Bedouins v Oldbury Old Boys at Enville, July 31
Bedouins lost by 16 runs
“My son, Richard, will play. He doesn’t play cricket, but he’ll gladly make up the numbers.” Thus David Pearson when we were struggling to get an 11 together for the Sunday game against Oldbury Old Boys.. That led to the highlight of another of those games the Beds should probably have won but finally lost narrowly.
The highlight – two of them, in fact – was the catches Richard Pearson held in the deep field. The first was good enough, but the second was as good as anything seen at the Enville ground for many years. Running from deep mid-on to deep mid-off, he scooped the ball up just before it hit the ground, rolled over a few times, and came up triumphantly with the ball in his hand. The crowd, as they say, went wild.
Oldbury OB – a team assembled by ex-Bed John Richards — had some more than capable early batsmen, two of whom made the retirement score of 50, as the score reached 100 without loss in the 14th over. The Bedouins bowlers managed to keep things in check in the later stages, though, and the final total was 186 for 5 in 35 overs.
Spratters picked up two wickets, and was just inches short of a caught-and-bowled, as he dived forward in an effort to get the early wicket of one of the openers. It was a vain attempt, but at least it had the secondary effect of rolling the wicket at the same time. Another Beds attempt at a spectacular catch was at square leg, where Andy Hill, making a welcome return after months off with a dodgy back (“Hill’s back’s back”), dived full length and just failed to make a one-handed catch. His ever sympathetic son, fielding nearby, immediately accused him of “dropping a dolly” Ah, the perceptiveness of youth!
There were wickets for Stanier and Susman, plus one for Stanier mate (yes, another of them – see comments in previous report) Martin Watts (six overs, 1 for 8).
After a typically tempting tea and cakes interlude, the Bedouins began the search for 187 runs to win the game. They made a great start, as John Branch and Jon Stanier put on 96 for the first wicket. The latter was first to reach 50; JB was a little longer to get to the retirement point. Along the way, he broke some kind of record by actually completing an all-run three – first time in living memory. It made the spectators gasp, and to be fair, Branchy was also gasping a bit afterwards.
There were also double-figure scores for Jono Hill, John Howells and Adrian Susman, but the OOB bowlers regained control just in time, as the Bedouins finished 16 runs short at 170 for 6.
Oldbury Old Boys 186 for 5 (Spratley 2 for 34; Watts 1 for 8; Stanier 1 for 33; Susman 1 for 36)
Bedouins 170 for 6 (Stanier 51; Branch 50; Jono Hill 18; Susman 15; Howells 10)
Photos from the day are courtesy of Mike George and are available here.