London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 10 July 2005
London Erratics v Great Milton
at Great Milton

The gloves come off
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Andrews caught 19 3   
Evans bowled 0    
† Head caught 37 6   
* Rivington caught 18 2   
Long caught 6 1   
Davie caught 1    
Ward caught 0    
Eltringham caught 15 2   
Dunabin run out 15 3   
Stephenson NOT OUT  17 2  1 
Heller NOT OUT  1    
171 for 9 in 40 overs
Fall of wickets:  1–2, 2–49, 3–93, 4–100, 5–101, 6–101, 7–115, 8–141, 9–159
Having raised a strong squad, Bill Bush stood himself down and asked James Rivington to captain on the day. Great Milton (who only had ten players) insisted on an overs game: James felt it was too hot for anything more than 35 overs, but he was outvoted by the team. Great Milton won the toss and fortunately elected to field.
Michael Evans had asked to open, to ensure that he got a bat: having quickly achieved that objective, he was able to indulge his other passion — fielding against the Erratics. Peter Andrews and Jim Head were just the right people to deal with the opening attack on a lively pitch, and they got the score ticking along at 4 an over.
Runs continued when James joined Jim, though there was a lot of playing and missing, to the frustration of the fielding side. Then Jim clearly seemed to glove one to the keeper, and Great Milton appealed joyously; umpire Chris Dunabin said he was ‘not sure’, Jim stood his ground, and the fielders seethed with indignation. (Jim later explained that the offending hand was off the bat when the ball hit him.) James quickly changed the umpiring, but the game had turned ugly; and after a few more run-scoring swishes, a rather distracted James sliced the ball to point. When Jim followed suit shortly afterwards, the fielders danced in jubilation.
Great Milton were now fired up: four overs passed in which two more wickets fell and not a run was scored. And when Mike Long fell to yet another catch in the 32nd over, things looked bad. But the tail wagged vigorously — Matthew Eltringham and Chris played nice shots, and Michael Stephenson thumped the innings’ only six in the last over, dragging the rate above 4. But it was surely not enough against such fast-scoring opponents?
GREAT MILTON — batting
1   b Stephenson 18
2   b Stephenson 18
3   c Andrews b Ward 18
4   b Stephenson 6
5   c Davie b Eltringham 1
6   b Heller 12
7   b Eltringham 17
8   c Ward b Eltringham 3
9   c & b b Heller 15
10   not out 0
125 all out in 24.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–30, 2–49, 3–64, 4–64, 5–81, 6–81, 7–87, 8–124

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Stephenson 8 3 33 3
Ward 8 1 42 1
Heller 4.1 0 23 2
Eltringham 4 0 24 3
The Erratics knew that if they were to win they had to bowl out Great Milton. The skipper turned to two in-form bowlers, Michael S and Tristan. A maiden from Michael was an excellent start, then the pair lost their length and the batsmen punished them. When the No. 1 was out to a ball that shot impossibly, it was a most welcome sign that the pitch had now acquired fatal low bounce.
The Great Milton skipper looked dangerous — particularly after his opposite spilled him off Tristan. But Michael clean bowled two more at the other end, and then Peter showed how catches should be taken.
Great Milton were well up with the run rate, so it was crucial that the next pair of bowlers, Richard Heller and Matthew, kept taking wickets. Matthew obliged second ball, thanks to one those stunning slip catches it is a privilege to have witnessed — take a bow Simon Davie (and an oscar nomination). And two overs later Tristan reached high to take a well-judged catch.
The onward march of the Erratics was held up by a talented young teenager (he’ll be a problem in future years) and the Great Milton keeper. In their contrasting styles — a beautiful late cut by the kid sticks in the memory, the keeper whacked a six over square leg — they ate into the total. But the youngster chopped Matthew’s slower ball onto his stumps, the keeper gave Richard a stinging return catch, and it was all over.
Good relations were restored in the Bull afterwards, to the accompaniment of Great Milton’s very own Vera Lynn.
Erratics won by 46 runs
2005 Season
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