North Holmwood turned up to a Sunny day in May, possibly the best we have had so far this year, with a young energetic team - Certain exceptions of course (Wally, Sav and Cheesy!!) I think it may have reminded Wally of his time as Colts coach, although we will leave that there - The last time Wally tried to coach any of us he went into explicit detail of how everyone should carry some Polo's with them!! (Just in case you're wondering, it has nothing to do with Cricket!!)
Cheesy strode to the wicket for the pre-match flip of a coin, and with a 50-50 choice again called incorrectly. Sav has asked me to mention his poor technique in the art of flipping a coin.
Anyhow Claygate made the decision to put North Holmwood into bat. With that Rob Tyers and Robin Lines marched to the wicket in an attempt to put the visitors to the sword. It was apparent how the wicket would play early on as the two opening seam bowlers managed to dart the ball around like Waqar and Wasim. As Robin tried to work one onto the leg side the ball bounced from nowhere and he helped the ball to square leg, out for 7. With Rob also edging one to 2nd slip's nipple, this left NH struggling at not many for 2.
This left at the wicket Nobby and debutant Andy Guest. I'm sure its fair to say not an ideal wicket to make your impression on as the ball rattled into Andy's body on a few occasions. The wicket was terrible with every ball taking the same divot as a 9-iron. Combine that with the fact the outfield was longer than Wally's hair in the 1970's it made scoring virtually impossible. Nobby and Andy saw off a few overs, more trying not to get hit by the ball rather than positively striking boundaries.
Nobby hit the first boundary of the match, which must have been some 20 overs into the match, and was a sweetly struck six over long on into the church-yard. This must have been the telling point for the home captain as he then sent out two scouts to parade the boundary edge. He must have been joking, it took 20 overs to hit one there, North Holmwood were just happy to get it off the square. So it was not a day to bludgeon it to the rope, more a day for grafters. And when Nobby fell, caught and bowled for 20, the score was 40-3.
It comes to something when the captain states from the sidelines that he'd be happy to settle for 80, and this would be a winning score. As it turns out, a very shrewd estimation. Two more quick wickets fell, with Daryl getting an awful grubber which hit the stumps one inch up and Andy Guest being caught off a thick edge to gully off a lifting delivery. The rest of the batsmen were fearing going out to bat on the mire they called a wicket. I think it may have been safer in No man's land during world war one.
This left the experience of Wally and Savo standing at the wicket. Oh by the way Wally made a mistake, he didn't look at the fixtures hence why he was playing away from home. But this stand could of possibly been the turning point of the match. As the home side thought they were through us, the grit and determination, and moo-shots of an annoyed Wally kept pushing the score higher - albeit very slowly.
Sav was out a while later, for a valuable 7 runs, having been bowled by another grubber. As a result of this, North Holmwood's next debutant Andy Morgan strode to the wicket.
With less than 10 overs left Wally had decided to start swinging the bat. He hit a few, he missed a few, he backhanded a few down the line (40-15) and he was dropped many times ('I don't get luck like that' is a phrase I remember him saying!!). And Andy just tended to miss a few, although he tried, bless him.
Wally hit a six over mid-wicket with two overs left, and Andy kept on running him into the ground, but with a good team effort North Holmwood mustered 111-6. For anyone who wasn't present, this score was worth more like 250-6, a superb effort!!
Then came the innings of Claygate. The first 2-3 overs the wicket looked flatter than one prepared by the Mumbai groundstaff. With the NH 'Batsmen' thinking 'How did I make this wicket look so difficult', another turning point of the match came. Andy Morgan bowled two consecutive length balls which spat and popped into the openers ribs. So perhaps the wicket was still lively?? And then, after an inspired bowling change, Cheesy actually bowled a ball that didn't bounce, it rolled after impact with the ground - relief all round, and fear to the Claygate batsmen.
And with this point of the match, it was all over in a matter of overs. Cheesy ran in and bowled at the stumps, on an excellent length, causing the ball to swing, dip, spit, turn and every other thing a ball could possibly do. He had two fielding positions just right (although I can't give him credit for putting a wicket keeper in), and he had Robin at short leg. With Sav taking 2 catches and Robin another 3. Combine this with a couple of bowled, Cheesy had taken the first EIGHT wickets.
Robin was also finding his length from the other end, and with catching the edge through to Sav, the 10 men (although I hadn't noticed until Wally was trying to place a bet and take money off me) of Claygate all out for 44. An excellent victory for North Holmwood - hopefully it’s the first of many this season.