London Erratics Cricket Club

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Saturday 3 May 2003
London Erratics v The Times
at Gunnersbury Park, Ealing

Bogged down

Weather: sunny, but the recent rain was all too evident. Richard Heller had recruited a couple of neighbours that morning to reach a full eleven. The opposition could only produce nine (including one Australian female). The Times won the toss and elected to field.

The patience displayed by openers Tristan Ward and John Booth on the pudding of a pitch inevitably attracted comment on the boundary. After 13 overs, with the rate still only two an over, Tristan finally lost the will to live. James Rivington then displayed the value of having spent the winter in the nets by tamely flicking his first ball to short mid-wicket. Three overs later, John Truscott also failed to keep the ball down.

Peter Oborne despatched his first delivery for an all-too-rare boundary, but shortly afterwards couldn’t resist snicking a wide ball from the other Michael Evans into the keeper’s gloves. Our Michael Evans safely negotiated the next wide, then fell to a surprise straight one.

The end of John B’s vigil triggered a moment of Erratics history as debutant Timothy Green joined his father Jonathan at the crease, and together they steadied the innings. Jonathan hit a couple of precious boundaries, and enjoyed a useful partnership with skipper Richard before being ninth out. At tea, the Erratics consoled themselves with the thought that the difficult conditions would be the same for the opposition.

LONDON ERRATICS — batting				4s	6s
†	Ward	bowled	10
	Booth	bowled	26	1
	Rivington	caught	0
	Truscott	caught	2
	Oborne	caught	4	1
	Evans	bowled	0
	Green J	bowled	12	2
	Green T	caught	8
	Richter	hit wicket	2
*	Heller	NOT OUT	5
	Unger	caught	0
80 all out
Fall of wickets: 1–27, 2–27, 3–30, 4–39, 5–40, 6–46, 7–59, 8–65, 9–79

The opening Erratics bowlers did indeed find the pitch very helpful, John B in particular producing a string of unplayable deliveries that unfortunately missed both outside edge and stumps. True to their nature, the Times batsmen put bat to ball whenever they could, sensibly realising that this was not a wicket for grafting. Whereas the desperate shots of the Erratics had gone straight into fielder’s hands, now the ball was tantalisingly lofted into empty spaces. On three occasions, diving Erratics could do no more than get fingertips to it.

A wicket maiden from John B in the seventh over was a welcome moment of success. But the batsmen merely accelerated, and Tim was unlucky to receive some rough treatment in his maiden spell for the Erratics. The Erratics were now vainly trying to work out how to plug the gaps in the field. Peter came on and produced some dramatic turn, earning Tristan a maiden stumping. But the batsmen swung the bat at his second over, and the game was over in a rush.

*THE TIMES* — batting
1		b Booth	13
2	not out		47
3	st Ward	b Oborne	15
4	not out		5
5
6
7
8
9
83 for 2
Fall of wickets: 1–23, 2–62

Erratics lost by 6 wickets

2003 Season

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