Chitterne v AVCC
So it was another case of a desperately close finish, but AVCC came up 7 runs short in their inaugural fixture away to the extremely hospitable Chitterne team.
Chitterne obviously has its own micro-climate as we managed to get through a complete 25 overs a side match played in fairly constant drizzle whilst the Avon Valley side of Salisbury Plain was getting a true Bank Holiday downpour.
Things started well enough with the acting skipper winning the toss and deciding to bowl first on a day not particularly conducive to flowing batting and fast scoring. AVCC took to the field one man short until Ben Eveling eventually appeared citing traffic on the A303 as his excuse for being late this time. Apart from one batsman who made a fluent 50 before being retired by his own team, the rest of the Chitterne team struggled against some very tight AVCC bowling. From their allocated 5 overs, the figures for Tim Law were 2 for 9, Jon Wolverson 1 for 10 and Graham Newland 2 for 16.
They were aided by some very tidy fielding from everybody but there were several highlights - Tim Gent’s attempt to hide under a tree in order to avoid his head getting damp, Mark P-C’s nimble footwork to deflect a ball over the boundary, Peter Williams’ juggling acrobatics to drop one catch but get another, and Ben Eveling’s noble effort in calling for a skied catch which somehow slipped out of his grasp. As AVCC trundled off for the well-renowned Chitterne tea, there was a feeling that the Chitterne total of 108-5 was there to be chased.
Optimism continued with the top order batsmen clearly benefiting from their tea. Scoring was difficult and slow but the opening pair of Mike Parr and Ben Eveling got the score over 30 before Mike was well caught. Ben was determined to make up for his earlier misdemeanours and ended up getting his highest AVCC score of 29 whilst Tim Gent nudged and nurdled the ball around for 24.
Following Ben’s dismissal, Rob Hedderwick tried to up the tempo but even he was thwarted by the slow pitch and some tight bowling, and the run rate started to increase. In the second to last over, Tim sacrificed his wicket trying to get a second run and then Rob launched a monstrous six over long off which meant that 9 runs were required from the last over. Credit must be paid to the Chitterne bowler over that final over as he prevented Rob from scoring, forced the run outs of both Mark P-C and Graham Newland without either of them facing a ball and Jon Wolverson’s single off the last ball meant that AVCC finished on 101-5. Rob was left stranded on 31 not out.
Despite the defeat, AVCC can have positive thoughts for the rest of the season as this was a good all-round team effort. Next up is Marden away on Wednesday evening although players selected for this match should be aware that it may be under threat due to the weather forecast and the current state of the Marden pitch – stand by for updates from Simon Campbell and Mike Parr.