Sunday 28 July 2024
Blackheath 235-8 dec (34 overs)
SCCC 184-7 (40 overs)
Match drawn
Declaration match
Blackheath won the toss
Scorecard
Richard Seeckts writes:
A prime fixture at a beautiful ground with excellent hospitality and opposition of exuberant youth. Almost perfect and yet…..whatever Gods there might be decreed that we should turn up with 10, and that after finding a late replacement bowler who then had to deliver 70% of the overs from one end.
Skipper Toby hatched a cunning plan; confess to the weakness, request a declaration game and commit to not letting it drift to a dreary draw. Both teams entered into the spirit and, despite a Cryptic win becoming all but impossible during a mid-chase hiccup, Blackheath’s endeavour to take all 9 (yes, nine) Cryptic wickets while batsmen continued to score at more than six runs per over provided rich entertainment for all present. The draw was not secure until the penultimate ball had been bowled, which is infinitely preferable to a one-sided limited overs game.
Daddy Grinders and Holybourne luminary Alec “I’m not bowling offies with a new ball” Hudson duly opened the bowling, the latter’s byes reaching the uphill boundary while DG’s byes didn’t quite make it to the downhill one. Pup, behind the timbers, insisted they were wides to no avail. One opener fell to a smart Greenway catch off Alec at mid-on in the second over but the other, ominously clad in a Tonbridge School 1st XI shirt and still only 16, displayed his talent beautifully after recalibrating his radar to Daddy G’s village pace. His name is also Greenway, but any ancestral link to Hugs must date back several many generations. He eventually went for 66 off the tidy (if reluctant) bowling of Andy Rayner, playing his third game in 15 days after a 12 year hiatus, matching the Test career of Eric Hollies. (Aussies, look Eric up and weep – ED.)
How we might have fared without Alec’s 12-2-55-3 is the stuff of nightmares. The other bowlers did admirably considering, there just weren’t enough of them on a hot day. Nevertheless, wickets fell as Blackheath sought an early declaration against the sideshow of Archie Jones, a bowler promoted up the order, swinging and swatting his carefree way towards a first century. It was a bittersweet moment when he skied one to Hugs on 79 to kill the anticipation felt by many on both sides, and he may have to wait some time for a better opportunity. All the while, our hosts lent us a fielder on rotation, each one incentivised by the offer of rewards from the bar, bribes that went unfulfilled due to licensing law.
Blackheath’s declaration after 34 overs was appropriately generous and, but for the agreed ‘quick’ tea stretching to 40 minutes, either team might have been able to win. Andy was quickly into his stride starting the reply with a more circumspect Jimmy G. They set a solid platform of 60 off 14 overs before JG needed some time in the shade. Recovering sufficiently to return later, he completed his 52 and was dismissed in the final over, the sort of thing that infuriates and fascinates statisticians in equal measure.
Meantime Roly nudged as many singles in his three as Andy did in his 51, both falling either side of drinks taken after 20 overs at 6pm, the start of the last 20 overs, with the scoreboard showing 80. Blackheath were exemplary in the way they rattled through the first 20 in 70 minutes, almost like the good old days. Toby batted like it was his first game for ages (it was) apart from one glorious straight six towards the houses while his old man, Pup and Hugs came and went. Numbers 1 and 4 becoming the 6th and 7th out in the last 11 balls of the match saved Keith from a fresh air game and got Alec off his weary backside for a cheeky red inker too.
A fine day in the sun showed the benefits of declaration games when both teams tackle it with the right mindset. Blackheath were a far superior, younger side who would have thrashed us in an overs game, even if we had turned up with 11.
Stats of the day:
Jimmy Grinders passed brother Ed on career aggregate, now leading 815-813. Both have been dismissed 24 times so have almost identical averages. Bad time to be injured, Ed.
Seeckts senior notched his 32nd Cryptic duck to no fanfare at all, until later informed by Toby that Joe Root has made as many Test centuries in about one third of the time.