London Erratics Cricket Club

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 9 July 2006
London Erratics v Great Milton
at Great Milton

That’s more like it

Click on (Þ) symbol for photo images

GREAT MILTON — batting
1		b Towers	0
2		b Padmore	4
3		b Towers	16
4		b Towers	8
5		b Towers	0
6	c Padmore	b Head	4
7		b Head	8
8		b Head	10
9	not out		15
10	c & b	b Head	3
11	c Khawaja	b Head	4
79 all out				in 22.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–0, 2–17, 3–25, 4–29, 5–30, 6–39, 7–49, 8–56, 9–71, 10–79

Our hosts had suggested a 40 overs match, starting at 11.00, so that players could get away by about 4.30 for World Cup festivities. Skipper Bill Bush had managed to recruit a potent team — indeed Chris Dunabin and Jonathan Green came along simply to spectate. The Erratics won the toss and elected to field. The game got under away at 11.20.

Bill’s decision to field in the slightly damp conditions was completely vindicated when Alex Towers produced an inswinging leg-stump yorker first ball. But Great Milton never hang about, and had got the score to 13 by the end of that first over. An exquisite maiden at the other end from Alex Padmore was the perfect foil. Eight more runs off Alex T’s next, but not before the aggressive No. 3 had lost his off stick to an unplayable inswinger. Another maiden from the mean Alex P. The pricey Alex T conceded a further boundary, but slipped one under the bat and onto the stumps. Shock, Alex P was hit for four — but his revenge was swift and sweet. And then Alex T knocked over the stumps again. At the end of seven dramatic overs, the score was 32 for 5.

Time to vary the bowling. Simon Green (Þ) proved just as testing, catching both batsman and keeper Andrew Pannell on the hop with surprising bounce, and started with a succession of maidens. Jim Head (Þ) induced a false stroke to Alex P at cover in his first over. The No. 8 took Jim on in his second over and deposited him beyond the long mid-wicket boundary; but Jim made him look silly in the next over, and took another wicket in the over after that — 56 for 8.

Boring: five overs passed without a wicket, and there was a massive stand of 15 runs. Richard Heller had come on now, but it was still Jim who was doing the damage, clinging on to one hit hard back at his head. And the first ball of the 23rd over was smacked straight to Nasir Khawaja at mid-wicket.

Under the prevailing conditions (and desperately needing a win!), as they munched their crisps the Erratics were glad to have kept the target well below 100.

LONDON ERRATICS — batting				4s	6s
	Khawaja	caught	2
	Andrews	caught	9	1
	Rivington	c & b	21	3
	Evans	bowled	0
†	Pannell	NOT OUT	19	2	1
	Green S	bowled	20	4
	Padmore	caught	1
	Head	NOT OUT	4	1
	Towers
	Heller
*	Bush
82 for 6				in 24.1 overs
Fall of wickets: 1(Khawaja)–3, 2(Andrews)–28, 3(Evans)–29, 4(Rivington)–37, 5(GreenS)–65, 6(Padmore)–66

With such a low target and with so much batting to follow, Nasir selflessly pulled his seventh ball to square leg. James Rivington got off the mark with successive boundaries, which eased the pressure. With Peter Andrews, he nudged the Erratics in the direction of victory. The excitable opening bowler got even more frustrated than usual when a straightforward snick by Peter was grassed — so Peter kindly gave the poor keeper a second chance next ball. The more laid back spinner had been keeping things tight at the other end: after one sighter, Michael Evans took him on, and lost.

Andrew arrived as a more solid partner. But it was James who next succumbed to the red mist, the ball ending up less in the playground, more in the bowler’s hands. Hmmm, 37 for 4, nearly half way there, but wickets were falling and the scoring was now curbed. A boundary from Andrew got the board moving again, then young Simon snicked a couple of fours through the slips. The bowlers changed, and Simon cut loose — 10 joyous runs off three deliveries (Þ) .

When Simon’s cameo was over, a crisp push for a single by Alex P looked promising, but alas he repeated Nasir’s error (Þ) . Andrew now took charge (Þ) : with powerful shots, including an enormous six into the playground, he pushed for victory. Jim, who had been unusually tentative and docile, finally stirred himself to hit the winning boundary. The match was all wrapped up by 2.20 — lucky we had got there so early!

To pass the remaining time, the two teams played a 10-overs beer match (with everyone getting a bowl). Chris and Jonathan stepped in for the departing Alex T and Richard. Alex P got us off to another dramatic start, taking a wicket with the first ball of the game. Nasir kept wicket for the first time since buggering his knee, and claims that he conceded no byes. Great Milton scored 100 for 7. The Erratics reply was dominated by an innings of 60-odd from Nasir. With a mere eleven needed off the last ball, Nasir was bowled playing an ugly reverse swipe — the Erratics finishing on 90 for 2.

Erratics won by 4 wickets

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