Proper cricket
Sidmouth, Devon, 6/5/2011
Sidmouth won by 6 wickets
Strongroom: 193-6 [J.Gower 50, T.Henderson 48]
Sidmouth: 197-4 [T.Chaplin 71*, G.Munday 58, D.Lines 41]
View the Scorecard
Gone were the sunny skies but the rain held off in Sidmouth. Apparently it started chucking it down soon after the last Strongroomer had hit the road back to London.
This is a special ground. Upon arriving, a couple of Strongroomers were heard to say that we must put in a reasonable account of ourselves even if we appear to be slumping to defeat – simply to make sure we stood a chance of being invited back. Sidmouth are Devon champions and we played a mixed XI that seemed to comprise mostly spritely teens (2nd and 3rd XIs). Some of us were thankful for the lack of belting sun and the relatively easy time in the field the previous day.
The first few overs of the match confirmed that we were dealing with a well-trained, classy opposition. Their veteran wicket-keeper was excellent, standing up to the wicket to some tight and threatening swing and seam bowling and the heavy dose of youth was on display in the outfield in terms of sprinting and accurate, powerful throwing. However, Jimmy and Rich started well and negated the opening attack with only a couple of difficult moments. The run rate was fine as Rich crunched a few boundaries before playing back to something a bit too full. Jimmy dried up a bit as the keeper and field moved in to apply the pressure and he succumbed to one of several close lbw appeals. Umpiring was a pretty intense job for the Sunday afternoon of a tour, with lots of movement, good appeals and swift keeping. More skilful/experienced umpiring and/or a review system might have seen some not out (lbw and stumping) decisions overturned.
Tom was showing some class at number 3, though for him even this pitch wasn’t coming on as well as his native tracks. Jon overcame a very circumspective start and began to open out, gain the pace of the pitch and play some good shots along the ground and enjoyed the fast outfield. Strongroom seemed to be securing a reasonable score, but could they elevate it to something better? Mark threatened to do so with three powerful boundaries in one over, but took one liberty too many and was bowled. Dave G found it difficult to come in and raise the run rate immediately against the spinners and he and Jon were dropped a couple of times. Sidmouth dropped quite a few catches overall – the only sloppy area of their game on the day. Jon fell immediately after reaching 50, but Ujjal played some shots in his final Strongroom game. 193 was a reasonable total, but perhaps 20 or 30 short from applying real pressure.
Tea was superb. Homemade sausage rolls, great scones/jam/cream and even a soufflé dessert. It was difficult to drag ourselves out of the clubhouse and out into the chilly afternoon to take the field.
Mark started where he left off against Tipton, taking an early wicket and bowling an excellent spell that kept the runs down while making the batsmen play at almost everything. His fielding off his own bowling was superb. Andy also started well, though didn’t quite reach his high standards of the previous day and struggled to completely erase the odd loose delivery. Sidmouth opener Lines was very aggressive and smashed anything loose, but fell to an excellent steepling catch by Tom when he tried one hit too many. Tom came on and snaffled another seemingly big hitter early on and Strongroom were in with a sniff. Then came the match-winning partnership between Chaplin and Munday, a blend of youth and experience. They offered a few chances, but mostly played very well and kept with the rate while not panicking and putting pressure right back on the fielders. Joe bowled a good tight spell but went wicketless. Ujjal was extracting plenty of movement but the batsmen waited patiently for deliveries offline. Jon was reluctant to bring himself on, fearing that it wasn’t really his sort of track and this prophecy proved a bit self-fulfilling as the batsmen refused to let him settle and punished his looseners. With Mark bowled out, Rich came on and bowled some pretty good stuff that couldn’t quite get the breakthrough. Ujjal picked up a wicket in his last Strongroom over, but then saw his last ball crunched through midwicket for 4 as Sidmouth won with an over to spare. Throughout all of this, Strongroom fielded admirably, with several old bodies being flung in desperate dives. Mark towered above all others in the field with several astonishing stops that gave his hands and body a battering, including a memorable tumble across the tarmac beyond the boundary. This effort helped to secure his tourist-of-the-year award.
Strongroom had lost, but it was an enjoyable game. Our outfit of (mostly) tired, ageing cricket-loving oicks wasn’t quite a match this time against youth and pedigree. Still, everyone had made a good effort and it had been a close contest. Certainly enough to earn an invite for 2012.
Written By: D.Gower
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