Kingsdon CC reclaim coveted cup after thrilling finale

Kingsdon CC defeated Carpe Vinum CC in the most dramatic fashion to reclaim the cup that had rested in their rivals’ hands for the last two years, hitting the winning runs with a mere two balls to spare.

Carpe’s opening batsmen Strong and Hewitt strode out to the crease underneath a sky patched with cloud and filled with aircraft, as Kingsdon Air Show coincided its Red Arrow, Vulcan and Apache displays with this momentous match.

Carpe started brightly, as Strong thumped some boundaries in a bid to establish dominance. When he fell for 13 off the bowling of Dale, it fell to Bremakumar to maintain Carpe’s bright start. The number three batsman was given more lives than a cat by Kingsdon, lofting the ball high only to see it slip through the fielder’s fingers on countless occasions, as he built an erratic but impressive score.

When Hewitt departed for a nuggety 5, it brought Carpe’s bona fide cricketer Saunders to the crease and, after getting his eye in, the man with the green helmet set about building Carpe’s innings. The ball was bludgeoned to almost every corner of the boundary, on three occasions even clearing the ropes, as the visitors’ score grew at an encouraging pace for the visitors. Ultimately, however, Saunders’ dismissal felt rather soft, skying the ball in search of another boundary and being caught for 68 off the bowling of Weaver.

Saunders’ departure brought about the traditional Carpe collapse, as a procession of batsmen strode to the crease only to trudge back with bowed heads and wry grins a few balls later, often off the bowling of Weaver. No.11 batsman Whitting was clean bowled for 3 and while Carpe had niggling doubts and regrets about failing to bat out the full 40 overs, most could agree that 170 all out was a challenging score.

After a splendid tea, Carpe took the field to welcome Kingsdon’s openers. Saunders and Manthorpe bowled with disciplined aggression, but Morgan and, in particular, Schorbs were more than up to the task, patiently building at the required run rate and seeing of the opening bowlers without loss.

Carpe’s second wave of bowling struck back in the 13th over. Bremakumar bowled Morgan out for 20 and, two overs later, caught Russon off his own bowling before he had made a run. His third victim, Waters, was despatched to pavilion for 8 and Carpe had their breakthrough.

However, Schorbs remained obdurate and dangerous, rotating the strike regularly with new batsman Falconer in between the occasional contemptuous boundary. As the game continued on wicketless, one could sense the energy sapping from Carpe’s field and the belief and expectation growing from Kingsdon fans and followers.

The runs continued to accumulate as Schorbs passed his half century and before long Carpe had 48 balls to defend a lead of only 25 runs. Most Carpe sides would have folded at this point and accepted their fate. Instead, an inspired piece of bowling from Saunders in his second spell clattered into Schorbs’ stumps and belief flooded back into the fielding side as the opening batsman departed for 83.

Sweltering in the humid heat, Carpe chased every ball and put their bodies on the line to claw back the initiative. The runs began to dry up for Kingsdon and nervousness crept into their batsmen. Saunders grew into his role of match-saver for Carpe, clean bowling the next two Kingsdon batsmen for ducks, while Strong tied down the runs at the other end. Three consecutive maidens were bowled as the pressure built to boiling point.

It wouldn’t be a match between Carpe and Kingsdon without some controversy and, in the penultimate over, it was served up to the expectant teams. One ball into Saunders’ final over, the scorers called from the boundary to inform umpires and players alike that he had already bowled his full requisite of overs. After some discussion, it was decided that as the over had been started it should continue, so Saunders continued with his tenth over. The next ball he took another wicket to bring new batsman R Waters to the crease. He immediately got off the mark with a single.

Falconer, who had survived Saunders’ carnage, rotated the strike again to steal the strike back for the final over. With a mere four runs required to hand victory and the cup back to Kingsdon, everything lay in the balance of Strong’s final over.

The first ball was clipped away for a single, bringing Waters to the crease. He swung and missed, he the ball straight to mid on as the field tightened its net. Strong’s fourth ball, however, floated down the leg side and, with relief more than delight, Waters clubbed it away. No fielder could catch the ball in time and as it scuttled over the boundaries the cheers rose from the pavilion.

Carpe’s hold on the cup had been loosened in one of the greatest games either side has had the pleasure to play. Celebrations at the Thomson’s were heartfelt and long-lasting, but Carpe will surely return with reclamation on their minds next year.

Devastating bowling spells see Carpe triumph

To adequately describe the scenes at Wandsworth Common’s cricket ground a few weeks ago would require a level of hyperbole not heard since Dennis Lillee was hurling balls at stumps.

Carpe Vinum CC spent its off-season recruiting heavily and these new additions have brought added energy to the field, aggression to the batting, but most notably, venom to the bowling. The match started in typical Carpe fashion however – that is to say, the stumps arrived seconds before play was due to start and some players got lost on their way to the ground.

Put into bat under the glorious summer sun by The Baker Street Irregulars, Carpe’s openers set about their task. Freddie Cunningham and Will Finch formed a strong partnership to blunt the attack of the new ball, smearing boundaries and rotating the strike whenever possible. They looked to be building comfortably before a humdinger of a ball from Bailey clattered into Finch’s stumps and brought aggressive batsmen Jason Quick to the crease. While Cunningham continued to build his score through a series of singles, Quick attacked the bowlers. Spin bowler Rahull was enraged to see a series of balls thundering to boundary, but was howling when he hit the wicket, only to see the bails remain resolutely on the stumps. Quick’s innings, though entertaining, was overshadowed by his stupendous dismissal. Lining up for a mammoth swing against Harrod, he missed the ball, lost his balance and, spinning round a few times, collapsed into his stumps. He returned to the boundary with fifteen runs, welcomed by howls of laughter.

The next two batsmen, Charlie Whitting and captain Ben Wilson, added little to the score, but Johnny Hilliard strode to the middle with real intent. As Cunningham made his half century, Hilliard was bludgeoning balls with merry abandon. While the partnership lasted, Carpe looked well set, but once Cunningham was found out lbw, the inevitable Carpe collapse left Hilliard stranded on 35. Tom Nias left with two runs, Australian debutant Lewis Barker made a composed five and Charlie Southgate contributed a run to the total. Adam Rostrum, asked to bat twice with Carpe fielding only ten men, failed to add to his initial duck, caught out first ball in his second ‘innings’ to leave with a king pair in a 27-over innings.

With a total of 167 and only ten men to defend it, Carpe knew that they would have to depend on their bowlers to be accurate. And boy were they. Rostrum opened the bowling, clearly determined that, if he couldn’t score any runs, then no one from BSI would either. The ball was whistling past the bat, past the chin, past the ears, and the umpires even felt it necessary to ‘have a word’.

After a vicious opening maiden over, the batsmen might have expected some light relief from Nias. They got none of it, his first ball clattering into the stumps and sending the man back to the hutch runless. His replacement didn’t add to the score. Then the carnage really began. After a snorter had unsettled his target, Rostrum’s next delivery was awkwardly edged to the slips. The following ball sent the bails flying and the next was spooned into the air and grasped by a chasing Wilson. In three overs, BSI had lost four wickets without troubling the scoreboard. Charging like a rhino about to miss the last train, Rostrum struck terror into the hearts and minds of every batsmen that shuffled nervously to the wicket, while at the other end dead-eyed Nias was no less terrifying.

After six overs of brutality that saw six wickets fall for a handful of runs, Wilson dragged Nias and Rostrum away and slowed things down with some spin, starting with himself. He was initially rewarded with two wickets in two balls to leave the BSI innings hanging by a thread. But then the inevitable fightback happened. Without the quicks terrorising them Bailey and Harrod started to claw back into the contest, gaining revenge on Wilson by slogging 27 runs off one over.

Carpe might have entertained thoughts that this flurry of runs in the lower order was merely making a game of what could have been an absolute hammering, but watching each over pass with the ball passing over their heads and the boundary, nonchalance turned to amusement, then irritation, then downright concern. The history of Carpe is littered with plenty of ignominious defeats but to lose from this position – surely not?

Chances were coming, with Hilliard coming close and Barker enduring a litany of dropped catches and edges not going to hand, but there was no breakthrough. Then, just after BSI had sailed past 100, Wilson decided enough was enough, and brought Rostrum and Nias back to the attack. With almost immediate effect. The final two wickets fell and Carpe Vinum had triumphed by 48 runs. But for Harrod’s 74 not out, more than half his side’s total, the winning margin could well have been 148.

While such a commanding display might not be necessarily familiar to all Carpe fans, the lengthy celebrations at the nearby County Arms certainly were.

The New Forest Tour

Hot on the heels of the cup-retaining tour of Somerset, Carpe Vinum CC were on the road again, this time to the idyllic New Forest. Alas the journey down was far from idyllic for many of the team, as the start of the summer holidays turned the roads into car parks and the train stations into waiting rooms.

By the time the fielders of Coombe Bissett CC were striding out of the pavilion, only three Carpe team members were even at the ground. As the rest of the team edged through the traffic, Richard Manthorpe and Sam Phelps resolutely held their nerve at the crease. Three overs later and they were still battling it out when two cars came haring through the gate. Five players burst out and raced into the pavilion to get changed and ready to play. They did not have to wait long. Manthorpe was soon back in the hutch after battling to a duck and Sanjay Bremakumar was out at the crease hastily pulling on his gloves.

Neither he nor Phelps lasted much longer and Carpe found themselves three wickets down with only a handful of runs to show for it. Tim Denny and captain Johnny Hilliard established some sort of fightback, eking singles and clubbing bad balls to the boundary down the slope. When Hilliard was bowled for 19, Strong put his shoulder to the wheel, combining well with Denny to drag Carpe’s total to something approaching respectability. After Denny departed for 34, two more Carpe players arrived at the ground, bringing the team up to 10 men, albeit with time running out. Alas they failed to add to the target, with Mike Saunders impressively out lbw trying to reverse sweep his first ball.

Set the modest target of 103 to win and knowing that Carpe were still a man short in the field, Coombe Bissett’s openers set about their challenge with relish, setting the tone with a powerful boundary off the first delivery. Hilliard rotated his bowlers and the energy in the field never slackened, but the runs were coming all too quickly. Even the late arrival of Joe Hare and Toby Adamson, who had gotten it into their heads that the trip from London to the New Forest on a Friday evening couldn’t be longer than an hour, couldn’t stave off the inevitable. With eight overs still to play and 12 men on the field, Carpe succumbed to a chastening 10 wicket defeat.

Nevertheless, they left the ground in high spirits and enjoyed a few ‘shandies’ at the local Fox and Goose before retiring to their cottages for some drinking games involving cheap (and very weak) continental lager.

The next day had no cricket scheduled, so team activities had been planned – a trip to the beach, followed by Salisbury Races. Unfortunately, the team rather disintegrated, with your correspondent shooting off to a wedding and Denny, Adamson and Hare electing to play golf instead. Your correspondent was therefore not around to witness the shenanigans of Saturday, so these pictures must suffice. However, special praise must go to Saunders and Chris Barker who also braved Salisbury’s Chapel nightclub and were last back to the cottages.

Carpe’s next opponents were Rockbourne CC who put them into bat on a pitch with a temping slope but a slowish outfield. Things got off to a bad start as Strong was caught on 1, with Hare following him soon afterwards. However, fellow opener Saunders, perhaps in a bid to make up for his embarrassment in the first match, batted strongly, picking gaps and judging the bowlers’ lines well. In this he was ably assisted by Denny and the generous Rockbourne bowlers, who leaked 41 runs in extras.

After Saunders was given out lbw only a few balls after reaching his half century, Denny was ably assisted the entertaining innings of Bremakumar and Adamson to help him reach the same milestone. Carpe’s total marched past 200 and they even survived the innings without losing all of their wickets, with Denny left standing with the runless Whitting on 52 not out.

After posting the highest total of their season Carpe might have been confident of defending it, but Rockbourne proved themselves to be admirable batsmen. After Manthorpe took an early wicket, the next two batsmen Maidment and Beetham set about the chase, rotating the strike and punishing any wayward balls.

A corker of a delivery off the first ball of Adamson’s final over to bowl Maidment was the breakthrough that Carpe craved and, followed by direct and aggressive bowling from Denny, slowed the run rate to tilt the balance back Carpe’s way. However, it was not long before Rockbourne snatched control back again in the most brutal of fashions.

First, Hilliard was carved and slogged all over the ground to cede five successive boundaries. After he had been hauled off, captain Strong gave himself an over in a bid to make a breakthrough before drinks. That breakthrough did come, albeit at the extortionate cost of four more successive boundaries, including two maximums. Carpe had their wicket but it was Rockbourne that took drinks in higher spirits, 42 runs plundered in two overs and the total now well within their grasp with seven wickets still in hand.

From this point, there was no return for Carpe. They battled with typical spirit, Hilliard gaining some revenge with a wicket and Saunders breaking a brotherhood partnership soon afterwards. But in the end, the result was inevitable and Rockbourne reached their target with eight overs to spare and plenty of batsmen still in the hutch. Drinks in the Rose and Thistle afterwards went on late into the night, with captain Strong awarded man of the match… by Rockbourne.

The next day, after everyone had recovered from the previous night’s punishing Tour Court, Carpe Vinum travelled south to Hampshire CC’s beautiful Rose Bowl to witness the delight of some superb batting from England, while those watching on TV had the more dubious delight of seeing half the Carpe team sitting sunburnt in the stands watching the action.

Another tour was over, one that may not have been successful on the pitch, but which had been a triumph everywhere else… which is what Carpe Vinum CC is all about.

The Somerset Tour

It is often argued that if Carpe Vinum CC were able to field their best possible eleven players then they would actually be a remarkably potent side. While this has never happened, the tour to Somerset might well be remembered as the occasion when the reverse happened and arguably the weakest ever Carpe side pulled on the burgundy cap.

After the heroic exploits of last year, when the famous trophy was finally seized from Kingsdon CC’s grasp, expectations on retaining said trophy were understandably low. However, thunderous rain on the day of the match threatened to render the contest unplayable and was met with a mixture of frustration and relief by Carpe players eager for a game but not eager to lose. After a few hours of skygazing, the weather and pitch were deemed good enough to play on and Carpe took to the field in high spirits.

As has happened already once or twice this season, Carpe were short of a player or two, but a new resident of the village soon joined their team, a player with whom it could be argued, the team and the village would have been better off without.

On a damp and sodden pitch, Carpe’s bowlers got to work, probing for weaknesses against the opening batsmen. The first wicket soon brought a second and spirits started to brighten with the sky overhead.

However, the remaining opener and his new colleague dug in with the bat, scampering through the puddles for singles or punching the ball through the inevitable gaps in Carpe’s field. Even when another wicket fell, the opener remained limpet-like with the next batsman. The score was starting to clamber ominously high as captain Chris Strong gave almost every man an over or two, with James Hewitt and Sam Phelps enjoying good spells. A couple of quick wickets fell before the end, one a sterling run out, but the crowd were devastated when, after being given the last over to bowl, local favourite Ed Thomson had to endure Carpe’s replacement fielder putting down a catch that even he could have taken. Ultimately, Kingdson’s score left Carpe a total of 164 to chase down for victory.

Joe Hare and Charles Whitting strode out to the crease, but Kingsdon’s wily spinners ensured the scoring was slow and before long both batsmen found themselves back in the hutch. It was left to Henry Fellows to lead the charge, taking an age to get off the mark but keeping the scoreboard on the move constantly after that.

In this endeavour he was ably assisted by the likes of Alex Keith, Phelps and Strong, each of whom hung around long enough to score some runs of their own before being undone in single figures.

Kingsdon’s bowlers were doing well to constrict Carpe’s score, but they were undone by the weather. No sooner had Strong dragged himself back to the pavilion than the rain, which had been steadily getting heavier, turned monsoonal.

As the wicket’s puddles grew ever deeper, the match was abandoned as a draw (much to Kingsdon’s disappointment and the bemusement of Mssrs Duckworth and Lewis). Carpe’s ragtag band had retained the trophy under the most unlikely of circumstances and celebrations went on long into the night and featured an impromptu game of water polo.

The next day, full of glory and bacon sandwiches, the team headed to face Chitterne CC, a team that they had yet to beat. Bolstered by the arrival of Jimmy Greene and a runner he had brought with him called Walker, Carpe took to the field with a full contingent of players. Or they would have done, had Hare not somehow injured himself jumping for a ball in practice.

And they got off to a good start too, with Sanjay Bremakumar striking early to give Walker the runner a catching opportunity that was taken with exemplary skill. After that, however, the batsmen thrived, using the slope and the short boundaries to their advantage and making the most of a series of dropped catches in the field.

The next wicket came in extraordinary circumstances, as a delivery from Fellows was judged as too high by the batsman. He ducked, but the ball sailed over his head and clattered into the stumps. When Greene took a fine catch off his own bowling, the chance to take the game by the jugular was there. But a powerful 46 from a fellow called Knyvett took the game away from Carpe and saw Chitterne end with a score 161 for 5, although Phelps could once again be pleased with the two wickets he took late on in the innings.

With Hare and Whitting once again opening the batting, Fellows was drafted in as a runner. This role did not last long, as Hare was clean bowled for 2. Fellows stuck around to bat a bit himself, before falling the same way to the same bowler. When Whitting was dismissed lbw, the teams took tea.

After the early loss of wickets, it fell to Greene and Walker the runner to steady the ship and get the scoreline moving. However, it was in fact Alex Keith who threatened the Chitterne score the most effectively, clubbing and cudgelling the ball all over the field after Greene had been given out lbw. However, Keith's swashbuckling innings was cut short 16 runs short of a half century and the Carpe tail was exposed. Phelps was run out after a typically enthusiastic display, while Walker, who had battled manfully for longer than anyone, was eventually stumped in bizarre circumstances.

The end was in sight, as Bremakumar was also stumped and Hewitt was expertly caught off his first ball. Thomson and Strong were the only batsmen left to chase down the remaining runs and although Thomson stuck around and scored some runs, he too was eventually caught and sent back to the shady boundary, leaving Carpe to once again rue another defeat at the hands of these retired military men.

Carpe triumph over Agricola in tensest of games

Carpe Vinum CC recorded their second successive win of the summer in one of the most keenly fought matches in their history. With a team of only ten men taking the field, the odds were stacked against Carpe from the start for their annual battle against Latin rivals Agricola CC, yet they clung on in a match that ebbed and flowed with each passing over to finish worthy winners.

In sweltering conditions under the fine afternoon sun, Alex Beecraft and Mike Saunders strode out to the middle and proceeded to set up camp there. The run rate trickled, as the Agricola slow bowlers harried the batsmen and pinned them down, aided by an outfield that needed harvesting rather than mowing and consistently kept the ball from the boundary.

As the drinks break approached after 20 overs, the score crept above 50, but crucially Beecraft and Saunders remained, toiling in the heat, containing their frustration as they built the innings.

When Beecraft was caught for 37, it brought the aggressive Mark Wallis to the crease, who hit a swiftfire 13 before being caught. Then when Johnny Heath was caught deep at mid on, slogging a higher ball, it triggered another ominous Carpe collapse.

The exhausted Saunders was eventually clean bowled for 62, while Steve Haag, Toby Adamson and Charlie Whitting all departed for ducks. Nik Darlington eked out a solitary run before being caught himself. Chris Strong and Sanjay Bremakumar staged a last stand partnership to haul Carpe past 150 runs, but once again the team failed to last an entire innings.

With a total of 153 to defend and only ten men to do it, Carpe knew that they could not trust in the treacly outfield alone – the fielders would have to be focused, sharp and energetic.

And so it proved, as Adamson and Strong prodded and probed. Agricola’s innings took on a similar pattern to Carpe’s as their openers stuck it out patiently, waiting for chances. They inevitably found gaps in the depleted field, but Carpe stuck to their task admirably and found their reward shortly before drinks. A Darlington delivery clattered into the pads. The umpire’s finger went up and the team dared to dream.

But as the squash was handed round, Carpe must have known that Agricola still held the advantage. With 20 overs still to bat, they were already almost halfway to Carpe’s total, with a daunting nine wickets still in hand.

The introduction of Wallis into the attack brought immediate dividends, however, despatching the second opener and exposing new batsmen. Neither lasted long against an impressive Darlington attack. Agricola were four wickets down and their run rate was drying up; Carpe were in the ascendancy and when Saunders stepped in for his first over, belief was high.

That was reckoning without one of Agricola’s aggressive South African batsmen. In one destructive over, he clobbered the ball high over the long grass and the boundary and sending Agricola’s score rocketing into triple figures. In such a situation – 40 runs ahead, with ten overs left and a brute finding the boundary at will – Carpe might have let their ambition die and surrendered to the inevitable.

Instead, the team remained unbowed, the belief held and the fielders tightened the net. Two overs later and Saunders had his revenge, as Bremakumar took a fine catch in the deep to send the South African back to the hutch and expose the Agricola tail.

The stage was set for a thrilling finale, as Carpe strained to take the remaining five wickets and Agricola strived to reach Carpe’s temptingly attainable target. Willis enjoyed a wicket maiden and Adamson was rewarded for his incisive and miserly bowled to have a batsman expertly stumped by Beecraft.

In the end, it was Carpe’s energy in the field, which never flagged, that won the day. They pounced on any potential single, and as Agricola’s chase became ever more desperate they effected two run outs to deliver the spoils.

                           Veni Vidi Vici!!