London Erratics Cricket Club

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling

Stephenson

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 17 September 2006
London Erratics v Hemingford Hermits
at West Ilsley

A perfect ten

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HEMINGFORD HERMITS — batting
1		b Berrigan	5
2		b Berrigan	4
3	c Khawaja	b Berrigan	23
4	c & b	b Stephenson	17
5	c Khawaja	b Stephenson	10
6		b Berrigan	7
7		b Stephenson	5
8	lbw	b Berrigan	0
9		b Ward	12
10		b Head	7
11	not out		6
104 all out
Fall of wickets: 1–5, 2–13, 3–36, 4–61, 5–61, 6–76, 7–76, 8–76, 9–86, 10–104

Nasir Khawaja had recruited a strong batting side, with good bowling too. On the day, he asked James Rivington to captain, but maintained a vice-captainly interest in the proceedings. James won the toss (for the fifth time in six attempts this season), and elected to field.

Michael Stephenson seemed fired up, as though exorcising some personal loss (a reckless wager, perhaps); he was unlucky not to see the opposition captain snapped up at slip second ball. Instead, Brian Berrigan performed the honours, with the last ball of his first over; and with the last ball of his second over, he removed the other opener.

The next two Hermits, each with rather bouffant hair, immediately appeared more dangerous. The No. 4 hit Brian for four and six off consecutive balls; the Erratics heaved a collective sigh of relief when he dollied a return catch to Michael in the next over. (It later transpired that this gentleman was Keith Pont, who played for Essex in the ’70s and ’80s, and had a reputation as a six-hitter.) His partner also hit Brian for a straight six, then two balls later pulled straight to a well-positioned Nasir at mid-wicket. The No. 5 had already shown a readiness to carve the ball into space: at the beginning of Michael’s next over, Nasir moved himself to a gap at mid-on, and the batsman picked him out perfectly.

The back of the innings was broken. Last year’s centurion was not there to torment us again. Skipper James began to think about changing things, so he warned Brian and Michael that they each had only one over left; both responded with a wicket maiden — Brian’s a double one.

Quick, get the spinners on. Not that this made life easier for the batsmen. The sight of a portly Hermit flailing at the spin of Tristan Ward, missing, and twirling to the ground in a dizzy heap will live long in the memory. But a number of missed chances enabled the Hermits to stagger over the three-figure mark.

An honourable mention for Andrew Pannell, who kept very tidily in circumstances where the ball was moving a lot.

LONDON ERRATICS — batting				4s	6s
	Head	NOT OUT	66	11
	Andrews	NOT OUT	34	4
	Dunabin
	Rennell
	Khawaja
†	Pannell
*	Rivington
	Ward
	Berrigan
	Stephenson
	Heller
108 for 0
Fall of wickets: —

With it being only three o’clock, the teams went straight back out for the Erratics innings. Although the target was modest, the tricky pitch and the need for another win made skipper James determined not to gamble with the batting order: Head and Andrews to open, Khawaja at 3... As our hero quicks rested contentedly (Þ) , Jim Head and Peter Andrews set off in pursuit of the runs. The Hermit bowling seemed less testing than it had been last year (and certainly less effective than ours), so the watchful openers were able to accumulate patiently. At tea, the score had reached a handy 35 without loss.

The tasty refreshment was taken in good humour (Peter overdid the sausage rolls), but as grey clouds crept over, James nudged a hesitant opposition into getting back out there. That man Pont entered the attack, but his spin posed no greater threat. Indeed, the bowling generally seemed too short, and Jim and Peter cut and pulled it to the boundary with a controlled ruthlessness that had been absent in the Hermits innings (Þ) . As the total passed fifty, a more relaxed James started to shuffle the rest of the order — particularly now that Nasir had no chance of getting the 68 runs he needed to beat the record for runs scored in a season. But no one else was needed — though Jim did have to survive a diving effort by Pont at square leg, as he breezed past fifty. With spots of rain beginning to appear, the two batsmen hit a youthful bowler for 17 runs in one over, to leave the Erratics one short. Peter brought the scores level, and Jim flat-batted the winning boundary to mid-wicket. The triumphant pair were applauded from the field, and duly posed by the scorebox (Þ) .

The Erratics lingered outside the pavilion to savour their first ever 10-wicket victory (Þ) , completing a most satisfactory weekend at the end of a most indifferent season.

Erratics won by 10 wickets

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