I like playing against Girton. Not only do we always seem to beat them (four matches, four wins in the last three years) but they are a friendly bunch of individuals with whom we can have some good banter. I should also mention the scones with cream and jam that were provided with the teas. Rupert Brooke may have been moved to write a poem about it. On Saturday last we should give them a special mention for agreeing to play on after a severe rainstorm had left their pitch looking more suitable for ducks than cricketers. We needed the result but they didn’t. So their flexibility and willingness to play under some very poor conditions was much appreciated.
There were a few ducks as well: for once they all came from the opposition.
Girton batted first in – what was at 1:30pm – reasonable weather but we always had one eye on the storm clouds gathering behind the church. The story of the Girton innings is really that of the juggernaut that is Dave Scotcher. Newly bewhiskered, Dave went straight for the jugular, jugged the Girton middle order and it was only through some jugulation from their last pair that the hosts were able to post something of a challenging total.
Ross had returned from his extended vacation to take up the reigns again (or should that be “rains”?) much to the relief of Gabriel. Other than an absent Alastair (possibly doing some moonlighting with a travelling circus) we had a pretty strong side out. Milan was back, although only as a batsman, however Ross had a variety of different options for the bowling at his disposal so this wasn’t an issue.
We started with Matt Chandler who produced an opening over straight from the Neil Sparnon book of coaching (if its far enough away from the batsman, he can’t hit it).
Scotch came in from the football ground end and soon found his groove. In the last week he has managed to cover the last few centimetres of hair-free skin he had available with a fine looking beard. The additional wind resistance didn’t seem to upset his rhythm.
For the second week running he actually had a catch held off his bowling: two in fact, once by Matt and the other by Milan. Dave still didn’t trust the fielders though and proceeded to hit the stumps (which looked like new, virgin Readers) on no less than five occasions. Three of those were off successive deliveries, each pitched outside off stump & cutting back. Three times the Girton batsmen prodded forward and were bowled through the gate. Dave was ecstatic at his first ever hat trick. I just wish he had shaved because man, those bristles were prickly. Girton 56-7: Dave had 6 wickets at this point, Ross the other. Ross had had more than one plumb LBW decision rejected by the umpire so it was something of a surprise when one was upheld as it was perhaps the least blatant of the ones that we asked for.
It was after the third dismissal of Dave’s hat trick whilst we were waiting for another Girtonian to hastily pad up when the rains started to fall.
It was a heavy downpour and although it was quickly passed there was standing water on the adjacent strips and in the rather large trenches the batsman had left when taking guard.
We agreed to an early tea with a view to resuming after about an hour. It was during this passage of play that Coton wrote their way into the Wisden records for consuming the most cakes during the course of an over both collectively, and individually (Soctch).
Several team members sacrificed their towels in the mop up operation and we were able to resume albeit with very muddy and slippery creases. Dave continued and soon took a 7th wicket. Ross resorted to bowling around the wicket which led to several close calls it the slips for Richard before the former rearranged the stumps for a 9th wicket.
Adam Bradbury took over from Dave who had completed a fine spell of 7-17 in his 10 overs. The best Coton performance since Chris Cooke’s amazing 10-for in 2008. With the last men at the crease Adam surely expected a shorter spell. In the end he bowled 7 overs for 11 runs, turning the ball a lot which repeatedly flummoxed the Girton batsmen as well as the Coton “wicket keeper” who missed two, possibly three stumpings off his bowling that could have ended the innings sooner.
At the other end Ulassa took over from Ross and despite concerns that he would have trouble keeping his footing managed to do so for five overs. He bowled off a shortened run with – at least to the keeper – no discernable loss of pace and was unlucky not to have claimed a wicket when Adam eventually got the final wicket courtesy of catch from the skipper running back from slip. Girton 97 all out: possibly 30 more than they should have got.
With one eye on the weather, Dave Simmons and Milan opened the batting. Milan was elegant, Dave belligerent: both were effective. They soon hit one of the Girton bowlers out of the attack. One cover drive from Milan was played with such effortless grace that it was applauded by the umpire (possibly not in the spirit of the game) who was able to surreptitiously turn the gesture into the signal for four runs.
Runs came quickly as we tried to get home before the rains returned. There were a few drops in the air (rain, not catches) but nothing serious enough to take the players. The mud around where the batsmen stood and from where the bowlers delivered was drying at last making both tasks a little easier.
Dave and Milan both perished after making valuable knocks, thirty for Dave, twenty for Milan. They fell to the same – occasional bowler – who was pinging it down quite quickly off about three paces. He deserved the wickets having beaten the bats several times and having repeated LBW appeals turned down as he was moving the ball in too much.
Richard and Gabriel replaced the two outgoing batsmen. After a few alarms Richard got going and for a while it looked like he would knock the remaining runs before Gabriel got off the park. In fact Rob was walking around the pavilion trying to get team mates to take a bet on such an occurrence. It was then that Gabriel was replaced by his identical twin brother. (That is, the twin brother that comes to nets and smashes the bowlers to all points of the compass as opposed to the one that prods and pokes around for one run in twenty overs and features in DVDs for curing insomnia).
Watched by a growing crowd (Richard’s brother & wife, Jenny, members of the Girton 1st XI) Gabriel reeled off some fine drives and pulls and with the last shot of the game caught up with Richard so they both ended on eighteen not out. We passed the winning target with fifteen overs to spare.
In retrospect I don’t know if it was the risk of rain or the lure of Scotch buying two jugs (one for the five-for, one for the hat trick) that induced them to score the runs quickly. After a false start to the social club we headed for the Old George where it was nice enough to sit outside. The barmaid only had one jug (ooh, err, missus) but it was amply filled with Oakham Bishop’s Farewell (the lager boys had to suffer pints instead) as day became evening and we chatted to our friendly hosts.
The next morning I looked anxiously for the other results on the CCA website. Steeple Morden 240-3, Longstowe 90 all out (so far so good), but wait, Longstowe WIN? Steeple had transgressed a CCA rule that says you can’t declare an innings in the J-league, and they declared theirs closed after 38 overs. The match was therefore awarded to Longstowe putting them 18 points above us in the league with one match to play (I think we would have been level with them on points had the result stood). It hardly seems fair that we are – effectively, although not 100% certain – being relegated because the league leaders are being punished in this way (it doesn’t actually impact Steeple, they are so far ahead that they are champions irrespective of this match or the one next weekend).
[As remembered by the anonymous correspondent after recovering from Dave’s jugs.]
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