Friday, 22 May 2020
26 May Chitterne v AVCC
We made our annual pilgrimage to the good gentleman and good friends at Chitterne on a rainy, overcast Bank Holiday weekend
We arrived in good heart and 2 new players….David Battinson (South African) and Rupert Maunsell who has played with us once some 3 years ago. Rupert lives in London but was in the county and answered our distress call for players at a late hour - many thanks as greatly appreciated.
Chitterne rules mean a 25 overs game on their village green negotiating the children’s playground, a moat (not filled with water for a change), hills and trees. feels like the right place to play real village cricket.
Simon Campbell won the toss and decided to bat.
Tim Gent and David Battinson opened. New pairing. They did good, putting on 39 for the opening wicket before David departed to a straight ball for 9. Tim looked like a man possessed and hit 26 before being LBW to an ankle biter. The pitch was producing variable bounce and dangers. But not to Simon, who hit 50 in his usual boisterous, swashbuckling style, hitting 4 towering 6’s and 4 4’s before deciding to retire on 50 much to our surprise. Perhaps there were engine problems.
The team pushed and prodded along making 150-9 at the close of the innings with other highlights being Rupert’s brave 12 and Tom Campbell’s excellent 15. Again noticed that the younger Campbell plays technical more correct and with a wider range of shots and largely more on the ground than their father, and so were obviously coached by someone else :)
We fancied this. After an excellent tea…with divine chocolate and lemon drizzle cakes…we were confident of victory as Chitterne had never scored more than 125 against us in our previous meetings.
And as predicted by Graham at the outset, the Chitterne innings finished on 125 so that we won by 25 runs.
It was a comfortable performance in the field. David Battinson bowled well for his maiden spell for AVCC, taking one wicket which was joyously and enthusiastically celebrated. Ollie Lishman took the next wicket in a fine spell of bowling thanks to a fine catch by Tom Campbell who patrolled the boundary on the hill with more speed and enthusiasm than we have seen in many a year. Ish bowled their opener who was in fine form and dangerous, and after that we mopped up with steady wickets to fall for Julian, Tom and Graham. There were 2 smart stumping by Bruce too, making a strong contribution returning to the side. There was also a run-out that helped.
Great all-round team performance with everyone contributing - and many thanks for the whole team making a great game and good win….Tim Gent (now injured as a result), David Battinson (debut boy, debut wicket), Ish (vital wicket taken), Matt Dancey (good bowling, and an impressive leave when batting), Shane Williams (now looking like an established AVCC star), Tom Campbell, Simon Campbell, Rupert Mansell (nice fielding, good innings), Bruce Carter (2 stumping, nice hair cut), Julian Lishman (first wicket of the season), Ollie (good bowling performance) and Graham (got another wicket).