External Links
| Designed by: |
| 1989 |
|
Played 14: Won 5, Lost 4, Drawn 5, Cancelled 1.
Sunday May 7 v Keble College at Oxford - Won by 115 runs
A convincing victory provided a splendid start to the season. It was particularly pleasing to see a Pilgrims side containing a significant proportion of recent School leavers with Hodges (in his debut match) and Rix making useful contributions to the victory. An opening stand of 80 between Wingfield Digby and Turner served as a fine platform upon which Eckersley-Maslin (24), Hodges and Rix capitalised. In reply Keble made little headway against the pace of Slade (1-10 in eight overs) and ultimately were sorely puzzled by the penetrative offspin of Hodges, ably supported by the mature left arm spin of Gay. Sunday May 14 v Old Whitgiftians at Croydon - Won by 1 run This new fixture provided a wonderfully exciting contest. The Old Whitgiftians' wicket was ideal for batting, though the deceptively low bounce was the undoing of some. There was no intrinsic merit in our opponents' bowling whose initial enthusiasm turned to the philosophical resignation of those who have spent years toiling away without obtaining any measurable success. Ashworth in his debut game for the Pilgrims played attractively for his 20 until he was bowled by something of a scudder. Our mainstay proved to be Lough who, starting cautiously, blossomed out to strike five boundaries, including two sixes. His was a vital contribution and he was well aided by important innings from Garrett (22) and Slade. Slade showed a particularly violent disposition towards the bowling, with all but nine of his runs coming in boundaries. Our opening attack of Garrett and Slade started off with great vigour, though by this time the pitch was devoid of any pace, and as time went on our opponents began to assert themselves - a tight spell of off spin by Hodges gave us a measure of control, but the target remained well within reach. With 20 overs left an effervescent display of left arm swing bowling by Lyons (2-6 in eight overs) rudely interrupted the progress of our hosts. At this stage our fielding achieved a high level of competence with Evans and Ashworth outstanding. In the final stages Slade held his nerve and, with the final ball of the penultimate over, provided the perfect yorker to secure us the match. Sunday May 21 v Radley Rangers at Radley - Lost by 2 wickets This was the second warm-up match before the first round of the Cricketer Cup and our undoing was the failure of a number of our batsmen to capitalise on their positions, having become well set. Nevertheless, Jones, Eckersley-Maslin and Slade all played well in their various ways. We seemed well set for victory with Radley at 103-5, but Cully batting at seven took the game by the scruff of the neck and, in an innings of 70, hit ten boundaries, including three sixes - a truly match winning effort. Sunday June 4 - Cricketer Cup first round v Bradfield Waifs at Bradfield - Lost by 6 wickets On winning the toss our hosts put us in on a wicket with a little moisture still in it to give some assistance to the bowlers. However, having become entrenched in our early cautions we lost our way and after 30 overs were only 82-2, and after 45 overs we were 141-4. These figures probably speak for themselves and it was only a vigorous innings of 28 not out by Will Rydon which enabled us to rally to 187. If our batting may have been disappointing, our bowling and fielding was splendid and, in the end, the fact that we lost the match can largely be attributed to Cox who dominated the Waifs' innings, and by doing so kept the pressure off their later batsmen. His early dismissal would have substantially enhanced our victory prospects for the remaining batsmen found batting hard going, and the Waifs only reached their target in the last over. The match should have been played at Sherborne but, due to a "misunderstanding", the Upper was not available. Sunday June 18 v Hampshire Hogs at Warnford - Won by 4 wickets We won the toss on a perfect day and decided to put in the Hogs on their artificial surface. The morning session was characterised by sharp fielding and accurate bowling, particularly from Hodges who bowled 17 overs for 12 runs. It wasn't long before we struck and the Hogs found themselves at 56-3 after 90 minutes play. Gay replaced Ward from the farmyard end and proceeded to fool the opposition with extremes of varying pace, length and line! The perfect delivery removed a dangerous left hander the ball before lunch, so the Hogs left the field at 75-5. Lunch usually takes its toll on the younger Pilgrims, but this time the weather, rather than the port, was beginning to induce some lethargy into the side. We missed a couple of sharp chances and allowed the Hogs to creep back into the game. We started quickly with a useful contribution from Lough (22), but it was Jones, playing with the usual flair and indifference, pushing one's and two's and running well between the wickets, who gave a perfect demonstration of controlled batting. Further useful contributions from Rix, Hodges and Ashworth raised the score to 134-5. Jones then made his first mistake and was caught at deep extra cover. At this stage we needed 30 off the last four overs, a fair task given the Hogs' bowling strength. We plundered the attack and ran between the wickets well, which left five required off the last ten balls. A quick single, followed by a hooked top edge was all that was needed to complete the day. At last a victory at Warnford and by a very pleasant margin too. Saturday July 1 v The School at Sherborne - Lost by 137 runs This was by some way the most unsatisfactory performance of the season. The School won the toss and all went reasonably well for us until the period just before and after lunch, when we completely lost control against a barrage of fine stroke play from Tweedale and Leeke batting at five and six respectively - it was a splendid exhibition of counterattacking play and, in the end, we were fortunate to keep the total down to 227. The less said about our batting the better - there was no doubt that the School attack was stronger than usual and well supported in the field. However, with the exception of Ashworth (28) our batting was feeble and we subsided without a fight. Sunday July 2 v Marlborough Blues at Marlborough - Cancelled Sunday July 9 v Cobham at Cobham - Won by 3 wickets We were fortunate to win the toss on a damp overcast day and had little difficulty in deciding to invite the home team to bat. Conditions were always going to favour the bowlers and nobody used them better than Fisher. In two hostile spells he proved too much for nearly all the Cobham batsmen and finished with well earned figures of 6-31. The bowling was backed up well by some tight fielding and the two catches by Rice and Drew were of a very high standard. Our innings got off to a fine start with a fluent 53 from Eckersley-Maslin but the all too familiar middle order collapse, plus a long break for rain, meant that victory had to be earned by graft, and Drew, in appalling light and drizzle, saw us home by three wickets. Had there been a "Horlicks" award it would have undoubtedly gone to Lough who, having arrived late, immediately dropped a catch and made no runs. Saturday July 15 v South Wales Hunt at Sherborne - Drawn A splendid innings by Spink, who batted with the gay abandon of one recently having finished his law finals, was the highlight of a match in which bowlers could exert little influence. Spink was ably assisted by Gould and Rice, who both played attractive innings to enable us to make a challenging declaration. The Hunts were soon 13-2, but stands of 95 by Morgan and Meggitt for the third wicket, followed by 61 from Madley and Lewis for the fifth, kept them in the match. We had the glimmer of a chance at 176-6 but Lewis played sensibly and we could not dislodge him. Sunday July 16 v Honourable Artillery Company at Sherborne - Won by 4 wickets On a slow flat wicket bowling was hard work but Bagnall bowled his left arm pace with splendid enthusiasm and stamina, and his figures were scant reward; Stone bowled with his customary resource and control, and to dismiss the HAC for 189 was thoroughly creditable. Spink continued his post-law final celebrations with a vigorous 52 and Drew made a welcome return to form. It should have been all over with seven wickets to spare but Lyons and Lough were both dismissed without scoring, leaving Gould and Stone to see us home. Monday July 17 v Sherborne Town at Sherborne - Drawn We got in difficulties against the bowling of Willows and Kirsten and, in spite of a good innings from Stone, were struggling at 82-7. Lough and Gould added a vital 78 for the eighth wicket and, when Lough was out after a two hour stint, Slade helped Gould put on 34. We batted for 76 overs but due to earlier problems could not declare any sooner. Richards (29) and Soulsby started with 91 for the first wicket, but when Stone came on he got two quick wickets and from that moment the Town lost the initiative and the match petered out into a draw. Tuesday July 18 v Dorset Rangers at Sherborne - Drawn By this stage of the week the Upper wicket had begun to break up which resulted in there being very little bounce and virtually no pace. The state of the wicket undoubtedly made it difficult for batsmen to score easily and for bowlers to be penetrative. Slade bowled accurately and with stamina, and well deserved his figures. A target of 165 seemed modest enough, but our batsmen found it difficult and, against the bowling of Gent and Dike, we never looked like achieving the target. Wednesday July 19 v Old Tauntonians at Taunton - Drawn Played on a splendid wicket this was a most enjoyable and exciting contest with fortunes fluctuating throughout. A sixth wicket stand of 126 between Stone and Evans saved us from the dire straights of 48-5. Against a varied and competent attack Stone played strokes all around the wicket and utterly arrested the progress of our hosts. To their great credit our hosts batted in attacking vein right down the order, and it was only when they were eight wickets down that they put up the shutters. Bagnall (2-25) bowled a very fine opening spell but, for the most part, the bowling was done by the spinners, Stone and Gent, who both toiled away with great effect to secure three wickets apiece. Sunday July 23 v Old Tonbridgians at Tonbridge - Drawn The previous two years had seen our hosts suffer heavy defeat at our hands. On this occasion, however, we were sadly depleted and fortunate to escape with a draw. Our mainstay was Stone whose bowling and batting was of a high order. We did well to confine the OT's to 219 on a perfect track but our batting found the going somewhat taxing and we did well to get as close as we did. Saturday August 5 v Bluemantles at Tunbridge Wells - Lost by 6 wickets On a beautiful white batting track we did ourselves less than justice in scoring 225. Our batting was disrupted by a bowler of some three score years who posed a problem, which has so often undone batsmen in the past, namely, whether to try to hit the ball for four or six. Five of us succumbed and it was only thanks to the lower order batsmen that we were able to set a reasonable target: we thought it was reasonable, but on reflection a target of 400 might have been more appropriate. The Bluemantles tore into us with no bowler being exempted from severe punishment. We were flogged all over the ground and the lack of a regular spin bowler proved to be a sore handicap. A fine performance by the Bluemantles, who attacked throughout. They batted for 43 overs compared to our 60 and that sums up the day. |