Wall
Saturday August 31 in Burntwood Strollers lost by one wicket Strollers 162-7
(35 overs; Rogers 70no, Broster-Turley 44, Macaulay 23no, Oliver 13)
Wall 166-9
(34.2 overs; Salvesen 3-18, Oliver 2-7, Broster-Turley 1-9, Hodgson 1-17, Macaulay 1-17, Smith 1-29) The week leading up the game saw a frenzy behind the scenes
as Wall found that they did not have a pitch. Their usual ground at Lichfield
CC was in use for league games. Many phone calls between Simon Brodbeck and
David Craig to every cricket club in Staffordshire paid off in the end as
Burntwood St Matthew was available. Careful instructions to find the ground in
a new housing estate (and in the grounds of the old Burntwood Asylum) and the
need to drive around inside the perimeter were issued.
As skipper Alastair Macaulay arrived at the ground he was
feeling confident that all was well - accommodation booked, meals had been
ordered, a batting order firmly in his head. However, it was announced that
Rowan Smith had missed the train that he was supposed to be on (Richard Skinner
did manage it), the following one was cancelled and that he would be at Rugby
waiting for the next train to Lichfield. Nonetheless Alastair won the toss and
elected to bat, figuring that Rowan could bat down the order a bit on arrival.
The pitch was pretty lively and had a bit of a concave
aspect and variable bounce. Disaster struck immediately when Mr Reliable
Blair Travis was bowled third ball by Faisal Yasdan (of whom more later),
followed in the second over by George Love lobbing one back to the other
opening bowler Peter Atkin. Richard Skinner was then bowled by Atkin with the
score 7-3. Glen Oliver and Steve Rogers put on 30 for the fourth wicket when
Glen chipped back to Simon Foulds. Jim Hodgson and Tom Salvesen, both normally
reliable in the middle order, quickly followed. At 48-6, the end was looming
with our 11th man still supping Guinness in Rugby station
researching the life and times of William Webb Ellis.
Alastair was at this point reminded of the wise words of
Robert Burns that “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft
agley”. Everything was ganging aft agley rapidly. However, rescue came in the
form of Freddie Broster-Turley as he and Rogers started rebuilding the innings.
Freddie played his normal game of see ball, hit ball and the pair put on a
potentially match-changing 61 in eight overs before Freddie was bowled for a
valuable 44 off 26 balls including a six and seven fours.
It was still only the 25th over (and 10 overs left) and
with the arrival of Rowan promised, Macaulay strode out with the intention of
keeping Steve company for as long as possible. Alastair started circumspectly
trying to rotate the strike to the in-form bat. The bowling became easier and
slower so anything short was fair game for both. Steve reached his 50 off 80
balls and the pair attacked more in the last five overs. By this time Rowan had
arrived to the ironic cheers of the rest of the team and hustled into pads.
However, he wasn’t needed as the eighth wicket put on an unbeaten 54 with Steve
on a Strollers best 70 not out and Alastair 23 not out (remarkably his highest
score since 2013). 162 was at least a defendable total.
The Strollers had had fair warning about the magnificence
of the Wall tea and were not disappointed - including sandwiches, muffins,
samosas, scones and torte a Viennese café would be proud of. If only James
DelaRue, our keeper of the tea stats, hadn’t chosen this very day to get
married in Bath. Despite the sheer volume of food, Blair was spotted with a
muffin in his pocket as we headed out to field. Pocket pastry just the thing
for a peckish first slip.
Broster-Turley and Salvesen opened up after tea and the
combination of bounce and away swing kept the opening batsmen quiet with much
playing and missing. Freddie had Laurence Skermer caught by Richard Skinner in
the seventh over. In the following over Salvesen induced a catch to gully by Foulds
where Freddie snaffled it. The very next ball, new bat Abi Ray hit one hard and
high to Freddie at gully again, a candidate for catch of the season.
Salvesen also had Peter Richards caught by Blair at first
slip and bowled out his seven overs with a very good 3-18. Smith bowled quickly
without much reward but did get Soumi Bhattacharya caught in the gully by Hodgson:
49-5 and the Strollers were cruising. Raj Bankenhally and Atkin started to push
to score along so Alastair turned to Oliver who came on for a single over and
took two wickets.
Alastair replaced Glen and was surprised when keeper Love
had a bit of a brainfart and stuck his gloves in front of the wicket to prevent
the ball hitting the stumps of Chris Bryson. A no ball rather than a wicket and
a reprieve that was to prove costly.
Bankenhally was bowled by Alastair and this brought young Faisal
to the crease. He took a liking to the bowling of the unfortunate Simon
Brodbeck with three consecutive sixes and with five overs to go, suddenly Wall
had a glimpse of victory. Bryson and (mainly) Yasdan put on 51 for the 8th
wicket before Hodgson bowled Bryson.
The canny David Craig came at 11 and resisted all efforts
of Oliver to winkle him out. Jim had the unenviable task of bowling the last
over with 10 needed. Yasdan then smote the first two balls out of the ground to
see Wall home by four balls. He scored 49 not out off 25 balls including five sixes.
It wasn’t entirely chanceless as there was a difficult
chance dropped on the boundary but his innings was a surprise to both teams.
Somehow the Strollers had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, succumbing
to hubris.
Both teams then went to the Wellington in Lichfield to mull
over the extraordinary events.
Special thanks must go to David Craig and his wife Rae-Ann
for finding a venue and providing the magnificent tea. Moreover they generously
provided everything for no cost.
Capt and match report: Alastair Macaulay. Wkt: George Love.
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