'AWNIOGO': NEWCASTLE & HARTSHILL (H)

As you can see, the author briefly played with N&HH star PF Ridgway at Wollaton. You will note the girth of both 
gentlemen, and also that the author was still in the midst of his hair neurosis, not yet fully having come to terms 
with the inevitability of his baldness. The brilliant Karl Glendenning (front row), still leading century-
maker in the Nottingham Premier League, wrote a charming and amusing profile of Ridgers here.

Saturday, July 1st

Already the season had reached July by the time we played Newcastle, one of our closest rivals in a tight promotion race. Having recently knocked them out of the Talbot Cup we were expecting them to come looking for swift revenge. The feeling in our dressing room is that Newcastle are a side that rely heavily on the efforts of two or three individuals, particularly those of Pete Ridgway, who was bound to be confident having taken 4 for 60 for Staffordshire in midweek against Kent in the NatWest Trophy. Even so, the league table suggested they would provide stiff opposition.

Addo won the toss and invited Newcastle to have first use of an easy-paced track that was sure to offer scant assistance to bowlers of all types, something that Mauler no doubt realized when he took his sweater after only five overs. His new ball partner, Coke, provided the initial breakthrough when he induced Andy Elliot to edge a leg-cutter and I took the catch behind at the second attempt. The Chief himself came off after eight overs to be replaced by Wayne, who bowled unchanged until the end of the innings.

Pete Ridgway was the second to fall, mistiming a pull off Hawk to give Addo a dolly at mid-on (I’m not entirely sure why he wasn’t grabbing at the time). At this point, with the two veterans, Martin Sands and Graham Wood, at the wicket, we really began to put the squeeze on Newcastle and by 4.00 pm only 91 runs had been scored from 37 overs. The pressure to accelerate was certainly the cause of Sands’ demise as he chipped Wayne to square-leg, where Harv took the first of two excellent catches high above his head. Following Dave Brock’s quick departure, Ruscoe joined Wood at 113 for 4 and helped take the score to 160 from 55 overs before he edged one of the rare deliveries Addo got to turn and again I took the catch at the second attempt, this time via the peak of my cap. They all count.

Emerging after the interval for the remaining four overs, Bunting, frustrated at the defensive ring, was prompted to try and smash Addo out of the ground, running past one to give me an easy stumping. After snaring this wicket, Addo then conceded 8 runs in two balls by attempting to bowl bouncers (!!) – bouncers that didn’t exactly have the Newcastle players scampering for their helmets. Once again it was Graham Wood that proved to be our greatest obstacle and without his unbeaten 88 Newcastle’s total would have been extremely skimpy.

So, we had an hour and a quarter plus 20 overs to bat; with a target of 198, almost identical to the successful run chase of our Talbot Cup quarter-final the previous month, the victory was very much on. We needed one major contribution with the bat and a good start and we would surely be riding off into the sunset with 20 points in our saddlebags, so to speak. As it happened, the start couldn’t have been much worse: I was taken care of in the third over, having managed just a single, offering a flimsy push at a useful away-swinger from Ridgway to give the ‘keeper a dolly. Harv followed two overs later, shuffling across his crease and playing on for a duck to leave us at 6 for 2. We both sat solemnly in the dressing room, wallowing in self-pity, completely depressed until Heardy broke the funereal silence…by laughing at us! Such compassion. This prompted Harv to say, “Come on Dog, let’s go down the pub and get pissed”. Obviously we had to stay and support our team, but we took the next best option and had an early pint or two.

Out in the middle things weren’t exactly improving as Mauler was bowled aiming a rather indiscreet shot at Chris Ridgway’s left-arm spin. Andy Hawkins joined Addo and together they moved the score to within 100 of the target before succumbing in consecutive overs. At 98 for 5 with 14 overs remaining it looked as though our chances of winning had disappeared; when Smudge was caught at deep mid-wicket soon afterwards Newcastle were clear favourites to win. 

Cricket in Scotland -- where Drew learnt the game...

Drew and Cokey represented our last realistic chance of pulling off the victory. Between them they kept the target within reach by regularly taking boundaries from the loose balls they received. However, there was a twelve-ball period (when Andy Hawkins uttered the immortal line “All we need is one good over”!!) when they seemed to play a little conservatively, especially against Chris Ridgway. The boundaries dried up and Newcastle regained the upper hand in a game that had been fluctuating all afternoon. However, the experienced pairing of Heardy and Cokey continued to pinch singles and with two overs remaining we needed 20 runs to win. Endgame.

We knew that Pete Ridgway would bowl the final six halls, so the damage would probably need to be done in the day’s penultimate over, to be bowled by his father. Coke responded to the challenge by spanking the first two deliveries for four, bringing the partisan sprinkling of supporters to their feet. We could only manage two singles from the next two balls to leave us requiring 10 runs from 8 balls. Then disaster struck as we lost two wickets in consecutive deliveries. First Cokey, having smashed 47 from 33 balls, was bowled whilst trying to hit the boundary that would have all but wrapped up the victory. Next ball, Wayne was run out by miles coming back for the second run, Drew trying to guarantee himself the strike for the final over. Wayne did not seem too impressed by this and wasn’t slow to air his opinions on returning to the pavilion!

'Bart' Stones wasn't best pleased to be run out first ball...

Going into the last over, all four results were still possible. We required 9 runs, Newcastle two wickets. I was praying for four wides or something equally charitable, but it wasn’t forthcoming as Pete Ridgway, amidst unbearable tension, kept his nerve by bowling straight and full to allow just a single from each of his first four balls. We now needed a boundary, something that would be almost impossible as the fielders started to disperse. From the fifth ball Drew scampered two runs to keep the strike and avert the threat of defeat.

It was all down to the final ball of the day and we needed three runs for victory. Probably the happiest man on the ground was number 11, Dave Astle, who had been spared the ordeal of playing his first innings in the 1st XI in the most trying of circumstances. Ridgway ran up to bowl, Drew swung hard…and lost his off stump! We had fallen short of a target that should have been made, but, after such a dreadful start and then a middle-order collapse, it was commendable that we got so close. Despite the disappointment, it had been a tremendous game of cricket, and as amateurs we should enjoy playing in such games, regardless of the result. 

MATCH DRAWN 

NEWCASTLE AND HARTSHILL 197 for 6 innings closed (60 overs) 
G Wood 88*, M Sands 39 

MODDERSHALL 195 for 9 (43 overs) 
K Colclough 47, J Addison 46, A Heard 36, A Hawkins 32, P Ridgway 4-65, C Ridgway 4-72

MODDERSHALL 8 points
NEWCASTLE AND HARTSHILL 8 points