London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Saturday 4 August 2007
London Erratics v Chelsea Arts Club
at Dunsfold

Jaspar shows us how
Click on (Þ) symbol for photo images
CHELSEA ARTS CLUB — batting
1   retired hurt 15
2   st Khawaja N b Neal 7
3   not out 66
4   st Khawaja N b Khawaja J 144
5   b Ward 24
6   not out 10
7  
8  
9  
10  
11  
288 for 3 dec
Fall of wickets: 1–18, 2–242, 3–278

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Berrigan 11 5 14 0
Neal 5 1 24 1
Ward 10 0 101 1
Head 8 0 58 0
Heller 3 0 39 0
Rivington 4 0 25 0
Khawaja J 4 1 20 1
With match manager James Rivington still hurtling along Surrey's country lanes some time after the scheduled 11.30 start (passenger Chris Dunabin relaying messages by mobile), Tony Poulter was pressed by the opposition to toss. Tony (a) won the toss, (b) elected to field, as advised by phone, and (c) resisted further pressure to change his mind. After this sterling performance, it seemed only reasonable that Tony should continue to take the reins (his first time in charge of the Erratics). A glorious cloudless day, almost too bright.
Brian Berrigan is the man no one can score against, and so it was again this day. Matthew Neal was a bit looser (particularly when he tweaked his knee early on), but it was still a neat start from the Erratics against batsmen who looked worryingly assured. There was a bonus when a good stop down the leg side by Nasir Khawaja ricocheted onto the stumps. And when the new bat attempted a quick single to Bill Bush at mid-wicket, a direct hit had his partner stretching too hard to make his ground — and he had to retire with a pulled hamstring. Both openers seen off with the score on 30.
Tristan Ward came on, and with his first ball almost had the No. 4 brilliantly caught at mid-on by Tony. But with a very short boundary on the leg side, any ball that wasn't a good one, or at least outside off stump, was smacked into or over the boundary fence. At lunch, taken after 22 overs, Chelsea had reached 99 for 1.
After excellent fare in the garden of the Sun Inn, Jim Head and late arrival Richard Heller entered the fray. Both struggled to contain the scoring, Richard in particular having difficulty with the short boundary. James replaced Richard. We had now entered a phase where deliveries hit with blistering force to fielders on the boundary for just a single were applauded as successes. Thankfully the batsmen weren't that interested in running (indeed, the No. 4 claimed to be ill). But they still breezed past the 200 in the 32nd over, and passed major milestones of their own — their path eased by the inability of the Erratics to hold such hard-hit chances as were offered.
Why not give young Jaspar Khawaja a go? No nerves from this lad, even with the short legside boundary, and he bowled a good length on the off. In his second over, the irrepressible No. 4 snicked him to the keeper, Khawaja senior ... who dropped it. Much angst. But the batsman charged the next ball with a generous recklessness, and Jaspar had his man. Tristan had resumed amid the final flurry: in his last over he claimed a scalp, but at the expense of another 17 runs.
The Erratics had conceded the second highest total in their records (only beaten by the 290 conceded in 2006 against the V & A).
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Rivington bowled 9 1   
Heller bowled 16 1   
Neal caught 1    
† Khawaja N bowled 34 5  1 
Head caught 9    
Ward caught 4 1   
Berrigan NOT OUT  10    
* Poulter lbw 0    
Dunabin bowled 2    
Bush caught 5 1   
Khawaja J NOT OUT  0    
111 for 9
Fall of wickets:  1(Rivington)–16, 2(Neal)–17, 3(Heller)–56, 4(KhawajaN)–72, 5(Head)–77,
6(Ward)–93, 7(Poulter)–93, 8(Dunabin)–95, 9(Bush)–111
There is always a certain frisson about a West Indian bowler at the end of a long run-up. James experienced the buzz of square driving him for four; but this merely provoked a ball that was markedly quicker. Richard and Matthew were promoted up the order, so that they could get away early: Matthew was ready to depart first. Richard produced one of his best performances for a long time, as he built a useful partnership with Nasir (Þ) .
Nasir showed that the Erratics could thump the bad ball too, and was earning us some much needed respect, then suddenly missed one. Jim put up stubborn resistance (Þ) — which included being deaf to what sounded like a snick and to the vociferous appeals that ensued. Imagine the combination of disbelief and jubilation when, shortly afterwards, Jim smashed a short ball to point, only to see it scooped inches off the ground by the sickly centurion.
Now survival was everything: when the final 20 overs started, the Erratics were still 211 runs behind. Tristan (Þ) and Brian (Þ) were extremely watchful as they played out a dozen overs, even against the lollipop spin of the opposition skipper. The latter responded by whistling up the quick: Tristan fended his third ball to gully, and the fourth ball was much too quick for poor Tony. Chris succumbed in his next over.
Now it was desperate: 6 overs to survive, 2 wickets left. Brian remained solid, and Bill revealed an admirably controlled tenacity ... until the last over. With three balls from the pace bowler to go, Bill could not resist carting one for four, and then spooned the next to mid-wicket. One ball left, one wicket needed — but with Jaspar displaying his assured maturity, the draw was never in doubt.
Match drawn
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