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Hurlingham Club - Saturday 10th September 2011
Match reports from Matt Fanning and Hurlingham Captain Gus Kennedy
As the toss was
hijacked by our triple agent (or their double?) the skipper learnt that we had
lost the toss and we were batting on a green top against a bowling attack that
contained the hostile left arm bowling of George Brooksbank. With a full
compliment of players including a 12th man LNZ looked to put on an imposing
score on as the batting line up looked a long one. Unfortunately it contained the skipper at opening bat who did not manage to trouble the scorers, this bought to the crease the Burge who was in a uncompromising mood whilst facing Ed Salt but was some what more sheepish facing Brooksbank. Burge got the score board rattling along and had 30 odd runs at more than a run a ball but was finally uprooted by a Brooksbank yorker.
Hudson strode to the
wicket and looked in good nick until he was undone by a slow bouncer and was
caught out. The middle order looked to steady the ship with Chris Hamilton
valiantly holding up an end, but the central North Island contingent of Speed
and Marinovich were no match for the bowling of the Hurlingham club and were
soon departed. At this stage the batting line up with Simm coming in at number 7
looked somewhat ill advised, why would you skipper put the leading run scorer
for the season at number seven, added to the fact that Mike Simm was over to
watch the match from NZ? Thankfully we had Marty as there was a huge appeal
first ball for LBW on Simm who was walking back to the pavilion, but was called
back by the umpire for the sake of the match.(not true - Hon Sec/Ump) This
thankfully bought us to lunch where LNZ were 65/5 with Simm and Hamilton at the
wicket. A superb lunch was had
by all with Burg and Don putting away a bottle of Bordeaux. Post lunch our
fortunes did not change with Hamilton quickly departing to another slow long
hop, Baldwin hit a few lusty hits but was soon out with the score at 79. The
Triple agent was sent out with the instructions that we have all afternoon, bat
for as long as you can. The next 10 balls we witnessed 2 fours, a six and then a
cleaned bowled with Sam charging the off spinner. Johnny Plimmer managed to come
and go pretty quick and things were looking embarrassing for LNZ at 101/9 but
out strode G Walsh at number 11. Gerard and Guy put on
a show for all and were hitting the bowling to all corners of the park, and soon
enough the 150 was breached a smile started to come across the players in the
pavilion as this was a total that could pose a few issues in chasing and you
could sense the Hurlingham were over being out in the field. Gerard was finally
out to a well hit 32 and left Guy stranded on 45 not out with the final score of
174. London New Zealand
needed quick wickets to ensure some pressure could be applied to Hurlingham, but
after 3 overs and the score on 17/0 the signs were not looking good for LNZ.
Baldwin and Martin were steaming in and kept to their task with Baldwin finally
being rewarded with a fine catch behind by Plimmer. The next two batsmen were
snared behind again by Plimmer from the bowling of Martin and with the final
ball before tea Martin had the Hurlingham regular batsmen of Sammy Chapman lbw
and match was nicely posed at 34/4 of 16 overs. Martin and Baldwin
resumed the bowling duties post tea and kept the wickets tumbling with fine
catches by Hudson and Burgess, Hurlingham were in all sorts of trouble at 70/7.
After a marathon 14 over bowling spell the opening bowlers were given a rest by
the skipper as Hurlingham via their skipper Gus Kennedy started to make inroads
into the chasing total. Simm was unlucky to
come in for some stick as was Hamilton and Walsh and the match seemed to be
slipping away from LNZ with the score at 140/7 and the batsmen looking in good
nick. The game changer of Speed was called to the wicket with his ‘off-spin’ and
with his variation he managed to bamboozle the Hurlingham skipper into taking a
second run against the arm of Simm in the deep and was run out by half the
length of the pitch. The game was back on with Martin and Baldwin resuming their
bowling attack. Hurlingham were 168/9 and their no. 9 batsmen was making
Chatfield look like Martin Crowe, things were looking up for a LNZ victory.
Somehow the no. 9 managed a couple of very streaky French cuts and the
Hurlingham were deserved winners of the match. Post match a few
quiet’s were enjoyed in their splendid grounds, and all involved in the match
had had a superb day of cricket played in fine company and in the right spirit.
Thanks as always to Marty and Richard for umpiring the match, Quentin in the
scorer’s hut, the supporters who turned up to watch the match and Scott McKay
for being the 12th man. Hurlingham match
report – from Gus Kennedy On a slightly wet
pitch Hurlingham were fortunate to win the toss and stick the visiting Kiwi's
into bat, knowing that in friend-turned-foe Sam Martin the New Zealanders had a
man who lived to exploit such conditions. An extremely young Hurlingham side (8
under 25s) took the field and in only the second over Ed Salt produced the
goods, using the unconventional wet-wicket tactic of body line bowling to tempt
opposition Captain Fanning into an extravagant upper cut, only to see his
attempt fall into the hands of cover fielder Alex Kidwell. A good start for the
club, but much more eventful moments were to follow. Up steps Mike
Umfreville, little known to the skipper or indeed to rest of the team, who
despite lacking the pace of the more senior members of the attack (Brooksbank)
produced a stunning cameo - perhaps only overshadowed by events later in the day
- grabbing two London NZ wickets in as many overs to pull the Hurlingham side
back into the match. At 100-9 London NZ
looked in trouble, however a post-lunch gamble by the home skipper to open with
Salt, coupled with the non-appearance of Kidders and the extremely loose but
amusing Logan ("I though we had an hour for lunch") meant that Brooksbank was
briefly denied his fifth wicket. After serving up a few treats Brooksbank made
amends, finishing with a well deserved 5-for, full of stumps flying and some
well-won lbws as NZ finished on 170. In reply Hurlingham
initially struggled, stumbling to 34-4 with only the obdurate Ravzi producing
the goods, as Sam Martin tore through the Hurlingham top order with Hyde, Newton
and Kidwell being smartly grabbed by the NZ keeper. At 70-7 things looked even
worse, as Logan retired to the jetty and only Salt and Kennedy remained amongst
the batsmen. Things looked marginally better as Salt pumped Kiwi Simms somewhere
into the indoor tennis centre; however when Kennedy ran himself out by more than
a pitch length the money was firmly with Sam Martin who already had 6 wickets.
For the second time in the day, up stepped Mike Umfreville. With an unorthodox
technique, but a temperament made for such a chase the game really was in the
balance. With a doff of his cap, Umfreville announced to Brooksbank (at 9
wickets down and 3 required for the win) "I'll put him over his head for 6 and
we'll finish this". The members held their breath as the Kiwi opening bowler
charged in, and Umfreville swung himself off his feet - a clever little tickle
to fine leg between keeper and stumps brought the required runs down to two,
Brooksbank on strike. Big George was more circumspect and prodded the winning
runs - not before a huge lbw appeal - but the star was undoubtedly the big
hitting Umfreville. Mike thought nothing of it - "I wasn't wearing a box or
thing pad because I thought I'd have to run fast". Remarkable stuff. Post-match beers with
London NZ were a highlight - they really are a top bunch... Scoreboard LNZCC
175 All Out (41 overs) Hurlingham Club 176 for 9 (44.1 overs) Hurlingham win by
1 wicket Batting Runs Catches Stumpings Run Outs Statistics
Chris Hamilton 17
bowled
Extras
23 nb 6, w 2, b 8, lb 7 FOW
3, 45, 65, 71, 75, 76, 98, 117, 117, 175 Bowling O M R W Statistics Sam
Martin 19.1 3
58 6 caught x 3, bowled x 2, lbw
Extras 11 (nb 1, w 1, b 4, lb 5 FOW 22, 23, 27, 32, 47, 52, 52, 139, 173
GBK Man of the Match John Plimmer (3 catches), G Walsh (almost match winning innings of 30) and S Martin (6 for)
Nottman Cap presented to Scott Baldwin. |
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