Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment
Sunday 16 September 2001
London Erratics v South Wraxall
at Trowbridge
Bush strikes
40 overs match
The Erratics won the toss and elected to bat.
|
LONDON ERRATICS — 161 for 6 in 40 overs |
SOUTH WRAXALL — 116 all out in 34.3 overs |
| Andrews | caught | 9 | Middleton G | 7 | 1 | 22 | 0 | |||
| † | Khawaja | caught | 12 | Berrigan | 9 | 0 | 25 | 1 | ||
| Richards | bowled | 16 | Ward | 9 | 0 | 32 | 0 | |||
| Dunabin | caught | 2 | Truscott | 7 | 0 | 24 | 6 | |||
| Truscott | caught | 20 | Rivington | 1.3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |||
| Bush | NOT OUT | 50 | Dunabin | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Evans | caught | 19 | ||||||||
| Ward | NOT OUT | 17 | catches: Bush, Khawaja | |||||||
| Berrigan | ||||||||||
| * | Rivington | stumpings: Khawaja | ||||||||
| Middleton G | ||||||||||
Fall of wickets: 1–17, 2–36, 3–44, 4–56, 5–92, 6–127 |
Fall of wickets: 1–54, 2–64, 3–82, 4–86, 5–86, 6–86, 7–104, 8–106, 9–116 |
Won by 45 runs
| NARRATIVE |
| With the South Wraxall pitch flooded by dodgy water mains, the fixture had been relocated to the pleasant surroundings of the County Ground, Trowbridge. Erratics skipper, James Rivington, decided to bat because his opposite number proved even better at talking down the strength of his team. Weather: mostly sunny, but keep that jumper on. |
| The early batting order was determined by who got their pads on quickest; Nasir Khawaja demonstrated an admirable briskness in getting to the crease — and back again. Peter Andrews looked out of sorts, but Tony Richards (nursing a bad back) kept the score ticking over with some nice shots. Chris Dunabin gave us a fine demonstration of defensive technique — grittily executed, but somehow inappropriate. With half the available overs gone, the scoring rate was under three an over, and the captain (then umpiring) was coughing and spluttering. Chris finally did the honourable thing, Bill Bush came to the wicket — and with a few hearty blows kickstarted the innings. He shared good partnerships with John Truscott and Michael Evans, the latter giving an individualistic display of running. In the final assault Tristan Ward played a sweet drive to the long-on boundary. But now all eyes are on Bill ... on 44, in the last over. A mighty heave and the ball is bouncing towards his happy team mates in the pavilion. Now he calmly declines a single ... then slices the last ball high backward of point, and with arms raised joyfully scampers the runs needed to complete his maiden half century. In this final over, the target finally staggered above four an over — would it be enough? |
| Robert Waller arrived at tea, on his way back to London from Brighton (!), so the Erratics took to the field comfortable in the knowledge that the score box was in safe hands. Giles Middleton and Brian Berrigan bowled tightly but with little luck. With fifty on the board, the opening pair were just beginning to look worryingly competent, when Brian lured the young South Wraxall captain into snicking one behind. James turned to spin twins, Tristan and John. Tristan quickly found his range and tied up one end, but it was John who claimed the second wicket. Some lusty strikes from the next batsman looked ominous, until he holed out at long on — the man under the high ball inevitably Bill. The frail batting line up was now exposed, and John gleefully helped himself to a further three wickets in the 26th over. A small stand took the score into three figures, but no one was going to deny John his sixth wicket. The target — now a run a ball in the last ten overs — was certainly not beyond reach, and the eighth wicket pair looked intent on dabbing quick singles; but Giles cut that experiment short with a smart piece of fielding. For the onerous task of removing the last two wickets, James called on seasoned-pro Chris and his good self. The left-hand No. 2 bat was the last to fall; with just a six-year-old at the other end, he had a swish at the first ball that James managed not to shove down the leg side, and was duly stumped — for a dour 58. Thus ended a satisfying last game of the season, a win to which everyone had contributed. |