“Battering in Battisford”
Match: 23
/ 604
Lost
by 34 runs
|
Team |
Total |
|
FFTMCC |
115 - 7 |
|
C. Williams
30*, I. Howarth 17 |
|
|
|
|
|
Battisford & District CC |
149 - 3 |
|
J. Webster
2 - 17 |
|
|
So, this was supposed to
be a live, ball by ball, ESPNCrininfo esque report. But needless to say, I got battery
avoidance of the laptop so it will have to be a combination of Spam’s one-line
notes of the day (none of which actually record anything from the game) and
my long distant memory of what may or may not have happened. Delia, help us. Going by Spam’s notes we
had a blast during the day. I can’t report on the avocado breakfast at
Wetherspoons (I personally had another Premier Inn fry up), can’t comment on
the pint in the Cock and Pye (I personally went on an architectural Tour of
Ipswich visiting none other than the Spiral Underground Car Park followed by
a tour from the Facilities Manager of the fantastic Willis Building – both of
which I can thoroughly recommend should you ever find yourself at a loose end
in Ipswich).
I can however, comment
on the excellent Boom Battle Baseball Cage where we were treated to a fine
display of fast pitched baseballs straight out of a hole in the wall. I think
we hit about ten of those balls between us, a fine display of reactionary bat
to ball coordination if ever I saw one. Not. It was a close-run thing –
between Darley, Nuno and Hadfield I seem to remember. Pretty sure Nuno took
the baseball title in the end, but I could well be wrong – I was four pints in to the delicious Neck Oil by this time so my memory is
slightly sketchy and Spam’s notes do not mention a winner.
Anyway, after all these
frivolities eventually we all convened in the Premier Inn Lobby to board the
minibus to Battisford. A charming, endearing team that we met some years ago
when they toured Oxford. We liked them so much we went to visit them once and
liked that so much that we went to visit them again. Arriving at the ground
in good time (two hours early) we had plenty of time to witness how a village
cricket team should be run. It was a sheer delight to watch car after car
pour into the car park dropping off kids to play a game of ‘bashball’,
organised by the club in the outfield of the main pitch. What really appealed
though, is the parents did not merely drop the kids off but sat round the
pavilion, enjoying a glass or two while watching the kids play – a true
social atmosphere typical I seem to remember of the spirit of the club we
discovered on our last visit.
Kids, kids everywhere enjoying ‘bashball’. Meanwhile our team line
up proceeded the warmup with a couple of pints during a hard-fought darts
competition. Team line up had been determined by a Scrabble Draw in the pub the
night before: Ian “I” Howarth Chris “C” Williams Jan “J” Webster Joe “ “
Cartwright Russ “R” Turner Gary “G” Timms Mike “M” Reeves Jake “H” Hotson Kaito “K” Williams Geoff “X” Carter Matt “W” Bullock On
the sidelines were: JMO “Z” Hoskins Richard “L” Hadfield” Andy “A” Darley Bob “B” Roberts (who hadn’t even made Tour) Psycho “P” Rundle
The toss of course was
duly won by Battisford, and it was agreed that we should bat first, otherwise
it could have been painful. Even more painful. Openers Howarth and
Williams strode to the crease, the barbie was fired up (maybe they thought it
would be over quick) and we settled in to witness the fray. For a T20 it has
to be said, it was a Geoffball start. Dot balls a plenty being shared by our
non-explosive opening pair, but our first wicket didn’t fall until the 9th over
(Howarth bowled 17) our total on a respectable 44 – plenty of guns in that
bag and acceleration to be had. Unfortunately, Webster
couldn’t quite provide the thrust required – falling for 6 off 11 balls but
during which held that end up whilst Williams opened his shoulders before
forced into retiring on 30. Cartwright
entered the tour fray with a stunning display of athletic running – not hindering
the run rate at all for a swashbuckling 11. Turner and Timms sadly both
dismissed for EBI’s, both not adding to the total.
Timms leaves the Mr Ruffle (far left on knees) in
awe…. Reeves proved to be the
only MAD batter to achieve a greater than 100 strike-rate before being
cruelly run out. Hotson dismissed for a stubborn 2. A light in the armoury
provided by K. Williams, striking some determined blows and fine sprinting
between the stumps to net 7 runs off 10 balls – not out along with Carter the
Geoffball legend himself (3 off 3). This would be a meagre total indeed was
it not for a generous sprinkling of extras (30) – setting a total of 114 in
the late evening shadows. The response from
Battisford, as the report title suggests, was brutal. Although to be fair,
the first four overs we kept them to a slow run rate due to our first-choice
bowlers (Reeves 2-1-5-0) and Timms (2-0-13-0) restricting the run rate. But
skipper for the day G. Carter decided on the traditional tour bowling line up
of two overs per fielder and this is where the game unravelled. K. Williams
not finding his normal rhythm today went for 20 and R. Turner a fairly
economical 22. Webster did chip in with two wickets but for an expensive 17.
Battisford had no less than three retirees – openers H. Ruffle (31*) and A.
Card (29*) and C. Morrell (27*) pretty much finished it off between them. Not
much to report in the field apart from a late Timms/Cartwright run out – a
splendid powerful throw in from the boundary from Timms and sharp work
collecting and nipping the bails off from Cartwright. The MAD total was
actually passed in the 16th over but in a prearranged format, the Battisford
Boys continued to play their 20 overs and battered another 40 runs in the
gloom for good measure. Thankfully nobody was injured in this slightly
nonsensical finish to what is always an entertaining and enjoyable fixture.
Returning to the
clubhouse we found the barbie to be in full swing with much of the crowd of
onlookers remaining to applaud us off the pitch for good sportsmanship if not
amazing cricketing skills. A totally endearing
team, whose skipper acknowledged our team spirit succinctly with a post-match
speech and a presentation of a couple of hats given for various sporting and
non-sporting achievements on and off the field.
All that remained was to
consume vast quantities of burgers and sausages and return to our respective
hotels for a well-deserved rest. Not forgetting of course, the obligatory
comedy bus event – the boot would not open, so the trip home was a health and
safety nightmare with the entire kit piled up in the bus gangway. Hopefully Battisford will return to Oxford
where we will try and get them legless before we try and play again (oh hang
on, didn’t we try that last time?)
’Delia’
|
*
Statto Scorecards
|
Far From the MCC versus Battisford
& District CC Played at Moats Tye, Suffolk, 4 August
2023 Battisford & District CC won the
toss and elected to field Battisford & District CC won by 40* runs
Far from the MCC debuts: n/a |
23 / 604 20 over match |
|
Team |
Far From the MCC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
I.
Howarth |
b R. Prentice |
17 |
(28) |
2 |
- |
1-44 |
|
2 |
C. T. J.
Williams |
retired |
30 |
(31) |
4 |
- |
2-74 |
|
3 |
J. vdG.
Webster |
st Skinner b Sillett |
6 |
(11) |
- |
- |
3-79 |
|
4 |
J. A.
Cartwright |
c unknown b Tucker |
11 |
(15) |
- |
- |
4-79 |
|
5 |
R. P.
Turner |
b Tucker |
0 |
(4) |
- |
- |
5-92 |
|
6 |
G. J.
Timms |
b Tucker |
0 |
(1) |
- |
- |
6-94 |
|
7 |
M. K.
Reeves |
run out |
8 |
(7) |
- |
- |
7-106 |
|
8 |
J. C. W.
Hotson |
c unknown b Holman |
2 |
(9) |
- |
- |
|
|
9 |
K. Kawada-Williams |
not out |
7 |
(10) |
- |
- |
|
|
10 |
G.
Carter * |
not out |
3 |
(3) |
- |
- |
|
|
11 |
M.
Bullock † |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
NB4, W25, B1 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 7 wickets, 20 overs) |
114 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
Card |
2 |
0 |
11 |
0 |
5.50 |
|
|
2 |
G. Prentice |
2 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
3.50 |
|
|
3 |
Holman |
2 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
4.00 |
|
|
4 |
Morrell |
2 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
5.00 |
|
|
5 |
R.
Prentice |
2 |
0 |
18 |
1 |
9.00 |
|
|
6 |
Skinner |
1 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
8.00 |
|
|
7 |
Ruffle |
1 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
8.00 |
|
|
8 |
Tucker |
3 |
0 |
13 |
3 |
4.33 |
|
|
9 |
Sillett |
2 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
4.50 |
|
|
10 |
Doughty |
3 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
6.67 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Team |
Battisford & District CC |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Batsman |
How Out |
Total |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
FOW |
|
1 |
H.
Ruffle * |
retired |
31 |
(28) |
4 |
- |
1-68 |
|
2 |
A. Card |
retired |
29 |
(24) |
4 |
- |
2-78 |
|
3 |
G.
Prentice |
c & b Webster |
10 |
(7) |
1 |
- |
3-147 |
|
4 |
R.
Prentice |
retired |
25 |
(25) |
2 |
- |
|
|
5 |
J.
Tucker |
b Webster |
0 |
(1) |
- |
- |
|
|
6 |
C.
Morrell |
retired |
27 |
(24) |
2 |
- |
|
|
7 |
C.
Holman |
run out (Timms/Cartwright) |
2 |
(3) |
- |
- |
|
|
8 |
M.
Skinner |
not out |
16 |
(7) |
1 |
1 |
|
|
9 |
T.
Sillett |
not out |
1 |
(1) |
- |
- |
|
|
10 |
J.
Doughty |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11 |
H.
Skinner † |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras |
NB2, W4, B7 |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
(for 3 wickets, 20 overs) |
154 |
|
|
|
|
|
# |
Bowler |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
|
|
1 |
Reeves |
2 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
2.50 |
|
|
2 |
Timms |
2 |
0 |
13 |
0 |
6.50 |
|
|
3 |
Kawada-Williams |
2 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
10.00 |
|
|
4 |
Turner |
2 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
11.00 |
|
|
5 |
Webster |
2 |
0 |
17 |
2 |
8.50 |
|
|
6 |
Williams |
2 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
4.50 |
|
|
7 |
Hotson |
2 |
0 |
13 |
0 |
6.50 |
|
|
8 |
Howarth |
2 |
0 |
11 |
0 |
5.50 |
|
|
9 |
Cartwright |
2 |
0 |
12 |
0 |
6.00 |
|
|
10 |
Carter |
2 |
0 |
25 |
0 |
12.50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note: The Battisford innings
continued until everyone had bowled their 2 overs |
|
||||||
|
MOTM: C. T. J. Williams Champagne Moment: G. J. Timms & J. A. Cartwright combined run out Buffet Award: G. Carter’s free-range sausages and mash (absence of gravy and sides) MAD
Moment: J. C. W. Hotson’s non run out
(when easier to affect a run out) |
Opposition:
V093 / 003 Ground: G094 / 002 Captain: C025 / 002 Match No: 20 / 180 |