London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 16 September 2007
London Erratics v Hemingford Hermits
at West Isley

Found out
HEMINGFORD HERMITS — batting
1 DB c & b b Stephenson 1
2   retired hurt 3
3   not out 103
4   b Berrigan 0
5   run out 26
6   st Khawaja b Down 27
7   lbw b Eltringham 6
8   c Bush b Head 10
9   st Khawaja b Head 1
10   not out 2
11  
201 for 7 in 35 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–7, 2–23, 3–75, 4–107, 5–114, 6–142, 7–161

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Stephenson 7 2 23 1
Berrigan 7 1 20 1
Eltringham 7 0 43 1
Rivington 4 0 30 0
Down 7 0 36 1
Head 3 0 38 2
As skipper Nasir Khawaja was arriving at the ground, James Rivington was mandated to do the formalities. He had been successful so often this season in persuading opponents not to play limited overs cricket, but on this occasion he failed; he did, however, win the toss (again) and elected to field. James stirred his team mates with the recollection that this game a year ago was Tremayne Rennell's last. Nasir then took over the helm on this blustery day.
David Brook is a familiar character, though not as an opponent and not as an opening bat: a ragged first over from Michael Stephenson finished with the bonus of a sharp return catch. In the 7th over, there was a flashback to the Chelsea Arts Club match, as Bill Bush's fielding again proved too much for the leg muscles of the other opener, who had to retire hurt. And next over, Brian Berrigan knocked over the Hermits' skipper. Another good start by the Erratics.
The No. 3 (solid) and the No. 5 (aggressive) built a fifty partnership in the next 9 overs. But when the No. 3 squirted a James delivery to square leg, No. 5 called recklessly and Richard Down did the rest. The next man hit the ball improbably hard when he connected, until stumped by Nasir off Richard. And his equally hard-hitting replacement fortunately only lasted an over, pirouetting in front of his stumps — a 20th scalp for the season, earning Matthew Eltringham a splendid "Erratics Double". After 25 overs: 114 for 5 (effectively 6).
The No. 3 was beginning to find the short boundary, and the rate increased. Jim Head bought a first wicket. The No. 9 then pulled a muscle running, and Nasir sportingly didn't remove a bail; the batsman sportingly didn't retire — and couldn't believe it when he was stumped shortly afterwards: 161 for 7. The Erratics might have hoped to mop things up, but a disastrous 33rd over of full tosses from Jim went for 22 runs. A final over from James brought up both the 200 and a century for the No. 3. Yet again, the Erratics had let things slip towards the end.
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
Head bowled 11 2   
Andrews caught 0    
Bush bowled 1    
Evans bowled 2    
Dunabin bowled 1    
Eltringham caught 0    
Berrigan caught 5    
Stephenson bowled 0    
*† Khawaja caught 20 3   
Rivington NOT OUT  5 1   
Down caught 5 1   
65 all out in 20.4 overs
Fall of wickets:  1(Andrews)–7, 2(Bush)–8, 3(Evans)–11, 4(Dunabin)–12, 5(Eltringham)–21,
6(Head)–23, 7(Stephenson)–24, 8(Khawaja)–47, 9(Berrigan)–48, 10(Down)–65
The Erratics knew that this stiff run chase would be aided by the fact that the Hermits would have to hide two crocks in the field; there was therefore some disquiet when they saw two local youths warming up in the teabreak as replacements, much more agile than the middle-aged originals.
A year ago, Jim and Peter Andrews scored an undefeated hundred partnership; this year, Peter unluckily edged Brook's first ball down the leg side. There had been discussion about imaginative batting orders, but this brought Bill to the crease slightly earlier than hoped. The bowling, with movement off the slope, was sharper than at South Wraxall the week before, and the ploy didn't work. Nor did the continuation of the innovative line up, as Michael Evans and Chris Dunabin both departed quickly too: 12 for 4 off the first 7 overs had the Hermits buzzing.
But there were plenty of good batsmen to come — none better this season than Matthew Eltringham, who settled in while Jim added runs at the other end. But when the Hermits No. 3 started to bowl spin, Matthew was snapped up at silly mid-off (one of the subs), then Jim let one slip through, and Michael S played and missed at the other end: 24 for 7 off 13 overs.
Only now did skipper Nasir enter the fray: Brian gave him the strike, and Nasir set off on a personal mission to salvage some pride. In a couple of overs, he had the fielders scurrying, and the Hermits' mysterious grip on the game seemed loosened. Then tragedy: Nasir top-edged the spinner onto his temple, and was easily caught by the keeper (worrying for a moment, but fortunately no harm done). And three balls later, Brian edged to the keeper: 48 for 9 off 16 overs.
Extras took the Erratics total past 50. James and Richard swatted a couple of boundaries off the joke bowlers, but the Hermits were not denied victory for long.
In truth, the Erratics had been due a thumping like this for a while: this time there was no option of grinding out a draw. The Erratics played some good cricket this season, but only in patches: they couldn't keep targets down, they couldn't sustain run chases — and they dropped far, far too many catches.
Erratics lost by 136 runs
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