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| 1984 |
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Played 13: Won 3, Lost 5, Drawn 4, Abandoned 1, Cancelled 1.
Saturday May 7 v Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester - Lost by 7 wickets
If we were looking for a truly wretched start to the season then this match must be regarded as a triumph. We won the toss and, in extremely cold and windy conditions, the Dickensian figure of Michael Wingfield Digby fought a heroic battle. With Rice and Mason putting on 50 we were able to reach 180, but any thought that this might have been a winning score was extinguished by a truly dreadful bowling performance in which the only thing that can be said was that our bowlers left no part of the pitch untried - an exception to this was Will Rydon who bowled with perseverance but no luck. In the event the College had no trouble in scoring the runs with almost an hour of the match to spare. Sunday May 20 v Dorset XI at Sherborne - Lost by 20 runs This was a trial match for both sides played on a 55 over basis under Cricketer Cup rules. We put Dorset in to bat and although Kennedy scored a pre-lunch century our bowling and fielding was tight enough to keep the run rate in check. In chasing quick runs after lunch Dorset were able to set us a rate of four an over, which was always going to be hard to sustain given the very poor light and the relative lack of match practice of many of our batsmen. Nevertheless, Jones played supremely well in compiling 76 and in putting on 78 for the first wicket with Eckersley-Maslin which, in retrospect, was the high point of our innings. We then became bogged down against some rather miserly off-spin bowling by Chris Stone. Jerry Edwards played pugnaciously for 28 and reminded us that the Edwards cricketing dynasty is not yet a spent force. Sunday June 3 - Cricketer Cup first round v Oundle Rovers at Oundle - Lost by 7 wickets Oundle, fielding a side containing a sprinkling of Blues and playing at home, were clearly going to be a formidable proposition, and so it turned out to be, but on the other hand we did not do ourselves justice with a rather feeble batting performance. We were put in to bat on a drying wicket and were given an excellent start by Jones and Eckersley-Maslin who put on 51 in 14 overs, which should have provided an ideal platform for a score which needed to be about 180 in the circumstances. But from 51-0 we lost all our remaining wickets for 89 runs with only Edwards and Blackburn, who added 38 for the fifth wicket, providing any significant resistance against a bowling attack which, although reasonably accurate, had little else to offer. Such a modest score was never going to put Oundle under pressure. We fielded and bowled keenly but they got home with nine overs to spare. Sunday June 24 v Radley Rangers at Radley - Won by 15 runs With good company, attractive surroundings and fine weather what more could a cricketing man want? Perhaps an innings from Rowe, and to the undisguised pleasure of all present, the old maestro strode out to the wicket and, in compiling his half century, played some fine strokes before getting dismissed in time for lunch. It was nice to see Rowe in form and nicer to know that now he wouldn't be given a bowl. We continued to flog the Radley attack after lunch before Lough made a challenging declaration. Thereafter Radley found themselves in deep trouble at 167-8 against Gould - some used to call him the white Sobers - and his spin twin Gent. A ninth wicket stand of 59 needed to be broken by the fast bowler Stebbings, who was assisted by a startling catch by Lyons, before Gould shattered the defences of the Radley number 11 to secure a well deserved victory. Saturday July 14 v The School at Sherborne - Lost by 6 wickets We fielded a side of modest talent, which perhaps did well to reach 181 after having been put in on a green wicket against a tight School attack. The School bowled well but were handicapped by their lack of a spinner. Eckersley-Maslin again showed form and consistency in making 48, but a mid innings collapse left us in trouble. A hero was truly needed and our prayers were answered in part by the appearance of Stebbings who, in an arrogant and attacking innings of 61, struck 11 boundaries all around the wicket. If we thought our score was going to be adequate we were badly mistaken for the School batsmen played extremely well and treated the swing and pace of Stebbings, Rydon and Fisher with disdain. Thus it was left to Gould and Gent to try and undermine the School innings with their experience and guile, but unfortunately the School were too well set and deservedly won with time to spare. Sunday July 15 v Marlborough Blues at Marlborough - Lost by 6 wickets We lost the toss and were put in to bat on a wicket which looked more difficult than in fact it turned out to be. Eckersley-Maslin played well before sportingly walking for a catch behind upon which the umpire had not adjudicated. At 78-5 it was left to Brearley to play a face saving innings which enabled us to provide a reasonable target for the Blues. Unfortunately, the boundary on the pavilion side was extremely short and Worlidge took full advantage of this in scoring a fine unbeaten century. Stebbings bowled with much vigour, but the pitch which had in the last couple of years enabled him to terrorise the opposition with his pace was slow and unhelpful. Saunders bowled his left arm spinners with some thought and posed problems early on, but an additional spinner was sorely missed. Saturday July 21 v Honourable Artillery Company at Sherborne - Won by 91 runs With fine weather and a good batting strip we got off to a dreadful start in which five of the first six in the batting order contributed a total of 11 runs. It was left to Eckersley-Maslin and Gould to salvage the situation. The former displayed great elegance of shot whilst the latter, in his pragmatic way, provided splendid support. The recovery was further aided by a valuable innings from the stubborn Drew. The HAC must have been a little disappointed in allowing us to recover in the way we did but they started off in fine fashion with an opening stand of 87, their progress only being arrested when Gould started purveying his left arm spin. Thereafter the HAC fell into confusion, which was fully exploited by Lyons, who with more extreme variations of the left arm spin left the way open for Garrett to finish off the innings and secure victory. Sunday July 22 v Sherborne Town at Sherborne - Drawn In perfect batting conditions we duly lost the toss and took the field. Our bowling resources were somewhat thin, clear evidence for this being that Lyons bowled throughout from one end when he really had become due for a rest after five overs. Still we finished manfully and managed to contain the Town to 211. In a fine reply Eckersley-Maslin hit his second century in successive days and was well able to deal with the wily swing bowling of Hayward. Stone and Eckersley-Maslin went on to attack the Town's bowling with great vigour, and given the limited time at our disposal we did very well to get as close as we did to victory. Monday July 23 v Somerset Stragglers at Sherborne - Drawn A fine opening partnership of 92 between Eckersley-Maslin and Jones got us off to an agreeable start with Jones going on to make an unbeaten century. Blackburn and Isaac also made useful contributions against a variable but friendly attack. We were set back on our heels somewhat by a vigorous attacking innings by Challacombe, who was particularly severe on Gent's leg breaks. However, the remainder of the opposition were not quite in the same class and were rudely surprised by the penetrative left arm medium pace of Drew. As victory appeared over the horizon so did Garrett, apparently unaffected by his earlier mauling, but despite his taking two wickets, the last pair held out for an honourable draw. Tuesday July 24 v Dorset Rangers at Sherborne - Drawn The Rangers attack seemed unable to extricate much life from the wicket and found themselves on the receiving end of two batsmen who were both very much in form. Blackburn, readily appreciating the quality of the pitch compared with the bowling, wasted no time in despatching the Rangers to all parts of the ground and, managing to maintain his concentration throughout, accumulated his double century in 158 minutes leaving Garrett able to declare the innings at 3.00. At the other end Jones, in reflective mood, accumulated his second century in successive days. With such a large score it is always difficult to know how best to approach the problem of dismissing the opposition. It was a question that Garrett clearly found difficult to answer as he tried every conceivable combination of bowlers, including Jones whose bowling is entirely without merit. It was left to Proctor to provide some hope with a bag of three wickets, but in the end the Rangers were well able to hold out for a comfortable draw, helped by an excellent century from Watson. Sunday July 29 v Old Tonbridgians at Tonbridge - Cancelled The OTs were playing in the semi-final of the Cricketer Cup: they beat Old Alleynians by 132 runs and beat Old Malvernians by seven wickets in the final. Saturday August 4 v Hampshire Hogs at Warnford - Abandoned Saturday August 11 v Bluemantles at Tunbridge Wells - Drawn This was a most encouraging display. Wingfield Digby, aided by Devitt and Rice, provided the foundation of our innings with valuable contributions from Rydon and Mason. The Bluemantles were never able to get going against an attack which ranged from the pace of Garrett, to the extravagant, but penetrative, spin of Gay, backed up by the indescribable bowling of Proctor. Such a combination almost proved too much for the Bluemantles who just managed to hold out. Sunday September 2 v Cobham at Cobham - Won by 1 wicket This was a most exciting win to round off our season. Cobham won the toss and elected to bat. In reducing them to 112-6 on a good batting wicket we could have felt justifiably pleased, but then a seventh wicket stand of 98 helped them to 248 which was about par for the course. We lost two early wickets but Jones and Perkins compiled a fine third wicket stand of 131 which brought us well up to the required run rate. Rydon (21) increased the impetus but a late order collapse left us needing 33 runs with only two wickets remaining. However, Mason, maintaining a steady nerve, scored a valuable 19 in fading light and with one wicket left scored the winning run off the penultimate ball. |