Late News - Typically Rainy Tour Interrupted By Both Shock Cricket Match and a Peruvian Visitor

After seeing our traditional Thursday tour opener at Filleigh called off at the eleventh hour due to a water-logged pitch, the Beamers spent Friday cloud-watching and praying to the Devon weather-gods that the Twenty-20 thrash-a-thon at Bratton Fleming would be on.

Things immediately took a turn for the worse on arrival – an overcast day that had threatened rain finally delivered as the skippers left the pavilion for the toss. Thankfully it was but a brief trickle, and as debut-captain I was grateful for the increased moisture in the air which enabled me to win the toss and insert the hosts to bat on a slanty pudding of a pitch, with two incredibly short boundaries.



... the rain stopped just long enough for Peruvian visitor Towser to snap this ...






At Frank’s suggestion it was agreed with the oppo that each outfielder would have to bowl 2 overs – the half-truth that we wanted to ensure everyone had a bit of a game having travelled such a distance on tour was put forward in support of the idea, the fact that we had an XI chock full of bowling ability strangely wasn’t.

With Jeremy on the money right from the off, ably supported up by Mark Renshaw coming up the hill, the openers were kept quiet initially although the first change pair of Musso and Joe went for a few as the burly number 2 began to swing the bat in a manner befitting the rural landscape. Luck was on his side, and though the boundaries were initially not being troubled too often, strike was rotated and the scoreboard kept ticking along nicely. Midway through the innings, and with the pitch continuing to prove troublesome for bowlers and batsmen alike with its very slow, very low bounce (not to mention the resolute Jonners behind the timbers), the twin spin attack of Rigby and A&E were called upon to break the opening partnership.

A devastating 4-over spell followed in which Frank struck in his first over to remove the well-set number 1. A&E followed with the type of unplayable Dob for which he is renowned, bamboozling the young number 3 before Frank returned to send the number 4 swiftly back to the pavilion.

Siddo, having dropped a straight-forward catch off A&E 2 overs previously, was quickly offered the chance to redeem himself off his own bowling, but couldn’t make it stick, whilst Beast applied steady pressure from the bottom end, unleashing the trademark roar and taking the fourth wicket of the innings shortly thereafter, at which point Beamers had vague hopes of restricting BF to under 100. I closed the innings with Rob Nic, and although a further wicket fell, bringing the average age of the Beamers wicket-takers down to the lower side of 50, BF finished with 108, with the opener bagging an unbeaten half-century.

A hastily knocked up batting order saw Frank and Joe stride confidently into the gloom to begin the Beamers innings, although the challenge ahead was soon brought into sharp context as Joe missed a straight ball which failed to bounce more than an inch off a shortish length. The next over saw one of the more remarkable pieces of fielding of the season as Frank was caught by an athletic diving catch by BF’s not out opening bat. The jury’s still out on who was more surprised – Frank, the fielder or his BF team-mates.

Less than 3 overs in the Beamers were in trouble at not-many for 2, a situation which hardly improved through 8 further overs of slow accumulation, despite the unsuccessful efforts of Beast to launch the ball to all corners of Devon. Murmurs of concern were growing on the boundary as Beast and I continued to plod our way to 44-2 off 11 overs.

Sensing momentum not so much slipping away as disappearing over the horizon waving the finger, and with plenty of batting to come, the decision was made to up the run rate. A banquet of boundaries followed: I hit a young leg-spinner back over his head and the hedge on the short boundary to earn a much-needed rest as a search party was dispatched to retrieve the ball, Beast struck the same bowler skywards, only to see the boundary fielder hold a steepling catch… then take a step backwards over the rope for another maximum. Failing to recapture the magic of innings-past, Beast made a Captain Oates-like excursion from his crease, Jeremy replacing him as I continued to ‘go aerial’ at the other end.

With a round 30 required from the final 3 overs Jeremy was stumped and replaced by Rob N, and a decent pace bowler was replaced by the successful BF opener, who took it upon himself to prove that although a fine batsman and fielder he may be, the term ‘all-rounder’ was applicable only to his physique. Leaving gaps in the field and placing most of his fielders in the area from midwicket to long-on proved unsuccessful in stemming the flow as the run-rate continued to accelerate, the winning 6 being hit with two balls to spare.

Great thanks must be given to Bratton Fleming, who as well as generously agreeing to the suggestion on bowling restrictions which clearly favoured the touring team, and contributing to a thoroughly enjoyable and ultimately close contest, also provided a decent crowd to watch the match, found time to feed us with a fine BBQ and were generally magnificent hosts.

Nick