As the nights draw in and Autumn approaches, Enstone Cricket Club embarked on an epic journey to Northleach for the final game of the season. On reaching Burford it was clear more provisions were going to be required, Northleach is not just past Burford. Today’s reporter duly arrived 10 minutes before the start as usual so has no idea if there was a toss or not but wasn’t surprised to see Enstone lining up in the field first. Piers and Jon opened the bowling keeping it nice and tight in the early overs before Jon made the break through bowling the opening batsmen with a fine delivery that nipped back. Piers continued to bowl tightly and despite having a catch dropped in the slips by Nick soon got a ‘Pizza’ the action with an ‘express’ delivery that was served expertly into the hands of wicketkeeper Porno by the opening batsmen. The skipper replaced Jon after his 4 over spell and kept it as tight as a bunch of bananas, which we know he is partial to, a fine delivery clipping the top of off stump the highlight. 6 tight overs resulting in 1 wicket leaving Enstone in a strong position. Piers finished a great spell of opening bowling and was replaced by a bloke smelling of garlic, wearing a beret and bowling underarm trying to hit the batsmen’s legs. Pony trotted in for his 8 overs with the highlight being a quite simply breath taking caught and bowled to dismiss the opposition skipper, flying high to his left to claim the catch. The town of Northleach fell silent in awe of the athleticism on show. (Ah, the joys of writing the match report this week!) Despite being hit for 3 fours in a row Pony continued bowling in the slot for the new heavyweight batsmen, who couldn’t resist the buffet on offer and duly skied a catch to the onrushing Piers. Final figures for the returning French Pony 2 for 24 off 8 overs. The highlight and surprise of the Enstone fielding display came from TP. The team stood and waited for the usual 2 bounce wide from TP’s first delivery. Oh how wrong we were, TP flighted a beautiful delivery tempting the batsmen into a huge swing and miss to leave the wickets shattered and a rather ecstatic and pumped up TP to celebrate with a deafening roar and fist pump. A few lusty blows by a bloke who hadn’t played for 15 years added some vital runs for Northleach. One skied effort left Freddie running in every direction apart from towards the ball, only to see it drop just behind him showing village cricket at its best. Northleach only had 9 players and following some smart work by Pony and Porno resulting in a run out, the last man or child came out to bat. Bowling changes were made – Freddie was summoned for an over, could he claim the big scalp of a 9 year old to claim his first wicket for Enstone? A chance dropped short of TP at point who was walking backwards to avoid being the one to catch a child out. Freddie had a caught and bowled chance but made no attempt to take the return catch. It was left to Jon to shatter the dreams of a 9 year old taking a catch off the bowling of Adam. Northleach all out for 90. A great effort in the field and a well-earned tea was had. The run chase was pretty uneventful. A slight scare in the first over when Nick could have been given out LBW but Piers didn’t flinch and we continued. Some lusty blows from Nick including one huge 6 over the stream and into the gardens combined with good running for 1’s and 2’s led to the Skipper and Nick ticking the runs required off with ease. The main excitement came at the end, 4 to win, Nick needed a 6 for a splendid 50. The next delivery was slow and loopy, Nick swept hard at the ball only to see it keep low and run over the boundary for 4. A thumping 10 wicket victory for Enstone to close out the season, a great fielding display and an expert run chase by the skipper (32 Not Out) and Nick (48 Not Out). We will return in 6 months to do it all again. Report by Pete Anthony
0 Comments
moral victory
noun noun: moral victory; plural noun: moral victories
On a close afternoon, somewhat surprisingly, skipper Speke decided to bowl first after winning the toss. With a line up full of bowling talent he was confident of an early breakthrough, then knocking off the runs with a similarly strong batting line up, then getting home early to sharpen his colouring pencils in readiness for his first day at work following a tough 6 week holiday. Croft and Myatt steamed in after a drawn out discussion of who should bowl from which end. Both found their range and returned with fine figures of 0-27 from 8 overs. Chances were few and far between, with some edges through the vacant 3rd slip area and some playing and missing outside of off stump. A new wicket keeper was in place; Forder had taken the gloves in Taylor’s absence, and after some early helmet issues, showed he was an adept keeper, with some good takes. He was also keen to point out the moral victory in every play and miss or streaky edge. Despite the fine bowling, Astons continued to slowly accumulate runs; an opening 100 run partnership was reached with Enstone sweating over potential acceleration in the latter overs. After a range of bowling changes to try and break the deadlock, it was again Peterson (5-0-41-1) who made the breakthrough with a fine dipping delivery that clean bowled the Astons skipper just after he had reached his 50. While the remaining opener accelerated, K. Anthony (5-0-21-0), Speke (7-0-28-1) and Watts (7-0-40-2) chipped away at the opposition, keeping them to 189-4 from their 40 overs. A good total, but Enstone were not intimidated and remained confident of making a successful run chase. Indeed, as Speke and Parker started, the bowling seemed innocuous enough, until the skipper misjudged a short ball, hitting a loose cut to point on 16. The scoring slowed as Forder and Parker found their range. A bowling change did for Parker (18) defeated by the speedy Harris. Bussey and Myatt followed shortly after, both falling for 5. In the meantime Forder grew in confidence, he began pulling with assurance, taking his wife by surprise with a boundary that narrowly missed his younger daughter (Mrs Forder claimed that she wasn’t expecting Freddie to hit it that hard, so hadn’t been paying attention). Soon he was pulling sixes and driving powerfully, while others around him floundered. The chase looked on, with Wilson and Forder accumulating runs at a faster rate. Wilson fell after a cameo 19, he was followed back to the pavilion shortly after as Anthony was caught hitting out for 1. This brought Watts to the crease, and scoreboard confusion led to he and Forder hitting out a few overs earlier than they needed to. Forder fell for a well-constructed 64, again to the speedy Harris. Peterson and Croft then fell in identical fashion, caught at long on while seeking to reach the target. Enstone finished on 153, just 37 runs short. Clearly a moral victory… Report by Will Speke Click It is perhaps the oldest cricketing cliché that ‘catches win matches’, yet Enstone Cricket Club, marching on to their fifth victory in as many games seem to be doing everything possible to disprove this.
In many sides, the dropping of a catch is greeted with despair, anger and disparaging remarks. At Enstone, it is fast becoming something to celebrate. The only members of the team to fail to drop a catch today were Budgie (who was sadly given no opportunities), Jordan (who was so hungover that he clearly wasn’t thinking straight when his catch resulted in the first wicket of the OCCC innings) and the increasingly smug and soon to be ostracised Tom Peterson, who took two catches. The match begun with Enstone, as ever, taking to the field. The medium pacers were initially wayward but very quickly found their characteristic accuracy. Without a breakthrough in the early overs, Captain Jon Watts rotated the bowlers well, introducing the slow right arm of Budgie into the attack early on to provide added control. The bowlers all created chances, but as usual Enstone were, with one exception, unable to take them meaning that at the halfway mark, OCCC were well set at 95-1. Then in the 23rd over, Tom Peterson struck again, diving forward to take an impressive catch off his own bowling. This was then followed soon after by another impressive catch by Tom when a firmly hit shot stuck in his hand. Tom was very pleased and attempted an array of masculine poses in celebration. With inroads made into the top of the order Enstone were able to apply pressure and thwart OCCC’s momentum. Unable to rely on catches, Enstone found other ways to take wickets without resorting to the ‘Curtis Eyebrow Method’ of last week. Watts trapped OCCC’s number 5 batsman LBW. Budgie’s flight and guile was too much for one batsman who charged and played all round it, allowing Porno to whip the bails off with the batsmen in no man’s land (probably near Islip). Two run outs added to OCCC’s woes and they were restricted to 162 off their 40 overs, with Jon Watts and Tom Peterson the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets each. Tea came and went. Budgie was removed with an unplayable ball in the first over which nicked the top of his off stump. Freddie and Sparky then set about trying to set a foundation to the innings. Both were looking set, then Freddie tapped a low full toss back to the bowler, who despite being dropped four times when we was batting, decided not to return the favour. This brought Bussy to the crease who from the outset treated the bowling with the disdain that it deserved putting together solid partnerships first with Sparky, who made 29 and then Piers, who made 20. Enstone were looking comfortable however the loss of Bussey for a superbly crafted 60 and the loss of 11 runs due to a scoreboard error added to the tension. What was needed were two batsmen to cut through the highly charged atmosphere. Happily both Jon and Ju Watts were able to do just that. Ju came out to bat with the score on 147. Jon kept the score ticking over whilst Ju was resolute in defence. Then with 6 needed for victory Ju picked his spot and used his power to launch the OCCC bowler twice over midwicket, securing Enstones victory by two wickets with 6 balls to spare. Report by Freddie Forder here to edit. |
Archives
August 2017
Categories |