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The Old Wykehamists invited their guests to bat first in the 50 over Cricketer Cup warm up match. Hugo Adair with 74 and Will Caldwell with 53 put on 140 for the fifth wicket. A total of 245 was nearly 100 too many as Winchester were strangled mid innings by Alec Cunningham’s ten overs costing only 16 runs for 4 wickets.
In the second match a week later at Radley the visitors were again inserted with skipper Andy Gough top scoring with 52, but from 57 for 1 Marlborough slipped to 111 for 7. However James Godwin, with 40, and Alex Armstrong with 22 put on 57 for the next wicket but Marlborough were disappointed to be bowled out for 182 with over eight overs remaining.
Alec Cunningham, Ed Carpenter and Will Caldwell bowled their 30 overs for only 71 runs to keep the Rangers slightly behind the clock and in an exciting finish the Blues won with three balls to spare when the captain ran out the last man with 10 runs needed.
At Hurlingham Marlborough won the toss and elected to bat. Andrew Gough 44, Andy Bush 75 and Hugo Adair 38 all scored quickly, but the batsmen were in too much of a rush as the tail failed to support Alastair Scott-Dalgleish, not out 59, ending up on 289 all out in 44 overs, which on this high scoring ground in midsummer is not enough.
The Blues bowlers were soon to agree as Hurlingham lost only three wickets in taking less than 36 overs to win, scoring at more than 8 an over.
The next Saturday on Prize day the Old Boys found scoring much slower as they were bowled out for 139 in 47 overs with only three players reaching double figures, Ali Wade 46, Andy Gough 30 and Will Caldwell 37, the rest could only muster 16 between them.
On a spinning wicket the Blues opened the bowling with their only recognised spinner, Alec Cunningham, whose 22 overs, 11 maidens 5 for 35, kept the School working hard for any runs, but another close finish saw the College home by one wicket to continue their long good run of results against the Old Boys.
The ten man team at Vincent Square had an average age of 43. The two eldest combined to take a remarkable left handed slip catch, Simon Battersby taking the deflection off Bob Percival’s glove. Old Westminster continued their tradition of run outs, two in this game, both by Bob Trevelyan. One of their batsmen didn’t walk for an obvious caught behind but soon after walked for an LBW appeal. Another batsman was identified by Mark Foulds as a non-cricketer, because of his brown shoes, and sure enough, having been bowled off the last ball of an over, and the umpire having called over, the victim instead of turning on his heels to go back to the pavilion, walked in the other direction towards his batting partner for a chat, until he was surprised to be told that he was out!
Jim Gordon recorded his best ever bowling figures 4 for 53 and with Mark Foulds taking 3 for 77 the hosts were all out for 215. Simon Battersby with 55 not out and Neil Farquharson, undefeated on 96 saw the Blues to an easy eight wicket win, although the latter had an escape when he dollied a catch to mid-wicket who dropped it, and in his annoyance picked the ball up and hurled it to the mid-wicket boundary for a bonus four runs.
The next day at Marlborough a nine man Blues side took on an eight man Rugby team, however rain curtained the Meteors innings on 167 for 5.
In the return match a weak Rugby attack was hit for 322 for 6 in 52 overs, lunch was taken at 189 for 1 after the opening pair Alec Cunningham and Jamie Bill had both scored seventies in a stand of 134.
Henry Adair made 54 and Simon Battersby 39 not out before the declaration mercifully came.
Alex Armstrong claimed the first three wickets but an enterprising sixth wicket partnership took Rugby to 244 and an outside chance of an unlikely win but Andrew Gough dismissed both the dangerous batsmen and Alec Cunningham quickly polished off the tail, taking 4 for 40.
The Wiltshire Queries won the toss the next day and elected to bat on a very hot day. Their two best batsmen lasted only three balls to Henry Adair’s bowling, the opener edging his second ball to first slip, and the Devizes professional having taken his time in taking guard and looking around at the fielding positions and made sure everyone knew he fancied himself for a big score then proceeded to clip a half volley outside leg stump straight to Andy Bush.
Only two batsmen made double figures in their total of 239 and those two were lucky to reach these landmarks, as the opener who made 93 got away with a caught behind early in his innings, and the captain, who was undefeated on 110, edged everything between the slips and gully early in his knock. The end only came about after a long 59 overs because he ran three of his last six partners out. Henry Adair took 4 for 39.
Despite not having many overs a strong batting line up all made double figures, with Harry Harvey top scoring with 55. However the last pair Mike Bush and Alex Armstrong needed 18 to win the game, which they did with aplomb to win an exciting game.
On Saturday one of the weakest sides Marlborough has ever fielded won the toss and inserted the H.A. C. Unusually in such circumstances the ball followed the best fielder and George Hawley saved many runs on the deep mid wicket boundary as well as taking three catches in the deep and a run out with Neil Farquharson claiming two stumpings. The Blues did well to restrict the score to under 300.
George Hawley and Ross Stacey both made thirties, posting a quick 60 for 1 after 8 overs, but two wickets in the next two overs before tea started the rot and the Blues quickly subsided to 147 all out. The batting was summed up by Alex Armstrong who having been told by his captain to carry on batting sensibly then hit the next ball straight to the only fielder on the boundary at long off, who in dropping the ball deflected it over the boundary for a six.
The next day on another very hot day the hosts won the toss and asked the Old Amplefordians to bat. Dave Mark bowled well to begin with then lost his rhythm and started delivering head high full tosses. In between being called by the umpires he surprised three batsmen with unplayable balls finishing with 3 for 24. The Blues did well in bowling Ampleforth out for 220. Again the ten men of Marlborough lacked batting strength but the hosts had a poor bowling attack, especially when their opening bowler injured his ankle in his first over and retired to the pavilion asking for an ice pack.
Fergie Miller, the captain, opened the innings and made 37 and his brother Bertie, making his debut, top scored with 68. Dave Mark made 24 before being bowled by the recently recovered opening bowler. This had annoyed the home team as they had supplied substitute fielders up until the last 20 overs for the injured bowler. He was then persuaded by his team mates to come on the ground to field for the last hour and then half an hour later he was brought on to bowl. At the end of the over the square leg umpire was asked by the Blues if he had been back on the field for long enough. The game came to a halt for five minutes as the umpires and the captains consulted each other. The umpires agreed that he should not have been allowed to come back on but he was still able to continue. When he finally bowled Dave Mark Marlborough needed nine more runs to win. Alex Armstrong saw that justice was done hitting the Captain’s bowling for ten runs to win by a single wicket.
The Butterflies were held up in traffic coming down to Marlborough from London and it was agreed that they should bat and they quickly made 79 for 1 before the Heavens opened and the game was called off after an early lunch.
At Warnford the Hogs took lunch at 134 for 2 and increased the scoring rate to seven an over after the interval, declaring on 261 for 5. George Hawley 34 and Ross Stacey 42 added 63 for the second wicket but then wickets fell at regular intervals until Henry Adair 30 and Peter Hardy 27 brought some respectability to the final score of 183 all out.
At Burton Court Charlie Hicks, 39, and Ross Stacey, 48, built a solid platform that Ali Wade, 84 not out, from 79 balls, and Will Caldwell, not out at 31 from 21 balls, could play their shots to bring about the declaration on 267 for 5 in 48 overs.
A slow and negative Guards team seemed happy to play for a draw ending on 221 for 7 off 51 overs.
A peculiar pitch awaited Marlborough at Goodwood House. One end was green and damp the other half was dry and brown, so it was thought a stroke of genius by the team to open up the bowling one end with a seamer and Alex Armstrong to bowl his spinners to the dry, brown end. However the batsmen for the Shopwhyke Strollers prospered, their first six batsmen all scored more than 24, although the last of these batsmen, Will Caldwell, lived a charmed life, hitting the ball mostly in the air, and received another chance when he chipped a gentle return catch only for the bowler to be obstructed by the backing-up batsmen. The Blues were too polite to appeal, especially against one of their own, but the bowler soon had his revenge defeating him in the air yet again to have him caught. However as captain he obviously wanted his former team mates to suffer as he kept them in the field for 62 overs!
After 63 deliveries the contest was virtually finished as Marlborough lost four men for 24 runs, Alex Armstrong and James Hall, 24 and 38 not out respectively improved the score and their batting averages. The former knew he had an aggregate of 78 runs for two dismissals from his previous eight matches and was getting excited as his average approached 50. He has many times complained that he is batted too low for the Blues and should be given more time to develop an innings but Captains probably have a shrewd idea that concentration may be his problem as after batting for a while he went to his batting partner and said “what shall we do now?” having already agreed that the draw was the object. A few overs later he then said “I’m bored” hit the opening bowler for six and then holed out. The Strollers won by 126 runs.
Tim Marcon made his first appearance for Marlborough since 1997, and top scored with 78 not out at Eton. Next best was Alec Cunningham with 63 in the total of 250 for 9. The Ramblers were never in the hunt and Alec Cunningham took three more wickets to make a total of 22 in all for the season in only 97 overs at a cost of 12.22 Eton lost the match by 107 runs.
Secretary:
Will Caldwell, The Grange, Fittleworth, West Sussex, RH20 1EW.
Tel: 01798 865384
Mobile: 07768 326942
email: william.caldwell@tateandlyle.com |