Sunday 25th May 2008 vs Follies Farm Old Spots C.C.
 
Match Result
 
Follies Farm Old Spots C.C. 190 for 9 (40 overs)
Washington C.C. 161 all out (40 overs)
 

This is Follies Farm's match report, reproduced here for interest.

As Bob Dylan once said, "you don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows" and so it was that our esteemed chairman and man on the ground, held his nerve, checked his seaweed and, on what was forecast to be a thoroughly wet day declared the pitch fit to play. Game on....

So the day started very early for some, with Doug Lamont arriving at 12.30 for a 1 o’ clock start (fine?), and later for others with the oppo getting lost and not arriving until 1.50 for a 2.10 start! We met this team whilst on tour in Ljubljiana in 2005 and have never actually played them due to the weather, so it was a pleasure to welcome them.

The pitch was wet! The word from the dressing room was to win the toss and "stick ‘em in", but Leng was not factored in to this winning formula, so the toss was duly lost and they "stuck us in".. An opening pair was required and found in Saxel and Leaper. Orders were given to keep their heads down, play themselves in, steady start and keep wickets in hand. Strangely enough they were actually followed, and they both made a magnificent start on a difficult wicket, bringing us to 50/0 after 10. Leaper at this stage was in full flow, but in the 11th over a solidly hit off drive lodged itself in the hand of the silly mid off and he was out for a well made 37. Another 50 opening partnership was recorded. Perry came in (fresh from 140 vs. Witley) and his 1st scoring shot was a 6. Here we go we thought. Saxel (14) was then bowled by that canny straight delivery, which brought Jim "Homer Simpson" Campling to the crease. Ever patient and with the openers orders still ringing in his ears, 5th ball was heaved high and straight to mid off....whoops. Alastair Stokes in next and started with an impressive cover drive for 4. Perry then judged LBW and on his way for 25, things were looking a little wobbly. Doug was woken up from his deep sleep on the bench (late night, early start combo clearly playing havoc with the newly married man..) and sent out. Stokes was soon out and we were on 91/5 after 23 overs. A steadying partnership of 60 was then added by Lamont and Leng, before Lamont (28) fell to a truly amazing catch at deep mid wicket (well, deepish as Doug was hitting it as hard as he could). Mr. Irons diving full length and taking it with 1 hand. Fielding skills the like of which have not been seen at Follies Farm for a long time if ever! As is often the case 1 brings 2 and Leng (33) followed soon after skying the ball to mid on. O’Leary-Collins came to the crease looking the business with a complete new kit bag at his disposal, hit a lovely straight 4 before perishing trying to do the same again, Stephenson was deceived by pace (lack of it) and was bowled for 6 and it left Hicks (6) and the straight driving Stokes R (13) to finish off our innings for a very respectable 190 in 40 overs.

Tea and cakes then.

The oppo started very slowly indeed [top 3 Harris, Bhatt and Naseem]. The pace and accuracy from Stokes A down the hill keeping everyone on their toes, before they fell into a deep coma whilst waiting for Leng’s over of slow lingering death to be completed at the other end, leaving them on 12 for 1 after 10. Their opener (and skipper) beautifully caught at mid on by Saxel, narrowly escaping a repeat of the Leaper/Lumley incident from Witley the week before. Steady Saxel then took over bowling duties down the hill, removing their number 3 with the aid of a fine catch (2nd time of asking) by Stokes R at mid off, oppo were now 24 for 2 after 19. Stephenson arrived to bowl his steady stuff up the hill, but what was this? Smote by a certain Mr. Tidey (who took 3/31 but was quite obviously a much better batsman) for 16 off his 1st over! He continued knocking all and sundry around, before being caught on 45, but the gap had narrowed. Luckily their opener was still in and not looking like he was ever going to score a run, so the plan was to keep him in for as long as possible. Mr. Irons came to the crease and continued hitting out before hitting the same kind of skyer that Campling had produced in his innings, only to be excellently caught by Campling doing his impression of Torvill and Dean (quite a feat) at mid wicket. We were confident of victory now, the oppo requiring 10 an over at this stage, and with Hicks and Stephenson in tandem, we were closing. Kloss was still hitting out for the oppo, and they were managing a minimum of 8 an over, so Stokes A was brought back on and promptly bowled him, which left the gates open for our specialist bunny bowler Perry to come on and clean up the tail, finishing with figures of 2-1-1-2! Oppo all out for 161 in the 40th over. Victory was ours by 29 runs.

A really good game of cricket (that none of us actually felt we would play), notable for some excellent catches by the oppo and also by Saxel, Leaper, Stokes R, Campling and O’Leary-Collins (who also effected a run out). The oppo were a nice bunch and played the game in exactly the right spirit, so it has been worth the wait to play them and we look forward to seeing them again next year.

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Batting
Player Runs How out
Tony Harris 2 Caught
Yogesh Bhatt 17 Run Out
Aff Naseem 16 Caught
Robert Tidey 45 Caught
Paul Irons 22 Caught
Steve Brown 18 Caught
Brad Hitchcock 13 Caught
Peter Kloss 18 Bowled
Max Murrain 0 Bowled
Eric Stoughton 4* 
Terry Tidey 1 Bowled
Partnerships
Wkt Runs Batsmen
1 3 Tony Harris  &  Yogesh Bhatt
2 16 Yogesh Bhatt  &  Aff Naseem
3 51 Yogesh Bhatt  &  Robert Tidey
4 35 Yogesh Bhatt  &  Paul Irons
5 19 Paul Irons  &  Steve Brown
6 2 Steve Brown  &  Brad Hitchcock
7 25 Brad Hitchcock  &  Peter Kloss
8 1 Peter Kloss  &  Max Murrain
9 4 Max Murrain  &  Eric Stoughton
10 5 Eric Stoughton  &  Terry Tidey



Fielding
Player Cts Wkt Cts Stmps
Yogesh Bhatt 1 - -
Steve Brown 1 - -
Tony Harris 1 - -
Paul Irons 1 - -
Bowling
Player Overs Mdns Runs Wkts
Terry Tidey 5.0 1 33 1
Robert Tidey 8.0 1 31 3
Peter Kloss 5.0 0 25 0
Paul Irons 8.0 2 28 2
Eric Stoughton 7.0 0 29 2
Max Murrain 7.0 1 41 1
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