Speldhurst Cricket Club

5th August v Four Elms (H)

CANCELLED

12th August v Limpsfield Chart (A)

Feels like a long while since I’ve had to do one of these things, but we had a game not rained off! Nothing can be easy however, as we arrived at Limpsfield Chart as the grey clouds rolled in and a consistent drizzle fell across the ground.

Having lost the toss, on what would turn out to be a pitch you really didn’t want to bat on, we were put into bat. 2nd ball of the game bounced halfway down the pitch, and nearly clipped Pat’s ankle as it rolled through to the keeper: this was a sign of things to come.

Limpsfield bowled well on an appalling pitch for batting, and the slowest outfield we have played on, picking up regular wickets whilst kindly donating a number of very important wides. Creef fell slashing to gully, and Pat walked up the wicket then did the same 5 overs later. This was particularly puzzling as he later revealed he was “just trying to protect Brandt”… Much like a faulty condom this protection did not work, and I found myself trudging back to the pavilion, clean bowled 4 balls later.

Hinton set about grinding away with partners falling around him, attempting to stick but finding the pitch simply too hard, with several bowled from balls that almost rolled along the ground. The extras kept adding up, runs tough to come by with no bounce and no balls running across the outfield and Hinton still remained, looking somewhat comfortable after facing 70-odd balls. He managed to pick up the run rates in the last few overs, finishing on a superb 64 not out from 104 balls, with Speldhurst reaching 146-9 off their 40. This honestly felt like quite a good score.

We came out to bowl, knowing their explosive skipper could win the game for them within 10 overs, so you can imagine our delight when the first ball of the innings saw the bails flying as Dunmall clean-bowled him with a full delivery, no pitch assistance needed. Some good bowling from Dunmall and Price kept runs down, aside from some streaky edges through the slip cordon and the odd loose ball down leg. Their opener and 3 looked well put together, but soon Dunmall struck again with another clean bowled.

A thirdDunmall wicket with a quite stunning caught and bowled, leaping high to take it one-handed like a very very heavy, bearded ballerina, left Limpsfield reeling at 22-3. After this regular wickets fell with Pat picking up a wicket, then Siraj being brought on and picking up 3 more, including a stunning over-the-shoulder catch by Hinton, after some big swings and largely misses from their middle order.

Their opening bowler came in at 7 and didn’t swing and miss too much, making a rapid 23 with 2 6s and a 4, before Barkhan struck lbw first ball of his spell. Another Barkhan wicket fell as the runs started to get into “slightly nervous” territory, as their no 10 came in and hit one of the largest 6s I have seen at this level. Alas, it was not to be as with a long-on, deep cow and deep mid-wicket all out, he couldn’t resist and was caught at deep cow by Hinton again.

43-run victory, leaving Speldhurst 31 points off relegation, and safety in sight!

Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/5547572

19th August v Cudham Wyse (H)

Our spirits were high after a strong month of results with wins vs Limpsfield and Farningham, sprinkled with a cancellation vs Four Elms. Having won the toss I elected to bowl on what looked like a good pitch that might be lively early.

Dunmall did the thing again, taking a wicket with his first ball as the rest of the Cudham team were still arriving, although not quite as good as the week before, this time strangled down the leg side. Some good early bowling brought another wicket and they went along steadily but with no real explosiveness for the first 10 overs.

However this soon changed and they started to chance their luck, accelerating the scoring with expansive shots, and fortunate for them but their luck was in. A rather poor fielding performance from Speldhurst led to seven catches being put down of varying degrees of difficulty, and the partnership making 128 before one of them fell for 50. Some wickets for Andy Eames, some very good tight bowling from Harry Fitz, and wickets at the end for Jo Price limited them to 225 on what could’ve been a score closer to 300, or 150 if we had held our catches. Alas, something to chase!

We started poorly, losing Muddy and Blake cheaply and the required run rate starting to increase, but then myself and a very angry, very focused Pat Green started to form a partnership. He was timing the ball better than I have ever seen him, and had some glorious straight drives, clips through mid-wicket, and dismissive 6s to the short boundary helped accelerate the run rate, as did the skipper’s usual agricultural style. From 24-2 after 9 we reached drinks at 105-2, now ahead of the chase but wary that a couple of wickets would change things drastically.

Unfortunately, this proved to be the case, with myself falling prey to the new off-spinner, followed by a very loose shot from Pat off the same bowler, and a few overs later Fitz as well. The spinner changed the game for them finishing with figures of 9 overs, 4-26 in a game that 435 runs in it…

However Roche dug in with support from Nash and Eames. Adam fell to a shocking LBW decision, out to a right arm round seam bowler with a 31 over old ball…

Jo Price joined Roche at the crease and having settled himself launched a glorious six over mid-wicket, bringing the chase back on – he was then caught next ball.

BIG NEWS: THE RATIO IS EVEN. Dunmall fell 2nd ball meaning the running total is 41 ducks, a high score of 41. What a tense finish to the season…

Back to the game: there was a final moment of controversy, possibly the worst of the game. A risky 2 was run with the run rate rising sharply, and Roche looking in trouble as the throw came to the keeper. Ball arrives, keeper clearly drops the ball as he takes the stumps, Cudham players celebrate and appealing and their umpire gives it out. As the keeper crouched down with his head in his hands, knowing he dropped it and gutted to not have taken the wicket, the opposition continued to celebrate and their umpire still held his finger up. Not even the keeper’s exclamation that he had dropped it could change the umpire’s mind. It took genuinely 5 minutes of discussion, between umpires and the fielding side to finally come to the right decision to bring Roche back who had, somewhat justifiably, thrown a bit of a strop at the absurdity of the situation. Only a Woody invention prevented some serious injustice.

Alas, it still wasn’t enough, and despite some spirited batting from Charlie Barkhan at the end, we fell short by 15 runs but maximised our bonus points. A real shame in a match we should have fun at numerous moments, but they took their chances and we didn’t.

We need 10 points maximum from our last 2 games for safety, c’mon the ‘Hurst!!!

Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/5547583

26th August v Eynsford (A)

By stand-in skipper Muddy:

We lost badly! By over 150 runs! We were mashed! Those are the bare facts but every cloud…

Most of our team had found the picturesque Eynsford ground by the time I lost the toss and, since it is usually far easier to gain bonus points when chasing, I was glad to be asked to field.

With Siraj feeling he needed a few overs to fine tune his twitch fibres we opened up with the seam of Dunmall and the spin of Barkhan. It was immediately evident that the wicket would turn – a fact that probably pleased the home team more than us as we would discover later.

When Siraj (thumbs up – I’m ready) replaced Charlie for the sixth over he bowled a very tidy and luckless 6-over spell of consistent line and length (0-25).

Pat, replacing Hodor, soon induced a false shot from their skipper who had made a threatening 34 out of 49 and although our fielding was not as sharp as it probably should have been (as Ollie was keen to remind us) we were not wholly unhappy with 91-1 at drinks.

When we dismissed both set batsmen in the space of six balls to have Eynsford 123-3 off 25 overs we were hopeful of turning the screw. But then Siraj split the webbing trying to catch a fierce pull shot at shortish mid wicket and Eynsford’s ‘long-handle or nothing’ approach began to grind us down.

Pat had bowled out very tidily (1-41), Siraj was hors de combat (although he very manfully fielded one handed for the last part of the innings) and every loose ball of spin now started going for six either into the houses or the river. Unfortunately there were quite a few of these! 145-3 off 29 overs suddenly became 224-3 off 35!

Four wickets in two overs shared between Harry and Charlie (now into his 4th spell!) stemmed the flow briefly – one to a very good catch from Pat at long off – but 35 more runs came off the final two overs as the ball seemed magnetically drawn beyond the boundary. 284 to chase but at least we had taken seven wickets which would be worth three vital points.

Our chase began promisingly, Pat and Ollie both finding the middle of the bat. Then a quick single, and what looked like a run out resulted instead in merely a strained groin which Pat tried to alleviate with a series of elaborate stretches, lunges and curses. He then went into ‘Moeen at The Oval’ mode and although a trio of powerful boundaries followed it was short lived. Pat soon miscued and as spin took over from both ends the Eynsford bowlers seized control. Ollie continued to blast successfully for a bit but then holed out for 31 and our middle order poked and prodded themselves into a hole.

Their left arm spinner Ben Wise has almost 400 league wickets to his name at an average of just 14 runs per wicket and this was his first match in their 1s this year. Suffice to say he knows what he’s doing. 53-1 quickly became 78-8 and even though the results of other games were now coming through with favourable outcomes for us, we were in severe danger of falling short of the 100 runs we needed to gain what appeared to be the vital fifth bonus point that would guarantee our ‘survival’ in Div 1 for another season.

By the time Wise had finished his nine overs with the handy figures of 6-19 we had ‘climbed’ to 95-8 with Dunmall and Barkhan at the crease and Harry with the only six of the innings to his tally. Then it began to pour with rain.

It was at this point that we worked out that due to the new bonus point system Eynsford would still gain the maximum 20 points even if play did not resume. Nonetheless the clouds cleared sufficiently and we were soon back on in bright sunshine despite regular lightning strikes in the background.

With one run needed for the 100 a Dunmall thick edge was brilliantly snared at slip and Siraj (who had understandably assumed he wouldn’t be needed to bat before our collapse) walked out barely able to hold the bat. He was applauded by all the Eynsford players. First ball drifted down leg and a one-handed sweep raced to the boundary! Huge cheers and a genuine contender for champagne moment!

The celebrations weren’t done. Charlie Barkhan had played 60 league games for Speldhurst with a top score of 14, yet here he struck five 4s (authentic ones!) in a partnership of 28 with Siraj that brought the additional security of a sixth bonus point for the team and earned himself a ‘career best’ score of 27. We were 127 all out.

So yes we lost by over 150 runs. Yes we were mashed. But at least we finished on a high and can relax for our final game against league champions Outwood knowing we are safe for another year.

Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/5547580

2nd September v Outwood (H)

Apologies for the severe delay in this one, but the league season is now over and we are safe! I’ll keep this as short as I possibly can.

Outwood, already crowned as league champions for the 2nd year in a row, travelled to us for our traditional last game of the season on a lovely summer’s day. Having lost the toss they opted to bat, with their openers going steadily but slowly for the opening spell, no luck for Dunmall or Price. Cue 1st team debutant Rob Mcallister, junior coach extraordinaire, who after a few shaky overs proceeded to bowl a quote brilliant spell of bowling, shaping it away and picking up several wickets, ably supported by the grizzled veteran Pierre Roche, turning back the years.

Barkhan was then brought on bowling incredibly well and looking very dangerous, picking up 2 wickets for 45-odd his allotted 9 overs, with Muddy picking up a wicket from the other end with is usual mix of guile, dip and mothballs. However, this was nothing compared to the display of the skipper, on for his 1 over in a season, who provided the most buffet of buffet bowling, going for 18 runs, 2 new balls and no more overs. Dunmall came back for his final spell, having kicked up quite the largest strop at potentially not getting all 9 overs in a glorified friendly, with Creef bowling the last over and unfortunate to go for 15, having bowled significantly better than that. A daunting 246 to chase then.

Long story short, we didn’t, by a long way. Creef fell for a duck, bringing Muddy to the crease clearly inspired by the 100, blasting 20 off 9 balls before falling. Green and Brandt added another 30, mostly from Pat looking fluent before falling, bringing Pierre in. Alas he couldn’t quite replicate the Pierre of the early 21st century and fell to the league’s leading wicket-taker. Jo Price batting in a very elevated no 6 batted sensibly in supporting me, until I fell to a slow wide one, ballooning it up to cover and hanging my head in shame.

Dunmall, also elevated, joined Jo and looked good for his 13, before Jo, Charlie Barkhan, Rob and Dunmall all fell leaving us bowled out for 132. Worth pointing out that we played the game with 10, and then had a nice beer with a cheerful Outwood in the G&D after, followed by a great end-of-season curry with the 2s. A good end to an entertaining season.

RATIO WATCH:
Dunmall high score = 41
Dunmall ducks = 41

All to play for next year.

Scorecard: https://speldhurst.play-cricket.com/website/results/5547589