A long and boring Cricket Post for Dr D and Small

Earlier posts about lovely cricket grounds reminded me of a game we (Kenton CC) played against Bovingdon CC around 15 years ago. We played them home and away at second and third team level on Sunday ? they are based in Hertfordshire and us in Middlesex so we never played them in the League.

Bovingdon away was one of the highlights of the Sunday fixtures. It was a beautiful village green type ground, a lovely track and plenty of runs there. They had a decent clubhouse and the teas were great. Home made cakes, hot new potatoes, cooked ham and salad, plus a waitress service (even though the were all grandma aged)

This game was the home leg of the two and was a Sunday third team fixture. We didn?t have a strong side, lost the toss and were put in despite dropping a hint that we were happy to field first. We had a few kids in the team, who did their best. We struggled for runs against their middle aged, accurate attack, and ended up with 130 or so at 4.55pm, after the senior bats did not make that many. Their skip thought we should have declared then, but we batted on until 5.10pm (unheard of in a Sunday fixture) and declared on around 145, with eight down. I was a little uneasy at batting past 5.00pm in a friendly, but our skipper was trying to at least make them chase something.

Their skipper was fuming. He opened the batting and blocked everything, as if to make a point, although they had plenty enough time to get the 145 or so off around 35 overs as they were facing an attack consisting of three colts and two adults. We got the other opener out and the No 3 came in with instructions to stonewall. It was a real stand off.

So our skipper put one of the colts slow bowlers on and started moving the fielders to the offside and we had a 6-3, then a 7-2. Their No.3 started chasing, as there were stacks of tempting cheap runs available. We got him and a couple more out, but still the skipper stonewalled. The field changed to an 8-1, and somehow we got another wicket or two, and it ended up with them needing around ten (I think) off the last over. Our skipper went with a 9-0 field (all offside), as their skipper was facing. He got to the non strikers end by some miracle, and with a couple of late whacks the scores were tied when the twenty in the last hour was finished (a sort of tie as the wickets were also even), but in reality a draw as it was time match.

Their skipper was fuming. He threw the tea money at our Captain, and drove home with whoever was in his car, back to Bovingdon, and Kenton CC were blackballed.

I think he was also the fixture secretary as we never played them again.

Posted By: KentonCanary, May 22, 22:43:15