Detail: 02-06-2019 - Broadhalfpenny Brigands
Result: L by 6 wkts
Firstly, a massive thank you to those of you who made the journey down to Hambledon today for the game. A lot of miles were traveled and you did so at relatively short notice. I appreciate it. I hope you all enjoyed the venue and occasion, even if it was a bit miserable in the field. Over to the match report...
Historic Ground plays host to a game of 'what if's
Blues 161. Brigands 162 for 4.
When two teams face the prospect of no cricket on the first weekend in June, what's the best possible outcome? A game of cricket, obviously.
It was a largely overcast day with sunny spells becoming less and less regular. Ideal conditions for the bowlers among us. Naturally, The Blues lost the toss and were sent in to bat. Rich handed over two fresh match balls, the lads padded up and out walked Harry and Dan to open the days play.
The Blues approach was clear, block anything on the stumps and play everything else. Some tidy bowling from the Brigands ensured that runs were hard to come by. Harry opening his account with a boundary and Dan ran three at the other end. After seeing off the first few overs, Harry was undone by a slower ball, sending Jack Ward out for his first knock as a Blue. Jack followed suit with some sensible, defensive batting.
Dan had started to find his swing and each time the ball came off the bat, it scuttled off to the boundary. Queue a perfect Yorker, that 'swung about two foot' to send the bails to the ground. It was a big loss, but not quite as big as what followed.
With Fitzy looking hungry for a ton, he pulled up with injury after facing just four balls, quickly retiring. Chris M stepped up and opened his account with a four off the first ball. Cleverly turned behind, even if he did say so himself. Jack fell to an LBW decision, allowing Aqib to bring some great talking and sensible batting the crease. Chris and Aqib saw out the rest of the overs from the opening bowlers, putting on a 40 run partnership, before Chris forgot to swing his bat, being dismissed by a plum LBW. Zahid came in and drove the first 6 of the match and then headed back to the pavilion after a superb catch in the field prevented his next boundary. With the game on the ropes Richard Mullett knew how to steady the ship. His 33 (n/o) allowed Aqib to come agonisingly close to his half century (46) and the tail end took the total to 161. Cormac was desperately unlucky to be bowled LBW early in his innings, after dispatching every ball in the nets, but the score was set.
The blues were a completely different animal in the field. Late in the second innings the words 'this really is the vision of village cricket' echoed around the South Downs. It was a perfect summary. There were two dropped catches in the first over, with 4 more to follow. There were a series of over throws and the odd 'no-ball' for the batsmen to deal with.
Dan and Rich were economical in their first spells, but the wicket just wouldn't come.
Harry Tawney has been reported to the Hampshire Cricket Board for match fixing, after a hattrick of dropped catches wasn't enough and he dropped a fourth. All was settled with a couple of jugs of local ale.
A late revival made the game interesting. Richard Mullett taking three wickets, with Harry also claiming one, ironically from a catch in the field (Moore). Fizty took a brilliant catch in the slips and Zahid kept the batsmen guessing with a mix of pace and slower balls. However, the Brigands eventually went on to win the game.
The South Downs made the perfect backdrop for The Blues to take a moment and ask, 'what if'? What if our #3 hadn't pulled up injured? What if that catch had come in the first over? What if a few more catches had stuck? What if we'd not eaten so much cake? One thing we all agreed on was, we need to return next year to get the win.
[updated 06 06 2019]