Too dark at the Oval and at Send!
This
was a very good and enjoyable game which was boiling up into a good finish
and which was ultimately concluded in controversial and frankly dissatisfying
circumstances.
On winning the toss and having perused a very damp wicket, I asked the
opposition to bat on the basis that I had no idea how it would behave
with so much water on it and in the hope that it would improve as the
day went on. The light was at no point good but the Send opening batsman
made it obvious that he was having no trouble seeing it with two shots
of the highest class off his toes through mid-wicket It was obvious that
he was a very good player and it was a relief when Alex produced a good
ball which lifted unexpectedly to take the glove and Howard took an excellent
catch diving to his right in front of slip. It transpired that this batsman
was the regular number 3 for Guildford 1st XI and had had trials with
both Surrey & Hampshire so a very good wicket for Alex.
At the other end Toby picked up the other opener to a catch at short square
leg by debutant Jon Cardy but the no's 3 & 4 then settled in to a
really good partnership in spite of some excellent bowling by the change
bowlers, Ian Cudworth and Robin Linnecar. These two took the score from
22/2 to 115 before Ian induced one to drive uppishly to wide mid-on where
Toby took an excellent running catch. The no 3 continued to play aggressively
and completed an excellent 50 before succumbing to Edgar for a very good
71.
Thereafter, wickets fell at regular intervals before the innings closed
on 199 for 6 with Edgar picking up 2/32 and Toby, Ian, Alex and Myself
each picking up one. It should also be said that in spite of having one
or two crocks amongst our numbers (Ashley - twisted ankle, Nick - bad
back) the ground fielding was of a very high standard with John Cardy,
Alex and Toby prominent. A highlight of the innings was a run out by Mike
Reeve who hit the stumps with a direct throw from deep third man.
Our innings was opened by Nick and our debutant Jon Cardy, who is captain
of the Old Woking Saturday league team. Jon was very watchful early on
whilst Nick, who is in prime form, eased two or three through the covers
off the back foot to get the score ticking. They ran well together and
before long were well on top of the bowling and without taking undue risks
were, were scoring the required 5 an over with ease. Jon would admit that
he had some luck early on as 2 or 3 nicks went through the slips but 100
came up in the 22nd over without loss with both well set. Nick was first
to complete his 50, his 4th in five weeks and Jon followed soon after.
The light which had not been good all day had changed little but at this
point, Send introduced their two fastest bowlers of the day. This seemed
to inspire Nick who cut and drove with enormous power taking his score
to 86 in just a few overs while Jon had gone to 57. We were 151 without
loss with 12 overs to go so everything was very much in our favour. At
this point, Nick top edged a cut which flew very quickly to a deep slip
who got his hands to it but underestimated the power of the ball which
passed through his hands and hit him straight between the eyes. He remained
standing but left the field to put some ice on the swelling at which point
to my amazement, the Send XI walked off the field announcing that they
had decided to concede the match as it was too dark and thus too dangerous!
My views on this are best not repeated in print but suffice to say they
were shared by the Captain of the Send 1st XI who was watching and by
a couple of members of the Send XI who were deeply embarrassed by this
unilateral decision. The light was certainly a great deal better than
it was the previous week when we fielded against Stoke D'Abernon and it
seems ironic that the reason that the fielder was hurt, was because they
were bowling their fastest bowlers at a time when they considered it too
dark to field.
It must be said however, that in spite of this unsatisfactory end to the
game, the post match revelry was conducted in a very friendly atmosphere
and this traditional game was in all other respects, a most enjoyable
occasion.