Tetsworth vs Holton

May 2004

Original report written by John Simpson

 

Holton Short in Run Chase!

 

Next weekend we’re off down to Devon to our annual “tour”, with matches against Tedburn St Mary (on the Saturday – artificial wicket), and Sampford Peverell on the Sunday.  We’ve got a squad of thirteen, including Richard Squires for the Saturday game and Rob McKinney for the Sunday. Here’s the squad:

 

John Simpson

Rob McKinney (Sunday)

Alan Banyard

Guy Burford

Graham Hawkins

Mike Jackson

David Peddy

James Race

Colin Ring

Neil Robinson

Simon Robinson

Richard Squires (Saturday)

Phil White

 

Last year we won both games, so we’re hoping for much the same this year. Adrian Hills is playing for Sampford on the Sunday – so we’ll see some familiar faces.

 

But first of all back to last Sunday, and the match against Tetsworth…

 

We normally play Tetsworth towards the end of the season, but this year we’d changed the fixture so that we were playing them in May. Lots of sun, a hardish pitch, but a wet outfield, especially at the pavilion end. Tetsworth are usually an explosive side; the batsmen come in to hit the bowling about. It you get them out, all’s well. If not, you can be in for trouble.

 

Last Sunday we managed to win the toss for a change, and put Tetsworth into bat. With the reliable pairing of the two Mikes to start us off, we looked forward to a quiet time in the field for a few overs. Sure enough, Mike Shorthouse bowled one of the Tetsworth openers early on, and with Mike Jackson following up soon after with another clean-bowled, things were on track. Sadly the second wicket down brought in the Tetsworth firepower, and try as we might for the rest of the long afternoon we were unable to dislodge him. Wickets fell at the other end, with Graham Hawkins picking up two in the tidy spell of bowling, and Guy Burford, Neil Robinson and I collecting one apiece, but all the time at the other end there was some thunderous hitting. We weren’t at our best in the catching department either, holding on to three but letting four or five spill. That would have made a difference, as we continued to make our way through the Tetsworth batting and could have held them well short of the regulation forty overs. But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, and the Tetsworth No 4 went on to his 50, and then his hundred, with the final pair clattering 27 off the unfortunate Graham’s final over, bringing their score up to 214 for 9 by the close.

 

Tetsworth 214-9 off 40 overs

 

Mike Shorthouse                     5    0    18    1

Mike Jackson                          8    2     30   2

Guy Burford                           3     0    31    1

Alan Clark                              5     1    19    0

Neil Robinson                         4     0    37   1

Graham Hawkins                    8     0    57   2

John Simpson                         7     0     27   1

 

Catches: Clark (2), Burford, Simpson

 

Fall of wickets: not recorded

 

We set off after tea looking for just over five an over, and began quite brightly. But with the score at 13 I edged their left-arm medium behind and made way for Simon Switala, fresh from the end of the football season, and without any practice yet with the bat. Simon was joining Rob McKinney, who had edged a four or so, but was settling down against a pacy attack. Things looked good at this stage of the game, with Rob and Simon accumulating. But with Rob approaching his 50 Simon was bowled, and then Graham Hawkins was caught with no increase in the score.

 

Some hasty recalculation of the batting line-up saw James Race up next, as our one hope for the glory dash towards the required total. But with Rob holing out to mid-on soon after, the only real hope for a lengthy partnership had faded and, although we continued to look for runs when they were available, the prospect of reaching 200 started to fade.

 

But it was a good afternoon for James, with some towering drives on his way to 25, with David (also batting for the first time in the season) moving the ball around on the off- and on-sides. When James was caught, there were only a few overs to play out, but still we attacked, with Guy Burford collecting a tidy 8 and David steering onwards to 11 not out.

 

So we didn’t make the total we needed, but there were some good signs from the game: most of the top-order batsmen have had some time in the middle over our first three matches, and the bowling has usually been pretty tight. As often, too many catches went down, and some people are saving their best bowling for Devon, but as the season goes on we should be able to get everything together at the same time and come away with some victories. Watch this space!

 

 

Holton 143-5 off 40 overs

 

John Simpson          caught                 5

Rob McKinney        caught               53

Simon Switala         bowled              25

Graham Hawkins    caught                  0

David Peddy            not out              11

James Race              caught               25

Guy Burford            not out                 8

 

Did not bat: Neil Robinson, Mike Shorthouse, Alan Clark, Mike Jackson

 

Fall of wickets:  13-1 (batsman 1); 89-2 (3); 89-3 (4); 101-4 (2); ?-5 (6)

 

Result: Tetsworth won by 71 runs