Reigate Pilgrims 8th June 2003

A day that began in uncertainty descended into confusion and farce. Overnight rain at Betchworth caused the first of a number of conversations that were to occur between the two captains to take place at about 9.30am - it is fair to say that not one of those conversations resulted in a meeting of minds. After weather reports from the Pilgrims weatherman and Mike "its like the Sahara down here" Byers, both of which claimed to be standing at the ground at the same time in completely different weather conditions, and about thirty calls to teamates it was decided to start at the later time of 2.00pm.

After a lengthy conversation regarding the format of the game between the captains Reigate won the toss and put LNZ into bat on what was to start a 40 over game and finish a declaration. Confused, you are not alone!

The LNZ openers got off to a cracking start until Dave Fanning, who had bravely got off the couch following his career threatening injury, was first to go for 21. Singleton was then joined by Sam Foley and runs continued to flow until Singleton, who had been on the receiving end of some rather poor catching ( a favour he would later return) was next out for 108 in the 20th over.

Burgess and Foley continued to pile on the runs at a healthy clip much to the displeasure of the Reigate teams who, seemingly forgetting what was initially agreed, struggled to fathom why we hadn't declared and vocalised this in terms that only the Ryan Edwards and Burge of HAC days would understand. To appease the situation Marty decided to make an impromptu declaration in the 35th over, to inflame the situation Singleton sent them back, except for Foley (100) who seemed to be enjoying batting more than was appropriate for a debutante and Burgess (60) who would probably rather have been in the Red Lion anyway. As a somewhat generous gesture the Reigate players were allowed an over off (not for good behaviour) as LNZ decided 302/4 was probably enough.

After a rather frosty lunch LNZ took the field determined to either dismiss Reigate or get through 40 overs to prevent any gripes. Some good bowling from Holden (2/12), Thompson (3/38) and Barkle (2/17) ensured that not only was our 302 safe but that it was always going to be interesting going into the "final 20 overs". The "final 20 overs?" I hear you ask, "in a limited overs game?", my thoughts exactly!

In an effort to retain the fixture for future years Singleton cunningly brought himself into a strategic position at short mid wicket and rather charitably dropped (if that's what you can call a ball travelling at 2mph falling out of your hands) the Reigate captain thus keeping alive Reigates chance of escaping with dignity intact. It was suggested perhaps he should have stayed on the boundary and sent one of the children out instead.

Conway not convinced and determined to make the captain's humiliation complete, promptly accepted Deck's plea and sent the No 10 packing. The match then ended in a draw (again I'll explain it to you later!) at the end of the 36th over with Reigate 167/9. A good performance from LNZ in rather unusual circumstances