So it was back to Limpsfield again for the visit of Old Pilotonians. The familiar autumnal sight of crane-flies adorning the changing-room walls greeted us... we had a bit longer to observe these this year though as once again we found ourselves locked out upon arrival. With so many volunteers to assist Tony on tea duty this week, he was so overcome by these acts of generosity that he decided to do it all himself as a thank you!
Pilots won toss and elected to bat in a timed match. Pilots are famed for their electric starts against us but a relatively new opening Beechwood attack of Culhane and Sheikh was keeping them honest this time...byes apart that is!. Larry and Tariq laboured away but with no reward, and Captain Hill decided to opt for a couple of his spinning options (just five of them on display this week!) in Patel and McCrea. With the score on 52 Beechwood finally broke through when Ian clung on to a spectacular return-catch, and this set the tone for the rest of the afternoon with few chances being spilled by either side.
Macca was in on the action again with no addition to the score when Freeman clung on at slip and when Brad held on to one from out of the sky off Dodgy, Pilots found themselves pegged back on 70-3. Tony Bevis was still there though, difficult as ever to dislodge, but he was running out of his big-shot playing partners. McCrea's impressive spell came to an end and Savory replaced him at the A25 End, immediately breaking through with a "grubber" to dismiss the unlucky Ring. Bevis Sr. then holed out to Warner at long-on (another well-judged catch) off Patel and when the same bowler clung on to a diving return catch with his wrong hand to dismiss S.Roberts (truly spectacular this one) Beechwood just knew it was going to be their day. Savory bowled Cooke, this time spinning back onto the stumps off a bottom-edge (he'll take anything!) and Larry smartly stooped to catch M.Roberts off Dodgy.
103-8 then, and when Brad clung on to one low down which Cheney drove at him at short mid-off it was left to the dangerous Doughty to swing them to a respectable score. This was only a brief cameo though as he chopped one from Savory onto his stumps (he'll take anything!!) and Pilots found themselves bowled out for 121. After last week's comedy of errors this really was a display of bouncebackability, with thankfully no need to leave the field to the distant echoes of "The Eye Of The Tiger!"
Just a quick word about our "forgotten" bowler, Stuart Boss... not so long ago a bowling hero against this same opposition he was once again deprived of the opportunity to bowl but never let his head (or volume) drop in the field and gave it his all... as always... well done Gripper!! In fact well done everybody.
After tea Beechwood set about chasing down what was a fairly modest total, but it was remarked that another fifteen or twenty runs could have proved more than a little tricky... how tricky would 122 prove to chase? Freeman and Makin opened up for Beechwood but Tony's Sunday form has deserted him of late and with just three to his name he edged one and was back in the hutch.
Warner joined Keith and these two got on top of the run-rate from the word go, but true to form, just as Beechwood were looking comfortable Adrian's powerful drive was held impressively by Cheney. Patel was promoted to give him a chance of an early getaway but this experiment failed when Dodgy was bowled by Doughty with the score 37-3 and Beechwood in a hole. Sheikh joined Keith, who was still looking positive and this pair got Beechwood up to 52 when change-bowler D.Roberts induced a horrid stroke from Keith and was caught behind, particularly maddening this one as Keith had looked composed throughout his innings.
Captain Hill joined Tariq and a captain's innings was what was needed now, particularly bearing in mind his previous crusades against this opposition, but it wasn't to be today and he was bowled by Roberts with the score 60-5. Beechwood were miles ahead of the run-rate but losing wickets with alarming regularity so Tariq and new bat Savory had to try and grind out the rest of the remaining runs. Grind away they did but with 80 on the board Tariq was caught in close, again off Roberts, but at least he had laid a bit of a platform for those coming in. McCrea was the next "grinder" to the middle and he and Savory were literally edging Beechwood towards their total with both batsmen particularly having difficulty dealing with Gibson's back-of-the-hand surprise ball.
The latterly introduced Bevis Jr. was giving Savory a good work-over and eventually got his man with the score 111-7...so near, but... Anyway, five and a bit overs remained and eleven runs would see Beechwood home but the Pilots had turned the screws so tightly that all three results were possible at this stage. Culhane was next man in and although having been on the scene for quite some time now, this was his first innings for the club, and on this display it looks like he fancies the opening slot! Just one over remained and six runs were still required and all nails from those who could still bear to watch were well and truly gnawed down to the knuckles. Ian, who'd played a gutsy blinder thus far, was on strike for the first ball of this last over and two runs were taken. When two were attempted off the next ball it was obvious that somebody was going to come up short and Larry selflessly sacrificed his wicket with just the one run scored but Ian crucially remained on strike. For the record Larry scored no runs from the eighteen balls he faced but had he thrown it away sooner we may have been reflecting on a different result. Still nearly gave some of us a bleeding heart-attack though!!
Cooksley strode out to join Ian who hit the next ball for a single. Two from two then and Cookster steered his first ball through the gully region, beating a couple of desperate dives, and a turning Macca called Cookie back for a second who responded and dived home to beat the throw and secured an exciting win with just two balls remaining. Rightly or wrongly, Pilots may point to a couple of things not going their way in the field and they were particularly unlucky to find Beechwood in such an inspired mood in the field themselves, but whatever, as always this was a very sporting contest between the two sides and we look forward to next seasons encounters when you can be sure they'll come back at us hard!
Well done Brad, it must have seemed like today was never ever going to happen, and well done Tony and the ladies for their combined efforts with the tea. Finally, well played Ian and Steve who held their nerves when some of us watching were failing to hold their own!
Beechwood:
Boss, Cooksley, Culhane, Freeman, Hill (c), Makin (wk), McCrea, Patel, Savory, Sheikh, Warner
|
