This is the month of summer holidays and of summer visitors: if you book early you get away, and if you don’t you find other people take their holidays with you. Much of Shoreham has been engaged in this way in the past few weeks, which has resulted in some rare and exotic sightings on the field of play, as captains pursued old acquaintances, or just accosted people in the street, as they tried to get a full side out. As we arrived at Plaxtol on the 8th an aggrieved spectator shouted at one of our team ‘Here! I’ve been done. I put in for a wreath for you!’

8th August – 2nd XI v Plaxtol

Plaxtol’s is a small ground – about the same width as the excavations for the gas pipeline that presently skirt their boundary fence – so high scoring can be expected. James Asplin, who opened at one end, began his run up by pushing off from the sight screen. At the other end James Blomfield was an intimidating sight as he rushed downhill. Despite the pace and aggression of James A and James B, the restored skills of Richard Bredon, the ageless wiles of Dangerman (aka Ray Trick) and the accuracy of Andre, the home side scored steadily. The longest interval without scoring was when Andre tried to give his surname to the scorers. The record shows that James A took 2 for 74, James B 1 for 52, Richard 2 for 52, Ray 2 for 47 from 5 overs, and Trampoline 2 for 47 off 8.

A single bowling point was to be our only reward for the day. Our own innings crumbled. The only notable resistance came from Dangerman, who was captain for the day, and whose 45 accounted for more than half the runs to come from a Shoreham bat. Andre kept the captain company for a long time, in a stand of 47, and his innings was described as possibly the best duck ever made by a Shoreham batsman.

Special mention should be made of Graham Clark, who dusted off his old school kit to make a comeback for the day, and of Darren Richardson who, despite an interval of years since his previous game, kept wicket splendidly, particularly to the two Jameses, who tested his full repertoire of diving takes on both sides of the wicket. Darren was showing signs of seizing up by the time he was manoeuvred into the car for the homeward journey. Word has not reached us as to whether he was successfully extricated at the other end and he hasn’t been sighted since. Get well soon Darren, and we hope we’ll see more of you as soon as you have regained full mobility.

15th August – 2nd XI v St. Lawrence

Despite there being no first team fixture that day only eleven players were available, including Steve who was given a warm welcome by all his old friends at St. Lawrence.

Will Stanyard donned the marigolds, which were being passed around like a case of swine flu, and he too put in a great performance.

The opening 18 overs really determined the course of the game as Nigel and Steve were bowled through: Nigel taking 3 for 23 and Steve 1 for 22. With most of their main batsmen removed early on, St. Lawrence were unable to pick up the pace in the second half of their innings, Richard Smith’s 43 being the only notable score in their 141.

Of the other bowlers used Richard finished with 2 for 33, Sam and Jack each contributed a cameo role and ended with a very economical 1 for 2, whilst Papillon took 1 for 34 in 9 overs.

St. Lawrence’s opening bowlers were difficult to get away and after 13 overs the score stood at 26 for 1, but the depth of our batting talent was shown by the fact that Steve was pencilled in at nine. Will coming in at four picked up the tempo, particularly after the first change of bowling, and Paul and Nigel (who top scored with 45) accelerated us through the winning tape with 12 overs to spare.

22nd August – 2nd XI v Withyham

8 man Withyham were asked to field by Captain Brown, and Montie and Alex were sent out to open. Both players, deliberately or not, took quite a lot of liberties with the field – many aerial shots landing in the gaps where there might have been a fielder under other circumstances. There was also the entertaining spectacle of Withyham’s lively opening bowler bouncing Alex. By standing on tiptoe and swatting Alex managed to tip the ball over the keeper’s head. Alex did eventually manage to locate a fielder with a lofted shot and then Sam joined Montie, and they carried things along to drinks, when the score was 92 – 1 and Withyham were up to 9 fielders.

After the break, scoring accelerated. Sam fell just short of 50, Montie carried on to get 76, Rupert and Jack made lively contributions, and eventually everyone got to bat, although Captain Brown didn’t face a ball as the Ageing Hack perished at the other end in the middle of the last over with the total at 248.

After tea, 10 man Withyham proved a far tougher proposition than they had been earlier in the season. Fresh wells of talent had been tapped and from the start they scored at the required rate of 6 an over. As soon as one or two wickets were taken and we felt in the driving seat another batsman would take up the battle and push the score along.

You know that popular computer game, the Sims, where you can create your own characters and then send them into real life situations? Well someone invented an improbable, one-legged bowler called Brad and sent him into our game. Amazingly, he managed three wickets in his nine over spell, whilst at the other end James B bowled tidily and took just one scalp. Next up were Rupert and Jackson who both bowled very well. Rupert is unrecognisably stronger and faster than two seasons ago, when your correspondent last played alongside him, and troubled each batsman. Jackson had a great day. Having failed to take notes from the book, I have to rely on memory to say that Jackson took three important wickets and Rupert two, but that may not be exact.

After young Rupert exhausted his permitted overs, James Martin (or is it Martin James?), who had made a good contribution in the field, was called up for one over. At this point, Wythyham’s number 10 batsman was proving himself to be a mean striker of the ball. If their last pair remained together for the last eight overs, scoring at the same rate, then the result would be very close. JM (or MJ) didn’t produce the answer in his first over and so Sam was called upon, and he produced the final wicket. In the end, the win looked comfortable, but right up until the last it had not seemed that way.

Finally, in this review of the last three weeks, I’m sure that you would all like to join with me in offering sincere commiserations to Mark (and any other Australians who are reading this) for losing such a well fought test series. No really.

See you Saturday Mark. We’ll help you forget the pain.

Ahahahahahahahaha!

Wyn

Posted on Monday, 24th August, 2009 in 2nds Match Reports.