After the disappointment of season 2020, which amounted to nothing more than three games of LMS, season 2021 was approached with much anticipation. Bad news however was to strike before the season had even begun, with the crushing news that Kennington Park, our very own theatre of south London dreams, had been deemed “unsafe” by some paper pushing faceless bureaucrats at Lambeth Borough Council and would not be available to host LMS.
After much deliberation it was eventually agreed to move to Wray Crescent, home of our North London cousins And That’s Lunch (and Pemberton’s general terroir). Furthermore we were forced away from our usual Wednesday / Thursday slot and into Monday / Tuesday - not only putting us in the very same league as the Lunchm’n, but also potentially upsetting the balance of the brothers Rudkin’s carefully balanced summer (social and/or property) engagements. Partly due to the move, and partly due to other ‘life circumstances’ the squad was, by CtC standards, quite different from our last full season in 2019. Much like the characters of a Bryan Adams’ anthem gone wrong, Pearson had finally fled London (both now in body as well as spirit), Skinner had given up the game, Rutt refused to travel from KP for fear the roof may crash in above his head, Dillon was now a family man and Pemberton had gone into hiding, from who or what it’s unknown, but the man was certainly well hidden. The Chairman looked to move in the transfer market, but perhaps lacked a coherent strategy. Whilst he recruited two strong players in Wright and Fagan, and late in the season added Holmes, he perhaps needed to focus on numbers over quality, as CtC were often left short on players. We opened with a dispiriting loss to La Wristies. 175-3 from 18 (Hammo 52*) and having taken 4 wickets four early wickets, CtC appeared to have the game won. However a heavy downpour, injuries to two bowlers, and some sloppy fielding resulted in the game slipping away. Low on numbers, uprooted from the familiar embrace of KP and now a chastening opening loss and no tour scheduled, mood in the camp was low. Fortunately from here results began to pick up, as CtC won 6 of the next 7 games, including a miraculous victory over MCEC thanks to some stunning hitting from Ed ‘The Cat’ Cassels (73* from 38) and Mark Conway (46 from 17) as we chased down an improbable 221. The game was even more remarkable for the fact that Hammond didn’t score 50 having put together scores of 56*, 52*, 52*, 54*, 55*, 51*, 90* and 55* in his combined appareanced for CtC and ATL so far, an astonishingly brilliant run. Sadly rain and covid cancellations wrecked the much of the middle of the season, forcing both of the hotly anticipated fixtures against ATL to be ties, as well as one vs Sixteen Fine Legs. This all amounted to needing a victory against NLCC in the final game of the season to qualify for the final. Winning the toss and getting best use of the light gave CtC hope, but unfortunately we only managed to post 137. As ever we bowled and fielded with good intent, but they were simply too good and were beaten into a third place league finish. Third place may be seen as respectable but many in the clubs hierarchy see qualifying for the play offs as a minimum criteria for success and expect champions league LMS. Certainly the chairman and DoC will be feeling some pressure over the winter and must surely need to recruit wisely to restore CtC to former LMS glory. Six XI aside fixtures were scheduled, beginning with our traditional curtain raiser against old friends The Moose at Barn Elms. A return to proper cricket after such a long absence coupled with a blazing hot day, and with the background of England beginning their euro 2020 campaign on the same afternoon, mood was high in the CtC camp. With England kicking off at 2pm, and with the temperature nudging 30, it was a huge toss to win. Sadly, instead of watching Dillon and McNaught put on 150 whilst we all watched the football we found ourselves 43-7. A slow and painful partnership between Conway and Dean nudged CtC to a barely respectable 107. After tea, hastily purchased by Hammond as he failed to receive the specially arranged Ocado Zoom delivery, we headed out to bowl hoping that some early wickets might make a game of it. Once again it was not to be, and the Moose openers made short work of the chase, cantering to a 10 wicket win. We then waited around for over an hour for some beers to be delivered, most of which didn’t show, which about summed up our afternoon. The Summer Solstice Cup was next up and bought hope of a return to winning ways. Batting first we felt in the game having posted 160-4 from sixteen overs (the umpires being oddly concerned about the light), thanks to 37 from Hammond and 32* not out from debutant Mackay-James. With the bowling ranks boosted by the late arrival of CtC mogul Davidson in his chopper we were hopeful of defending the total. Despite two wickets for McLellan however Whitgift staff made short work of the total, chasing it down in just 15 overs for the loss of just two wickets. Once again of course it was a pleasure to be hosted by Whitgift and a great evening despite the result, we live in hope that we will be incited back in the post-Baggo era. The trio of Regent’s Park fixtures failed to spark the season into any sort of life. Firstly rain put pay, once again, to a fixture against old Kennington sparring partners Zapoi. The second fixture a long awaited renewal against north london brethren And That’s Lunch, had not been played for three seasons after a covid and rain cancellations, but we were sadly let down by the failure of Pemberton failing to materialise. Without the big fella the fixture lacked it’s usual atmosphere, sense of occasion and weird salted snacks. Furthermore, without their glorious leader ATL could only muster a paltry 76, with Rupert Rudkin providing the champagne moment of the season dismissing Hesketh first ball. Hammond was persuaded to keep and obliged with four stumpings, which was good, I guess (Ed, Simon is our keeper). In reply CtC made hard work of the chase, eventually getting over the line 6 wickets down. The final Regent’s Park game saw a combined CtC/ATL XI take on Macka’s XI which resulted in a 5 wicket win secured by 46 from Hammond, 23 from Davidson and 2-11 from Gimson. The final fixture, a planned Rwanda tour warm up against Pacific CC in mid-October, was cancelled due to no players being interested in playing. And that was stumps. Not the best effort. We go again next year hoping for improvements all round. edit.
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AuthorGeorge Dean. Archives
October 2023
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