North versus South 14th September 2008

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South versus North - Sunday 14th September 2008

After much hype and anticipation, it was hard to believe that a game could live up to such a billing. Even the weather played a role in adding to the excitement by forcing the game to be cancelled at first reckoning to be replayed at the culmination of a vintage season for LNZCC.

After much calling around and shielding of final Xl’s, finally the big day arrived with a near full complement of club members.

The question before the game was; would legends be forged and who would leave with their reputation in tatters…

On one hand you had a star-studded North Island side, packed with confidence and aiming for a third straight victory (a feat only achieved once before. Read by the South). And on the other, was a tight-knit band of brothers, who quietly got on with the job of tackling this mammoth task.

Looking purely at the stats, before this game the Northern batting unit between them could claim 15 centuries during the clubs history, while South could only claim two. In terms of bowling the North had collectively taken 317 wickets vs. the South’s 199 (of which 149 having been taken by one bowler).

To put things further into perspective the North side have collectively scored 1991 runs and taken 54 wickets this year to the South’s 601 runs and 41 wickets. David vs. Goliath?

The North couldn’t possibly lose… could they? Claiming the Trevor Campbell Cup was surely a formality?

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and 22 players assembled with two umpires, one scorer and a host of family support crew.

After nearly a month of rain, Datchet’s pitch and outfield could be best described as a little green and damp. After the delay of half an hour to allow the field to dry a little more (Read waiting for Barkle & Dormer to arrive and for the groundsman to get his tractor off the field), we got down to the business at hand.

For the record the South won the toss and their skipper had little hesitation in bowling first on a damp greenish looking track.

Simon McCashin and Tim Bills Everett (fresh from his 5 wicket haul at Hurlingham the day before) took the new ball. Taking up the challenge for the North was Mike Oliver (9) and Blair Simm (3). It was a very uncharacteristic start for the North, with barely a shot fired in anger in the first four overs.

Whether it was the tight accurate bowling from the Southern men, the pressure of the batting trophy hanging over their heads or the fact that ‘Miami’ Mike looked a little worse for wear (arriving at the ground in the same clothes as the night before), we may never know, but both were soon back in the pavilion considering what might have been. 25-2, with McCashin making the vital break through.

This soon became 26-3, as Burge (1) was undone by a slow ball from Thompson spooning back a return catch, which the veteran left-armer happily accepted.

The chairman (Fanning 13) and Terry Crabb tried to rebuild the innings, until Thompson struck again thanks to a one handed stunner from the Fish. 40 for 4. The North’s much rated batting line up back in the hutch and heckling. Though it was pointed out that they couldn’t score many runs from back there.

Next followed a critical phase in the match, even though the North were four down, there was still plenty of fire power remaining with Crabb (34) and Graafhuis (28) at the crease the game could quickly get away from the South.

A stand of 59 between two in-form players looked to have stopped the rot, and they were starting to look dangerous. But a combined spell of 17 overs from Pinkham and Barkle costing a miserly 2.5 runs an over strangled the two batsman out. 122 for 6 – the South dared to dream!

With Reinhold (7) and Penmen (9) at the crease the North skipper probably still believed that a competitive total was still possible. But the return of Bills-Everett ‘the destroyer’ blew them away in a devastating 2 over spell which also accounted for the Swann (0). 134 for 9, which quickly became 135 all out, with Walsh (0) putting up little opposition to Barkle’s guile.

The North was all out for 135 off 38 overs. The dream was alive!

The South went to lunch with a collective spring in their steps, after all if they bat the 45 overs they would win, easily… right?

The second act was about to begin. First up for the South were Thompson and Hannan. Their task was to the tame the North Island’s opening attack comprising of the former Auckland all-rounder Crabb and the wily North Island veteran Penman.

After a couple of uneventful overs (albeit without really troubling the scorer either) neither Hannah (3) or Thompson (9) looking in much trouble. Unfortunately they both fell in quick succession to dubious LBW decisions. Then disaster struck, Tennant (3), Dormer (3) and Barkle (0) all fell to the demanding Penman. 29 for 5 – the dream was quickly becoming a nightmare, and the North now had the spring in their step!

Rolling back the years the old campaigner Penman had reeled off an impressive spell of 9 overs, 5 maidens, 4 wickets for 6 runs! But with Penman done, skipper Reinholds would need to look elsewhere to finish the South off.

The match now went through a critical stage as Keyse and the resolute Fish (7) rebuilt the innings.

At this point the North skipper turned to his secret weapon – Walsh. With 19 wickets this season, he was the only bowler who could stop Thompson’s march to a fourth bowling title. But the question was without Conway and his twitching finger behind the stumps, would he be so effective? The answer would seem to be no, as try as he may, nothing was moving the Fish.

Finally the North skipper took it on himself to lead from the front and finally broke the partnership.

Keyse (42) in partnerships with Fish added 30 valuable runs and a further 27 with Tippen (7), but when he fell with the score at 94 - a fine dogged knock from the former Chairman - the North must have believed that it was all but over. But no one informed the awesome Southern tail of McCashin (11), Pinkham (3*) and by now the on fire Tim Bills-Everett (26*)!

With 11 to win off the last over and 9 wickets down, the Northern skipper in what can only be described (in hindsight) as a miscalculation, returned to Miami Mike. Still, in such a low scoring game the balance was in the North’s favour especially bowling to the No. 11 ! That was until the first ball was promptly smacked back over Miami’s bemused head for 6 by TBE. The North tried to build the pressure - by taking 5 minutes between balls - but none of this faltered the resolute southern men’s concentration. It came down to 2 to tie off the last and 3 to win. TBE cared little for pushing for a single and running for his life as he stepped inside repeated the treatment as delivered on the first ball of the over.

The South jubilant, the North wondering how they let the Trevor Campbell Cup slip through their fingers!

In a match where only 6 batsmen made double figures, the pitch certainly played a part, as did the tight accurate bowling from both sides. It’s not often you can leave Datchet with only two sixes being hit all day and not a single ball lost! It might not have been a day for batsmen, but it was another great club occasion.

The South are now two up in the battle for the Trevor Campbell Cup. Coincidently, the South have won 3 of the past 6 games on the last ball whilst 9 down. Could it be that the North are chokers (that's not for me to say), perhaps a discussion for another time…

Thanks to the umpires Mark Williams & Paul Smithies and our scorer Peter Coleman plus the generous collective of wives and junior LNZCC members for their support.

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