Parkfield and Headstone Edge to Victory

In my first match report for RCC I long to bring you glad tidings of comfort and joy if only for the opportunity to get one more ‘like’ than Taz on the website (2 is all I’m looking for!) Instead I bring you a sorry tale of ugly strokes, edgy batting and missed chances recorded somewhere on a filthy video.

Much like the weather, the early signs were unsettling: an odd alignment of boundary flags to avoid a drainage overflow on the outfield and a cow bell resting in the score box which, as (very local) legend would have it, if rung by a team member would result in his team losing (obviously). (Most of) the team was soon uplifted by the news of England’s impending demolition of Australia, a couple of salt beef sandwiches (Tom Watson) (both) and the first team huddle/cuddle of the day. But the strangeness continued – “I have never been held so long by a man” quipped the Riddler; and we all knew something wasn’t quite right. Perhaps we had all been spooked by the news that the entire game was to be filmed for no obvious reason.

Having opted to bat first, Murtaza Shehabi and Benn Glazier made a solid enough start which suggested runs would flow; the opening bowlers did not look too threatening but the consistent line and length from PHCC’s dibbly dobbly resulted in the fall of Benn’s wicket via a mistimed drive. Taz was joined by Rory Bennett and continued to look good with some nice looking cut shots using the pace of the ball. With the score on 33/1 Taz was caught at slip and what followed was a disastrous 10 over period in which 5 wickets were lost and only 20 runs were scored, mostly by Rory at the other end. Rory batted patiently for a while, leaving Mr Dibbly Dobbly for almost an entire over whilst punishing the bad balls. At the other end, the wickets tumbled as nagging accurate bowling and a bit of pace drew batsmen into false shots and misjudgments. At 53/5 another heavy blow as Rory was bowled behind his legs. In strolled Marc Robinson with some straight forward batting, hitting some impressive looking off-drives and blocking the good ones; at the other end Ed Manning kept the bowlers at bay allowing a much needed partnership of 45 to develop. The score having almost reached the 100 mark Ed was caught behind off a fine edge. Andy Bird threatened to wag the tail but it was The Tank Tom Watson who put PHCC to the sword with some lusty blows, including one impressive 6 for the video footage, to reach 26 not out. Ricky had reached a total of 137, which could have been a lot worse, but would need a heroic effort if the boys were to pull off a victory.

With only 39 overs of a possible 53 used by Ricky, play resumed before tea which was sandwiched by a couple of huddle/cuddles. Ricky were fired up and ready to go. What happened over the next 30 overs was not pretty from either team. Ricky’s bowling foursome of Rory, Tom, Curly and Phil Riddleston again bowled well and looked threatening throughout. The opening batsmen never looked comfortable – in fact it was all getting a bit embarrassing – the edges were flying everywhere but somehow the openers stayed in. Even the much needed hot chilli sauce on tasteless tomato pasta would not send them back to the clubhouse. When the edges did reach a pair of hands the sharp chances were not taken as they had to be given the low target and short boundaries (a further boundary tweak was made mid-game due to one of their players falling over or something). A couple of wickets were grabbed at the end from Ricky’s own dibbly dobblies but it was too little too late as PHCC won by 8 wickets with plenty of overs to spare.

So an ugly game with not enough runs, flying edges and dropped catches. No thank you we would not like a copy of the video we insisted to the groundsman for the third time BUT we are definitely not ringing the bell as we have too much talent in the team for this poor run to continue.

(Submitted by Ed Manning)