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Broadhalfpenny Brigands - Sunday 2nd July 2006 The script went like this: hot, sunny day, 30 degrees Celsius - low, slow pitch Well, it sort of worked... Stifling hot, sunny day was at least 32 degrees and we certainly won the toss, although I took the Brigands' captain, Gerry's word for that as I couldn't tell it was heads due to the blinding shimmer off the 20p coin! LNZCC batted and despite early loss of Pete Tippen, and difficulty in concentrating through the heat (plus odd lifting delivery from "the trees" end), the script was soon in place as Shaun Perkinson - backing up from his unbeaten ton the previous week - stroked his way to a super fifty. Memorable shots included one Hammond-sequel cover drive, a coiled "tee-ing off" on-drive and several dinky little dabs backward of square. Supported admirably by Steve Bethune, LNZCC raced to 111-1. Nelson was avoided, but soon after, with the partnership on 104, Shaun miss-hit to square leg where a Royal Navy ship commander grassed the chance. Undeterred, Shaun promptly hit the next ball straight back to the bowler, who, less generous than his fielding colleague, equally promptly pouched the catch. Hmm...Vance Thompson in for his first bat of the season then feathered his first delivery to the 'keeper... No matter, the script remained in place as Steve and Paul Christian combined in a partnership of 76 before Paul departed for a lustily hit 44. With 3.30pm looming, Philip Bartle - in what is for sure the first time in his LNZCC career - was promoted as a pinch hitter, and immediately carved the first ball he faced for four. Meanwhile, Steve, wearing a jaunty Aussie-style cap, and suggested by some on the sideline that his batting looked like that of former Aussie skipper, Kim Hughes, was knocking it around and threatening to become the latest LNZCC century maker. So much for that. The script went AWOL as Steve fell for 80 (after nearly 2.5 hours in the heat) and we spectacularly collapsed from 215-4 to 218-8, limping on to 238 all out right on tea. Still, the right number of runs were on the board and everybody (the team included two making their LNZCC debuts and two in just their second match) had the chance of a bat. It should also be noted to that due to the coincidence of a local cricket society gathering, there was the great atmosphere to the game that 50-60 additional spectators brings. Excellent tea then downed and on to the fielding/bowling business of the day. Taking the new ball with the steady, wobbly, slow-medium swing bowling of Philip Bartle and Bernie McAlister, meant we soon had the determined Brigands' openers tied down. Eventually Bernie's stubbornness overcame the equal stubbornness of one of the Brigands' men (Gerry, the opposition skipper), but the lack of wickets also meant bringing the lively Andrew Carr and then the spin twins, "Fletch" Christian and "HQ" Holden into the attack. The bowling was mostly accurate and the ground fielding sharp, and Pete Tippen at short cover smartly held on to full blooded cover drive - from a no ball. The attacking fields did their bit though as Brigands took up the challenge of chasing the then distant target. Their enterprise took the score to 106-1 at 6pm, which meant 9 wickets for LNZCC, or 6.5 an over for the Brigands, for victory in the last 20 overs. Into the attack came the two left hand pacemen (of varying
speeds) - Vance Thompson and Danny Kalderimis - each the earlier recipient of a
golden duck and therefore vying for more wickets than the other to avoid the
dreaded indignity of "packing the bag". We needed a change of luck, hard chances
were starting to go down (Rich Holden - not affected by the pressure of either
film crews or Wimbledon challengers - almost pulled in something amazing), then
easier ones, good balls were beating the bat and wicket, whilst anything short
was easily picked off from the slow surface. Danny though, made the
breakthrough, twice, but Brigands continued the chase. Bowling changes were
made, some spectacular diving stops on the boundary (Messrs Thompson, Carr and
Bethune), super-tidy 'keeping from Perky and eventually the experience of Fletch
and Vancer put the break on the batting charge, with further wickets falling - a
slight sniff of victory for LNZCC Deservedly, Steve Bethune won the GBK man of match voucher for both providing the backbone to our innings with his compact 80, and his tireless and inspirational outfielding. On a beautiful evening on the South Hampshire Downs we then retired over the hedge and lane to the Bat & Ball garden bar; and thence back to London. My thanks to all who turned out and made it a great day. Match stats from Marty below (five of our wickets were bowled and one lbw). Cheers Andy Swann Scoreboard LNZCC 238 all out (45.2 overs) Brigands 210 for 6 after 47 overs (20 overs from 6pm) Match Drawn
Batting Runs Catches Stumpings
Steve Bethune 80 Extras 31
FOW
11,115,115,191,215,218,218,218,228,238 Bowling O M R W
Philip Bartle 6
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