London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Saturday 28 July 2007
London Erratics v Bank of England
at Roehampton

Birthday cheer is shared
Click on (Þ) symbol for photo images
BANK OF ENGLAND — batting
1 PA c Poulter b Eltringham 22
2   c & b b Ward 60
3   lbw b Berrigan 13
4   c Green T b Neal 21
5   b Rivington 17
6 ME b Ward 4
7   not out 2
8   not out 2
9  
10  
11 RH
175 for 6 dec
Fall of wickets: 1(Andrews)–65, 2–90, 3–130, 4–151, 5(Evans)–164, 6–171

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Green T 9 3 15 0
Green S 6 0 27 0
Berrigan 12 3 29 1
Eltringham 8 1 29 1
Ward 8 1 24 2
Neal 5 0 15 1
Rivington 2 0 6 1
Dunabin 1 0 4 0
Peter Andrews had recruited a surfeit of Erratics in order to be able to donate himself, Michael Evans and Richard Heller to the Bank; James Rivington would captain the visitors instead. The Erratics won the toss and elected to field.
Tim and Simon Green led the attack tidily — indeed Tim didn't concede a run until his 21st delivery. Peter's running between the wickets lacked due deference to some quite lively Erratics fielding, but perhaps he was feeling lucky on his 50th birthday: fortune certainly smiled when he was dropped behind off Tim. Brian Berrigan came on and the Bank rate dropped further, but fifty was passed without loss.
Matthew Eltringham got the breakthrough when Peter's slash to backward point was well caught by Tony Poulter. Only improbable hoicks from the No. 3 prevented Brian (movement both ways off the pitch) and Matthew (teasing flight and swing) from maintaining a stranglehold on the scoring, and Brian put at end to even this resistance (his figures at that point: 9-3-10-1).
At drinks, Tristan Ward surrendered the gloves to Simon. The Bank crawled past the hundred in the 32nd over. Time for variation: Tristan and Matthew Neal. A few more runs, but Tris accepted a low return catch from the stubborn No. 2, and started to produce big turn. Matthew fizzed some down, and gave Tim a good low catch at point. This brought Michael to the crease — which is always fun — until he lost his off stump to a leg break.
Eyeing the clock, skipper James introduced himself and was pleased to see off his counterpart. One over from Chris Dunabin was finally enough to call a halt to the marathon innings, after 51 overs. Although the Erratics had again lacked penetration, they had kept a grip on the scoring.
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
* Rivington bowled 4 1   
Neal bowled 35 4   
Berrigan bowled 7 1   
Green T lbw 44 6   
Poulter bowled 0    
Eltringham NOT OUT  35 5   
† Ward run out 7 1   
† Green S bowled 0    
Bush bowled 0    
Dunabin bowled 1    
Green J NOT OUT  0    
163 for 9
Fall of wickets:  1(Rivington)–4, 2(Berrigan)–16, 3(Neal)–97, 4(Poulter)–97, 5(GreenT)–137,
6(Ward)–149, 7(GreenS)–150, 8(Bush)–152, 9(Dunabin)–153
The Bank had one pace bowler, a tall youth of 15 or so: James steered the first ball for four, and missed the fourth. Matthew N sent for a helmet, and Brian hopped around on the back foot until he lost his stumps.
The departure of the lad after his allocation of six overs eased the pressure on the batsmen, and Matthew N and Tim started to built a partnership of youthful vigour — Tim in particular played some very attractive shots (Þ) . They cruised past both the fifty and the fifty partnership. But in the second of the final 20 overs, with the score just short of the hundred, Richard Langley (occasional Erratic) got the better of Matthew N, and undid Tony first ball; Matthew E smashed the hat-trick ball past the bowler for four.
Richard Heller had a little spell for the Bank (3-0-28-0), but the Erratics kept the runs coming, hampered only by cramp in Tim's leg. With 10 overs left, just 39 were needed. The young paceman (in his second spell) hit Tim in front, but Tristan clipped the next ball for four to show that the chase was still on.
Then tragedy: starting for a cheeky single, Tristan ended up on his backside well out of his crease. And in the next over, the quick proved too quick for Simon. Could Bill repeat his Inkpen flourish? ... but with the first ball of the (unexpected) 7th over of his second spell, the young fast bowler clattered his stumps. Chris proved more resilient, only to be bowled by Langley at the other end. Sixteen balls to go, 23 runs to get, 1 wicket left. Jonathan Green (on his 60th birthday) blocked securely, Matthew E farmed the strike and hit one more defiant boundary — and the spoils were shared.
Match drawn
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