Gardening has recently played a role in the Friday pre-tour
festivities at Patston Towers in Bath. I’m not sure if it could be termed a
tradition yet, but Mike Pittams and Rob Wall led the way with lawn mower,
strimmer and an assortment of hand tools from the shed.
The mower effectively dealt with a patch of weeds and
brambles, as well as the lawn, and Rob produced razor sharp edges with the
strimmer. A dead branch was cut out of the cherry tree, which Jim claimed as
fuel for Jo’s Scandinavian hot tub. Fair enough, as he had helped cut it and
there weren’t a sea of hands to compete for the dead wood.
Mike and Rob had been playing golf earlier and depending on
whose scoring method you favoured, both had won. Rob had used the traditional
approach, while Mike’s method has yet to be ratified by the R&A.
A set of boules appeared from the depths of the garage and
they continued their sporting rivalry on the pristine lawn. One end was even
taken from on top of the Victorian roller. No doubt on this occasion, Rob was
the winner.
The entire warm-up party had assembled to enjoy cooling
drinks and nibbles on the terrace, including Stair, Mike Daly (known as Daly
for this report), Freddie Broster-Turley, Glen ‘I’m not a beer drinker’ Oliver
and Steph. Jim and Jo had stopped off on the way to visit Dyrham Park, a
National Trust house with extensive parklands just outside Bath. It’s well
worth a visit, if you like that sort of thing.
One element of the Bath warm-up which is definitely a
tradition is that Maggie will produce a delicious feast. This edition was no
exception with starters of smoked salmon and mackerel pate and carrot and cream
cheese roulade, mains of duck breast with watercress and brandy sauce and
stuffed peppers, followed by chestnut roulade and a dramatic terrine of summer
fruits. A fine cheese board finished dinner off.
Did I mention wine was involved, including Chateau
Giscours, where we played our first match on the 2024 Bordeaux Tour and will be
returning to this October.
Much chat ensued during and after dinner, and Mike enjoyed
his usual rounds of the game ‘Who do you prefer?’. If you‘re not familiar with
this game Mike will turn to someone and say ‘Who do you prefer, Richie McCaw or
Dan Carter?’ (insert names of Strollers). How many people plump for one of the
options?
Some retired to bed, others to watch the Lions v Argentina
game. Maggie and Jim pushed on through, but I don’t think either of them stayed
awake to watch much of the game. Jim awoke on the sofa to find Rob watching the
Super Rugby play-off final between Crusaders and Chiefs. He wasn’t happy with
the result.
Post breakfast (thank you to Glen and Steph on the hob and
Maggie on the oven. Do fried onions have a place in a cooked breakfast?
Discuss) we all departed for Broughton Gifford.
We were joined by Simon Brodbeck, Blair Travis, Steve
Rogers, James De La Rue and Brad Trebilcock and a little light drizzle, but
that cleared up fairly quickly. Our
friendly hosts welcomed us and remined us to keep the changing room doors
closed to stop the ducks escaping.
Stair was skippering, lost the toss, and was asked to bat
first in a 35-over game. Blair and Mike opened and immediately showed the good
form they’ve been in this season. From the two previous encounters with
Broughton Gifford we know P. Leverington is a good line and length bowler, but
anything slightly wayward was punished, and the other bowlers didn’t fare any
better. Daisy Hunt arrived late and took the gloves from home skipper Alex
Ladner. She showed she was an accomplished keeper.
Blair and Mike carried on, taking the quick singles, twos
and quite a few boundaries and brought their 50s up off 42 and 40 balls
respectively.
At the drinks interval Mike retired with sore hamstrings
for a fine 61 and the total at 136. Daly joined Blair, and the rapid progress
continued, until Blair brought up his ton off 76 balls. He retired on 101.
Enter Steve. Daly was dealing mainly in boundaries and
Steve played a fine supporting role rotating the strike. There was a brief
period where they both chipped balls close, but not quite close enough to
fielders, but the total kept rising rapidly.
Despite being a limited over game, skipper Stair made it
know he was planning a declaration. Would he leave Daly stranded on 49? No, he
knocked off a 50 from 30 balls and then retired.
Enter Brad. He took a couple of swishes and misses before
dispatching a ball to mid-on for one and generous cheering from beyond the
boundary. The skipper then declared after 31 overs, cruelly leaving Brad only
49 short of his first 50 for the club. Steve finished on 24* with Broughton
Gifford left to chase 252.
Jo and Steph returned from their walk around the local area
to study Maggie’s immaculately kept book, and eyebrows were raised on noticing
that no one had actually got out.
Broughton Gifford laid on a wonderful tea of generous and
wide-ranging proportions. We were touched to learn that we’re the only side
they do tea for. Thank you.
Daly was selected as the keeper for the day; something he
accepted with little relish! Alex Ladner and C Bowen opened for Broughton
Gifford and found the going tough against Freddie and James.
James struck early having Bowen caught at point by Steve.
In an almost identical dismissal, Ladner fell shortly after. R Beck put up more
resistance, being the only batter to make double figures, but fell lbw to
Freddie.
Daisy Hunt showed great technique with a good stride, high
elbow and plenty of maker’s name on display, but James wasn’t to be denied and
bowled her for two, finishing with 3-14.
Freddie removed young H (Harry?) Robinson, bowled, to a
chorus of booing from his team-mates led by Glen. C ‘I’m a hockey player and
know nothing about cricket’ Young was next in. She might profess to know
nothing about cricket, but she is blessed with foresight, predicting she would
be caught. And so she was. Caught and bowled by Freddie, finishing his stint on
3-4.
Jim replaced James and struck immediately with Robinson Senior
tickling one to Brad at gully, registering his first catch for the Strollers.
Rather than the expected warm congratulations Brad was greeted with solid abuse
for his ‘crocodile’ technique.
Simon’s first over brought two wickets, one caught behind,
over his shoulder by Daly, and one ball that appeared to touch the clouds, such
was its trajectory, but returned to earth to dislodge the leg stump bail. A
third wicket in his second over (3-9), thanks to a catch from Mike, brought the
innings to a close, with a total of 35.
We headed to The Bell for refreshments with our friendly
hosts, including a round of Pernod, for those who like that sort of thing.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noted Rob’s gardening
and boules exploits on Friday evening, but no mention of Saturday cricketing
greatness. For the record, his Wallness departed for London on Saturday morning
to attend a food festival with his family.
Capt: Alastair Macaulay. Wkt: Mike Daly.
Match report: Jim Hodgson.
