Match Report: H.C. Trotters C.C. vs. Eaton Bray C.C. (40 overs)
Sunday 20th May 2012
Played at Amersham Hill C.C.
Trotters Line Up: Charlie Radclyffe (C); Andrew Freshney; Andy Jonwood; Rich Lambert; Kris Macnamara; Stuart McCann; Patrick Mellors; Adam Saunders; Tommy Smith; James Wolfenden; John Wolfenden.
This 3rd attempt to get the Trotters’ 2012 season underway nearly failed, not because of the weather, which had caused the previous two fixtures against Regals and Chalfont St Peter to be called off; but because the original opponents, Amersham C.C., were unable to get a team together with just a few days to go. Up stepped Eaton Bray C.C., however (a first time opponent for the Trotters) and a venue was found, courtesy of Amersham Hill C.C. and so it was game on at last!
The clouds were omnipresent together with a biting wind that belied the time of year; but crucially, it never rained. There were some notable absentees from the Trotters’ line up with Wickenden and skipper, Ted Wolfenden, opting to follow the mid-May exodus of professional footballers to Marbella. Photo evidence of them sharing a bed has already been circulating on the web and they shall be summoned to Trotters HQ upon their return to explain themselves. Also missing was Amitabh who was back in India on holidays enjoying a high-sodium and, no doubt, Cobra beer-laden diet. Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to welcome the returning Andrew Freshney back to the line up and Adam Saunders made his debut, enabling the Trotters to field a decent XI.
Captain for the day, Charlie Radclyffe, stepped out to the centre with his opposite number and it was Eaton Bray to bat first with Lambert and Jumbo opening the bowling attack. The breakthrough took little time to arrive with both bowlers taking wickets early on – it was a very impressive start and like the birds of prey that circled above throughout the afternoon (and I am not making that up!), the Trotters’ field closed in on their would-be victims as they sensed further wickets would soon come.
But a resolute Eaton Bray were not in the mood for gifting any more early wickets and dug in thereafter, frustrating the Trotter’s bowling attack as Captain Radclyffe experimented with the players at his disposal: Jonwood, Freshney and Radclyffe himself all tried but failed to find the breakthrough. It was the unlikely figure of John Wolfenden with some rasping balls that finally did some damage with his first ever wicket for the Trotters. But the wily Eaton Bray Captain that had found so many holes in the field would power on undeterred to make his hundred.
A couple more wickets fell at the hands of Lambert and the impressive Saunders, who was serving up some testing balls that on another day, could well have resulted in catches, but Eaton Bray had achieved a score of 214 for 6 wickets.
The cold had taken its toll on the Trotters’ fielders and some welcome respite came as tea was called at the conclusion of the 40th over. Sadly lacking any homemade goods, tea was an all-Tesco affair but with every last chicken wing and Mr Kipling cake Hoovered-up it seemed to be adequate. There was some justifiable disquiet from the opposition about the absence of a pot of tea – the urn not having been turned on in time and then taking an eternity to reach a suitable temperature. It was certainly not a deliberate ploy to ensure that the opponents had no extra warmth to fend-off the cold, although this would have been an underhanded tactic worthy of Tony Pulis himself.
It was Smith and Jumbo to open the batting and it was not long at all before we saw the trademark ‘late cut’ in action from Smith and it was working to terrific effect. After a confident start with some tasty shots, the opening partnership was finally broken with Jumbo caught out on 23. The returning Andrew Freshney made his intentions known from the off with no less than 14 runs from the first 3 balls he scored off, including two spectacular sixes. There was plenty more to follow.
After a splendid knock Tommy went for 35 having been clean bowled, but he racked up six fours and a huge six in the process. All this straight after a lengthy stint behind the stumps, in which he gave nothing away. Well done, Tommy.
So it was John Wolfenden in to partner Freshney and the onlookers were treated to some elegant shots and strong running, but John perhaps got a bit too comfortable too soon as he succumbed to a catch for 13. Kris Mac stepped up and clubbed a few beauties, including a boundary to make 7 and Freshney’s excellent innings came to an end at 51 with three sixes and as many fours. What a class act.
At this stage the game was within the Trotters’ grasp and the injured McCann bravely fought on to add 6 runs to the score, with Macnamara providing running duties for him. Mellors (5), Radclyffe (14) and Jonwood (2) were only able to add a further 21 to the total, however, and suddenly the pressure was on Lambert and last man Adam Saunders to score the crucial runs. They battled valiantly, with Adam in particular, finding the boundary four times and the 200 mark was reached and passed before the bails eventually fell with him on a highly credible 18. But this, together with the strong dozen that Lambert had achieved was not quite enough and the Trotters’ 207 total left them 8 runs short of victory in the 38th over.
There were plenty of ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’ afterwards, but we had seen some good, competitive cricket and had an enjoyable day with a decent opposition and most importantly… we got the season underway at last! Eaton Bray were decent bunch of lads and we would certainly like another fixture against them if the diary permits.
Man of the Match: Andrew Freshney took the majority of the votes and rightly so, with a great half century and some very useful overs. An all round classy display.
Special Mentions: Must go to Tommy Smith for a great knock of 35 and an assured performance behind the stumps and also to Rich Lambert for his 3 wickets and finally to Adam Saunders for a very strong debut. Well done to all of you.
Tea Score: I am struggling to justify a score of more than 3 out of 10 for our tea, with it failing to meet two of the key criteria for any good cricketing tea: (1) some homemade element and (2) an actual cup of tea! Efforts must improve for future games we are hosting if we are to uphold our mission to provide the finest teas in the amateur game; but thank you to Charlie for organising on his own what we had on the day. It did the job.
Next up: We have a fixture pencilled in for Sunday 3rd June. Bob will no doubt be in touch with details shortly.
Keep on Trotting!
This 3rd attempt to get the Trotters’ 2012 season underway nearly failed, not because of the weather, which had caused the previous two fixtures against Regals and Chalfont St Peter to be called off; but because the original opponents, Amersham C.C., were unable to get a team together with just a few days to go. Up stepped Eaton Bray C.C., however (a first time opponent for the Trotters) and a venue was found, courtesy of Amersham Hill C.C. and so it was game on at last!
The clouds were omnipresent together with a biting wind that belied the time of year; but crucially, it never rained. There were some notable absentees from the Trotters’ line up with Wickenden and skipper, Ted Wolfenden, opting to follow the mid-May exodus of professional footballers to Marbella. Photo evidence of them sharing a bed has already been circulating on the web and they shall be summoned to Trotters HQ upon their return to explain themselves. Also missing was Amitabh who was back in India on holidays enjoying a high-sodium and, no doubt, Cobra beer-laden diet. Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to welcome the returning Andrew Freshney back to the line up and Adam Saunders made his debut, enabling the Trotters to field a decent XI.
Captain for the day, Charlie Radclyffe, stepped out to the centre with his opposite number and it was Eaton Bray to bat first with Lambert and Jumbo opening the bowling attack. The breakthrough took little time to arrive with both bowlers taking wickets early on – it was a very impressive start and like the birds of prey that circled above throughout the afternoon (and I am not making that up!), the Trotters’ field closed in on their would-be victims as they sensed further wickets would soon come.
But a resolute Eaton Bray were not in the mood for gifting any more early wickets and dug in thereafter, frustrating the Trotter’s bowling attack as Captain Radclyffe experimented with the players at his disposal: Jonwood, Freshney and Radclyffe himself all tried but failed to find the breakthrough. It was the unlikely figure of John Wolfenden with some rasping balls that finally did some damage with his first ever wicket for the Trotters. But the wily Eaton Bray Captain that had found so many holes in the field would power on undeterred to make his hundred.
A couple more wickets fell at the hands of Lambert and the impressive Saunders, who was serving up some testing balls that on another day, could well have resulted in catches, but Eaton Bray had achieved a score of 214 for 6 wickets.
The cold had taken its toll on the Trotters’ fielders and some welcome respite came as tea was called at the conclusion of the 40th over. Sadly lacking any homemade goods, tea was an all-Tesco affair but with every last chicken wing and Mr Kipling cake Hoovered-up it seemed to be adequate. There was some justifiable disquiet from the opposition about the absence of a pot of tea – the urn not having been turned on in time and then taking an eternity to reach a suitable temperature. It was certainly not a deliberate ploy to ensure that the opponents had no extra warmth to fend-off the cold, although this would have been an underhanded tactic worthy of Tony Pulis himself.
It was Smith and Jumbo to open the batting and it was not long at all before we saw the trademark ‘late cut’ in action from Smith and it was working to terrific effect. After a confident start with some tasty shots, the opening partnership was finally broken with Jumbo caught out on 23. The returning Andrew Freshney made his intentions known from the off with no less than 14 runs from the first 3 balls he scored off, including two spectacular sixes. There was plenty more to follow.
After a splendid knock Tommy went for 35 having been clean bowled, but he racked up six fours and a huge six in the process. All this straight after a lengthy stint behind the stumps, in which he gave nothing away. Well done, Tommy.
So it was John Wolfenden in to partner Freshney and the onlookers were treated to some elegant shots and strong running, but John perhaps got a bit too comfortable too soon as he succumbed to a catch for 13. Kris Mac stepped up and clubbed a few beauties, including a boundary to make 7 and Freshney’s excellent innings came to an end at 51 with three sixes and as many fours. What a class act.
At this stage the game was within the Trotters’ grasp and the injured McCann bravely fought on to add 6 runs to the score, with Macnamara providing running duties for him. Mellors (5), Radclyffe (14) and Jonwood (2) were only able to add a further 21 to the total, however, and suddenly the pressure was on Lambert and last man Adam Saunders to score the crucial runs. They battled valiantly, with Adam in particular, finding the boundary four times and the 200 mark was reached and passed before the bails eventually fell with him on a highly credible 18. But this, together with the strong dozen that Lambert had achieved was not quite enough and the Trotters’ 207 total left them 8 runs short of victory in the 38th over.
There were plenty of ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’ afterwards, but we had seen some good, competitive cricket and had an enjoyable day with a decent opposition and most importantly… we got the season underway at last! Eaton Bray were decent bunch of lads and we would certainly like another fixture against them if the diary permits.
Man of the Match: Andrew Freshney took the majority of the votes and rightly so, with a great half century and some very useful overs. An all round classy display.
Special Mentions: Must go to Tommy Smith for a great knock of 35 and an assured performance behind the stumps and also to Rich Lambert for his 3 wickets and finally to Adam Saunders for a very strong debut. Well done to all of you.
Tea Score: I am struggling to justify a score of more than 3 out of 10 for our tea, with it failing to meet two of the key criteria for any good cricketing tea: (1) some homemade element and (2) an actual cup of tea! Efforts must improve for future games we are hosting if we are to uphold our mission to provide the finest teas in the amateur game; but thank you to Charlie for organising on his own what we had on the day. It did the job.
Next up: We have a fixture pencilled in for Sunday 3rd June. Bob will no doubt be in touch with details shortly.
Keep on Trotting!
