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| 1992 |
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Played 18: Won 7, Lost 7, Drawn 3, Abandoned 1, Cancelled 1.
Sunday May 3 v Keble College at Oxford - Won by 66 runs
After winning the toss, the contrasting physiques of Bennett and Isaac strode to the wicket. As was to be expected, both batsmen took time to find their touch, but unfortunately Isaac had still not found his when he was bowled for nine. Aided by a number of dropped catches, our innings progressed without much trouble and Bennett continued his good form for the Pilgrims in recent years by scoring a hundred before lunch. After lunch, with orders to get himself out, he proceeded to hit the luckless Flint (1-106) for consecutive sixes before giving up his wicket. Thanks to his fine innings we were able to declare just before half time. Our opening attack of Ewen and Garrett found that there was little in the wicket to help them, but Garrett did get one to rear up and have their opener caught behind. Keble's middle order batted very sensibly, if a bit slowly, but then the guile of one of our guests, Paul Morton, began to baffle them and, once their number three had run himself out after a fine direct hit from the boundary by Spink, we were well on top. So much so that Isaac was even able to bowl, but Keble had enough skill (and sense) not to surrender, and, alas, he remained wicketless. It was fitting that the game ended with Morton taking his fifth wicket. Sunday May 10 v Old Whitgiftians at Croydon - Won by 3 runs Despite the damp day with intermittent drizzle, this ended up being a great game of cricket. Having won the toss, Rob Rydon decided to bat, but it was obviously going to be difficult against the new ball. Bennett soon found the Whitgift attack to be slightly more demanding than the previous week's and, despite one big six over mid-on, it was no great surprise when he was caught behind. Tweedale unluckily played on shortly afterwards, but Spink, deciding that attack was the best means of defence, helped Turner take the score up to 75-2 before he played one ambitious shot too many and was bowled. Turner then had to watch with dismay as we lost three quick wickets and went to lunch in trouble at 96-6. After lunch Rydon played a skipper's knock, taking quick singles wherever possible, and putting on 36 with Turner before he skied to deep square; 132-7 but with a lot of overs left and Turner playing better by the minute; Rice batted sensibly for his 14, and helped Turner put on 51 for the eighth wicket. Numbers ten and eleven, despite making only one between them, hung around, not only for Turner to get his hundred, but also to get the score over 200. Only using 51 of our allotted 55 overs is hopefully something we will not make a habit of. Turner's knock was high class, surviving the new ball through good technique and choice of shot, and then holding the innings together in scoring over half our runs. Any score over 200 on a slow wicket would take some getting, but the captain mentioned that he would have preferred to have some spin in his armoury rather than having to rely on seam for the whole 55 overs. We suffered a major setback when, in only his second over, Slade tweaked a hamstring and had to leave the field and take no further part in the game. However, at the other end, Peters, making a welcome debut appearance for the Pilgrims, was helping reduce Whitgift to 33-4 after ten overs. One of his wickets was a truly marvellous gully catch by Rix who caught a full blooded sliced drive one handed about seven feet in the air. At tea Whitgift were 89-4 off 25 overs, still needing 122, which was quite possible. The fifth wicket saw the hundred up before Garrett managed to produce a spell of 3-7 off six overs thanks to three catches behind the wicket by Tweedale. 136-7 and now 75 wanted off 14 overs. Good fielding and sensible bowling by Rydon left Whitgift at 183-8, needing 28 off the last three overs, and with Peters to bowl two of them, we thought we were safe. However, when the 53rd over went for 11, the 54th for three, and the first five balls of the 55th for 11, they were down to the last man having to hit the last ball for four to win the match. Fortunately he missed, was bowled and we had won a thrilling match. Most of all though the game was what it was intended to be, a warm up for the Cricketer Cup proper, and hopefully all the players learnt some lessons. Sunday May 17 v Radley Rangers at Radley - Lost by 4 wickets This was a 50 over match and, after we had won the toss, Turner and Batchelar put on 60 for the first wicket relatively untroubled until Batchelar ran himself out for 17. Turner was carrying on his fine form from the previous week and at lunch we were 92-2 off 29 overs, with Turner 52. We were obviously going to have to increase our run rate after lunch but, if Turner could provide the anchor role, there was no reason why we should not score at least 220. Well, Turner did provide the ideal anchoring role scoring another superb hundred, once again carrying his bat. Unfortunately, however, with only 66 runs being provided by the other batsmen, we were grateful to extras at 26, being the second scorer and pushing the total up to a modest 204 off 50 overs. On a good wicket we would obviously need an early breakthrough and this was provided by a hostile opening spell from Springfield, aided by good catches from Turner and Kitson, as Radley succumbed to 40-4. At tea Radley were 71-4 off 20 overs, still needing 138 to win off the remaining 30. After tea Tim Levy completed a fine spell of bowling (10-2-29-0) and would have had at least one wicket had the sun not prevented an easy catch being taken. When Garrett dismissed the dangerous Anderson with a real beauty, we must have become favourites to win the game. However, another dropped catch, coupled with some lax fielding, let numbers six and seven play themselves in and begin to make batting look relatively easy. In the end Radley reached our score without much difficulty and, whilst they batted well, it showed that we should have scored at least the 220 that was needed. Sunday May 31 - Cricketer Cup first round v Downside Wanderers at Downside - Won by 3 wickets For the second year running we were faced by an England rugby centre - last year Jamie Salmon at Wellington, this year Simon Halliday. Winning the toss, Rydon decided to put Downside in on a hard wicket. Garrett bowled so steadily that only 22 runs were scored off the first ten overs; and with Blackburn and Slade 31 came off the second ten. In the 21st over, as Downside looked to accelerate, Bernard was dropped and two overs later caught off a no-ball. A sloppy session up to lunch allowed him to reach 68 and Poland 34 in a score of 120 off 34 overs. Despite running Poland out second ball after lunch, the next nine overs saw three catches dropped and a possible run out missed while a further 60 runs were scored. Bernard reached his hundred (his sixth in the Cricketer Cup - more than anyone else) in the 45th over, watched by the first man of all to score a century in the Cricketer Cup, our own Bob Tozer! However, a much improved performance in the field restricted Downside to six an over during the last ten overs, and so left us a manageable target. Garrett with 1-39 off 11 overs and Slade 0-39 off 12 were the most economical bowlers. A slow start: the first "run" was a wide in the fourth over, made worse when Turner was adjudged to be lbw in the 7th over with the score four. Frustration led to Batchelar having an unsuccessful slog in the 12th over with the score 16; the first boundary of the innings was not scored until the 16th over. Edwards and Jones found more freedom but, in the three overs before tea, first Jones was caught at mid wicket and then Spink at cover point. A tea time score of 65-4 off 25 overs was not encouraging, but when mid-off ran out Edwards with a direct hit immediately afterwards our chances dropped even further. A small recovery by Blackburn and Rydon added 64 runs in the next nine overs, but then two wickets fell in the 38th over. Enter Garrett at 137-7 to join Rydon at 6.27pm with 17 overs to go and 112 runs required. Nine runs were scored in the next three overs followed by overs of 10 runs, 10, 8, 6, 8, 4, 13, 3 and 9 - just 27 more required off the last five overs. In an unbelievable atmosphere Rydon and Garrett took us to a famous victory with 11 balls to spare over a demoralised side which we had hardly looked capable of beating until the last quarter of an hour. Sunday June 14 v Hampshire Hogs at Warnford - Lost by 5 wickets A poor batting performance by the Pilgrims saw no-one get over 30, and we laboured for 52 overs to score only 135. However, our bowlers worked very hard and the Hogs were reduced to 69-5 and, with another batsman retired hurt, we were in with a chance. Hodges kept one end very tight with a spell of 14-8-21-1 but Coney and Taylor saw the Hogs home to a fine victory. The fact that the game did not start until 11.50am but was over at 5.45pm must say something about our batting performance. Sunday June 21 - Cricketer Cup second round v Marlborough Blues at Marlborough - Lost by 5 runs The Blues decided to bat on a pitch which Springfield found to his liking; he and Garrett bowling the first 15 overs for 31 runs and one wicket. Shone and Barker, however, made steady progress to lunch taken with the score at 91-1 off 33 overs. In the over following the interval, Shone reached his half-century with a six over square leg, but both batsmen were bowled within four overs. Worlidge was dropped early in his innings and finally took ample revenge while wickets fell steadily at the other end. However, 15 wides did not help our cause, although our bowlers were otherwise acceptably accurate and economical - Springfield 1-36 off 12 overs, Garrett 2-44 off 10, Blackburn 1-31 off nine, Rydon 0-38 off 12 and Levy 3-51 off 12. Our innings began with a great rush as it was obvious that Marlborough had only four class bowlers and the seven spare overs were being used up early. However, with Jones (25) and Tweedale (22) scoring 59 off the first nine overs that plan seemed to misfire, but then Makin changed all that and five wickets fell in the next ten overs while 23 runs were scored (Edwards was run out for nought, the third successive Cricketer Cup dismissal for him in that way). However, Blackburn (29) and de la Hey (27) batted on to the 38th over when de la Hey was caught mis-hitting to mid-on to make it 135-6. Rydon (22) helped Blackburn score 23 in the next five overs and then two wickets fell in two overs to bring Garrett to the crease with Rydon once more. Could they do it again? 20 runs off two overs boded well, but Rydon was ninth out, caught at the wicket in the 49th over with 25 still required. Garrett farmed the bowling like the seasoned campaigner he now was with three runs in the 50th over, five in the 51st, eight in the 52nd, three in the 53rd and then - tragedy; six required from 10 balls. Garrett hit firmly towards square leg and Springfield assumed an easy run, but Garrett wanted two and so called "No" - too late; Springfield slipped and could not regain his ground at the bowler's end. An unfortunate end to another tremendous match but the lesson must be that with six batsmen getting into the 20's someone has got to stay and play a real innings or the result is almost inevitable. Marlborough went on to beat Wellington by five runs in the next round before losing to Repton by four wickets in the semi-final. Saturday June 27 v The School at Sherborne - Lost by 7 wickets For the second successive year the Pilgrims failed to live up to their individual reputations with just four batsmen managing to reach double figures. Too many failed to realise that one cannot return to play against the School without some serious practice - they are, by Commem, seasoned cricketers. Ricketts proved precisely that. Sunday June 28 v Marlborough Blues at Marlborough - Drawn Lough lost the toss and on a hot day it was no surprise that we would have to endure the midday sun. Not only this, but looking around our dressing room, seeing Lough and Garrett having to cover themselves with bandages, and with Spink having jet lag, made the omens none too good. Our opening attack of Springfield and Ewen bowled well but, on a fairly fast wicket, the Marlborough openers put on 61 for the first wicket. Springfield got the first wicket through his newly found leg spin having tired of his pace bowling. We bowled consistently straight during the afternoon and reduced the score to 166-8, with five wickets being bowled and one lbw. It was frustrating that we let the last two wickets add 62. Our innings started badly with Mason and Rice both back in the pavilion with only 13 on the board. One wonders whether these two illustrious and long serving Pilgrims have actually ever managed to get into double figures at Marlborough! Rix and Spink then batted sensibly in moving the score on to 122 before we lost our third wicket. Spink's jet lag was inspiring him to attack the bowling, and of Rix and Spink's partnership of 109, Rix made only 30. When Spink was finally out for a wonderful 109, 82 of these runs had been scored in boundaries. A great innings and well worth being there to witness. His dismissal at 163 brought Lough in to join Charles Allen who had sensibly given Spink as much of the bowling as possible. Surprisingly though it was Lough who kept the score moving in getting a quick 31 before he was caught trying to go over the top. 206-5 and 22 needed off six overs. Allen now managed to take more of the bowling, but was having great difficulty in hitting the ball off the square. Not only this, but he became increasingly reluctant to run any singles. Kitson perished in trying to hit a boundary and we needed eight off the last over. Ewen managed an all run four and it ended up with two required off the last ball, with Allen facing. A great chance for glory for the young man - where would he go? Over the top or open the face down to third man? The excitement grew as the bowler came up to bowl, but alas Allen played a defensive shot straight to mid-on for one and the game was drawn. When challenged as to why he had not tried to hit the ball slightly harder, Allen replied that he was so tired that he could hardly lift his bat and, after scoring 14 out of the 106 runs since he arrived at the crease, some may sympathise! A good and enjoyable game but Spink's innings deserved to win the game for us. Sunday July 5 v Dorset Rangers at Sherborne - Won by 7 wickets The Rangers laboured for 63 overs to score 216 before declaring with Springfield bowling well for a deserved five wicket haul, once again combining pace with his newly found leg spin. The Rangers attack was made to look very ordinary by Tweedale in making a classy 97 and Pratt, who scored a quick 60 before he got tired and ran himself out. It took us only 44 overs to get the runs and eight overs of the final 20 were still left when we achieved a comfortable victory. Monday July 6 v Old Blundellians at Sherborne - Lost by 4 wickets A disappointing morning's play saw us reach the interval at 121-5. Pratt, at three, had been in since the second over and had a sound 48 to his name. He received support from Mason (20) and Springfield (24) either side of the interval. An excellent last wicket stand of 50 in 31 minutes with Slade (15*) was marked by Pratt reaching a solid century - we hope the first of many for the Club. We had some early success as Blundell's fell away to 49-3 but Lowe, who had taken 4-34 in 18 overs in our innings, steadied the boat and then batted with authority. This was more than sufficient to steer them to a comfortable win. Tuesday July 7 v Sherborne Town at Sherborne - Drawn Against steady bowling runs were at a premium and always hard to get, so that a declaration had to be delayed until Bagnall had hit Willows for 18 in two overs. Having dropped Perry in the fourth over, we rarely seemed in the hunt, although persistence paid even when the score became 144-6 with ten overs left. Thanks to Grellier (2-48 in 18 overs) those 40 runs were not obtainable and a close finish was guaranteed. Wednesday July 8 v South Wales Hunt at Sherborne - Won by 3 wickets Despite fielding six Shirburnians, Hunts found the fiery bowling of Knechtli and Bagnall hard to resist, and were soon struggling at 38-6. Madley, however, batted well to improve the position a little. The old stagers, Gent and Lough (24), put us within reach with one wicket down before Pexton caused a collapse that has not been unknown in Pilgrims cricket (88-2 to 91-7). Batting at number nine Stephens hit two successive fours to relieve the tension. Thursday July 9 v Butterflies at Sherborne - Drawn After a noon start Gent (26) helped Rice put on 36 for the first wicket, and we reached lunch at 110-2 with Rice having completed a useful 50. Cuthbert and Garrett set about the bowling after the interval which enabled us to declare at 3.30 after 47 overs. The Butterflies made a sound start but as tea approached the rain began and continued for nearly 24 hours. Friday July 10 v Rabelasians at Sherborne - Abandoned Sunday July 12 v Old Tonbridgians at Tonbridge - Won by 4 wickets The scores show how the bat dominated the ball but the onslaught that all our bowlers had to endure from Holmes had to be seen to be believed. Using a bat that had once been used by Graham Cowdrey, Holmes easily reached his hundred before lunch and hit the ball as hard as many of us have ever seen. His attack continued unabated after lunch when our cause was not helped by a leading bowler refusing to bowl. Once Holmes finally departed for a brilliant 181, Tonbridge were on target to set us over 300 but decided to dangle the carrot with a reasonable declaration. Turner and Matthews put on 46 for the first wicket before Turner unluckily played on. At tea, with wickets in hand, we were still in with a chance and needed two players to get big scores. Spink was the first to oblige with a powerful 74, made up of 12 boundaries and, after his dismissal, despite slipping to 149-4, we still had plenty of batting to come. Stone and Tweedale put on 41 for the fifth wicket before Stone was stupidly run out. It was now that Tweedale, once again, showed what a good player he has become in scoring a cultured 88, and would surely have got a hundred had he not won the game for us. Whilst Holmes' innings for Tonbridge should not be under-estimated, we scored our runs in 48 overs to Tonbridge's 59. A great victory. Friday July 31 v Old Tauntonians at Taunton - Lost by 6 wickets We were outplayed in most departments of this game and the margin of defeat could have been more. Having won the toss and decided to bat, Rice took eight from the first over, but Batchelar was out to the first ball of the second. However, Rice went on to complete a fine 50 and at 80-1 we looked set for a decent score. Taunton then introduced McCool, not only a ringer for them, but also an ex-Somerset player, and he quickly reduced us to 99-5, with final figures of 13-4-24-4. Cuthbert, de la Hey and Lyons all tried to further our cause by scoring 20s, but the final total of 191 was almost certainly 60 or 70 short of what should have been scored. Whilst we used seven bowlers, the Taunton batsmen found little difficulty with the wicket or the bowling, and, to be honest, the wickets we did get were down to the batsmen getting themselves out. Apart from the School game, this was the worst defeat of the season. Saturday August 8 v Bluemantles at Tunbridge Wells - Won by 7 wickets We turned out a full side but this required the support of a few guests. Any thoughts that our bowling would be weak were dispelled by the discipline of line and length. Thus, a strong Bluemantles batting line-up was subdued and then whittled out. Boucher, on his debut for the Pilgrims, bowled with great skill. We had a strong batting side but still had to get the runs. In an opening partnership of 80 with Gray, Batchelar batted well and showed the form of which he is capable. Treacy dominated the bowling with powerful and aggressive strokes, whilst skipper Rice helped to guide us to victory with six careful singles. Saturday August 29 v Honourable Artillery Company at Armoury House - Cancelled Sunday August 30 v Cobham at Cobham - Lost by 5 wickets This game was heavily affected by rain but ended up being quite exciting, going to the last over. The start was delayed until 1.20pm when we were asked to bat, and promptly descended to 17-4 with Spink and Rice both ending the season without troubling the scorers. Tweedale and Rix did a brief rescue act before Rix's run out prompted two more wickets, and at 72-7 we were in real trouble. However, Will Rydon, in his only appearance of the season, put on 37 with Mason (16) and 55 with Garrett (20*), and fully deserved his 50. Whilst some Pilgrims felt that we should have batted on for a few more overs, with rain still in the air, we had to keep Cobham interested if we were to have any chance of winning the game. When they were 37-3 things were looking hopeful but a stand of 101 between Tim Edwards (26) and Boon put Cobham back in control. We managed to dismiss both Edwards and Boon in consecutive overs, Boon run out thanks to a fine throw from Tweedale, but Jerry Edwards (18*), another Pilgrim, saw Cobham home. Whilst all defeats are disappointing, this one was against a strong Cobham side. Most older Pilgrims, who remember the batting prowess of the Edwards brothers, will know that any side that has Jerry coming at number seven must be strong! |