Detail: 29-06-2008 -


Result:
v Shackleford

Guy Freeman
Matt Rolfe
Tom Carter
Zubir Ahmed
Tom Jordan
Aidan Liddell
Ronnie Whelan
Mike Blundell-Jones*
David Gerrard*

* On short-term loan from Shackleford

Blues 220 (Rolfe 86, Liddell 50*) Shackleford 221/7 (Rolfe 3/32 Carter 3/58). Lost by 2 wkts.

Not content with suffering from the clash with Glastonbury, this fixture plunged into uncertainty with a communications nightmare 48 hours beforehand, as chief organiser Guy lost his Blackberry with all the team's details on-board. Then two possible players dropped out late in the day, but Phil Barnett, Shackleford's President, encouraged us to come anyway, saying they would find players to make a match.

So with the loan of two experienced players, it was a 9 v 10 match on a ground transformed from the rabbit-riven pitch of old into a goodish track with a lightning fast outfield. Ellen was half right when he described it last week as 'One of the truest pitches on the circuit and an enticing legside boundary..'. Maybe the local snakes are on his mailing list too - play was delayed twice to remove them from the outfield.

Batting first, Rolfe (86) rode his luck (dropped behind twice) but lost partners cheaply until joined by Jordan (26), and a 54 run partnership pushed the score onto 139. Another partnership between Liddell (50*) and Gerard (10) lifted the score over the 200 mark, and we had a total that we had a chance to defend. (Aidan winning over the younger element of the crowd by pulling a boundary into the rabbit warren, and losing the ball down an Alice-in-Wonderland sized hole.)

After a sumptuous tea, scones with jam and cream, bread and brie, tons of ginger cake - "none of this healthy sandwich stuff", we took to the field.

Carter and Freeman started accurately, with Tom (3/58) getting the first two batsmen, but it was difficult to plug all the holes with only 7 outfielders. The first 3 Shackleford pairs all had stands of 40, and it wasn't until Rolfe (3/32) was brought into the attack that the middle order looked vulnerable. Matt cleaned up three - all bowled. Ahmed then came on at the road end, bowled very accurately and was most economical (1/29). There were two catches by different keepers - Blundell took one after Jordan went off for elbow repairs, and on his return, Tom took a great edge standing up. (Mike Blundell may well play for us again as we even gave him four overs with the ball!)

But Shackleford were patient, and with 2 overs to go nudged and nurdled their way to victory.

Shackleford epitomises village cricket - all the players are local, and three sons of players were involved too. They have found that league cricket is not for them, and they continue to try to give everyone a game, no matter what their standard. Fortunately their future looks fairly safe, with the nearby mushroom farm (the club's landlords) being bought for development, but with promises to support the club.

[updated 30 Jul 18]