Unsurprisingly given the wretched summer we have had, the Cricket Week suffered from rained-off matches and what cricket there was was played almost solidly under leaden skies. Of the four matches that took place we won three and the fourth went down to the wire.
With Eton (Sunday) and Abinger (Tuesday) victims of torrential rain, we opened on the Monday with victory over Old Johnians. The visitors made a breezy start with the opening pair putting on 94 at six an over. The introduction of the experienced (old) Ed Henderson (3 for 31) turned the balance of the match as he dismissed both openers and 2 for 36 from Tom Wheeler left Johnians 124 for 5. A sixth-wicket stand of 52 threatened to undo this good work but Alex Bovill’s 3 for 23 mopped up the tail. Set 214, Bovill (68) and Freddie Price (44) put us on the way and then Freddie Yeldham (26), Max Bell (32*) and Harvey Stiles (35*) sealed the win, Stiles polishing things off with a paddle shot followed by a reverse sweep.
On the Wedneday, George Ealham (66) anchored a good innings at Lancing College with able support from Toby Escolme (30), Ethan Stiles (34) and Harvey Stiles (36*). Chasing 258 in 35 overs, Lancing Rovers were never in the hunt after losing early wickets and were bowled out for 97 in 22.2 overs, Wheeler (3 for 9) the picks of the bowlers.
Disappointingly, Wimbledon cried off the Thursday match because of a clash with a national T20 game, so our next opponents were Old Millfieldians. Usually a tough opposition, this year proved very different as only three of their batsmen reached double figures, Pearon-Taylor scoring 65 of their 132 with Jay Harman returning 4 for 16, the best figures of the week. Captain on the day Phil Roper filled his boots with 72* off 60 balls as we eased home by seven wickets with almost 20 overs to spare.
The final match on the second Sunday v The Frogs looked to be a damp squib as we struggled to 103 off 26 overs. Frogs lunched on 54 for 2 but whatever was in the food seemed to inspire Harry Gutteridge who took 3 for 21 as Frogs collapsed from 64 for 2 to 78 for 7. The eighth-wicket pair seemed to have seen them over the line but with the scores tied Wheeler took two wickets before the winning single was scrambled in the next over.
The post-week match v Flashmen proved a rather one-sided affair with the visitor’s top four all making starts without any of them going on to make a significant score. Tom Wheeler and Archie Freeth shared six wickets as Flashmen slumped from 89 for 3 to 126 all out. Luke La Costa wasted little time at the top of our innings, thumping 84* off 50 balls as we cruised past the target in the 16th over.
Thank you to everyone that played, to Eds Copleston for all his hard work in getting XI men out, to Sami for the catering, and, of course, to the superb groundstaff who are the envy of every other old boys’ side.
