CtC achieved their most successful domestic season for some years, winning ten from eleven games on their way to retaining the LMS Monday / Tuesday Islington title, and regaining the Summer Solstice cup for the first time since 2018. A loss to Moose was the only blot on an otherwise excellent season.
The Last Man Stands season began with three straight wins, before an eagerly anticipated match up against our old friends And That’s Lunch. Batting first, and with a stacked batting line up, CtC expected to rack up a big total, however despite 50 from Rudders and 36 from Conway, collapsed to 120 all out, staring down the barrel of a second consecutive defeat to Hugh’s weird mates (having only made 126 against them last year). However, a fine bowling display limited ATL to just 109, giving CTC four wins from four. Next up were perennial league wooden spooners No Qualms, but another supine batting performance, this time scoring just 163, was easy pickings for a rejuvenated No Qualms who chased down with overs and wickets to hand. Though well placed in the league table, these two performances led to some degree of soul searching in the CtC dugout as the season reached halfway. With their final five regular season games squashed into 22 days at the end of August, CtC needed a strong end to the season to secure finals footie. Fortunately, after the indifferent early season form, the boys reeled off five straight wins, four with bonus points, and several resulting in reaching The Yates pre-8pm. This set up a final against Green Stars (having merged with the legendary MCEC over the winter) in the last week of August. With daylight at a premium CtC had the fortune to bat first, but in a repeat of last years final, limped to an underpar 159/6 from their 18 overs - despite 29 off 8 from TIlbury and 34 from 15 from Conway. It was left to Gimson, batting at 7, to contribute a crucial 18 to ensure we batted the overs, and perhaps more importantly chew up more of the late summer sunshine. In last year’s final CtC had managed to defend 146, could they repeat the trick? CtC did not begin well with the ball with Taha and Mapara getting to 30 in quick time. Conway was bought to break the partnership, having got Taha the week before, but his over went for 20 and, in a low scoring game, this felt crucial. Skipper Davidson however knew he had an ace up his sleeve in Gimson, a man fast getting a reputation for turning up in big games. In a final that was beginning to feel eerily similar to last year, Gimson once again turned the game on its head with 2-22 from 4 (c.f. 1-15 in 2022). Backing up their bowler Holmes took a blinder on the boundary, ‘cushioning’ the ball first on his chest, and Davidson ‘took’ a slightly controversial catch at long off and suddenly CtC were cruising home - Green Stars finishing on 148/4 to give the cycling cricketers victory by 11 runs. Overall a very satisfying LMS season with strong availability and some excellent new signings in the form of Luke Hutton and George Clayton. Tilbury topped the runs with 202 from 8 appearances (average 50.5, SR 269) ahead of his stooge Cassels, Ben (180 runs at 25.71, SR 191.49. George Clayton and Mark Conway were the two others past 150 runs. Tilbury also topped the wickets with 9 (average 25.22, economy 7.83) but Gimson was arguably the pick of the bowlers (8 wickets at 13.13, economy 5.53). Conway and Davidson were the only others past 5 wickets for the season. Cassels topped the appearances with an impressive 9, followed by TIlbury 8, Conway 7 and Clayton 6. There was a manually scored game (thanks, Ross) which will not be counted. In the XI aside format CtC renewed rivalries with old friends The Moose, having been dropped from their fixture list the previous year. Out to prove a point CtC were hoping for a strong performance, and indeed started well, Gimson running through the oppo’s top order to leave Moose 15-3. Sadly this was as good as it got for us as Moose reached 221-9 from their allotted 35 overs, a stiff target with a batting line-up shorn of McNaught (at home with an upset stomach) and heavy on bowlers. Our fears soon materialized, with CtC collapsing to 134 all out, only Conway (38) reaching anything remotely responsible, though your chairman did run out Shaw for 5 who was arguably set for a matching winning 70 from number 9. The highlight of the season was as ever The Summer Solstice Cup at the wonderful Whitgift School. More so than ever it was hard to find a full XI, and many thought this could be the last occasion we ventured down to Croydon. Thanks though to Cass, who mustered a couple of weird mates, and Pemberton, obviously too busy himself, who sourced Afghanis Abid and his cousin to get us to XI. WIthout a victory in this fixture for five years though, fielding XI, and enjoying the outstanding barbecue and ice cold Asahi was about all we were probably hoping for. Little had happened to suggest we would be competitive when after 6.5 overs we were 42-3 and in danger of being bowled out before Pemberton’s shipment of afghani’s arrived. What we did not expect was not to lose another wicket as debutant George Clayton smoked 100* from 51 balls and Rutt 54* from 36, the 166 partnership (a new club record, beating the 122, also for the fourth wicket, also against Whitgift between Dillon and Hmmond, last time we had once this fixture in 2018) only broken as George retired, having reached his hundred form the penultimate ball of the innings. A truly magnificent innings, against some good bowling, from a man who had barely touched a bat in 10 years. As we turned around at the halfway stage, with 212 on the board and now with XI players, were confident of a famous victory. Famously the Whitgift track is not an easy place to defend, and despite an excellent three overs from both Abi and his cousin, and three smart overs from Alex Wilsopn (Cass’ other weird mate) and a wicket for Baggo, somehow Whitgift remained in the hunt until the end. Tilbury and Wlson however returned and we managed to hold on to secure a highly enjoyable victory. As ever the post game barbecue and ice cold asahi’s were enjoyed by all and thoughts rapidly turned to next year - we go again. N.B. Scoring for both games was somewhat haphazard, so figures may only bare a passing resemblance to reality.
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CtC played their second ‘overseas fixture’ (as distinct from a tour) as a hastily attended VIII took on the Black Storks in Islamabad as an unofficial curtain raiser to England’s three match tour of Pakistan. Indeed as CtC attempted to loosened themselves up having either just arrived from a 8 hour flight from London or five hour bus journey from Lahore (which had in fact taken even longer after smog stopped play on the motorway), rumors went round that some of the team may need to step into the national side after sickness had struck the national side. Our hosts were courteous beyond belief and offered us the choice of conditions. Less through knowledge of the wicket (turf, hard, with a distinct sheen for those asking) and more of a desire to try and stay in the game (two of the oppo were off to the world champs in Cape Town the following week), we chose to bowl. Davo organised a ‘proper’ warm up, which Jack attended, whilst the rest of us shuffled around nervously. Eventually, powered by a few ciggies and some amusingly sweet instant coffees, we did what we do, firedupbeys, and got bloody out there (worth nothing we were joined by two LMS umpires, provided free of charge by LMS Islamabad, Ross take note) Davo got us underway and kept things fairly tight. Peaso went from the other end. There was some no ball stuff. We got ‘round him, whipped him out the attack, we knew he'd have a crucial role to play later. Dean came on, there was some filth, the run rate crept up. The oppo had a good base and were looking to accelerate as Sgt. Tom “Reg” Jelly came on to make his LMS debut. What followed was a superb spell of middle overs stuff as Reg bustled in and hit a heavy length (think Liam Plunkett for England in 2019). Our loanee, necessitated as Rudders was sadly not fit to take the field, got through some offies at the other end and we started to, in the manner of Liam Dawson and Boris Johnson, take back control. When Pearson returned and bowled his final three overs for zip, including a sharp stumping by Shaw, from what should have been called a wide, we had not only taken control, but with the score just 91-3 from 13 overs, we felt like we were on top. What we hadn’t realized was that our hosts' hospitality extended to hiding their guns down the order. Ali Naqvi plundered 51 off 20 whilst Khan added a crucial 14 off the final three balls of the innings to take their total to 166, a challenging target on a ground close to twice the size of Wray Crescent. Worth noting we fielded well, with Dillon particularly active in the deep, and that Davo squaked if anyone fielded in front of the video camera live streaming the game at long off in case his legion of global followers weren't able to watch his every move. Cassels, true to form, evoked Espirt du Tour, despite being on a non drinking holiday, to claim a mystery ailment and drop the order to number three. This elevated Dillon to partner Perason and aim to get us off to a good start, but sadly fell to a good one early. Amusingly then, rather than wedge in with the boys in the sheds, proceeded to run laps around the outfield. Against a largely spin based attack we struggled to keep up with the rate, but Pearson (32 from 23) and Cassels, (50 off 28) gave us a platform and a sniff. Davidson, Ringer McGee and Dean came and went, as did two enormous pizzas incredibly kindly provided by our hosts, without managing a significant contribution, to leave the last pair of Shaw and Reg requiring 35 off 18. The boys could neither find the crucial boundary, nor find a way to get Cass back in back in, but scampered hard to add 18 off the next 11. 17 were now needed off 7 and we really needed something and Valencia style, we go ball by ball:
Nat Gimson was the hero as CtC secured their third LMS title and first in North London with a tense victory over the James Tredwell Fan Club in a low scoring final.
The evening began on a high with international businessm’n Davidson showing his presence at the negotiation table, winning the toss and then securing an 18 over a side game, which would ensure Tredwell played out their last five overs in the dark. The DoC, sadly in a watching role due to injury, mused that this could be crucial at the time, little did he know just how crucial… First though CtC had to make use of the available solar radiation to post a decent score, something that didn’t seem in much doubt with a strong batting line up of Hammond, Casselsm Karsten, Holmes, Tilbury, Davidson, Gimson and Shaw. Season 2022 had seen a marked shift to a new generation of CtC talent, which was certainly displayed in the final, with the only significant contributions coming from Karsten 50 (20) and Tilbury 41 (18). No-one else made it past 20, and CtC failed to bat their full 18, relying on a gutsy 13 from Shaw batting solo. CtC surely needed a good start to try and defend such a paltry total, but failed to do so, and when one of the Tredders openers managed to retire, it looked like the game was done. With Tredders needing not much more than a run a ball, Skipper Davidson shuffled his pack, both he and Hammo had thus far been expensive, so he decided to chuck the ball to Gimson. Within a few balls of his introduction the game suddenly took on an entirely different complex, Gimmers wobbling the ball away and tying down the JT middle order. With runs suddenly hard to come by, and time running out to get the gun bat back in, the sun, just as Rudders predicted, exited stage left. With darkness now almost fully wedged CtC were well in control, and Gimmers closed it out to Gimmers closed it out to burgle a possibly undeserved seven run win, and with it the title. Ross attempted to get us to play the Champions League a few days later, but predictably we failed to raise a side, and that was stumps for the season. Away from the LMS arena we played just a solitary fixture against the Whitgift staff, our other regular opposition The Moose XI dropped us from their circuit due to a lack of prestige, and no other fixtures were arranged due to our own difficulty raising sides. Unfortunately at the time of writing the scorecard has not been located, though it is noted we lost the game, and Conway hit his first 50. So perhaps a season of two halves, our most successful and enjoyable LMS campaign for some years, but a distinct lack of activity off it, including failure to raise a touring side. Onwards to 2023. 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. After season 2020 sadly passed without a fixture played CtC have lined up a menu of classics for season 2021.
We start in June with a fixture against old rivals Zapoi in Regent's Park in early June before progressing to our three marquee fixtures. First up we go for the sixth time against against The Moose XI in our longest running fixture, staged once again at Barn Elms. We then head down to our great friends at Whitgift to contest The Summer Solstice Cup for the highlight of the CtC domestic season. Finally renew rivalries with our north London brethren in And That's Lunch in early July, after covid cancellation last year and a downpour the year before, this is sure to be fiercely contested. To end the season we have a rogue fixture against Pacific CC in Wray Crescent deep into October as a pre-tour warm up. Our aim is to tour Rwanda in late October, covid allowing. Despite the leadership of the club branding the coronavirus a ‘nonsense’ in early March, it was the virus that made a nonsense of CtC’s 2020 plans. Although the cricket season resumed in late July it so happened that CtC’s fixtures were all in the early months of summer and thus was entirely wiped out by the restrictions. Hopes were therefore placed onto the ever dependable administrative ability of Last Man Stands to give CtC some cricket. Sadly neither the admin nor CtC were up to much, with a meagre three fixtures arranged resulting in just a single victory.
2020 was due to be the year of our return to Rwanda, but despite unfortunately that fell afoul of the virus too, and CtC were left stranded without an overseas fixture for the first time since 2012. The good news is that our friends in Rwanda have thus far played a pretty straight bat against the 'rona and we’re hopeful of being able to tour in October 2021 (and hopefully sneak in a flash tour before then) CtC’s season started the 2019 season in fine style, recording a dominant victory over The Moose XI, the only game that managed to garner its own match report.
This sent CtC into The Summer Solstice Cup against Dominii in confident mood. Winning the toss and batting first CtC that confidence appeared well placed, as openers Pearson and Rudkin got us off to a fast start. Pearson cruised to 66 before deciding to walk past one, and Rudkin, after so long out the game, made 54, much to the delight of the CtC dug out. With the two falling in quick succession it was left to Ben Cassels (21) and Nick Waller (15), on a very welcome debut, to build on this platform. Perhaps inevitably the scoring rate slowed, but both contributed usefully. From there however, CtC collapsed in spectacular style, as is their occasionally want in T20 cricket. The middle order offered Baggo (2, run out); Shaw (0); Sherwin (1, run out). The lower order therefore needed to contribute… but could only muster Gimson (2*); Fishpool (0); Dean (0, run out) and Hammo – Nil (did not show up – we played with 10). A total of [190] whilst good we knew was not as many as we perhaps should have had, and probably below par on a wicket famous for it’s high scores. We were however in confident mood, confident Tom Sherwin could atone for his shambolic performance in the fixture last year [0-40] and bowl us to victory. Sadly it was not the case. Gimson bowled well, including a nice catch at gully by Pearson to dismiss one opener, but without luck, three separate fours from Chinese cuts, leading to a small disagreement between the burly opening bowler and the skipper, who refused to set a filed for such a shot. Defeat to Dominii in the summer solstice cup, and a heavy defeat in the in 2018 of this fixture, left somewhat nervous about the Dominii Sunday fixture, particularly as the opposition counted both Tom Sherwin and the dangerous Baggo in their line-up. Things were not looking promising when, in a moment of pure theatre, Sherwin clean bowled Skinner first ball of the game. This bought Leary in at 3, who, as Leary does, immediately began to stoke the ball around, ‘to the manor born’; as Blowers would say. Having made it totally untroubled to 25 Leary departed and was soon followed by Dillon (0) and Conway also (0) first ball leaving CtC 40-4 and in some trouble. Hammond, trying to watch the England vs. India world cup semi-final on his laptop in the shade of the pavilion, was now required at the crease, and only just padded up in time to make it to the wicket before he was timed out. He now joined the DoC and together they set about rebuilding the CtC innings. And rebuild they did, putting on a huge partnership. Rudkin was the first to depart, but not before he had scored 106. It was good to have him back. There was no century for Hammo, left on 87* when the 40th over was completed, Shaw having added a useful 23 against a tiring fielding side to propel CtC to an imposing 273. CtC had a big score on the board, but were conscious they didn’t have the strongest bowling line-up (no Rutt, Davidson, Fairbank or Sherwin) and that the track was good for batting. Worry they needn’t, what followed was probably the best bowling performance this correspondence has witnessed from the club. Rupert opened up with Gimson, but with the ball immediately showing signs of swing, was replaced by Conway. Together they ran through the top-order of Dominii, Gimson bowling delightful away swing, that belonged and a much higher level, his figures of 8-1-4-16 not flattering his performance in the slightest. Conway was almost as effective with 5-1-2-17. There was no let up from the change bowlers either, Rob Hazleton, a bustling medium pacer showing great promise in taking 1-11 from his 5 overs, and Rupert picking up 2-29. There was even the chance for Skinner (0-7) and Leary (0-0.3) to have a bowl before Skinner took the final wicket with a run out, giving CtC a 192 run victory, and, an early finish in time to see England secure their spot in the world cup final. Next up for CtC was The Optimists who had beaten us the previous year in a rain-affected unofficial farce. This year arguably should also be declared an unofficial game, such was the low standard of cricket on display. We batted first and somehow, one by one, meekly surrendered our wickets to some very mediocre bowling. Cass jnr, drunk, Nunez, Carew and Cassels E all hit the ball straight to fielders, and Hammond was cleaned bowled. Rutt (52), as ever, was the only one to show much application, showing the bowling for what it was, and putting a partnership of X with Dean (16); to eventually get CtC to a very scrappy 175 (thanks largely to extras counting for 3). In reply The Optimists were never in it. CtC used 9 bowlers with one wicket each for Carew, Mclellan, The Cat and Hammo and two for Dean and Stephens. Champagne moment undoubtedly went to Ryan for taking a miraculous one handed diving catch whilst holding, and not spilling, a drop of beer. CtC won by 110 runs and hopefully this will never be spoken of again. The final game of the domestic season was against Trinity Old Boys a new fixture that had been several years in the planning. Unfortunately CtC struggled with availability, and it was a minor miracle we managed to get an XI on the field. XI we got though, including a very welcome return for John McNaught, and debuts for Gunn, Calvert and Thompson. Comically, for a club with a surfeit of keepers, Dean was pressed into emergency duties, which would have been costly had a long outfield and popgun attack not combined to limit byes to a maximum of one at a time. In a defensive move CtC selected to bowl, and worked hard to keep TOB to 173-5. In total CtC used 8 bowlers to varying degrees of effectiveness, Hammond’s 2-24 from 7 the stand out, but debutant Thompson (0-47) also bowled well. In reply CtC never quite looked like chasing the total down. Davidson had a chance up the order but, his mind perhaps addled by a summer in Silicom Valley, was out leaving one and only McNaught, a fine 20, and Hammond, 46, made it to double figures, in a pretty insipid total of 119 all out. Most disappointingly Rutty was not even called upon to bowl. A proper champing. And so season 2019 (domestic, non-LMS) ended with a somewhat mixed bag of three wins, two losses, a wash-out against ATL and questions asked about the quality of match reporting. CtCCCC met at Barn Elms Sports Centre for the 5th renewal of the domestic season opener vs The Moose writes Nat Gimson. After an iffy start to their white ball season the cricketing cyclists where hopeful of a victory to get the red ball season underway. Though fielding a team without stalwart allrounders Rutt and Davidson, hamstrung and incubating respectively, CtC were full of confidence under the guidance of the New Regime and brains trust of Rudkin, H and Pearson, E. Batting first, the New Regime sent out Cassels, B and Skinner to open up. What followed was one of the ugliest opening partnerships this correspondent has ever seen. It was an embarrassment. Made worse by some appalling fielding from the Moose, dropping both Cassels, B and Skinner at least twice each. The runs kept coming however, as Cassels, B burgled his way with pitching wedges and outside edges, to his (very welcome) first red ball half century for the club. Pearson made a classy 15 odd, while Wright a well-made 40. The Bagmen did not trouble the scorers, probably no bad thing as the electronic scoring system was in disarray. Dillon, hot off the train from his umpteenth wedding, played the shot of the day, melting one through wide mid-off. He was out next ball however; he’d got his money’s worth. And so it was left to Conway, the club’s finisher, and Sherwin to finish the innings. Conway’s fast hands and unerring consistency at crunching boundaries lower down the order and Sherwin’s 6s meant CtC were able to post a very defendable 247-7. Parallels with the powerful England batting line-up were obvious – no-one went on to make a big score but everyone contributed. The New Regime has instilled a confident calm on their men, all playing cricket with a smile on their faces. They’d also seemingly managed to persuade The Moose to drop around 8 catches. During tea, which was shared with a 6-year old’s birthday party, the heavens opened. The Moose felt it sensible to leave the wicket uncovered for at least half an hour, which would prove to be costly as the pitch definitely got spiced up a bit.. After the deluge Sherwin opened the bowling, and bowled heat. Gimson opened from the other end, definitely not bowling heat but managed to keep it tight. What followed was a fantastic display of swing bowling, from all bowlers, as well as holding of catches. CtC were quickly on top and never let The Moose get away, with the swing bowling stable of Sherwin, Conway, Reid and Gimson swinging it around corners. A number of highlights proceeded, Reid bowling left arm in-swing to 2 slips and 2 leg slips and a 3 way Race of the Heavies to the cover boundary amongst them. The Moose stumbled their way to 74 all out, a crushing 173 run victory. A fantastic triumph for the New Regime, one this correspondent thoroughly enjoy running out for. A beautiful late September day greeted CtC for their final domestic outing of a season that had begun in Rwanda over six months previously - with a rogue fixture in Sri Lanka still to come.
Three Sunday fixtures had preceded this one, a disappointing defeat in our traditional season opener against the Moose, a fantastic marque fixture at Whitgift where we were second best to a masterclass from their West Indian U19 player, and an enjoyable 8 wicket win against Highgate Wood. Midweek we also had a record four fixtures, sadly, in a summer that will remembered how hot and dry it was, two fell foul of the rain, against The Optimists and also the long awaited T20 against Zapoi. Of the two that were played, we lost to a Hesketh inspired ATL in another enjoyable encounter against our north London friends, and had a straightforward victory against a James Lester led Commons Old Boys XI. Until today then, the domestic scorecard read played 7, won 2, lost 3, no result 3. A win against London Fields then was therefore needed to come away with an even season. Back to London fields and a nice looking pitch just behind “The Pub on The Park”. The wicket looked good and overall it seemed a brilliant set up for a council pitch. CtC won the toss, and eyeing the friendly conditions and with a stupidly strong batting line up, chose to bat. With a line up featuring Coe, Hesketh, Skinner, Gill and Dave Fagan, borrowed from Foxton, it was felt a big score could be on if the guns delivered. And deliver they did... Lomas, making a long awaited debut, opened and got a quick 16, before Coe took charge. His hundred was inevitable and came up in just the 17th over - leaving CtC on 146-2 at drinks. Sadly for London Fields, Hesketh picked up where Coe left off, clobbering 83 before being caught on the fence, when a century looked certain. The eponymous London fielders kept working hard, and, taking the wickets f the dangerous Gill, and Baggo, cheaply, they might have had ambitions of keeping CtC close to 300. Sadly for them, Dave Fagan had other ideas, and raced to 50 in no time. Going into the last over, he was on 74, a 100 in reach with a perfect 36... he finished on 98*, a one bounce four the only thing that prevented him bringing up a ton in the most outrageous fashion. With such a large total on the board, the London Fields innings was somewhat of a low key affair, a shame for a CtC attack with two debutantes looking to impress - both did as much as they could in the circumstances, Jelly taking 2-42 from 7, and Lomas bowling 5 tight overs for just 15. Elsewhere, Davidson was the pick of the rest, taking 1-29 from his seven. The game meandered along with London Fields eventually finishing on 238-7, giving CtC victory by 127 runs. Despite our anti-social batting performance London Fields seemed to enjoy the day out, and with nothing more to say on the game myself, I'll copy and paste from their website: "To conclude, the game was played in an excellent spirit, in the lat summer sun. We hope that CtCCCC enjoyed their fixture at London Fields, and look forward to the possibility of future games. All in all, this was a fitting way to end the 2018 cricketing season at London Fields." CtC ended an unprecedented year of travel with a defeat in Sri Lanka against Vidyaloka College in what was a first non-touring overseas fixture for the club (this, in the unlikely events anyone is interested, was because it lacked any of the other trappings of tour such as court or roles, and rather than being an organised tour was more a group of independent travelling clubm’n and associates assembling in Sri Lanka). The XI independent travellers compromised club members Dean, Davidson, Dillon, Shaw, Fairbank and Skinner (Rudkin senior remained unavailable due to injury, Cassels senior pulled out, presumably due to dating clashes, and Pemberton, for once, resisted goading and didn’t travel). In addition we were joined by three lads from Dulwich (Ben, AJ and Quaife), a mate of Simon’s, George Delemain, and the Philanderers’ Paul Leary. With very limited knowledge of our own team, and less of the opposition it was hard to know how the game would go... A note first on the setting, a delightful ground, surrounded on three sides by thick jungle vegetation, and a striking rock on the midwicket boundary from at the pavilion end. The ground is officially named Lords’ Hikaduwa as it was funded by the MCC in the wake of the 2004 tsunami and also featured wicket that had been rolled to within an inch of its life, an electronic scoreboard and a pavilion complex complete with indoor nets. After many, many hours of debate over what to do first, Dean lost the toss and CtC were put into the field on a pretty stinking fucking hot day (side note, as we limbered up Mike Gatting ambled over to inspect the facilities on behalf of the MCC and wished us luck). The Lankan batsmen came out, sadly not in their sparkling blue uniforms, but I was pretty aroused anyway. Davidson bowled the first over, and immediately had a big lbw shout turned down. Undoubtably the Sri Lankan schoolboys were roughed up by a global businessmen steaming in, and sure enough there was a mixup with the batsmen, one opener desperate to be off strike was sent back halfway down the pitch, with the ball already in the fielders hand. Sadly the fielder in question was Dean, whose pathetically weak and inaccurate arm proved to be nowhere near up to the relatively easy chance. Quaife bowled the second over for 5 and CtC were on top. Davidson, sensing the fear in the opposition batsmen went for the jugular, and dug a couple of vicious looping bouncers which were deposited to the fence. Quaife however got a nice caught and bowled in his second over to leave the score at 30-1 after four overs. The middle overs progressed with neither side getting on top. Fairbank bowled four on the bounce in the heat, with figures of 0-31 not really doing him justice. AJ similarly threatened but couldn’t make the breakthrough, though would’ve done had Dean held a simple chance, and Ben bowled two tight overs for 11. After thirteen overs things looked ominous with the score 113-1 but Quaife returned to get the accelerating opener for a classy 60. AJ got the number three and suddenly 117-3 after fifteen overs looked much better for the cycling cricketers. However a combination of a couple of “old boys” trying to hit every single ball for 6 and trademark terrible over from Dean which cost 16 swung momentum back towards the Sri Lankan’s. Once again CtC fought back and Davidson and Quaife bowled excellent final overs, Davidson taking one wicket and Quaife another two to finish with superb figures of 3-22 from four overs. The final total was an imposing but chaseable 167. Skinner and Leary started in watchful style. The first over a maiden, they then scored exclusively in singles until the 30th ball of the innings, which Leary hit for 6. Skinner was the first to go, bowled for 11 (all in singles), in his defence he had little chance to defend the ball given his bat was sailing towards the square leg umpire at the moment the ball hit the stumps. Dillon joined Leary but sadly another mixup with the basemen, combined with some sharp fielding, which was to be a feature of the innings, ran him out for just 2. Ben Lester (3) and George Delemain (2) failed to get going, but this didn’t deter Leary, who started to play some truly stunning shots. He hit seven sixes in an arc from wide long on to extra cover, each with a lazy swing of the bat. Suddenly CtC had hope. He hit the first three balls of the eleventh over for 6, and the fourth for 2, taking him to 54 out of the total of 80. Sadly he was out, stumped, next ball. A.J. did his best with 31 but had no one to stay with him, Shaw run out and Davidson bowled both for ducks. Fairbank made 12 including a nice straight six but he game was up, CtC all out for 133, a loss by 34 runs. As so often with T20 it was a case of should’ve, would’ve, could’ve... we bowled well with probably just two big overs costing us. Certainly they outperformed is in the field, where they were very strong, and perhaps because they were more used to playing in oppressive heat. With the bat we probably just needed one other player to go with Leary... but all in all the better side won. So finally CtC’s epic ten month season came to an end in fine surrounds, albeit in defeat. Vidyaloka college were great hosts and it was hugely satisfying for CtC to sample another continent. When the cycling cricketers return to the sub-continent will now be in the hand of the future tours programme, who were rumoured to be booking flights to the next destination in September 2019, within days of the 2018 season ending. |
AuthorGeorge Dean. Archives
October 2023
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Cambridge to Casablanca Cycling Cricket Club
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