London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 16 July 2006
London Erratics v Tarbarrow
at Tar Barrow, Cirencester

Less Premier League, more Unibond League
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LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  7s 
Rivington caught 13 2   
Dunabin bowled 26 2   
Head NOT OUT  51 6   
Berrigan bowled 17 3   
Thorne bowled 4 1   
Scudamore caught 1    
* Khawaja lbw 12 2   
† Bush bowled 0    
Stephenson bowled 0    
Green S NOT OUT  17 2  1 
Green J    
154 for 8 dec
Fall of wickets:  1(Rivington)–26, 2(Dunabin)–66, 3(Berrigan)–87, 4(Thorne)–94, 5(Scudamore)–100, 6(Khawaja)–123, 7(Bush)–127, 8(Stephenson)–127
Hot, sunny. The odd teasing rumble from the airshow, but disappointly little to see this year. The Erratics won the toss and elected to bat. At the start, the Erratics were awash with twelve players, one of Tarbarrow’s hadn’t shown, so Bill Bush went on as sub fielder.
Grellier showed that he can still find life in the pitch and James Rivington rode his luck to begin with (Þ) . Sub-fielder Bill tweaked a muscle chasing a ball and had to be subbed himself, by Richard Heller. The partnership with Chris Dunabin (Þ) was slowly beginning to bear fruit, when James was caught behind off a handy little left-armer. Chris (Þ) was very strong on the leg side, including a contemptuous hit through long-on. But when he was out in the 21st over, the score had only got to 66.
In a most welcome second appearance of the season, Brian Berrigan was watchful for five overs, then cracked three boundaries and a three off seven balls. The introduction of a fairly ordinary off-spinner shook things up, starting with the wicket of Brian second ball. This brought to the crease the first of two lads, supposedly of premiership pedigree, recruited through some work connection of Bill’s. Chris Thorne arrogantly punched a boundary, but then recklessly charged the spinner. In the next over, Jamie Scudamore failed to get over a cut shot, and looped the ball to backward point (Þ) .
With the missing local still a no-show, Richard’s transfer had become permanent (was this wise?), and he was now offered a bowl (Þ) . Jim Head (Þ) , who had been badly dropped early on, found himself being chivvied by skipper Nasir Khawaja (Þ) , and the score moved along. Unfortunately Nasir played around a full toss from the spinner. Richard now had one of those overs he dreams of, accounting for both Bill and Michael Stephenson with prodigious movement. But Simon Green (Þ) continued his form from the last game: and a wild shy as he completed a two led to that rare occurrence, a seven. The home side were kindly delaying tea to give the Erratics a chance to post a better target; there was general surprise when, moments after Jim had reached fifty, Nasir waved everyone in.
TARBARROW — batting
1   c & b b Berrigan 26
2   lbw b Head 12
3   c Green S b Stephenson 27
4   c Thorpe b Green S 12
5   b Head 0
6   c & b b Head 33
7   run out 23
8   not out 8
9 RH not out 0
10  
11  
155 for 7
Fall of wickets: 1–38, 2–75, 3–88, 4–88, 5–90, 6–144, 7–147

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Stephenson 8 0 42 1
Berrigan 9 3 33 1
Head 7 1 34 3
Green S 3 0 13 1
Thorpe 2.2 0 25 0
The first two balls from Michael (Þ) were despatched to the boundary; indeed, Tarbarrow rattled along at 7 an over for the first 5 overs. Finally the opening bowlers regained control, and Brian (Þ) was rewarded when a firm straight drive lodged in his armpit. The next few overs were rather cat-and-mouse-ish, but then the batsmen started to smack the ball around: the Erratics were lucky to see the partnership broken by another of those amazing one-handed catches by young Simon, this time at mid-off.
The imminent arrival of the final 20 overs, with the home side well-positioned, saw a change in the bowling. The first over from Jim (Þ) didn’t go to plan, but his second did — the first ball nipped back to trap the No. 2, the second bowled the Tarbarrow skipper. When, in the next over, a full toss loosener from Simon was carved straight to Chris T at cover, the visitors suddenly perked up: could they skittle the last five wickets? There were lots of oohs and aahs, but the batsmen kept piercing the field: Jonathan Green was particularly unlucky in the way the ball seemed to follow him around.
Time for some off-spin from Chris T: quite nice shape, but the first ball went for four, and the first over for 15 — Tarbarrow now only needed 20 to win. Jim’s next over started badly, but then the ball was dabbed to midwicket, Chris T swooped and off-balance threw down the stumps at the keeper’s end — the first real contribution from the guest pair. A tidy over from Chris T, but now only 8 to win. When Jim plucked out of the air a ball cracked back at him, hope flickered of polishing off the tail — with the added frisson that the next man in was that man Heller. But Richard survived the last ball of the over, and the first two of the next disappeared to the boundary, so it was all over in a disappointing rush.
Erratics lost by 3 wickets
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