'AWNIOGO': ASHCOMBE PARK (H)

they came from Ashcombe Park

Saturday, August 26 

In the week leading up to the visit of third-placed Ashcombe Park, there was much discussion over whether we should look to face them on an under-prepared pitch and go flat out for victory or hedge against defeat by playing on one of our typically true Barnfields surfaces. The former strategy, similar to the one employed for the Bignall End fixture earlier in the season, was laden with unnecessary risk; after all, the emphasis was on Ashcombe (who trailed us by 32 points) to try and dictate the game. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and a relatively flat pitch was prepared. Nevertheless, ample midweek rainfall had given the wicket a greenish patina, enough to aid the accurate and persevering seamer. Otherwise, the wicket would be as we desired: good for batting with some encouragement for our spinners as the surface dried.

Given both the circumstances and the weather forecast (showers due late afternoon), it was something of a surprise that Joe Beech, the visiting skipper, decided to field first on winning the toss. Granted, the muggy conditions and green-topped track were ideally suited for their seamers, even without the steadying influence of Ian Wilson, but the threat of rain and the likelihood that we would bat them out of the game ought to have persuaded him to have been bold and batted first. 

In the face of some excellent bowling from the new-ball pairing of Terry Eyre and Dave Clowes, both of whom moved the ball around regularly and, at times, prodigiously, our start was steady, if unspectacular. It took Addo until the sixth over to get off the mark, which he achieved by taking 10 from a Terry Eyre over. However, ‘Tecker’ continued to bowl his probing leg-cutters and his consistency was eventually rewarded in the twelfth over with the prize scalp: Addo, bowled via his gloves for 15.

This wicket brought Smudge to the crease, elevated to number 3 in the order to give him a taste of the cut and thrust of first team cricket, and to see how he would fare in a different situation to that which he usually finds himself in, when he is often on a hiding to nothing. Smudger is a talented cricketer with a magnificent attitude and he fully deserved the opportunity to bat properly. Should he fail then there would be nothing lost, but if he were to hang around then he would probably score at a good rate (and gain some useful experience into the bargain). Some people thought that this promotion was patronising to Smudge and made him feel embarrassed walking out to bat before the likes of Harv and Hawk. This was rubbish. If it wasn’t felt that he could cut the mustard then he would have been playing in the Second Team; besides, nobody will ever be allowed to progress if their opportunities are dependant upon the notion of a hierarchy based upon reputation. In this particular context, Smudge’s promotion was both sound thinking and evidence of the skipper’s flexibility. As it transpired, he only scored 9 before edging Terry Eyre into the outstretched glove of Phil Hawkins behind the stumps. His dismissal was more the result of inexperience than any technical deficiency, as he played at a ball that he could have left, but I am sure he enjoyed his innings and it will have been an invaluable part of his learning process. 

English cricket and rain clouds: familiar friends

Dickie Harvey barely had time to settle in before the omnipresent black clouds opened and we were all running for cover, bizarrely stopping to take the refreshments that were half way on to the field! When the rain arrived, we were 81 for 2 from 26 overs with me ‘stranded’ on 49 not out. We were off the field for exactly an hour, during which time an early tea was taken. On resumption at 4.00 pm Ashcombe must have thought that their gamble to bowl first had backfired as, barring an enormous collapse, the game’s destiny was now completely in our hands. Our tactics were simple – to keep batting – and that is exactly what we did. Harv had a let off in the first over after the restart when he edged Clowes straight to second slip. However, Beech spilled the chance and Dickie didn’t look back.

I passed 50 from the first ball I faced after the delay with a back-foot drive for four off Clowes, and slowly but surely Harv and I began to get on top of the bowling. Clowes, who had shown a huge amount of potential despite struggling with a bruised toe, was replaced by Matt Colclough and Harv was soon punishing his all too frequent loose deliveries. At the other end I was profiting from batting with a left-hander as Eyre began to slide the odd ball on to my pads, gifts that I gratefully accepted. 

a young Oliver forces off the back foot

Just after our partnership had passed the century mark, Terry Eyre was rested and replaced by the rotund figure of Dave Butler, whose enigmatic little wobblers had accounted for Addison, Harvey and Myatt in the away fixture earlier in the season. His first delivery was greeted with a loud and rather unsubtle roar of laughter from Darren Carr in front of the pavilion, Doc no doubt having been filled in on Butler’s unexpected success in the aforementioned fixture. 

Anyway, Butler was soon receiving punishment as both Minty and I homed in on what seemed like inevitable centuries. However, in the 50th over, with the score on 199, I slog-swept the bowler to mid-wicket and was brilliantly caught by Willshaw, diving forward, having made a season’s best 89. With my demise, Harv continued to flay the bowling until he also holed out off Butler, this time to Salmon at deep square leg. His 93 – made from 111 balls, with 14 boundaries and a six – was also a season’s best. After a brief consultation, Addo and I decided, cautiously, to give ourselves 45 minutes and 20 overs’ bowling time, the declaration coming when Hawk, seemingly unsure as to our tactics, swatted Matt Colclough straight down Willshaw’s throat on the legside boundary. 

an exceptional catch on the legside boundary

With the declaration made, the question was whether Ashcombe would be bold enough to go for the target of 232 at around 7 runs per over. I felt they had little choice, since their season seemed to depend on it. Admittedly, it was not a particularly generous declaration; even so, it was almost identical, if slightly scaled down, to that which we had overhauled at Nantwich the previous week. It became apparent that Ashcombe intended to give it a shot when their prolific usual opening pair of Ross Salmon and Phil Hawkins was broken up to allow the freer-scoring Terry Eyre to open with Salmon.

Shaun Brian took the new ball under strict instructions to bowl off a shortened run and to pitch it up. He immediately got the ball to swing toward the slips – unfortunately, his second ball swung straight on to the middle of Salmon’s bat and flashed through point like an exocet missile. Undeterred, Moose continued to charge in and was rewarded with the wicket of Terry Eyre, for a golden duck, with the penultimate ball of his opening over. The fact that the mode of dismissal was caught behind and that I neglected to appeal probably explained the batsman’s disappointment with the decision!! 

Moose in his veteran years

Matt Colclough came out at number 3, struck his first ball past mid-on for four, and generally looked quite assured during a partnership of 71 in 13 overs with Salmon. All the major questions were being asked by Iain Carr, who was extracting steep bounce and on more than one occasion struck both batsmen painful blows on the gloves. In his sixth over, the final one before the last 20, Salmon struck him for a triplet of boundaries, sullying what had otherwise been a good spell. Iain was extremely dejected at being taken off, protesting “How am I supposed to get things right when I’m not given the chance?” While one could understand Iain’s frustration at not being rewarded with wickets, the fact was that the time and place to iron out kinks in one’s game is at practice, not on Saturday afternoon.

At the start of the last 20, with Ashcombe requiring 160 runs to win with 9 wickets in hand (At Nantwich the previous week, we required 169 with only 7 wickets in hand), Addo introduced himself and fellow spin twin Dazzra into the attack, keeping the field set back in the hope of buying a wicket or two. Lovejoy’s opening over was ordinary, both in terms of spin and direction, yet as is often the case this innocuous bowling picked up two good wickets. The first was Colclough, stupendously pouched at point by Drew, who had only just taken the field having earlier taken his daughter, Suzanne, to hospital with a suspected fracture of her right arm. (The happiest face on the ground upon Heardy’s return was unquestionably that of young Carl Colclough who, as our substitute fielder, had been jogging from fine leg to fine leg for a dozen overs.) 

the end of Salmon

Anyway, Drew’s brilliant catch was followed by another at mid-off by Smudge to account for Joe Beech, after which Ross Salmon was expertly held on the run, against all expectations, by Shaun Brian off Darren’s bowling, effectively ending the Park’s victory chances (they were now 86 for 4 with just 15 overs left) and allowing the ring of close catchers to concentrate on inventing new nicknames for our professional, which surely helped his bowling efforts. The latest offering is Wicksy (after Eastenders’ David Wicks), following Smudger’s brilliant recent coinage, Starsky. Lou Reed, Will Carling, Ray Platt, Mario Kempes, Kevin Keegan, Agile, Fragile, Lovejoy, Addo, Piggy – they all came out in a berserker frenzy of nomenclatural creativity.

It’s debatable whether Clowes’ concentration was disturbed by our jocularity or Addo/Lovejoy/Keegan/Kempes/Wicksy’s bowling, but he soon cracked under the strain and drove Starsky straight to Drew, fielding ‘in the box’ at short extra-cover. It was particularly ironic that he should be dismissed in this fashion only a couple of balls after I had turned to Hawk and Harv in the slips and asked “When does Addo ever get anyone out caught ‘in the box’?” Well, today he did, and Ashcombe were now in serious danger of defeat: with 10 overs remaining their last pair of recognised batsmen, Proffit and Hawkins, were at the crease, and should we be able to winkle either one of them out promptly, we knew we stood an outside chance of victory. 

Add0

We pushed hard, but as it was they batted well enough to snuff out that threat until ‘Jakey’ Hawkins was sharply caught at leg gulley by Darren off Coke’s bowling, by which time we had turned our attention to preventing the Park scoring the 125 they needed for a third batting bonus point. Entering the final over, they required a further 4 runs. Addo began the over with three maiden balls. Then Goodwin, the non-striker, was run out from the fourth ball thanks to some smart work from the Hawk-Addo combination as he tried to make his ground following an aborted quick single. Next ball, the game’s penultimate, Proffit sashayed down the track, swished, missed and the bails came off so quickly that our scorer entered ‘bowled Addison’ as the mode of dismissal, diddling me out of a victim: unbelievable!

With the last ball blocked, we left the field pleased with what had been a good performance. Ashcombe were all but resigned to another year in Section B, whilst we had closed the gap on Bignall End to a single point. Even before today, Newcastle were fast disappearing from the promotion picture and their third consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of Nantwich, left them with a mountain to climb, especially as they still had the other three top sides to play.

As we drank the night away, thoughts turned to next week and our crunch match with Bignall End. We had won on our last three visits to Boon Hill, and with Mauler returning from Ibiza, the question was: would the Evening Sentinel soon be forced to write more than one sentence about us?

MATCH DRAWN 

MODDERSHALL 231 for 5 dec. (56.4 overs) 
R Harvey 93, S Oliver 89
ASHCOMBE PARK 122 for 8 (32 overs) 
R Salmon 42, J Addison 4-17

MODDERSHALL 9 points
ASHCOMBE PARK 4 points