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Broadhalfpenny Brigands - 21st September 2003
LNZ thrashed Brigands at Hambledon on Saturday, with some of the club's old stagers coming to the party with the ball. Playing on what is thought to be one of the oldest cricket grounds in the world, and on a pitch that probably hasn't been re-laid since that first game over 250 years ago, LNZ's seven-strong bowling attack knocked over the hosts for 94.
Beginning the game with only eight players - Steve Deane and debutante Vance Danholt couldn't be prized away from the adjacent Bat & Ball pub, where they were busy consuming a mixed grill, rump stake and several pints of the landlord's finest Belgian lager - LNZ's trap of appearing to open up gaps in the field was immediately sprung to devastating effect.
Apparently Dave Morgan's second ball was prodded into the gully, whereupon one of the Brigands' opener's view that there was a run in the shot was not shared by the other. When Dan Lyall lobbed the ball gently to Morgan to effect the dismissal, the Kiwis' celebrations could be heard from the Bat & Ball's garden bar. Morgan (0-21) bowled with plenty of luck, but all of it was bad, while Kevin Marshall (2-12) made the early breakthroughs for the Kiwis.
The Brigands' middle order exhibited plenty of stoicism and an utter inability to play shots as they dead-batted Deane (1-11) and Danholt (1-30) into submission. Perhaps fearing a fixture-losing catastrophe, skipper Richard Holden (2-4) brought himself into the attack, but his flight and guile proved too much for Brigands, a sharp caught and bowled being quickly followed by a gentle loft to mid-off that was comfortably held by Richard Keyse.
Holden, perhaps trying to demonstrate some pre-world cup English grit, had been in uncompromising mood from the outset, first attempting to deny the club correspondent lunch, then positioning Peter Tippen at the silliest of mid-offs, before finally consigning the late-arriving Diedrichs - who had overlooked a family crisis and driven for over three hours from Cambridge to ensure the Kiwis had a full compliment - to the same fate.
Diedrichs didn't shirk from the task, however, taking a marvellous one-handed diving catch to give the deserving Danholt his first wicket for the club. Brought into the attack to partner Keyse at the death, Diedrichs (2-1) took full advantage by first skittling Brigands' eight-year-old number nine and then knocking over their WG Grace look-alike number 10, whose apparent age made it quite possible that he had been available when Hambledon selected their top XI for the annual clash with Lower Soggy Bottom in the late 1750s.
Most worrying for Hambledon was that WG was batting 10. Keyse (1-6), clearly no respecter of reputations or infirmity, duly slipped the number 11 the traditional LNZ first ball bouncer - an alarming trend that must surely be looked at by the club's cricket committee.
Chris O'Malley (13) opened the LNZ run chase in some style with a six over mid-wicket, while Lyall (5) failed for once to back up his excellent fielding display with the bat. Tippen (19), never one to take too much notice of personal statistics, hit out and got out one run after surpassing the absent Richard Burgess in the season's aggregate run stakes.
Tippen was truly
gracious about his achievement...in an Alistair Campbell type of way. Shaun
Perkinson (33*) then combined with Keyse (17*) to take the Kiwis home, with
Keyse kindly turning down singles to shelter Perkinson from the strike as
victory beckoned. In true Kiwi fashion, it was a swot for four over wide long-on
that brought the curtain down on the 51st season of LNZ cricket. Broadhalfpenny
Brigands 94 All out (43.2 overs) LNZCC 95/3 (26 overs) LNZCC win by
7 wickets Scoreboard
Batting Runs Catches Stumpings
Chris O'Malley 13 Graham Diedrichs DNB 1 Steve Deane DNB Kevin Marshall DNB Dave Morgan DNB
Richard Holden (c) DNB 1 Bowling O M R W
Dave Morgan 9
1 21 0 |
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