Carpe Secure Victory over Land Security

While England were taking a well earned breather from obliterating the hapless Indians on Friday 5^th August, Carpe’s battle hardened troops soldiered on. In this instance it was to Regent’s Park that they swarmed, or rather dribbled, after work. As the start of the game loomed we realised that we were short of a full eleven.

Our opposition, Land Security XI, were even more numerically challenged. The sun was already lowering itself in the cloud-patterned sky when the resolve to play cricket overcame the fact that only fourteen people had turned up, three of which hailed from that proud cricketing family, the Bremakumars. A twelve over game with eight balls an over was decided upon and Land Security took to the field, bolstered by their reinforcements from some selfless Carpe players.

But with a limited number of fielders and some sterling batting, Carpe’s opening pair of Walker and Stannard were able to race away and build a strong score, striking boundaries with delicious ease. When Walker was sent stalking back to the “pavilion” after being bowled the run rate hardly slowed, the diminished field becoming ever more stretched. All seven batsmen made their mark with Stannard’s 27 not out and Sat Bremakumar’ 32 the pick of the bunch.

Those Carpe players who put the game before their allegiances and played for LS also took a healthy share of the wickets, Sanjay Bremakumar dismissing his younger brother with a satisfied snarl and Dingwall taking the wickets of Nunn and Whitting.

LS padded up with the total of 113 to match before the sun failed or they ran out of wickets. And as the shadows lengthened their two openers used their experience from fielding to find the gaps in Carpe’s net, finding singles with almost every ball. The match’s sole spectator, a bearded man doing yoga on an inflatable ball, must have worried that Carpe’s bowling attack would not be enough to stem the flow of runs. But he didn’t reckon on Stannard who followed up his powerful innings with the bat with a devastating over that dismissed LS’s openers and put Carpe back on the front foot.

As more wickets started to fall Bremakumar Major and Minor found themselves together in the middle battling against the bowling of their brother in a vicious family feud. The fine bowling of the middle child was rewarded as he took the wicket of his older brother much to the delirium of the Carpe field, whose sledging up to this moment had been first rate against their occasional captain.

It was left to your faithful correspondent to take the final but his first wicket, clean bowling LS’s wicket keeper after finally getting his line right after a decidedly wayward first over. To Carpe went the glory of victory; to The Bobbin went the glorious victors.

Greene Denied Century but Carpe Romp to Victory

Sunday was a glorious day by all accounts for Carpe Vinum CC. The sun blazed all afternoon over a village green pitch that could have been plucked from a magazine for the nostalgic. The Seven Sports CC of Chertsey, Carpe’s hosts, only added to the occasion. They provided the team with sumptuous tea and a post-match dinner and proved good company. But they also provided Carpe with that most cherished of delights: a win!

Seven Sports, so called from a collection of teams that gathered together way back in 1947 of which only the cricket team survives, elected to bat first on what was a flattish pitch that kept the ball low. Their openers started brightly, pouncing on loose balls and benefitting from some dropped catches. They had put on 50 runs before the first wicket fell, David Johnson bowled by a storming ball from Sanjay Bremakumar that spattered his stumps across the turf.

He was replaced by his seemingly identical brother, Paul, who continued in the same vein as the score kept climbing. But, following on from his heroics last week, Bremakumar struck twice in one over and once again soon after, with Johnny Heald claiming a scalp for himself. This collapse brought the youngster Jack Johnson (same family!) to the crease. The 12 year old acquitted himself well, surviving some vicious bowling from Skipper Keith to reach 12 unbeaten at the end of his innings and would later take two Carpe wickets. His sister Rachel, a mean bowler herself, supported him to the end after their uncle Paul was dismissed by a fine catch from Dingwall off Hilliard.

The target of 135 for victory looked attainable but when Bremakumar was dismissed trying to slog the second ball, the game was far from safe. However, an outstanding innings by wicketkeeper James Greene, who had been a safe pair of hands throughout Sevens’ innings, steered Carpe to a crushing victory with almost 15 overs to spare. Denied a ton by the cautious and precise innings of Dingwall at the other end, Greene had to settle for 95, almost all of those runs coming from thunderous fours as he battered the increasingly demoralised Sevens bowlers. Dingwall departed for a fine 32, Sanny Bremakumar joining him in the hutch moments later. It was left to your faithful correspondent to see out the win with Greene out in the middle, the two runs not out an essential part of this fine victory.

Tricky Wicket Costs Carpe Dear

Carpe Vinum CC found themselves on the wrong end of a beating after their modest total of 86 all out was overhauled with more than ten overs to go. With the wind howling and buffeting on the outskirts of the Barnes Wetland Centre, Carpe were sent into bat by the Saracen Riffs CC 1^st XI. These winds caused havoc for those trying to read the Sunday papers on the boundary but, out in the middle, Carpe's batsmen were struggling with a wicket described afterwards as downright dangerous.

Balls that bounced on the same spot could dribble to one's ankles, swerve off in strange directions or career dangerously at the batsman's face. Almost every Carpe player forsook their bareheaded approach to batting, choosing instead to don a helmet. Even the captain, Jonathan Hilliard, who had bravely strode out without one soon returned to case his face in fibre glass.

With a wicket this difficult to predict, the runs came painfully slowly. Openers David Last and Nicholas Darlington dug in bravely, facing down the worst that Saracen Riff could throw at them but with little success. Darlington faced 19 dot balls in a row as he tried to cope with the terrifying bounce.

He departed for 9 off 35 and Carpe's hearts were in their mouths. Last grafted for a while longer with aplomb, his partnership with Tim Denny dragging Carpe forwards before he was clean bowled by another tricky ball. Though the remaining batsmen went out with the openers' warning ringing in their ears, few lasted long enough to get to grips with the turf. Riffs' bowlers were threatening with almost every ball and the slow outfield meant that boundaries were hard to come by.

Grove and Hilliard added a run apiece to Carpe's total before Dingwall halted the rot. Denny lofted a huge drive that just failed to clear mid on and as he strode back to the boundary for 20, Carpe's hopes of reaching three figures looked impossible.

Riffs dealt with the tail with ruthless efficiency. A golden duck for Hare, a duck for Hewitt and a silver duck for Thomson left Whitting on his own at the end, yet to score.

Carpe went into the field knowing that it would take some heroics to snatch this one from the bag. And almost immediately they got a breakthrough. A tricky ball from Hilliard bounced from the glove of Riffs' opener before a run had been scored and Grove was close enough to grab it from the air. His replacement didn't last much longer, adding only 4 before Hilliard struck again, Darlington taking the catch. Carpe's confidence was up. They had Riffs rattled.

The remaining opener and the fourth man, however, were disciplined and concise. They took singles wherever they found them and faced down a hail of balls with the steely determination and stoicism of tortoises. Over by over, they edged closer to Carpe's meagre total. Though Carpe struck late on through Hilliard to send the second opener back to the boundary for 23, the damage had been done. After 23 overs Riffs' fourth batsman sent a shot whistling down mid off and their win was secured.

The rematch will see a different result one hopes.

Hammond beats Hutton in Hangover Humdinger

While popular opinion would have it that the 17^th April’s big sporting event was the London Marathon, those select few who had the privilege to witness the pre-season Carpe Vinum C.C. friendly between Alex Malloy’s Hammond XI and Jonathan Hilliard’s Hutton XI know otherwise.

This match had it all: electric bowling, lusty batting, contentious catches, a church with a glass spire, shattered dreams and very nearly a shattered car window.

With Hutton electing to bowl, Hammond sent the imposing figures of Messrs Last and Denny out into the artificial wicket to face the fierce bowling of Mr Hilliard and company. It was a cagey start from both batsmen as they got to grips with the awkward bounce of the wicket and soaked up the early pressure from Hutton’s bowlers. The longer they stayed in, however, the more confident their shot-making became and as Hammond’s total neared 100 without loss, Hutton seemed on the ropes. Last reached the boundary six times but it was Denny that cleared it, smashing a ball out of the Alleyns ground and straight into an unfortunate bystander’s Prius.

The breakthrough for Hutton came in the form of the intelligent bowling of Saunders which sent Last’s stumps flying for 39, with Hammond just shy of 100. Denny powered on with new batsman Mason in tow but in heartbreaking fashion saw Hilliard clean bowl him for 48. This was Hilliard’s purple patch as he ruthlessly sent Stannard and Keith back to the ‘pavilion’ for 2 and 1 respectively.

When Mason and Malloy joined them having put in sterling efforts at the coalface with 31 and 16 respectively it was left to Bremakumar to rally the tail. He fought with aplomb, reaching 27 before he was stumped off a fine Strong delivery. With the tail now disintegrating the end of the innings came two balls early, Whitting losing his stumps to Strong in the only duck of the game, Westcott the last man standing on 6.

After a fine lunch Hutton’s Hewitt and Masojada strode out the middle, chasing 216 to win. They too discovered the artificial wicket treacherous and tried to dig in. But it was not to be. Mason’s bowling was fast and treacherous and it was not long before both openers and the third batsman Greene were watching nervously from the sidelines with single digit scores.

Elder and Saunders stuck it out in the middle for as long as they could but when Saunders went for 12, minutes after hitting a fine six, Hutton’s chances of victory seemed anorexically slim. After Elder left for 17 Messrs Hilliard and Dingwall settled down to attempt a salvage job with steely resolve and calm exteriors.

That calm exterior though would crack several overs later when Keith, diving forward with an athleticism that belied his belly, just grabbed hold of a scooped shot from Hilliard. Though the batsman protested that the ball had hit the ground before Keith’s fingers closed around it, umpire Alasdair Sheikh’s finger was raised and brooked no argument, giving Westcott his sole wicket of the match. With Hilliard gone for 13, only Hutton’s tail remained to chase down an increasingly insurmountable target.

Gordon, wearing his jockstrap outside his whites, played some extravagant shots but fell for 10 as Keith started to work through the remaining batsman. Dingwall, however, remained firm at one end, facing down the increasingly weary bowling of the Hammond XI and building towards a half century. Keith took Ayton’s wicket for 2 before Farley caught Glaseby LBW for 9 to leave Hutton far behind Hammond with only one wicket in hand.

Strong and Dingwall survived the final few overs and closed the gap, finishing on 8 and 44 respectively. Hutton’s final score stood at 179, 47 of which came from extras, which gave the victory to Hammond XI.

From there it was but a simple jaunt to The Crown and Greyhound for some well earned refreshments.