Plaxtol
30th May, 2010“That’s an awful decision by the umpire there.” – Geoffrey Boycott OBE (Sports Commentator)
“It’s bad news for the English game” – Alan Hansen (Sports Commentator)
“Errrr I didn’t see it…” – Arsene Wenger (Manager of Plaxtol CC)
Here is just some of the criticism for an umpiring decision made on a fine summer’s day in Shoreham. It was the first ball of the second over of the game and Brad Sims steamed in to bowl and the batsman for Plaxtol daintily gloved the bowl into the waiting hands of wicketkeeper Nick Pearce. Raucous celebrations were cut short due to an unmoved batsman and a similarly unmoved umpire.
However, we are not a bitter side and the jibes only lasted 8 hours further. The batsman was removed by Sims’ opening partner Tom Palmer (14-2-49-2) after getting 25. The troops were galvanised behind skipper Barrett and it showed as Sims (9-3-37-2) and Palmer removed the top 4 batsmen for under 70 runs. However, this did bring Williams to the crease who hit an unbeaten 97 including a phenomenal 18 fours and he is the main reason for some of the bowling figures looking a bit out of line!! Alex ‘Warney’ Haysler (6-0-45-1) replaced Brad and his leg spin down the hill was rumoured to have turned sideways. It certainly did for one batsman who lost his off peg. Palmer was finally given a rest from what has become known as ‘the Tom Palmer End’ and was replaced with Joel Hewett (3-0-41-0) who struggled to find his line but when he did the batsmen were in trouble. The familiar medium pace partnership of George Rivett (4-0-23-2) and Danny Setterfield (3-0-23-0) brought the batmen some issues although the final wicket stand was a large one with Plaxtol’s number 9 hitting 34 in a quick fashion. Bob Sims (2-0-24-0) took over one end to finish up but the batsmen were chasing everything by this point and they left the field at tea having set the formidable total of 247 for 7.
A Haysler tea, complete with smoked salmon and cream cheese rolls, was just what the doctor ordered to get rid of the dry taste of the hangover that most of the team seemed to be harbouring. The pressure of opening fell to Ray Trick and Bob Sims and Bob was victim of an LBW and left for 2. This brought Nick ‘keeper-batsman’ Pearce to the crease and he and Ray shared a hundred partnership with Nick finishing on 63 and Ray on 54. Shoreham were always behind the run rate but there was an absence of the usual batting collapse. Haysler (4) and Palmer (11) were both disposed of cheaply bringing Jon Beard hobbling to the crease due to an injury acquired earlier in the match. Jon bravely turned down a runner and he decided running between the wickets wasn’t a great idea so he dispatched the bowling to the boundaries instead including a wonderfully timed six. Jon finished and 17 not out and Brad joined him at the crease for a cameo of 0 not out. The match was drawn with Shoreham still needing 80 runs but Shoreham had fared much worse in this fixture in the past and were left feeling content with what they had achieved. So it was down to Ye Olde George Inne to sample many beers from the Beer Festival and relax into the bank holiday weekend…
- George