephen Arnold, in particular his latest International Best Seller[1] ‘Unleash Your Inner Ninja’, with the ‘New Improved Shack-attack’ almost – but not quite – breaking into a light sweat as he delivered guileful deliveries with a new found venom. It was difficult to tell who was more astonished when Shackleton lured a shot from Hewlett that was taken in a half-dive by a somewhat winded Philipson, leaving Hendricks perilously close to defeat. A predicament compounded soon after when Dan Shaw practically knocked Madhani’s middle stump clean out the ground. As a Spitfire portentously performed an impromptu fly-past it was time to Bring Busby into the attack, and it didn’t take long for his arc of uncertainty to claim Patel, who found himself short of his ground playing a ball which turned out to be somewhere else entirely and was duly stumped by Webb. With Tim Saunders at the crease the overs finally ran out, with Hendricks posting a respectable 144 runs which would prove not quite enough on this occasion. And so concluded what had proved to be a stellar Bodley victory against a Hendricks side that have always proved to be a stern challenge. As the warm summer sun eased aching limbs and the shadows lengthened, Bodley could reflect on what had proved to be an almost faultless performance. The batting had never appeared to be in danger of succumbing to the traditional collapse, and wickets had only fallen from expansive, positive cricket and a degree of misfortune – Shackleton excepted of course. Seemingly determined to set a personal trend, Neeley had capitalised on his early birthday present when dropped and gone on to post yet another new high-score of 85 not out. Key to the victory was the competitive score of 217 which had thrown down the gauntlet to Hendricks and always made a sustained chase to the finishing line that bit more challenging. Tight, economical bowling spells had only added to their woes, with Dan and James Shaw, Burnett and even Shackleton pegging back Hendricks whenever they threatened to accelerate. When you add the exceptional spell by Ackland into the mix – who returned the remarkable figures of 7-4-9-4, including two wicket maidens – this was a Bodley cricketing performance that was truly on song. And whilst it is of course always a mistake to be overly reductionist in any cricket analysis, the sight of top-tonker Ross Quest being trapped LBW, just when he threatened to accelerate the chase, was certainly one of those rare moments when Bodley could allow themselves to breath a little easier and start to believe that today might actually be their day. With handshakes and congratulations all-round, the only concluding business was the awarding of the coveted bottle of Hendricks. In a remarkably tight race that was only decided on the casting vote of the Hendricks Captain, the spoils went to Neeley for his crunching 85 not out, after which it was time to kick-off the spikes, sit back and reflect on yet another remarkable Bodley cricketing adventure. For once the game had not been nerve-shreddingly tight, and even Jones had departed the field of play with his trousers intact for once. However, although the winning margin of 73 runs suggested an easy win, it never quite felt like a done deal for those toiling away on that dusty Stanton St John outfield until the final ball of play. I suppose that perpetual sense of dread is one of the many things that make being a part of Bodley cricket so very special. Today however, posterity would be on the side of the Angels and record that Bodley had indeed secured a well-earned fourth victory in what has proved to be a quite exceptional season in oh so many ways. TP. [1] Diego Garcia
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Note from the Ed.Generally written on the night of the match after a valedictory pint. Any sparkling prose or accuracy is entirely accidental. Archives
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