Match Report: Prescold C.C. Vs. H.C. Trotters C.C. (40 overs)
Sunday 12th August 2012
By Kris Macnamara
The Trotters had had two weeks to reflect on their monumental collapse at Hayes and arrived, on the whole, refreshed and ready for action. I'd been at Keith & Ba's and only narrowly lost out in the first annual Father v Son air rifle competition. Amitabh looked especially chipper - the look you get from spending time in the South of France with a woman.
We all overcame the first challenge in finding the club, about 5 clicks shy of Henley in the middle of nowhere with a sign not dissimilar to a camouflage postage stamp. John was the latest, but I suppose he had driven from the historic county of Essex. The sun had his hat on and the factor 4 had been applied liberally. We possibly decided to bowl or the opposition decided to bat, either way, we were fielding first. Ed opted for the fearsome duo of Lambo and John to open the attack and they applied themselves well. Prior and Marsh started slowly and were happy to leave, pad and woft for the first few overs. But then a breakthrough! A change of pace by John had Prior beaten all ends up leaving a sorry mess of stumps and bails supine on the turf. The Trotters smelt blood but new batsman Fletcher wasn't about to give his wicket away lightly. The batters started to make a few inroads into the bowlsman's figures and the first change was an interesting one. Freshney was at one end was creating his trademark accurate spin that seemed strangely out of place and effectively stopped Prestcold scoring any runs whatsoever. Charlie, who graced us with his presence in between holidays, at the other end was out of sorts and throwing as many at the batsman's faces as at the stumps. He did get some success when a heave from Fletcher was taken in the deep by by an eagle eyed Matt. After a lame excuse that he was tired of running up the slightest of inclines, Ed made an inspired decision and brought himself on..
God, if they'd been scoring slowly before, Prestcold really went into their shell's at the sight of Ed's high, loopy, round the wicket, missing off stump BEAUTIES! In a half hour period, not more than 5 singles were scored. At the end of this period of utter Trotter dominance, Andrew finished with a fantastic 8 runs off 8 overs, but was disappointed not to make a telling blow. Charlie came back on from the other end and looked a bit more like his old self, but still chucking some faceballs. We were facing a team who could match us for siblings and A Rosier (Rosier I) was the first to fall to a resurgent Radclyffe, being bowled. It was then the turn off John, who was pushed for two straight back past him. Ed and I (mid on and off) both ran for it - in the heat of the moment, I suggested I stop it and he chuck. He decided to slide tackle me, snaffle the ball himself and throw it to Tommy, who whipped off the bails leaving Marsh with the long walk. To say he took it badly was an understatement. He later refused tea and sat by the boundary during lunch smouldering and plotting the downfall of the Trotters. By this point we had a second Fletcher at the crease. He meant business and scored well. He and Rosier II must have put on 40 odd, finding the gaps well. The total was around 150 when Charlie had his third victim. Rosier II dollied it back for a straightforward catch to give the higher ground to the visitors (we're always the visitors by the way). The highly strung Fletcher carried on playing nice shots until he was dramatically run out on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Tea was unspectacular, but a special mention should go to the chocolate cornflake bite things. I had 3 and they were great. Tesco, I think.
Wolfenden's J(ames) and E went out to the middle with the attainable score of 172 to chase. Again, the start was slow with 15 off the first 6 overs. Rosier II struck in the 7th, bowling Ed who was replaced by the inimitable A Freshney. Andrew was in the mood for runs and dealt in fours. James then flashed at one of Fletcher I's deliveries (I think to slip) exposing our soft underbelly (4 to 11). S McCann came and went before the scorer had inked the capital "C" in his surname. Sachdeva breezed to the crease lighter than air and started hitting boundaries for fun. It was rare for the Trotters to have two batsmen shooting from the hip and scoring runs for fun. Fletcher II started firing down some decent balls and took Andrew for 37 with hardly the greatest ball but celebrated like he'd single handedly won some American sporting contest with with whoops and general in-your-faced-ness. Andrew suggested to him that the half tracker that got him was nothing to be that proud of. John was in next and a quick 9 reminded us that he was 9 minutes older than Ed. Twin stats throw up some strange anomalies. Charlie dug in and scored slowly. playing patientlly, which the watching Trotters found incongruous. Eventually he was bowled by another angry specimen, Fletcher II. Three wickets may have fallen since Amitabh had entered the theatre, but he was scoring consistently and finding the boundary easily. I came in with the score at around 155 and tried defending for a change. Picked off a few singles mainly to get Sachdev back on strike. He was middling it and knocking off the required runs. By the time I exited stage left for 3, we needed 8 from 4 overs. Tommy hit a great single between slips but it was Man of the Match Amitabh who hit the winning single which took the Trotters to their first victory in a rain ravaged season finishing on an unbeaten 40 no.
Due to the great location, it's a fixture we'd like again and I'm sure they would be more than happy for a chance at revenge.
Man of The Match
Amitabh Sachdeva - a superb, matchin winning innings
Special Mentions
Special mention has to go to Andrew Freshney who both kept it ridiculously tight and excelled with the bat again. Also Ed who went for a mere 2.75 an over, smashing his PB by about 5 or 6.
Tea Score
No scores this time, but 'unspectacular' sums it up.
The Trotters had had two weeks to reflect on their monumental collapse at Hayes and arrived, on the whole, refreshed and ready for action. I'd been at Keith & Ba's and only narrowly lost out in the first annual Father v Son air rifle competition. Amitabh looked especially chipper - the look you get from spending time in the South of France with a woman.
We all overcame the first challenge in finding the club, about 5 clicks shy of Henley in the middle of nowhere with a sign not dissimilar to a camouflage postage stamp. John was the latest, but I suppose he had driven from the historic county of Essex. The sun had his hat on and the factor 4 had been applied liberally. We possibly decided to bowl or the opposition decided to bat, either way, we were fielding first. Ed opted for the fearsome duo of Lambo and John to open the attack and they applied themselves well. Prior and Marsh started slowly and were happy to leave, pad and woft for the first few overs. But then a breakthrough! A change of pace by John had Prior beaten all ends up leaving a sorry mess of stumps and bails supine on the turf. The Trotters smelt blood but new batsman Fletcher wasn't about to give his wicket away lightly. The batters started to make a few inroads into the bowlsman's figures and the first change was an interesting one. Freshney was at one end was creating his trademark accurate spin that seemed strangely out of place and effectively stopped Prestcold scoring any runs whatsoever. Charlie, who graced us with his presence in between holidays, at the other end was out of sorts and throwing as many at the batsman's faces as at the stumps. He did get some success when a heave from Fletcher was taken in the deep by by an eagle eyed Matt. After a lame excuse that he was tired of running up the slightest of inclines, Ed made an inspired decision and brought himself on..
God, if they'd been scoring slowly before, Prestcold really went into their shell's at the sight of Ed's high, loopy, round the wicket, missing off stump BEAUTIES! In a half hour period, not more than 5 singles were scored. At the end of this period of utter Trotter dominance, Andrew finished with a fantastic 8 runs off 8 overs, but was disappointed not to make a telling blow. Charlie came back on from the other end and looked a bit more like his old self, but still chucking some faceballs. We were facing a team who could match us for siblings and A Rosier (Rosier I) was the first to fall to a resurgent Radclyffe, being bowled. It was then the turn off John, who was pushed for two straight back past him. Ed and I (mid on and off) both ran for it - in the heat of the moment, I suggested I stop it and he chuck. He decided to slide tackle me, snaffle the ball himself and throw it to Tommy, who whipped off the bails leaving Marsh with the long walk. To say he took it badly was an understatement. He later refused tea and sat by the boundary during lunch smouldering and plotting the downfall of the Trotters. By this point we had a second Fletcher at the crease. He meant business and scored well. He and Rosier II must have put on 40 odd, finding the gaps well. The total was around 150 when Charlie had his third victim. Rosier II dollied it back for a straightforward catch to give the higher ground to the visitors (we're always the visitors by the way). The highly strung Fletcher carried on playing nice shots until he was dramatically run out on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Tea was unspectacular, but a special mention should go to the chocolate cornflake bite things. I had 3 and they were great. Tesco, I think.
Wolfenden's J(ames) and E went out to the middle with the attainable score of 172 to chase. Again, the start was slow with 15 off the first 6 overs. Rosier II struck in the 7th, bowling Ed who was replaced by the inimitable A Freshney. Andrew was in the mood for runs and dealt in fours. James then flashed at one of Fletcher I's deliveries (I think to slip) exposing our soft underbelly (4 to 11). S McCann came and went before the scorer had inked the capital "C" in his surname. Sachdeva breezed to the crease lighter than air and started hitting boundaries for fun. It was rare for the Trotters to have two batsmen shooting from the hip and scoring runs for fun. Fletcher II started firing down some decent balls and took Andrew for 37 with hardly the greatest ball but celebrated like he'd single handedly won some American sporting contest with with whoops and general in-your-faced-ness. Andrew suggested to him that the half tracker that got him was nothing to be that proud of. John was in next and a quick 9 reminded us that he was 9 minutes older than Ed. Twin stats throw up some strange anomalies. Charlie dug in and scored slowly. playing patientlly, which the watching Trotters found incongruous. Eventually he was bowled by another angry specimen, Fletcher II. Three wickets may have fallen since Amitabh had entered the theatre, but he was scoring consistently and finding the boundary easily. I came in with the score at around 155 and tried defending for a change. Picked off a few singles mainly to get Sachdev back on strike. He was middling it and knocking off the required runs. By the time I exited stage left for 3, we needed 8 from 4 overs. Tommy hit a great single between slips but it was Man of the Match Amitabh who hit the winning single which took the Trotters to their first victory in a rain ravaged season finishing on an unbeaten 40 no.
Due to the great location, it's a fixture we'd like again and I'm sure they would be more than happy for a chance at revenge.
Man of The Match
Amitabh Sachdeva - a superb, matchin winning innings
Special Mentions
Special mention has to go to Andrew Freshney who both kept it ridiculously tight and excelled with the bat again. Also Ed who went for a mere 2.75 an over, smashing his PB by about 5 or 6.
Tea Score
No scores this time, but 'unspectacular' sums it up.
