Match report:

Grayshott 18.7.26

After a tough couple of weeks, the Lavant team were back on the road. It might have been Saturday and it might have been Sunday…but after a selection process resembling the Hokey Cokey the team was assembled.

Trees surrounded the ground. A white picket fence encircled the pavilion and the parasols were out (in the second innings). This was as village cricket should be.

The team was looking younger on paper but the stand in skipper couldn’t help but have the immortal words of Alan Hansen ringing in his ear, “You dont win anything with kids.” 

Chris ‘John’ Maclean has endorsed the next gen side and we turned up knowing we had a job to do. 

The stand in skipper was faced with the prospect of a fourth toss loss of the year but correctly called heads to choose the option to bat first.

Joe had taken a detour to another ground. Up stepped Messrs Tran and Thompson to open the batting.

The first over was delivered at good pace from a decent height. You wouldn’t have known it from the way Tam played it. Cover drive, followed by the most exquisite straight drive, followed by a wristy flick over mid wicket…You get what you pay for with these overseas players.

Lloyd started off watchfully. He played like a proper opener. This was epitomised by him expertly keeping out a vicious in-swinging yorker that on other days this season would have cut his innings short. He accelerated at the right time and his innings was peaking with a couple of brutal boundaries before he was finally dismissed. 

A brilliant partnership of 73. Platform set.

Tam continued with abandon. Brutal on the full ball and wristily manipulating the ball into gaps. Youthful bowlers – including pace, mystery spin and swing – were deployed. Tam kept the scoreboard moving.

Ben and Will both hit some lovely shots and on another day would have been underway but some good fielding prevented it and they perished in quick succession.

Tam finally fell and the score was suddenly 106 – 4.

Note what you need in rough seas is an experienced seaman…better still if they have two industrious apprentices. I’m not sure if there is an old merchant navy saying that three seamen are better than one but if they didn’t have it…they were wrong.

Father and son duo Joe and Ted were in next. Anyone who has watched Joe bat in T20 this year know he is brutal, dismissive and consistent. Here, he was watchful, smart and batted assuredly .

Debutant Ted looked right at home. Matching his Dad shot for shot. He was confident in defence and selective in attack. Glances and deflections aplenty but one wristy flick over mid wicket was the crown jewel. 11 quality runs. What an impactful debut. Everyone was beaming with pride but none more so than Joe. Exquisite.

Joe fell…and left Ted as senior Seaman. His confidence bolstered as he bossed the next gen youth policy of Burford and Sullivan (the dodgiest sounding estate agents ever) around. Dave hit the biggest shot of the day for 1. Somehow getting the ball to hold up on a rapid outfield. Mark nudged a couple of singles. Suddenly, Ted fell after an epic innings and the team were 147 for 8.

With Eli not batting. This was effectively the last wicket. At the chairman’s demise, Hector and Justin were left with 4 overs to bat. What would be reasonable for the mercurial master of boundary hitting and Justin to achieve?

Queue pandemonium, 25 runs plundered. The team to a brilliant 172. Hector started the last over on strike…5 wides…1…1 to Justin…dot…dot…dot…leg glance for 4. 11 off the last over. Well played young man. 

The two youngsters stepped up, took on the challenge and made everyone on the team beam with collective pride.

As ideals go, village cricket tea is one we hold dear. At the mention of no tea the team rallied around and we provided our own tea…STANDARDS. What lovely club culture. Well done to everyone for contributing.

Now 172 is a good score. But it was a good wicket, a rapid outfield and a hot day. It certainly didn’t feel like we had won at half way.

T-Rex, disappointed after being caught and bowled smashing the ball straight, opened up. Joe Seaman (of the Seaman clan) described it as the best he has seen the apex predator bowl…high praise for a man with an incredible record this year.

He was metronomic. Bashing away at a good length – benefitting from years of practice, he let the scoreboard go nowhere. 5 overs, 4 maidens 0-1. Tone set. He came back to claim a wicket that was deserved later in the game. 

Dave Burford opened proceedings from the other end. He is wily and grizzly and has been there, seen it and done it. He bowled with good control. Ending his spell with 7 overs 1-17. Special mention to bowling their opener with a ball that pitched moved and rocked back middle stump…beauty!

Tam, fresh off his brilliant batting, snared two wickets in his first over. Replacement mop? He varied his pace and came back later in the show to pick up one more. 3 wickets and a 50…some player!

Mark, The Chairman, Sullivan up next. His only fault was trying to take himself off after 4 overs. On a hot day, he bowled 7 straight and got stronger through his spell. He bowled with control and was moving the ball enough to cause problems. 7 overs 2 for 31 was fine reward.

Two great catches. Dave juggled one multiple times and in spite doing his best to drop it managed to cling on at the third attempt. Quite superb. More about the second catch later.

Justin came on and was completely boring and unnoteworthy. 

What came next was anything but. Hector and Ted finished off the innings. Hector bowling with flight and guile belying his young years. He tossed it up and beat the edge a couple of times. One with an absolute snorter.

Ted bowled well and showed control with the last ball of the innings inducing a play and miss that had the batter sticking his thumb up in appreciation.

What an effort from the two junior Seaman…all aboard for a bright future.

Lloyd kept brilliantly all day. I think it is fair to say that we would all choose to have our captain in post. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is back in the ranks soon. However, it was and is wicketkeeping that remains the biggest hole to fill. You need someone big and stupid to stand there and Iain fits both requirements perfectly. However, Lloyd is not small and well…not that bright either 😉 Seriously, what an effort. Unorthodox and brave. We were all grateful.

A win by 69 runs. Well needed and thoroughly deserved.

Man of the Match:

Tam ‘Jean Claude’ Van Tran. Runs and wickets. Even a commando roll thrown in. It had it all. Gun player. Great team mate. Well played dude

Champagne Moment:

Hector Seaman. Having dropped an amazing diving effort, he held his nerve next time round to take a catch off of The Chairman’s bowling. Snaffled with confidence and a great moment for all involved.

Funny Moment:

Lloyd missing a ball. The captain (with all his wk experience) says, “Lloyd stay down a second longer.” It sounds good.

Next ball. Lloyd stays down. Ball rips off a length and hits him in the throat.

I am available for all and any coaching advice.

Well played everyone. The youngsters were a dream. Epitomised by Eli’s excellent diving effort in the field and his big arm. Demonstrated by Ted’s excellent batting, solid bowling and willingness to run all day. Shown by Hector’s brilliant effort with the bat, enticing bowling and an excellent catch. We are equally proud of all of you. With the MC boys (and others) waiting in the wings, the future is bright.

On to the next. Walberton at home.