London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 22 July 2007
London Erratics v Inkpen
at Inkpen

Skin of teeth
INKPEN — batting
1   c Porter b Rivington 9
2   lbw b Khawaja J 2
3   b Rivington 2
4   b Rivington 1
5   b Head 69
6   run out 8
7   st Khawaja N b Ward 1
8   b Head 5
9   b Head 2
10   st Khawaja N b Head 4
11   b Head 2
12   not out 1
112 all out in 24.4 overs

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Rivington 4 1 12 3
Khawaja J 4 0 13 1
Bush 2 0 15 0
Ward 7 0 30 1
Cobb 2 0 25 0
Head 4.4 0 11 5
Slatter 1 0 6 0
Miraculously, with much of England under water, we got a game. The oppo kindly brought along an extra couple of lads because skipper James Rivington thought he was going to be short: in the event the Erratics arrived with a full eleven (of all ages) — so we co-opted an Inkpen youth and played twelve-a-side. A 35 overs game. The Erratics won the toss and elected to field.
The Erratics opened with an unusual pairing, but James and a very impressive young Jaspar Khawaja seized the opportunity with relish. A maiden from James was followed by a wicket for Jaspar in his debut over for the Erratics, as he hit the batsman's foot on the full. James took a wicket in each of his next three overs, as the locals gave early evidence of their penchant for trying to swat everything to leg — the final scalp courtesy of a safe catch at mid-on by debutant Philip Porter (a neighbour of Patrick Cobb).
Bill Bush and Tristan Ward came on. Then Patrick replaced Bill. The No. 5 (it always seems to be a No. 5!) had a good eye and a clean swing, and thrashed the ball in an arc between long-on and mid-wicket — or dabbed cheeky singles. One of these was nearly punished by a shy at the stumps from another debutant, eight-year-old Sami Khawaja; this youngest-ever Erratic also fearlessly stood in the firing line on the leg-side boundary.
A run out did finally break this partnership (calm work by Bill), but the big hitter was still there. Tristan and now Jim Head were both finding turn on the earthy track, but were struggling to find a consistent line and length, and were being shown no respect. Then a nice ball from Tristan gave keeper Nasir Khawaja half a chance; and Jim got the next batsmen chopping onto their stumps.
The hundred had come and gone. But Jim had now found his rhythm, and finally he snuck one past the No. 5. This enabled James to give loan player Sam Slatter an over, before Jim cleaned up the final pair of wickets — the last again thanks to Nasir's quick hands. But this was a larger target than the Erratics had hoped to be chasing.
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Andrews lbw 26 1   
Porter caught 0    
† Khawaja N caught 0    
Evans bowled 1    
Cobb bowled 2    
Bush caught 41 3  1 
Head caught 2    
Ward caught 0    
Khawaja S bowled 2    
* Rivington NOT OUT  18    
Khawaja J NOT OUT  0    
Slatter    
113 for 9 in 34.2 overs
Fall of wickets:  1(Porter)–0, 2(KhawajaN)–0, 3(Evans)–1, 4(Cobb)–6, 5(Bush)–62,
6(Head)–65, 7(Ward)–70, 8(KhawajaS)–73, 9(Andrews)–109
The Erratics batting line-up was largely determined by who hadn't had a bowl, but that happily included players who would get the innings off to a solid start. But, after Peter Andrews had played out a maiden, Philip popped one up as so many do on this slow pitch. Two balls later, Nasir dollied a high-ish full toss to a nearby fielder: cue fury at the lack of a no-ball call (but at least some of that indignation must have been fuelled by embarrassment). No runs, 2 wickets. Michael Evans got off the mark immediately, keeping the strike — only to be bowled at the other end. One run, 3 wickets. A couple of wides, three singles, then Patrick missed the first ball of the 6th over. Six runs, 4 wickets.
The situation was bad, but the bowling seemed ideal for next man, Bill: and he announced his presence with a boundary second ball. The scoreboard started moving: Peter pushed singles, Bill heaved twos into the outfield's long grass. Ten runs off the 16th over, including Bill's six over square leg, boosted the rate. Off the same bowler's next over, Bill hit two fours, bringing up the fifty partnership ... then chased a wide one.
Time for another collapse. Jim was well snapped up at silly mid-off, Tristan was caught too. Young Sami picked off two handsome singles, before being bowled by a chinaman.
James joined a flagging Peter: their scurried singles, plus the extras called by our umpires, edged the Erratics closer to the target. A loose 30th over from the opposition skipper saw the hundred up. But with just 4 needed to win, Peter's body "lost its shape" (apparently). Jaspar was confident in defence, and only a fine stop denied him the winning hit. Instead it was James who snicked and scampered the vital singles.
Erratics won by 2 wickets
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