Match
reports
Harpenden
2 v Old Albanian Cricket Club Sunday Cavaliers on Sun 26
Apr 2009 at 14:00
Ten years ago, almost to the day,
the Cavaliers played their inaugural match to much fanfare
and anticipation - and were promptly rolled over for a pitiful
47 comprising no less than four ducks.
So, how much has changed over ten years? On face value,
not a great deal. Yesterday saw the Cavaliers' play their
first fixture in their new incarnation as the OA's Sunday
Cavaliers, and on a beautiful day on a perfect batting track
in the plum fixture against Harpenden, they could muster
only 74 runs, with 4 ducks and only one score in double
figures. As starts to new chapters go, it was as inauspicious
as can be.
"We've learned one thing from today" commented
skipper Simon Foster, the only man absolved of guilt after
his gutsy 34 "and that is you can't expect to rock
up having not held a bat or ball of 8 months and think you
can compete with a quality outfit like Harpenden."
With retrospect, perhaps winning the toss and choosing
to bat was a bit bullish, but even an experienced cricketer
like Foster could not have anticipated his side to collapse
so feebly. Paul Wise was first to go, playing on in the
first over before a run had been scored. Ben Rankin and
Nick Brindley started to rebuild and looked relatively untroubled,
before some suicidal running saw the latter respond to a
call that was never on and by the time he'd had second thoughts
and started to turn round his 6 foot 6 frame, the bails
were broken and the Cavs were two down. When Ellis Thorpe
wafted his bat as his second ball and feathered one to the
keeper for duck number 2, the Cavs were in trouble - even
more so when Rankin drove loosely and spooned one to extra
cover.
Skipper Foster was in at 5 and immediately looked at home,
while Gareth Lloyd played sensibly for an over or two before
playing on the back foot to a low straight one and joining
the rest of his team in a rather shell-shocked dressing
room. The bowling had been tidy but not particularly threatening;
these were wickets that owed more to poor preparation and
application than demons in the pitch or menacing bowling.
Russell Timms came and went, as did David Waters, and then
having played watchfully for a few overs Fraser Tant conformed
to stereotype by trying to put a slower delivery on the
main road. Foster nicked a quicker one behind for a stoic
34, and two balls later the innings was over when Matt Penhaligan
became duck #4, Nigel Timms the not out batsman.
Having only batted 25 overs, there were to be 10 overs
before tea. Foster's hairdryer treatment (and it's not often
one can use 'hairdryer' and 'Foster' in the same sentence)
ensured that the Cavaliers came out full of good intents.
A couple of quick wickets before tea and you never know.
40 minutes later, having been battered all over the park,
it was game over. Waters will be keen to, somewhat aptly,
consign his figures to history, while Fraser Tant was less
than chuffed to be hit for 5 consecutive fours as the Harpenden
opener reached his 50 by the end of the 7th over. Embarrassed,
the Cavaliers traipsed off, with the offer of a beer match
dismissed unequivocally by a rather shortchanged Harpenden
captain.
Commented Ben Rankin, who along with Tant was one of the
only survivors from that inaugural 1999 debacle, "We've
bounced back from this kind of thing before - after all,
we we've had 120 fixtures since then and never failed to
make a hundred until now. Once we get a few net sessions
under our belt and welcome back our three top run-scorers
over the last few seasons, Bainesy, LBC and Jimmy Hat, we'll
be right back on the money."
The ink is barely dry on the merger contract, so let's
hope so!
