Chitterne vs AVCC
Braving the showers of a typical British Sunday, we took on the good gentlemen of Chitterne.
We have never beaten this team and so we faced this fixture with some trepidation especially as the rain was falling, and we were not certain how many players we had. This was a 25-overs aside game under Chitterne rules, which included a good supply of strong free beer (5.8%) to entice the unworldly.
Well, we took the field with 7, plus one of theirs, as their captain won the toss, and saw we were short and decided to make us field (who said gentlemen?). Just as we were organising ourselves, cars roared into the field and suddenly we were 10….shortly afterwards becoming 11. Excellent!
Well the rain fell every few overs as we started. Graham Newland, captain for the day, asked Matt Haslett to open the bowling and he bowled economically and steadily, having their opening batsmen in some trouble. New boy Andy Lund opened from the other end and faced some resistance from the big-hitter from Russell (J Horsfall) we had suffered from before. Chitterne advanced steadily and were 36-0 at the end of 7 overs.We then brought on young Alex Richardson and he took a wicket with his 3rd ball - well caught running in from the boundary by Greg Caswell. Many thanks to Greg as he had been on a 50km cycle ride in the morning and so glad he saved something for us. Great catch, good wicket…just what we needed; 36-1.
Matt kept them frustrated and then Alex struck again in his next over - 47-2 thanks to a smart catch from Mike Parr…playing his first game of the season. Matt finished his first spell with tidy figures of 0-10 off 4 overs, and Greg Caswell strode in breathing menace and generally making their batsmen fidget and prod around and started to hold the run-rate back. They got edgy, tried a quick single and due to a good throw in from young Alex (again), with Greg at the wicket, one of their key batsmen was run out. 63-3 in the 12th over. Not sure who ran the batsmen out as some discussion over whether direct hit or off Greg..but the result was a well-earned wicket.
Greg finished with a very good spell of 0-8 off 4 overs. Alex finished with a very creditable 2-19 off 4 overs. We now turned to our spinners and had Geoff Smith and Angus Harley working in tandem. Geoff struck first. Having been struck for a mighty 4 to square leg first ball we adjusted our field and put Mike Parr on the boundary. Next ball, it was struck like a rocket again and Mike took a fizzing catch. Great hold and great field placement! 4-74 off 14. 2 overs on - 2 great outs…first Angus caught their key opener in the deep off Geoff and then next over, Mike Parr took a wonderful sliding catch to take a hat-trick of great (and important) catches - a first I believe for the club (well done Mike) off Angus’s bowling. 111-6. Geoff took 2-20 off 3 overs.
Could we keep them to less than 5 an over? Graham and Matt finished off the innings. Graham took a wicket - clean bowled on his second ball, and Matt kept them jumping….and Chitterne subsided to 121-7 off their allotted 25 overs. Matt Haslett had very creditable figures of 0-15 off 6 overs - good bowling.
Overall, it felt like a gettable score…although we had never reached a score that high over 25 overs on our 2 previous visits. As the rain poured down, we took tea…..and a good one it was too! Great sandwiches, really tasty cake…and it was noted most of the team had double helpings……
We sent in Angus Harley and Simon Borthwick to open our innings. The pitch was soaked but they made light work off things. Angus showed how to play with technique and patience, and played out an opening maiden opener to R Horsfall. Simon laid into their opener (Wild) and we were quickly 7-0 off 2 overs. Well, let’s just say they both liked Wild and he went off after 3 overs conceding 20 runs as the 4’s began to flow. M Horsfall came on and they both liked him and Simon hit 1 mighty 6 followed by Angus despatching 2 big 6’s to the leg boundary. Great hitting and this pair took the game away from Chitterne.
Simon retired on 50 not out off just 38 balls(1*6, 6*4’s) including 2 sets of heavy hitting - despatching Wild/MHorsfall for 6/3/4 followed by 4/4/4 off M Horsfall who had leaked 41 runs in just 3 overs to our openers. Great innings, Simon.
Like many successful long partnerships, Angus followed shortly afterwards..scoring an excellent 42 off 42 balls (3*4’s and 2*6’s), given out (according to the spectators) a little eagerly lbw by our umpire. 96-1 in the 14th over…we were well on track thanks to Angus and Simon’s great start.
Mike Parr and Matt Haslett were in together as a new partnership and found the singles easy to take, until Matt was unluckily bowled by M Horsfall for 3. 100-2. Which then became 100-3 in the 17th over as Mike quickly followed in the next over by C Horsfall (yes, there were a lot of Horsfall’s)…playing on to his wicket.
Andy Lund came in and was quickly joined by Alex Richardson. Well they kept the scoring going and we passed Chitterne's’s total in the 19th over with 122-3. Alex got a nice 4 and scored 6 not out and looked very assured. Andy scored 15 not out in just 6 balls, and obviously needed a beer as he finished the game with 2 enormous and mighty leg pulls each for 6. Great debut, Andy.
So, we socialised at the end over their local brew and cake. It was great to finally break a hoodoo/duck and win at Chitterne, at the 3rd time of asking. Great win, and a comfortable win against a good batting side.
Highlights of the day…Mike Parr’s record breaking 3 catches….some great wicket keeping by Bruce Carter keeping byes to just 3 off a very wet and skidding pitch….Simon Borthwick’s 50 n.o, Angus Harley’s 42, Alex Richardson’s involvement in 3 wickets..and Andy Lund announcing himself with those 2 mighty 6’s to finish the game..and not to mention Greg for turning up after his strenuous bike ride earlier. Great team effort; 2 new firsts, and a great day of cricket.