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!!

Dennamite display not enough to defeat Ripley CC

The annals of cricket are filled with heroic displays in a losing cause. But perhaps none will overshadow the accomplishments of Tim Denny, who scored 110 runs, took five wickets and claimed the second ever hat trick in Carpe Vinum history, yet somehow conspired to be part of a team comprehensively beaten in the end by Ripley CC.

The stage was set for a glorious day’s cricket at one of Surrey’s most idyllic grounds, scarcely a cloud in the sky and temperatures resembling July rather than May. It was, therefore, a perhaps ill judged decision by Carpe captain Jonny Hilliard to elect to bowl under the blistering sun despite winning the toss.

Carpe’s bowlers started brightly, tempting Ripley’s batsmen into rash shots and getting good movement with the ball. However, catches fell agonisingly short. numerous appeals went to the umpires unanswered and Ripley’s score continued to grow. It wasn’t until a change was made in the bowling that the wickets started to come. First Nik Darlington took a deceptively nonchalant catch off Swapnil Patne to despatch Ripley’s opener, before claiming two wickets of his own.

Carpe’s tails were suddenly up, but the remaining opener, a ringer from South Africa, performed admirably to steady the ship. In fact he did more than that, clearing the ropes on numerous occasions. His century passed almost unnoticed, but Ripley's rocketing score didn't and the Carpe faithful began to worry that a long afternoon awaited. Then came Carpe’s next flurry of wickets, courtesy of Denny.

After threatening with each successive over, Denny finally broke through, spattering stumps everywhere. His next delivery saw the ringer scoop the ball straight back into his welcoming hands. Displaying the poise and sportsmanship typical of Carpe Vinum in moments of triumph, Denny roared like a bull before slamming the ball into the ground as though he were a wide receiver scoring a touchdown for the San Francisco 49ers. The field gathered in close for the hat trick ball as the next batsman, a young boy, quivered at Denny’s snorting approach. The ball pitched. It nicked the outstretched bat. Wicketkeeper Jimmy Greene snaffled it at his right knee and Denny went into raptures.

This should have signalled a swift end to proceedings for the Ripley tail. New batsmen appeared, were caught out and returned to be replaced by younger, smaller models, as though Carpe was playing a team of Russian dolls. At the other end, however, the No. 8 batsman proved himself to be a consummate performer, swashbuckling to an unbeaten 69 and leaving a weary Carpe team with a daunting target.

That target became more daunting still when Alex Keith returned runless to the hutch in the first over, swiftly joined by Steve Haag and Jimmy Greene, before Strong was caught for a golden duck. The middle order scarcely had time to remark that they had better put their pads on before they were out in the middle.

Charlie Whitting joined Denny at the crease and together they set about rescuing Carpe’s innings. After a cautious start facing the spinners, Denny started to flex his muscles against the quicks, finding boundaries and clearing the ropes. Nearby house owners were proven wise to have bars over their windows.

While Whitting held out at the other end until the drinks break, he departed shortly afterwards, bringing Darlington into the fray. Strong running quickened the run rate and when Darlington was caught and replaced by Patne, the rate quickened even further, but Denny was tiring. A strain sustained early in Ripley’s innings was hampering his progress between the wickets.

Denny was finally out trying for another boundary. The ball was caught when it fell short and with it Carpe’s chase fell short also. Patne was dismissed soon after and the rest of the tail – Ed Thomson, Hilliard and Alex Crabb – were unable to add to the score.