As has become tradition for the previous 20 years, the
Strollers Cotswolds Tour begins not on the pitch on the Saturday, but in the
serene and welcoming abode of club President Maggie Patston in Bath on the
Friday.
It is the Saturday match reporter’s duty to cover both the
happenings of the evening prior as well as the all-important action on the
field. Having not attended the pre-tour festivities before, your scribe can
only assume being given the Saturday match reporting task was a thinly veiled
attempt to have me join on the Friday - and I’m glad I did.
With no gardening duties required this year, the travelling
Strollers were forced into doing what they do best: sitting, talking, eating
& drinking. Such was the amount of quality ‘bants’ your scribe was required
to take a notepad and pen to record in shorthand the best quips of the evening.
Unfortunately, much of this record is illegible and so many great moments were
left for those who witnessed them in person. Perhaps that is the way it should
be.
A post-mortem of The Lee was conducted with a final
conclusion that it would be best to check Ryan Air pilot scheduling in future
and schedule The Lee fixture on dates when Mr Henry Quinn (who belted 179no)
would be otherwise preoccupied. Was there chatter about forced retirements?
What goes on tour stays on tour although it was all agreed defending the short
Lee boundary with ball in hand is an unenviable task.
Brad Trebilcock wondered if there was blood in trifle? It
is jam, Brad, and mighty delicious. Hats off to Chef Maggie who produced a
wonderful three-course meal followed by an appearance of some Rob Wall
Hungarian dessert wine, a fine night cap indeed.
In what has also become tradition, someone (usually Mike
Pittams) has the honour of sleeping in the Strollers Library where scorebooks
of all 50 seasons (and counting!) can be perused at your leisure.
Pittams had decided a day at The Oval watching NZ thrash
the English was a better use of his time so it was my pleasure to be able to
pick a random scorebook, opened to a random fixture to see Simon Brodbeck with
match figures of 5-21 off 10 overs vs Locksbottom in May 1986, will this be the
last mention of a five-for on this tour? You will have to keep reading to find
out.
And so, with the wonderful evening behind us, we set off to
Broughton Gifford for the first match of the tour. A 35- over match and
negotiated toss by skipper Alastair Macaulay saw Pittams and Steve Rogers go
out to open on a freshly cut and rolled pitch. A solid start with Rogers
falling first, bowled by Alex Ladner for 29 with the score 102-1.
Ben Mangham joined Pittams at the crease, but the stay was
short, a six-ball duck given lbw from J Hamblin, who had found some good
movement on a length and looked a handful.
A wobble perhaps? Not with our very own Bradley Rahul
Dravid “The Wall” Trebilcock coming to the crease. In what will almost
certainly be a nickname that sticks, one of the opposition asked “Why do they
call him Dribbly?” Perhaps we call him Dribbly for the way the ball dribbles
off the square as Brad stoutly defended 17 dotballs before getting off the
mark.
A retirement at 101no for Pittams saw Glen Oliver join Brad
at the crease. The match descended into a rather unusual spectacle when Dribbly
(with two balls to go in the over) had found himself in a trance-like state
leaning on his bat while the fielding team looked on in wonder about what
exactly was going on in this moment. Brad came to and was able to score more
freely before being bowled by M Hamblin for 14.
Broughton Gifford have two awards ‘Duck of the day’ -
awarded to Mangham and ‘Dunce of the day’ which is usually reserved for a
member of their own team, however nothing eclipsed Brad’s momentary lapse in concentration, it was to
be noted that Brad must bring Jaffa Cakes to the fixture next year, which is
the punishment for winning the award.
The innings concluded with some big hitting from Oliver
(53no) and Freddie Broster-Turley (19 off 8). A quick(ish) single to Jim
Hodgson in the final over was cheered on enthusiastically by wife Jo and Steph
Oliver, our travelling groupies for the tour. Broughton Gifford set a target of
236 to win from 35 overs.
As they do every year, Broughton Gifford put on a fabulous
tea which to a man (& woman) was agreed would sit towards the top of the
Tea leaderboard for 2026, but none of that matters unless you get the James
Dela Rue ‘Nod’ of approval which was swiftly delivered, putting his money where
his mouth is with a decent second helping.
Onto the chase and it was our Lord DLR, desperate for his
first wicket of the season, with fresh cherry in hand. Broughton Gifford
skipper Ladner, possibly identifying the angst, climbed into DLR early and
dispatched anything short of a length to the leg-side boundary.
At the other end, having not troubled the scorers with bat,
Mangham was given first chance to trouble the batters with ball which he
promptly did by bowling Broughton Gifford opener McDougall with the final ball
of his first over. The ball was a ripper, pitching on middle & leg and
seaming away to clip top of off. McDougall described it as ‘ball of the
century’ in the after-match festivities. Let the record show Mangham did not
disagree. Mangham finished with 2-13 from his six overs on what really was a
tailormade pitch for him.
While Ladner continued to score freely, regular damage was
occurring at the other end. At long last, DLR got his name in the wickets
column when he clean bowled Sundarrasan. With the knowledge that a second
wicket would halve his average for the season, DLR induced a checked drive that
popped up towards the left of Macaulay. Macaulay, our fearless leader for the
day who is known for backing up his bowlers in the field, promptly scrambled to
reel in a terrific one-handed catch. DLR was also able to grab the key wicket
of Ladner (34) caught behind square by Mangham, reducing Broughton Gifford to
51-5 from 13 overs.
With five wickets required for victory, our fearless leader
arrived at the crease with plenty of thought among the team that this could be
a ‘good pitch for Stair’.
Alastair was later seen making enquiries about the
possibility of packing the pitch up and taking it with us as he found himself
with astonishing figures of five wickets for six runs off just 4.2 overs.
Captain Macaulay would be the first to admit the spell was a ‘team effort’ with
four of the wickets caught, including a difficult chance at long-on by Oliver
and also a first catch behind the wicket for debutant keeper Broster-Turley.
Broughton Gifford all out for 76 in the 22nd over.
And with that, we retired to the pleasant setting of The
Bell on The Common for some well-earned after-match beverages. Before long,
attention turned to the second match of the tour with quiet whispers
circulating through the team that a certain 19th-century novelist might be
casting her gaze across the meadow of Adlestrop Manor.
Capt: Alastair Macaulay. Wkt: Freddie Broster-Turley.
Match report: Steve Rogers.
