Sunday 14 August 2022
Follies Farm CC 215-4 (40 overs)
SCCC 167 all out (36.1 overs)
SCCC lost by 48 runs
40 over match
Follies Farm won the toss
Scorecard
Hugh Greenway writes:
Keith is batting well this year. Averaging over 50 for the first time, he needs to score only 11 runs on tour to post his best season aggregate for the club. It would almost be fair to describe it as an explosion of runs. Curiously, he had just experienced the same thing, literally and scatologically, whilst on a trip to Bangladesh and had not entirely recovered for the Cryptics’ annual jaunt to Follies Farm. Indeed, his performance in the field, when banished from the office to the deep for the best part of 40 overs in almost as many degrees of heat, would best be described as ‘clenched’. And yet…
It’s been three years since we played Follies, nine since we beat them and our exchanges have often been one-sided. Three father and son pairings took the field to attempt to reverse this trend. It would have been four had not Ed Grindrod cried off in advance of a hangover, prompting scurrilous exchanges in the WhatsApp group about his potential ‘tour stamina’. In any event, les pères Goss and Grindrod opened the bowling conceding a reasonably parsimonious 31 from the first 10 overs. The younger generation was more profligate, conceding 56 from the next 10, including quite a few wides as radars were tuned. However, Archie Goss took the first wicket and Henry Weekes took his first for the Cryptics. Scottie rolled out his perennially successful plan of bowling straight to finish with 2 for 26 and Follies were restricted to a gettable 215 for 4. As ever catches were dropped but I forget by whom.
Following a delightful tea, Scottie and Hugs opened, both riding their luck on a pitch with some irregular bounce. They accumulated 38 in 9 overs before the first wicket (Hugs – 17). Toby Seeckts arrived and helped the score to 60 in the 13th over before the second wicket (Scottie – 30). This ought to have left more than enough room for the middle order of carefully contrived paternal pairings to do their things and see us home. But Richard Seeckts sparked a collapse by offering catching practice to the gully, ending his partnership with Toby before it reached double figures. Henry collected his first Cryptic duck to go with his first wicket and Toby was stumped shortly after for 11. Will Ware either hadn’t read the script or didn’t want to be hectored by his father and holed out to mid wicket before Puppy could join him. Archie Goss tried to stop the rot with some clean and crisp hitting and when joined by his father raised expectations significantly. Their 59 run stand for the seventh wicket with Archie top scoring on 34 gave the Goss Dynasty the bragging rights for this game. Puppy came in, shouted impressively but troubled the scorers little. Less, “Veni, vidi, vici!” more, “Veni, clamavi, deficit!”
Puppy’s wicket brought Keith to the crease at number 11. Remember Keith? Keith had told the skipper he didn’t want to bat at all but as the Cryptic innings sank he rose like Lazarus, spanking 20 runs in two overs including three consecutive fours. Grinders stamped out any hope and brought the curtain down with a whimper, spooning a return catch for a golden duck, thereby limiting Henry’s holding of Ricky to less than an hour. In the words of our incomparable Prime Minister, “Them’s the breaks!”
Post match, Gossy presented Toby with his Cryptic jacket, observing that the lad holds most of the “youngest player to…..” records to which he had just added “reach 50 caps”.