Match
reports
It is not the mountain we
conquer but ourselves - Edmund Hillary
On a foreboding London evening, the
Cavaliers bedded down at the Artillery Ground, an old plague
pit and home to the Prime Minister’s nuclear bunker,
for their first outing of the year. The Cavs were one short
(but do you know the signal Firms?), Ellis remaining trapped
on the M1. However, The Honourable Artilleries were themselves
down to six at 5.45, so Lloydy’s army took to the
field.
In conditions darker than a nun’s
black felt tip, the ‘liers opened up with Timmy Eff
and ‘Myra’ Brindley. Eff’s spell, from
the barracks end, was a model of consistency – each
over consisting of five dot balls, followed by a towering
six - whilst Brindo, steaming in like a portable lighthouse,
produced a succession of blistering deliveries which their
small bald Irish opener struggled to squirt off the square.
First blood to the Cavs, and to Mr
Eff, with a fine delivery of full length. Seconds later,
chaos ensued for the HAC as the gazelle-like BCR and Lloydy
combined to produce the kind of run out that would have
pleased Randall and Knott in their dotage.
The Cavalier foot was now firmly
placed on the HAC throat – and weight was about to
be applied to the windpipe; a fine spell from Sean Roy (featuring
an over of 74 appeals) included a superb caught-and-bowled
and Firmintrude produced the sort of cameo display which
is stipulated in his contract. With some heroic keeping
from first-time skip Lloydy and not a single misfield –
the highlight being a falling catch by debutant Adrian Python
- the Cavs were resembling cricketing piranhas. The HAC
did well to hang on and when Bouffant snared their last
man, the innings had lasted for 18 of their allotted 20
overs. Pick of the bowlers were the miserly Brindo (4-1-4-1)
and the trim if balding Firmin (4-1-6-2)
61 seemed an eminently gettable score.
However, the conditions were not favouring the Hertfordshire-based
nomadic side as Tant and Wordsworth took to the crease.
Frase made a quick fire 12 (recommended reading; ‘Pacing
Your Innings’ by Greg Chappell, Bloomsbury, £9.99)
before being castled through the gate of open. Wordy was
seeing it like an amoeba and his six runs were compiled
over 10 overs before he was undone by their small bald Irish
opener, who also happened to bowl fast left-arm unders.
BCR looked comfortable and unflustered
but like many tabloid journalists, he did not last. Bouffant
ran himself out, a self-declared “idiot”. Adam
came and went, a second-ball duck for his trouble. Brindo,
as ever, looked composed and certain to lead the team to
a comfortable victory but he too was undone by the tenacious
Irishman. When proud Father Firmin played all around a straight
one (and when I say ALL round…), what seemed a formality
was suddenly far from straight forward – 10 required,
three overs left and two new men at the crease. It was time
for Lloydy’s ‘I am skip, Iwill steady the ship’
routine, as he and Sean Roy first nurdled, then bludgeoned
the Cavs to safety, the winning blow coming from Roy.
And there you have it; a superb display
in the field, heavy weather made of the target (and the
heavy weather), but in the end a confidence-boosting start
to the season.
MOM was awarded to Brindo for his
all-round display and for being so nice.
