Bedouins v Beacon at Enville, May 10th 2017

Bedouins lost by 7 wickets

The first game of the 2017 season “went down to the wire”, as the saying goes, before the Bedouins snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Visitors Beacon scored the winning run off the final ball of the last over in a game in which the home side appeared to be cruising to victory at one stage. But Beacon managed to get just the right pair at the crease at the vital time to accelerate the scoring rate and enabling Mr Beacon, Alan Green, to hit the winning runs off the last ball of the 20^th over.

In spite of playing out the first over as a maiden, the Beds made a good start to their innings. Ian Woodhouse has clearly decided that running between the wickets is not a good idea; his 31 (retired) included seven boundaries and one six, to add to just one single. At the other end skipper JB was more inclined to deal in singles, but had his share of boundaries too in 30 (retired).

John Howells contributed a brisk 15 and Jon Stanier 23 not out, as the Beds completed their 20 overs with a reasonably competitive total of 113 for 4.

Having confessed to the skipper that he was carrying an injury, Lee Bywater was immediately, of course, asked to open the bowling. He responded well – in spite of great pain (he says) – with four overs for 21 runs. At the other end, Spratters was even more parsimonious (look it up!) in completing four overs for just 10 runs.

After seven overs, Beacon had just 32 on the board, but they managed to step up the scoring rate, in spite of losing one opener to a smart bit of stumping by John Howells, and a second wicket to a run out. Austin Gregory was the only wicket-taking bowler for the Beds (2 for 17).

The visitors needed two runs off the last ball to win, and Alan Green was able to pull it to the boundary to complete the seven-wicket win.

Which just left the Bedouins and their visitors to enjoy the fruits of Sam Chambers’s first — and very successful — effort at provision of a Beds buffet. Top marks for eggy sandwiches!

Bedouins 113 for 4 (Woodhouse 31, Branch 30, Stanier 23 not out, Howells 15)

Beacon 116 for 3 (Gregory 2 for 17)

Bedouins v Beacon at Wombourne, August 3

Bedouins won by 8 wickets

Most normal people would simply enjoy hitting a six. At Beacon’s beautifully manicured ground, where a straight hit can often finish in the canal that runs alongside the ground, there is the prospect of the added frisson (look it up!) of watching the splash as the ball hits the surface – and that’s what Ian Woodhouse reckoned was the biggest thrill of his innings. Well, he doesn’t get out much these days, you see.

In fact, splashing out in that way was only one of Woody’s excitements for the evening. His second six cleared the canal, and the towpath (narrowly missing an elderly couple out for an evening stroll), and the hedge, and disappeared into the farmer’s field beyond. “New balls, please.”

For once, the evening got off to a prompt start. Congratulations to the Bedouins players, who managed to get themselves on parade, “booted and suited”, for a start at 6 p.m. sharp. That, combined with hustle and bustle between overs, meant that the game was completed in reasonable light. And all the better for it.

Spratters was back to his accurate best, as the Beds were asked to bowl first. His four overs went for just nine runs, and he had one wicket to add to a good evening’s work. Josh Lemm opened at the other end and was similarly miserly, giving away just 17 runs in his four overs. It was Lee Bywater who fared best for wickets, having two Beacon batsmen clean-bowled.

On a fast-scoring outfield, the Bedouins did well to restrict the home side to 118 for 3.

A start of just two runs in the first two overs was scarcely promising in the Beds’ reply, but Ian Woodhouse got going with a couple of boundaries, as John Branch also hit the occasional boundary at the other end – none of that “all-run three” nonsense this time! Woodhouse retired on 33, and, in fact, all five Beds batsmen who got in reached double figures, Adrian Susman rolling back the years with a cleanly struck straight six in his 18 not out.

Neill Smith made 19 and Jono Hill 14 not out, as the Bedouins reached their winning target, 119 for 2, with nearly two overs to spare. An unbiased view – this was the Beds’ best all-round performance for this and many other seasons.

Beacon 118 for 3 (Bywater 2 for 27; Spratley 1 for 9)

Bedouins 119 for 2 (Woodhouse 33; Branch 22; Smith 19; Susman 18 not out; Jono Hill 14 not out)

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 14^th 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.

Bedouins v Pedmore House at Enville, July 27

Bedouins win by 54 runs

If Saga had got to know of the number of retirements going on at Enville on July 27, they’d have been down there in force, with their full array of leaflets about financial affairs, no-fly cruises, and coach tours for the elderly and infirm.

But they would have been disappointed. OK, so some of the Bedouins batsmen are beginning to look a tad elderly and infirm. But it’s not the Saga kind of “retirement” that was much in evidence. It was Bedouin batsmen making hay while the sun shone and hitting their way to the 30 runs retirement point – three of them, in fact.

A late start to the annual fixture against Pedmore House (AKA Austin’s Army) meant that this match was always going to finish in the gathering gloom – note to certain Bedouins, aiming for a start as soon as possible after 6 p.m. does NOT mean 6.35! Batting first, therefore, offered the best chance of a decent score in decent light.

The Beds’ batsmen certainly made the best of things. Although skipper John Branch was out for 10, Jon Stanier, Paul Lippitt and Adrian Susman all made 30 and retreated to the comfort of the Enville pavilion, leaving Jono Hill just enough time to swing the bat for 11 not out in a Beds total of 135 for 2 – certainly the best innings score of this season.

Richard Spratley and Lee Bywater spearheaded the Beds bowling with an accurate opening spell, the latter starting his four overs with two maidens, the second of which contained a wicket (sometime Bedouin Austin Gregory). Josh Lemm took over and had the dangerous opener Chivers stumped by John Howells – the years just rolled away, John!

Adrian Susman (“dat’s ma boy!”) completed a good evening by taking two wickets for nine runs, including a fine boundary catch by Jono Hill. There was also a wicket for Ian Blount, making a welcome first appearance for the Beds – another friend of Jon Stanier’s (does he really have so many friends, or is it just that none of them lasts very long?).

Finally the Pedmore House total fell some way short, at 81 for 6 – a 54-run win for the Bedouins. Then it was just a matter of polishing off the most acceptable fish and chips arranged by good old Austin, to round off an excellent evening for the Beds.

Bedouins 135 for 2 (Jon Stanier 30; Paul Lippitt 31; Adrian Susman 30)

Pedmore House 81 for 6 (Adrian Susman 2 for 9; Lee Bywater 1 for 10; Josh Lemm 1 for 20; Ian Blount 1 for 4)