'AWNIOGO': BIGNALL END (H)

Saturday, June 17

With just over a third of the season gone the situation at the top of the league was extremely tight, with the top five teams separated by just 12 points. The leaders, with 98 points, were Newcastle and Hartshill, closely followed by Ashcombe Park who trailed by a single point. We were handily placed in third, on 94, three points in front of Betley, and eight ahead of today’s visitors, Bignall End.

The dreadful midweek weather forecasts had proven unfounded, yet the day still began somewhat inauspiciously: I overslept until 1.15 pm and, having quickly packed my kit, was forced to catch a taxi from Stone to the ground. In which I left my wallet. Scatterbrain. I just prayed that we might win the toss on what can only be termed ‘a result wicket’. Evidently, Addo had been in better bowling form than batting at nets the night before, as the track he chose for the match had more bare patches than John Moore’s scalp. It was obviously going to turn square from start to finish but it was still important to win the toss. Why? Well, firstly, as ever, it was crucial to take the early initiative, which I felt could be more readily achieved with the ball rather than the bat. Secondly, Addo’s threat could perhaps be countered by a Bignall End top seven that contained no fewer than five lefties. So, we all sat with baited breath as the coin went spinning into the sky. From the grin that enveloped the face of Tim Myatt (no relation), it was clear that we’d be having first hit.

We were soon in trouble at 17 for 3 – Addison, Harvey and Myatt all twiddling their thumbs back in the pavilion. Each of them had been dismissed by teenager Adrian Myatt, and all to shots that they would rather forget. Addo, having survived being caught at short-leg thanks to a deaf and blind umpire, then chased a short and wide one and nicked to the keeper. Minty fended off a bouncer straight to Edwards at short-leg and was followed by Mauler, whose attempted pull was spooned to mid-off. 

Meanwhile, I had been stuck at the other end, endeavouring to see off the unerringly accurate seamers of skyscraping Marcus Sharp [left]. Having taken half-an-hour to score my first run, I was still only on 2 not out after an hour’s play, yet despite receiving literally no loose balls and being totally devoid of confidence (and, some might say, talent) I was determined to graft it out. Hawky came in with a slightly different attitude, slapping his second ball back over the bowler’s head for four; considering his first ball had popped, it was an awesome, if worrying, shot. However, he didn’t get another ball to hit and soon played a reckless shot to be bowled off his pads.

I had spent over an hour-and-a-half compiling 17 runs but was looking to seize back the initiative, which I believed could be best achieved by positive running between the wickets. I thought I had the perfect ally in Drew, but we soon had a mix-up, resulting in me being sent back halfway through my third run. Despite a valiant belly-flop, I was run out by yards. Needless to say, I was pretty p****d off: I was going to the danger end so it was my call. Then again, I suppose it would be a tad naïve to expect Bully to sacrifice himself two matches on the trot! To exacerbate the whole situation, I’d twisted my ankle in turning to get back, so limped off cursing all things Tartan. Later Drew explained that he hadn’t heard my call until it was too late. I suppose these things are inevitable in cricket, particularly when your partner speaks a foreign language (Jock), so I agreed to forgive and forget. My dismissal had plunged us even further into the mire, though. With five wickets down, we only had 40 runs on the board.

Drew then led a mini-recovery until he snicked a useful ball from Sharp who followed up by trapping Smudger infront for a 23-ball duck. Between these wickets falling, Barry Brian was bowled through the gate by Rob Howell, the off-spinner, then Wayne, who had looked very solid, offered another catch to Bignall End’s droning ‘keeper to leave us staring down the barrel – and contemplating a long drinking session – at 88 for 9. 

A young Rob Howell (left)

However, it seemed as though the Boys from Boon Hill hadn’t reckoned with Moddershall’s Plan Z, and shortly it was to be their faces staring abjectly at the turf as Iain Carr and Kevin Colclough launched an astounding counter-attack. At 4.45 Myatt rejoined the attack, in tandem with Sharp, as Bignall End attempted to polish off the innings. Cokey showed Myatt (who had the excellent figures of 4 for 19) about as much respect as Jack the Ripper showed to prostitutes. The bearded veteran clubbed his third and fourth balls to the boundary and, an over later, followed up with an enormous six (agri)culturally swatted over mid-wicket. The field scattered and the run rate increased. Bignall End claimed another ten minutes’ bowling time, but there was no playing for tea by either Coke or Iain. By now Billy was standing up belligerently and smashing balls of decent length and line wherever he felt like doing so. When tea arrived we were 136 for 9 and, although our opponents were still, theoretically at least, in the driving seat, we had the definite psychological edge. 

After the interval the last wicket pair continued where they had left off and took the score to 167 before Billy, having completed his half-century, skied Myatt to point where Sharp took the catch. They had ridden their luck but it was still a phenomenal effort to add 79 runs in 13 overs, particularly as neither of them had batted in the league for over a month, and they justly deserved to break the previous league record of 62 for the tenth wicket. Quality.

We came off knowing that we had an hour plus twenty overs bowling time. By the time Mauler had bowled a hostile opening over to his amply proportioned namesake, Tim, the buzz amongst our fielders was supercharged. Iain Carr’s day got even better when he produced a jaffa with his first ball to remove the prolific Nigel Nixon, Bignall’s batting dangerman, for a golden duck. From that point on we felt that the threat of defeat that had been hanging over us for most of the day had been snuffed out, and it seemed to take the edge off our cricket, almost as if we were happy to settle for a great escape rather than pushing for victory. Apart from Andy Hawkins’ spell, most of our bowling was tame and purposeless. Having had Bignall End at 79 for 4, we might have pressed harder. Yet in all probability we didn’t really have enough overs in which to bowl them out, and so the game petered out to a draw as Bignall End finished on 141 for 4, thanks to a late salvo from Eric Riley and Julian Byrne. 

Julian Byrne batting at Modd, early 90s, a photo that looks truly village on many levels. First, the unrecognized 
bowler (maybe a very slim Addo?) is clearly a spinner, judging by the follow-through (unless it's the late Nick 
Newman), which invites the question: why is there a deep fine-leg? And is that  James Rutter? Second, is John 
Myatt both too deep and too wide at slip? With this sort of field, it's probably Drew Heard leading the troops, older 
and curmudgeonlier (yes, it's a word) brother of the wicket-keeper in shot, Dave 'Kitbag' Heard... Actually, on 
closer inspection, the bowler looks like Andy Hawkins, presumably bowling his utterly filthy offies either as a 
'protest' over the way Big End approached the game, or because he had the yips. Again, it will never carry 
to Mauls; and it will never reach Rut the Nut #village

Hawky said that, had he been one of their players, he would have been disappointed that they didn’t go harder for victory. In reality, they only finished 27 short thanks to the penultimate over from Cokey that was blasted for 20 runs. On this pitch, with a longer tail than our own, it wasn’t a target they could have approached without seriously risking losing the game. Seeing as most bookmakers would have offered odds of 1000-1 against that happening at 4.45, I don’t think defeat would have been easy for them to stomach. 

This game had been by far our sternest test of the season and, ultimately, we were completely indebted to one partnership and highly fortunate to have come out with a draw. Whilst most of us would feel disappointed with our personal performances, there was something very positive to be gained from avoiding defeat in a match that saw us just one solid punch from the canvas. There seemed to be a much greater resilience throughout the side this year and with Harv, Mauler, myself and one or two others still to hit anything like top form things could only improve, a fact upon which most of us agreed as we got well and truly bladdered in Al-Sheiks Balti House where we were celebrating yet another Hawkins birthday. 

MATCH DRAWN 

MODDERSHALL 167 all out (56.3 overs) 
I Carr 55, K Colclough 37*, A Myatt 5-57
BIGNALL END 141 for 4 (35 overs) 
J Byrne 32*, E Riley 34*

MODDERSHALL 6 points
BIGNALL END 8 points