Sunday 26 April 2026
Avorians208-8 (40 overs)
SCCC 209-8 (35 overs)
SCCC won by 2 wickets
40 over match
Avorians won the toss
Scorecard
Hugs writes:
In the Slavic languages, instead of counting in years, they count summers. Given the hardness of their winters this makes sense. The Surrey Cryptics mark the turning of the globe with a return to Avorians, where after a particularly soggy winter, the Bluebells were resplendent in the woods behind the ground. Avorians won the toss, elected to bat, and set off at a clip. Gossy and Bridges were dispatched to all corners of the ground but in particular into the school on the short boundary side for 86-1 off the first eight overs. The Avorians number 3 retired gallantly at 51 to make a game of it and the run rate duly slowed. The scorebook would suggest that Bridges underwent a transformative change, after conceding 40 runs from his first three overs, he went on to bowl a further five overs for only 4 runs. However, since most of this consisted of failed bunny hunting, in which he failed to hit either the bat or the stumps, neither of which moved much, we shall move on to other bowlers.
Rory Goss (AKA Argos) demonstrated that not only is he the most frugal bowler in his family (8 overs – 2 maidens – 3 for 18) but unlike his father (5 overs – 1 for 48) and brother (currently touring overseas) he knows where the stumps are. Two of Argos’s victims were bowled and the third was that rarest of Sunday decisions, an LBW so plumb even Puppy might have had second thoughts. Stu the Fruit Machine was also in the wickets (8 overs – 3 maidens – 3 for 25) with Ingo snaffling three catches and generally keeping well on a pitch that bounced a little more erratically than is usual. Ed Grindrod bowled four overs for a parsimonious 15 and took one staggeringly nonchalant catch, whilst his father Daddy G conceded 23 for none off three.
Having conceded a 100 from the first ten overs, a mixture of charity from the Avorian skipper and some careful farming of slower scoring batsmen and one batswoman by Cryptic bowlers conspired to deliver a below par 208 for 8 from the allotted 40 overs.
A wonderful tea was followed by the usual Cryptic smorgasbord of batting. Skipper Ed sent his father out to open with Dom, but sadly Daddy G – at risk of a king pair since Menorca last September – only managed to recover with the bat 3 of 23 the runs he had donated with the ball before completely missing a straight one in the third over. Ingo, who had clearly been seeing the ball well behind the stumps joined Dom at the crease and the pair put on 58 in their 10 over sojourn, before he also missed a straight one. Hugs, Seeckts and Nick were all bowled for single digits, whilst Dom continued to amass runs at the other end. Ed made it to double figures, just, before achieving the same fate to the same bowler bringing Rory to the crease. At the beginning of the 28th over the Cryptics were 144 for 6, all of them bowled. Then Dom, who had looked set fair for a ton, conspired to spoil the pattern by holing out to a surprised fielder on the midwicket boundary for 79.
The Fruit Machine joined Argos for a swashbuckling partnership of 20 before resuming the pattern (of completely missing a straight ball) which ushered Bridges to the action. So ensued a delightful 39 run partnership to victory with Argos scoring the winning run.
Jingle Bells.