Sunday 7 September 2025
SCCC 170-4 (35 overs)
Woking & Horsell 174-7 (34.5 overs)
Woking & Horsell won by 3 wickets
35 over match
Woking & Horsell won the toss
Scorecard
Archie Goss writes:
(Note: Unedited. Despite the author learning his cricket and living his whole life in England, scores mentioned below are in back-to-front Australian.)
The trip down to Woking began unusually well, with the lovely weather promising to hold out and set the stage for a cracking end-of-season game. Both teams were packed with eager young players, hungry to take wickets.
After failing to negotiate a toss and subsequently losing the toss, Ed sent Jim, the newly crowned Pan Cricketer of the Year, to open the innings alongside Keith. The start was far from ideal, with Jim and Archie falling before the end of the tenth over. Keith then assumed responsibility, playing sensibly to steady the innings. Andy, however, was unable to curb his natural enthusiasm for trying to hit every ball harder than the last.
After the pair took us to 4-108 Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake strolled out to the crease looking to carry us to a respectable total. Hugs started off by nearly being bowled four times in his first six balls as Scotty stood at the other end laughing at him and saying how did that miss every other ball. Eventually the pair got their eyes in and started hitting some boundaries and 190 was on the horizon. Their captain finally decided to cut off their scoring opportunities leaving the pair to display their raw pace and agility. After finishing on 4-170 the pair hobbled off in exhaustion leaving the players and spectators to enquire the whereabouts of the nearest defibrillator.
With what looked like a par score on the board, Paul and Stu opened the bowling with a maiden each, giving the team a strong start. However, the next four overs went for 27 runs, and it quickly became clear that things wouldn’t be as straightforward as hoped. The breakthrough finally came in the 10th over, with Paul claiming the first wicket to make it 1–37. His partner soon followed, falling without a run added to the scoreboard. Archie then took over the reins from his father, but his spell did little to steady the ship. It wasn’t until the youngest — and arguably the best — bowler in the family was brought on a few overs later that control was restored. Rory and Ed bowled with impeccable line and length, each taking two wickets in their spells, finishing with figures of 2–16 and 2–23 respectively.
Archie struck early, claiming one in the first over, and in doing so made the Gosses the sixth family in Cryptic history to have three members take a wicket in the same game. Remarkably, four of those occasions have involved players named Grindrod. The match was finely poised — 38 runs required from the final five overs. The middle Goss, taking Stu’s advice, decided to bowl off five paces to the new batsman, a 14-year-old, and quickly learned that might not have been the best idea after being hit for eight runs off three balls. A tight over from the senior Goss steadied things, but his eldest’s follow-up could be described as anything but tight, leaving the final equation at five runs needed from the last six deliveries.
Four balls later, the scores were level. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, and every fielder who could was on their toes. Then, as Paul sent down the fifth ball, it was edged agonisingly over gully’s head and raced away to the boundary for four. The game ended in a loss by three wickets with one ball to spare — a thrilling contest that could have gone either way and kept everyone entertained from start to finish.