Swanson?
Sunday saw our traditional last fixture of the season against Ripley. Strong opposition on a cold and dreary two-sweater afternoon is what we were expecting, and we were not too disappointed. The temperature however was unseasonably mild and kept it down to one pullover. As is also traditional, the opposition were all there before the majority of the home side and this year had a preponderance of very young, fit and keen looking Asian gentlemen which formed their Saturday 2nd XI that had just won their league.
The Skipper went out to toss up and as there were only 5 of us present we were praying Mick wouldn’t elect to field first and condemn us to running around trying to cover he gaps, as it was he lost the toss and the Ripley captain elected to bat!
Nevertheless at the appointed start time we had a full complement of players and the current Mrs. Smith returned to the kitchen, relieved that she did not have to don whites and scratch around at deep fine leg. The opposition on the other hand seemed reluctant to come out and play and did not take the field until quarter past, giving us a chance to hone our fielding skills to the peak of perfection.
Matt Hallam and Sean Oliver, who was making one of his rare and welcome appearances for the side, took up the bowling. Sean was soon among the wickets tempting the opener to a rash on-side stoke which was in the air long enough for the batsmen to run three, before Angus Symondson judged the steepling catch to perfection, thus atoning for his missed chance in his previous game. The other opener nearly fell in spectacular style when hooking over Doug at square leg out of the middle of his bat. Doug somehow got his hand to it, which meant it took half a second longer to reach the boundary than it would have.
The opposition skipper then came in and after being kept away from the strike for a couple of overs was trapped in front LBW to the first ball he faced from Sean. The other opener, now discouraged from playing his favourite hook shot with Doug looming at square leg, soon spooned one to Angus. The first of the young keen Asians arrived and made his presence felt with some flamboyant shots. He managed to ride his luck as several chances of catches were missed, none of them easy, but the sort that we managed to take successfully last week, Robin Linnecar being the unlucky bowler for most of these. The flow of runs was slowed with the introduction of debutant Phil Haddow who started to tie the batsmen down with some accurate bowling. He was rewarded with 2 victims, both bowled. Edgar then operating the other end completely stopped the young batsman doing all the damage and eventually tempted him into a catch well taken by H, at this point things were looking better, six wickets down. Unfortunately we were then subject to the remaining Asian contingent who proceeded to plunder first Sean’s and then Matt’s second spells. Although Sean managed to entice one of them to hit the ball straight to Edgar in the gully, they amassed a total of 213 before declaring immediately after Angus took his third catch. Sean finished with 4 for 43.
We were then treated to one of Mrs. Smith’s famous teas in an attempt to have the opposition unable to move in the field while we chased the total.
40 overs to score 214 runs, not insurmountable in our current form, but no simple task either. Edgar and Rob Symondson opened and started steadily. Ripley started with their youngster who rather lost his direction and was taken off after 3 rather lengthy overs to be replaced by the Saturday skipper who soon had Edgar playing on. Robin Linnecar gloved one to the keeper from the other lively paced opener and Doug was caught soon after. This brought Matt Linnecar to the crease who soon dispensed any rustiness and started playing some classy strokes and this partnership with Rob was our most productive period and took us into the last 20 overs needing 120 to win. Unfortunately the runs then seemed to dry up. Rob managed only 2 runs in 8 overs before he was bowled for 49. Phil Haddow then tried to pick up the pace until Matt was caught for 35, followed one ball later by Sean and Angus came in to survive the hat trick ball with a defiant pull to square leg only to be bowled next ball. This brought the acting captain from the dressing room still doing up his pads and he and Phil added a further 30 runs before he perished leaving Matt Hallam 2 overs to defend an unbeaten record which he did in cavalier style, Phil finishing unbeaten on 26, we drew without calling on the services of no. 11. 169-8 at the close.
Consequently only our Chairman has maintained a 100% undefeated record for himself this season, whilst Captain Cudders managed to preside over our ignominious defeat by the President’s XI.