Sunday 18th August

Match Report

On another beautiful day in the village of Lavant the conditions seemed perfect for cricket. This week the mighty Lavant welcomed Clanfield and were looking to put behind the disappointing result of last weekend.

After being caught off guard from an out of the blue debrief from a visiting umpire and his adjudicator the Lavant captain seemed to have even more to deal with than normal but headed over to the opposition skipper for the toss.

In a shock moment the Lavant captain lost the toss….there were audible gasps from the crowd around the boundary. Sandwiches were dropped, drinks spat out and one man dropped his walking stick and kicked a leaf in disgust.

Anyways……Clanfield elected to bat so the rush was on to organise the umpire, get changed, grab a hat (more on that later) and assemble the troops looking for an early breakthrough. 

GAME ON!

At one end the team welcomed back Will from his two week holiday in Ibiza. Supporting a slight tan he certainly looked refreshed and got into his work quickly rattling off over after over offering nothing to the Clanfield batters. It was a joy to watch and he must have been practising on the beaches (or in the night clubs) while away. It was just such a shame he insisted on wearing a load of glow sticks and blowing a whistle….he kept going on about a big fish, a little fish and a cardboard box whilst demanding people ‘threw shapes’….but….he was bowling so well we just let him get on with it.

At the other end Lavant welcomed back Mark H from his Petworth travels and was able to continue the pressure being applied by Will at the other end. Mark was mixing up his deliveries testing the batters temperament. After a quick change in the field from the Lavant skipper Mark was able to force a mistake with the opening bat chipping the ball up into the air towards the newly positioned fielder (Phil). Phil took off at speed and was making up the ground fast but did not look like he could quite get there but put in a big dive to grab the ball in the finger tips for a terrific low catch! 

The next over (with another shift in the field settings) Mark had the other opener pinned to his crease and after several dot balls the pressure gave with the opening bat trying to unleash a shot. The ball was travelling at speed and looked to be past Zach but the tall young man took a couple of steps to his left and suddenly stuck out a long paw and snaffled an amazing one handed catch! Many people of a certain age likened it to ‘Go Go gadget arm’…..I don’t think Zach had a clue what they were talking about. Maybe he can look it up on tiktok?

Mark finished his spell with 2 for 14.

After his great catch Zach came into the attack. His first few overs didn’t quite go according to plan as the young man struggled to get into his stride but once he found his rhythm suddenly he was able to get the ball to talk. With Will keeping things tight (or as he’d like to say ‘massive’) at the other end a war of attrition had started with the Clanfiel #3 holding firm but not scoring. Zach was able to make inroads at the other end, clean bowling one, taking a caught and bowled off another and then having a ball hit high into the air for a suburb catch to be taken from Nathan. The ball went up miles and was in the air a good while but Nathan was able to run around, get underneath it and take a brilliant catch (one of many similar catches he has taken this season when stationed at mid off / mid on)! 

With the Clanfield #3 still holding firm the Lavant keeper (spotting he was trying to get down the ground to negate the swing and bounce) grabbed the helmet and stood up. This led to Zach forcing the batter back and catching the glove for the ball to balloon up for the keeper to dash forward and dive at full stretch to scoop up a smart grab.

Zach finished his spell with 4-43.

Will continued to lock up the other end kept going on about not wanting it to go ‘Pete Tong’ but his spell of bowling was simply brilliant. Passing the edge over and over, extracting bounce off the pitch (with the stood up keeper taking balls up by his ears several times) FINALLY got his reward breaking through the defences of the Clainfield #4 by clean bowling him. 

Will finished his spell with 1-11 from 10 overs! 

A Lavant match this season wouldn’t be the same without the mentioning of ‘The King’ so Richard came into the attack looking to capitalise on the good work set by the opening bowlers. He took a bit of tap in the first over as Clanfield looked to counter attack but as normal remained calm and started to get on top. In his 4th over he struck, extracting the edge and a (yet another) smart catch was gobbled up but the very safe pair of hands of Phil in the slip cordon! After that Richard was able to break the defences of the last two Clanfield batters…clean bowling them both. Clanfield were all out for 104 with about 17 mins remaining in the first innings.

A very special mention must go to Lewis (Mark’s son) who kindly did some feilding for us as Jim was late after having a sandwich nightmare making teas. Lewis seemed so happy to be out in the field and gave it his all, stood where he was asked to stand and chased down the ball whenever it came near him and threw it in as hard as he could. It was a fine example being set by the young man! 

With all the great bowling and smart catching the only negative was the amount of extras given up (31). Even though the Lavant keeper had a good day on a tough pitch I wouldn’t be allowed to get away with not mentioning the 5 penalty runs that hit his hat that was stationed behind. I’m sure Will will talk about it more in detail on the ‘hat chat’ whatsapp group so please go there and ask him about it if you want to know more…

However 104 all out was a commanding position to be in and even though the wicket seemed tricky to score on the home team were confident at the halfway point. 

Tea’s was taken. Sandwiches were eaten, drinks were drunk, watches were sold (I have no idea what was going on there) and a Lucozade sport was chugged.

The Lavant skipper walked to the middle after ‘The King’ had requested he accompany him to the middle. The opening pair were looking to get a good start in the hope of making the run chase a formality. Things started well with the Lavant skipper getting off to a fast start clubbing anything loose to the boundary and rotating the strike where possible. However for the second time in a number of weeks the Lavant skipper got a ball that just moved off the surface enough to break through the forward defence and clip the top of off stump being out for 20 with 30 on the scoreboard.

In next was Will who steadied the ship and continued the solid scoring to be able to push the scoreboard to 50 but with the wicket still showing a few demons top edged a ball (that bounced a bit more than expected) clipping the ball up to the square leg fielder being out for 12 with the 57 scoreboard.

Next was the ever dependable Steve. With half the runs required scored it just needed a steady hand on the tiller to build a partnership with Richard and both did what was expected of them. Keeping out the bad balls and patiently waiting for anything they could score off the conveyor belt of Clanfield slow bowlers. Slowly but surely they built a solid partnership to make sure the scoreboard edged closer to the winning mark.

With the score around the 80 mark and the last 20 overs taken Clanfield (in a last throw of the dice) unleashed their quick bowler who powered in with zip. The game felt like it was entering a critical phase however the class of the two men shone through. Steve lining up the quick and throwing down block after solid block getting used to the pace after being fed a diet of slower bowlers up to this point. 

Richard, who had being finding it hard going to hit boundaries, suddenly leapt into life against the seamer unleashing an array of classy back and front foot shots dispatching them to the boundary (well….just) ;O) 

Steve also joined the party and was able to cut loose but with the scoreboard edging closer to the winning total disaster struck with both men were out bowled. Richard was out for 36 and then Steve was out for 14.

Nathan had entered the scene and ran hard for one and then clubbed away a boundary and looked good  but with the pitch still misbehaving he was also out bowled (going back to a ball that stayed low). 

Lavant were 5 down and the scoreboard showing 101 only needed 4 runs for the win. With a few nerves going around the home team surely they could chase this down….surely?!?

In came Jim and after a long batting session in the nets at training looked to implement the things he had been working hard on. He took his guard and looked good, showing good shape and movement trusting himself to be solid in defence and then hit a solid shot for 1.

102….only 3 needed for the win…

At the other end Matt H had joined Jim in the middle and didn’t appear nervous at all. With no respect shown for the Clanfield bowlers Matt started to unleash some serious bat speed with a flashing blade looking to smash the ball into the covers. After a couple of ‘sighters’ he connected with one delivery and smashed the ball through extra cover for 4 to wrap the win up in style!! 

It was a pleasing win for many reasons. Lavant were well beaten in the reverse fixture last season so to put in such a dominant performance was great. The catching was exceptional and as we have found in the past those grabs against the standard of teams we play are crucial and are the difference between winning and losing the game.

The thing I probably have enjoyed the most this season is Lavant have been able to put losses behind them quickly. After the last result it would have been fair for the team to be down and dreading this fixture but the ability to forget the last game / result and go again and continue the ‘team spirit’ that has been a hallmark all season is something to be proud of.

As Ian Dowie once said – “It’s our Bouncebackability and spirit” that has been so impressive this year.

A small note to thank the umpire (Owen) who had come along for the day to be adjudicated. It was a surprise but the team found him fair and decent and did make life easier having to only worry about trying to get someone to put their hand up to umpire at the other end (which I ended up doing). Captain, keeper, opening bat, writes match reports….rumour is I’m going to have a bowl next week…but only if I have a broom placed in my derriere….

Man of the match goes to Will. Anyone who knows the game will understand the importance of what he did for the team in the first innings. Yes others took wickets but that would not have happened without Will effectively shutting down one end and building constant pressure. On another day he could easily have picked up a hat full (#hatchat) but sometimes it’s not always about wickets. Normally the opening bowlers and opening batters have the tough job of going toe to toe with the opposition’s best players and Will was too good for them.

Champagne moment goes to Phil and Zach for two equally amazing catches but, most importantly of all, taking the chances that probably mattered the most. The two Clanfield openers can do real damage once they get in so to cling onto those catches was the chain reaction required to get stuck into the rest of the batting order.

Great work everyone. After a loooooong season We have a break over the bank holiday weekend so everyone enjoys their week off (I know I will)!