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'Goodburn’s
fine innings in vain as Graveney defeated off final delivery at Town
Malling'
By Nick Goodburn
Graveney 187 - 7 (from 40 overs)
Town Malling 191 - 7 (off last ball)
Graveney Lost by three wickets
Having played and won an enjoyable and
close encounter against Town Malling four weeks earlier at Whyteleafe,
Graveney went into this ‘return’ fixture looking to maintain their
unbeaten start to the season, and for a double. With the side shorn of
the services of a few of their batsmen the tail looked a little longer
than it had done for a while. Nevertheless, with the sun beating down,
and the track looking firm, skipper Paul Fanning made the sensible
decision to bat first.
Unfortunately for Paul, he was soon
rapped on the pads by one that he was convinced was going well down leg
side. Umpire Dave Moody did not see it that way and sided with the
bowler. There then followed what may have appeared (at least in
cricketing terms) to be a display of petulance from the miffed skipper,
who out of sheer disbelief contested the decision. Cricket being
cricket, however, he had no choice but to make his way back to the
pavilion to be consoled by his family.
With few recognised ‘batsmen’ in the
side, Nick Goodburn joined Rob Davies in the middle, both knowing that a
decent stand may well have been required if Graveney were to post a
competitive total. They set about building a partnership and things were
looking reasonably good until Rob took off for what would have been a
suicidal single for anyone else, and indeed proved to be so for Rob as
he was run out.
Pradeep, having already been dropped
slogging, was bowled attempting another huge hit, and was soon followed
by Bigger Tim (‘stepping up’ to the mark in the absence of regular
batsmen, and because Tim Bunn preferred to stay low in the order to
protect his 52 average!). Howard, despite the precarious point at which
the Graveney innings found itself, played his customary innings,
slogging and missing 3 of his five balls faced. Suddenly Graveney were
staring down the barrel of posting another inadequate score on this
ground!
Dave Moody then proceeded to play a
sensible knock, during which time Nick passed 50. Together they put on a
stand of 41 before Dave perished. Nick was by now accelerating his
scoring rate nicely. Tim Bunn, happy to block anything to protect the
average, survived for a while before being disappointed with his total
of 3 - and the obvious effect on that average – and Jez managed a quick
8 not out at the end. At tea Graveney had totalled a respectable 187-7
off 40 overs with Nick unbeaten on 81 not out.
After a superb tea, Graveney set about
removing Town Malling batsmen, but found that one of the openers in
particular was leading a charmed life, being dropped and popping catches
just short of fielders on a number of occasions. It eventually took a
bizarre dismissal to remove his partner at the crease when he edged
behind off Jay’s bowling. The batsmen immediately took a step towards
the pavilion only to stop and stand his ground due to the lack of an
appeal. After Nick’s ‘Howzat’ was repeated a couple of times, the umpire
gave him out. It appeared that most of the Graveney team had not heard
the snick due to the wind direction! Indeed a later edge was also heard
only by those standing down wind!
A second wicket followed for Jay, and
Pradeep toiled on manfully at the other end. As time wore on, however,
so the Malling total started to rise whilst the number of wickets did
not! Graveney were, to say the least, predominantly sloppy in the field,
and many more runs were accumulated than should have been the case. As
such Malling looked on course for victory. Despite the efforts of
Pradeep, Jay and Tim Bunn, it was not looking like Graveney would get
anything from the game, but then, following consultation between Skipper
and vice skipper, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and the returning Bev
McGill, until that point a mere spectator of the game, managed to put in
a great spell of 7 overs picking up 3-34 and slowing the Malling charge.
With economical support from Bigger Tim Eveleigh at the other end, and
the help of a run out or two Graveney suddenly had a sniff of saving a
draw if not forcing a win. Suddenly, some of the fielders at least had
started to get their fielding heads on.
With the run flow stemmed, and wickets
starting to fall, Paul stuck with Bev and Bigger Tim, and then left the
last over to Pradeep with a handful of runs required. Singles and a two
left two from the last 2 balls. A slight miss field from Bigger Tim,
struggling to get down to stop a cover drive after his spell, let the
batsmen scramble a single to tie the scores, and with everyone in to
stop the winning single, the Malling bat struck firm and true to clear
the ring of fielders and win the game off the very last ball!
… and so, the game ended with defeat
for Graveney off the very last ball, but it had been a great encounter
once again, except perhaps for Jez who made the comment “Cheers lads. I
came all this way to bat No. 9 and then just field!” This has of course
happened to others in the past, and is no less frustrating than getting
what you believe to be a bad umpiring decision early in your innings. As
Paul said himself, “Nick, I know why you gave up the captaincy if you
get this much grief!” No-one said the lot of the skipper is easy,
certainly not me!
In all honesty, if we had fielded
better all round in the early stages of the innings we would have gained
a draw at the very least!
Man of the match:
Nick
Goodburn.
Champagne moment:
Nick
Goodburn (who else?).
Having raced along the boundary, Nick
attempted to prevent a four by kicking the ball, but only succeeded in
booting the ball a further 60 yards along and over the rope. |
