While popular opinion would have it that the 17th 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment