Somerset Tour

After the exertions of the Yorkshire Tour and the pain of enduring such a string of narrow defeats had been somewhat alleviated by Carpe’s first victory of the season, it was time for the club’s annual trip to the Wild West, otherwise known as ThomsonTown or Kingsdon.

Your correspondent arrived just in time for the Second Lions Test, watched by literally tens of expectant fans in The Bull Inn in Illchester. Most of the rest of the team had been sampling the delights of regional clubbing the night before, an annual tradition that is no doubt as eagerly anticipated by the locals as it is by Carpe tourists.

As Leigh Halfpenny’s final kick sank beneath the posts to send Australians into orgasm, we duly sank our pints and headed to Kingsdon Cricket Club to see if we could do any better than the men in red. A crowd had gathered to watch this institution of a match and though they could not match the thousands of rugby fans in Melbourne in numbers, they certainly matched them in fervour, not least when taking the piss out of Strong.

They had also brought a surfeit of players, which made the game 13-aside, with Hewitt forced to spend the match as a spectator, a decision he accepted in good grace by promptly going to the pub.

Kingsdon batted first, but initially found runs hard to come by, with Captain Denny and Vice Captain Hilliard pounding in from either end and launching a barrage of fast-paced, tricky balls. Hilliard took the first three wickets, finishing with figures of 3-11, while Denny’s 2-16 further took the heart from Kingsdon. Strong and Manthorpe snaffled a wicket each as well to leave Carpe with a quite scalable target.

The batting got off to an inauspicious start when Davis returned to the pavilion rather earlier than he might have hoped with only four runs. However, this gave Carpe the chance to unleash their secret weapon – Thomson, who, on his home ground, swatted and slogged his way to a career best of eight. A batting collapse that in quick succession saw Greene, Phelps, Dingwall and Thomson back in their shorts, lounging in the sun, would have concerned lesser men.

But Denny and Hilliard, batting with gusto, gathered runs at a pace that betrayed their thirst for glory and for some cider at the pub round the corner.

After the game had been won and the plaudits handed out and a few more pints had been sunk at the pub, it was time for that other great Kingsdon tradition – the Parkfarm Party. With the sun still high in the sky, Carpe Vinum accepted the coveted Thomson Trophy for the first time with all the grace and humility that we have come to expect from such upstanding members of the cricketing fraternity – that is to say they cheered and sang, jeered and jumped about, taking great swigs from the cup, and didn’t stop until long after We Are The Champions had finished playing. Indeed the festivities did not stop until the early hours and for the hospitality and patience of the Thomson family we extend our warmest thanks.

The following morning Carpe Vinum ate a hearty breakfast in the glow that glinted off the cup, resplendent in a window arch, before heading eastwards to Wiltshire to play the fine members of Chitterne CC, another team that hitherto Carpe had failed to vanquish. Could lightening strike twice?

All things seemed possible as Chitterne started slowly, eeking out runs at a rate that was deeply encouraging. Wickets fell with comforting regularity with Strong to the fore. That was until Chitterne’s runner came into bat, a Rifleman called De Freitus who had, ironically enough, been called in to replace a player called Strong. Up to that point, Carpe’s slow spinner had been enjoying himself, taking the first three wickets and rather inexpensively at that.

One over later and Strong’s average lay in tatters – clattered and thumped to all corners, as leaky as a colander. His pain was shared by other bowlers. After overs of sterling control to stifle Chitterne’s run rate, Carpe suddenly found themselves staring at an increasingly daunting total. When De Freitus finally left the field, caught expertly off Hilliard, hope flickered once again. Even Strong got his mojo back, finishing with figures of 5-47.

Alas, the innings ended on a sad note, with Manthorpe’s finger badly bruised dropping a catch and Dingwall’s hamstring torn chasing down a boundary off the penultimate ball. However, though the final total was large, it was not insurmountable. All rested on the batsmen. Greene and Davis set about their task with relish, taking advantage of the short boundary on the south side and striking some fine cricketing blows. Spectators from Chitterne began to worry that a crushing defeat was on the cards. They did not reckon with the length of Carpe’s tail.

Once Davis had gone, the runs continued to accumulate through Greene and Denny, both of whom finished with 44 runs. When Greene departed, however, the wickets started to mount up and concern crept into the Carpe ranks. Keith, Hilliard and Strong batted gamely, but struggled to provide longstanding partners for Denny.

Disaster then struck as Denny was given out off a contentious LBW decision and the task of hauling Carpe over the line rested with Manthorpe and Dingwall, who were injured, and with Whitting and Thomson.

After being clean bowled for six Whitting acted as runner for brave young Dingwall, the eleventh batsman, who limped out to the wicket to the applause of all. With runs drying out, eventually time ran out as well, leaving Carpe agonisingly short of a victory that perhaps their defiance, discipline and tenacity had warranted.

We’ll get ‘em next year!