London Erratics Cricket Club

Founded 1974 for recreation and refreshment

Sunday 7 July 2002: EVENLEY FUN DAY TOURNAMENT
London Erratics v Evenley Blue Caps
at Evenley

The revenge of the Giles
The Erratics took part in a tournament to help Evenley raise local interest in its cricket team (see poster below). There were three 15-overs matches; the winners of each match would receive 15 points, the losers would earn 1 bonus point for each 10 runs scored above 50 and for each wicket taken above 5. Two Evenley teams played in MATCH ONE in the morning, the Blue Caps beating the Red Caps (who picked up 2 bonus points).
In MATCH TWO, after the barbecue lunch, the Blue Caps (who seemed to have twelve players) won the toss and elected to field. Felix Meller and Peter Andrews scored briskly in the first two overs, but in the next two three wickets fell. With the outfield wet and slow, John Truscott and James Rivington ran well to keep the score moving in a partnership of 46. The later batsmen tried to get the target up towards six an over, with Giles Middleton (who had received a nasty blow somewhere painful) walloping the last ball for four.
LONDON ERRATICS — batting 4s  6s 
† Meller bowled 9 1   
Andrews bowled 8 1   
† Bush caught 1    
Truscott run out 23 2   
Rivington bowled 22 2   
Riedel bowled 4 1   
* Evans stumped 2    
Middleton NOT OUT  10 2   
Walker NOT OUT  1    
Heller    
McKay    
87 for 7 in 15 overs
Fall of wickets:  1–17, 2–21, 3–21, 4–67, 5–71, 6–73, 7–80
The Erratics were loaned a Red Cap to give them twelve in the field.
The Blue Caps looked as though they had one or two big hitters. The No. 2 looked dangerous, but a big heave fell straight into the hands of Jeremy Walker who had drifted backwards at midwicket; and then Peter made good ground to get to one at mid-off. When the No. 4 lazily swatted Giles’s first ball for six behind square leg, things looked ominous.
And so they were — for the Blue Caps. In the finest spell of penetrative bowling Giles has ever produced, he took the off stump of the No. 4 with his next ball, bowled two more with the last ball of that over and the first of the next, removed another man in the same over, and followed up with a wicket maiden. He uprooted the middle stump so often that excavations were needed to replace it securely; and poor Bill Bush had to surrender the gloves to Felix when a particularly fiery delivery bashed one of his fingers. Only the bowling of James gave the Blue Caps any hope. Giles claimed the last two wickets with consecutive balls in the 13th over — a great personal comeback after the trauma of last Sunday.
The delighted Erratics pondered the following tournament table over tea:
Team Played Won Lost Points
Blue Caps 2 1 1 17
Erratics 1 1 0 15
Red Caps 1 0 1 2

Report of MATCH THREE
EVENLEY BLUE CAPS — batting
1   run out 11
2   c Walker b Heller 2
3   c Andrews b Heller 5
4   b Middleton 11
5   b Middleton 0
6   b Middleton 3
7   b Middleton 2
8   b Middleton 2
9   b Middleton 13
10   st Meller b Rivington 2
11   not out 0
12   b Middleton 0
58 all out in 12.5 overs
Fall of wickets: 1–4, 2–20, 3–32, 4–32, 5–35, 6–36, 7–38, 8–48, 9–57, 10–58

LONDON ERRATICS — bowling
Meller 3 0 9 0
Heller 4 0 18 2
Middleton 3.5 1 9 7
Rivington 2 0 18 1
Erratics won by 29 runs
2002 Season
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