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'Graveney
Fight Back to Defeat Occasional Wanderers'
By Pete Friend
Graveney 171 - 6 (from 40 overs)
Occasional Wanderers 153 all out (from 38.4 overs)
Graveney Win by 18 runs
Graveney CC’s only “home”
match of the started promptly on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon after
an intensive net session, which proved a wise investment in batting
practice for all those concerned. At the crease first Graveney felt
really at home after losing a couple of quick wickets. Exhausted after
unprotected penetration in the nets Barry Grey couldn’t avoid facing
exile Pradeep Jain for more than two overs. It was clear that the BBC
announcing the audition dates for the remake of the hit series
“Grand-dad” just before going out to bat was too exciting for the Clive
Dunn look-alike’s concentration. Congratulations to Barry on his career
250th golden duck, and good luck with the auditions.
After “home” boy OD came
and went quickly Graveney soon settled into a rhythm, Paul Fanning
scored freely just enough for his average but not quite enough to buy a
jug. Nick Goodburn held up the other end, smashing the ball to all parts
of the square, and eventually he even managed to actually get one over
the boundary, scoring at just over one run an over the crowd were always
kept excited. Controversy soon followed when, not on his call, Mr
Goodburn rejected an easy single. Mr Friend was sacrificed after looking
in sublime form much to the disappointment of the other member of the
crowd, I’m sure that call will be debated for years to come. Following
the drama, Jez Skidmore converted valuable net time into another duck to
add to his collection, rumours are his is only half the size of Barry
Greys’.
New recruit Chris Pullen
looked sound but failed to get off the mark and all of a sudden the
Graveney innings looked in danger of coming to a premature end. That was
until new signing Ken (appearing courtesy of KC agencies) stepped in.
After dispatching his first ball for the club for six glorious runs, the
crowd had woken back up and there was a smell in the air that Graveney
weren’t quite dead yet. Having said that, when the wind changed if you
got a whiff of Jay’s kit you could have been mistaken that there could
have been a rotting carcass in the vicinity.
Much to the surprise of
all concerned, especially the Occasionals’ occasional bowlers, no more
wickets fell and the innings closed in a positive manner, the skipper
managed an unbeaten 52nd single and Ken knocked the ball
around to end on a creditable 24 not out.
There was a further
surprise during the tea interval when the Bunn & Friend fan club made an
appearance. A snippet of naked female flesh caught Jay’s eye this
distraction had to be the only plausible explanation for the opening
bowler, bowling like an arse. However, at the other end it was a
different story. Now well into losing his Graveney virginity Ken was
pounding down the hill banging his balls all over the Occasionals wheel
chair bound New Zealand opener. The OW’s started well and looked to be
in control of the game reaching 50 without loss in good time.
Unfortunately, whilst batting they were also insistent on having a
constant threesome out on the square. The home side had no luck as there
was much distraction over the reason behind our sub continental
opponents limp rather than concentrating on the job in hand.
Eventually the
break-through came and the wickets started to tumble. Kenny bowled well
but with no luck, obviously he is still unaware of the Graveney’s
skippers main bowling tactic – shit gets wickets. Soon afterwards our
new recruit was introduced to the finer points of captaincy when
Granddad reappeared at the crease, this time with a ball in his hand,
his dollies did the trick and evened the honours for the day with
Pradeep. Chris Pullen chipped in with a wicket on debut and Jay Vibert
contributed with three catches (officially a jug purchasing event).
After some tight bowling from Friend Surrey police had to be called when
Bunn and Skidmore stole two cheap wickets each at the end.
It was clear that the OW’s
were intent on grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory. They did just
that from needing 44 runs off 12 overs with 4 wickets in hand, they
finished 19 short. The local wise man OD muttered the words “160 is a
good score here” during the Graveney innings, obviously he is not quite
as senile as we all think. Finally I must credit Mr Skidmore for his
advice with this report “while spoil a good story with the truth” never
have such words meant so much.
Man of the match:
Cancelled
but
best Geoffrey Boycott impersonation – Nick Goodburn.
(It was Nick really .....webmaster)
Champagne moment:
Ken
Anderson.
1st ball faced for Graveney
hit for 6, after comment from the boundary “wouldn’t it be amusing if he
hit his first ball for 6”. |
