Match Report

After a long, dark and cold winter two rare things happened. 1) The hallowed turf at Lavant wasn’t under water AND the April game was warm and sunny! Most passersby could easily have mistaken it for what appeared to be a beautiful summer day in June.

Fresh off the back of a solid Winter net period the squad had picked up a couple of freak injuries with the overseas breaking JB’s toe with a snorting yorker and Dave still nursing a sore elbow (which he is still coy about how he did said injury….it must have been the shoes)…..

Anyway the mighty Lavant team arrived raring to go looking to welcome Pagham for the first time to the village green.

Thanks to all the hard work and efforts of many club members the pitch looked great and ready to go. The Lavant skipper looked to continue his form as the best tosser in West Sussex and delivered the goods by winning the toss and was salivating at the idea of deploying his batsmen to rack up a big first innings score! 

GAME ON!

King Richard strode to the middle taking his best nobleman with him (Justin) and both men set to their tasks with calm assurance against the Pagham young attack, looking to keep out any good balls and cash in on anything loose (such as Justin dispatching full tosses into the trees). With the standard Lavant variable bounce both openers stuck to their tasks well, building up a solid opening partnership platform with the shot of the day coming from King Richard playing a beautiful on drive with Excalibur…I guess it’s to be expected from Royalty. 

At the 14 over mark (and 60 runs on the board) disaster struck when, in attempting to push for a run, King Richard was run out (22). There was some mention that the gallows might have to be prepared for his batting partner for such insolence. The knighthood might have to wait..….

Harry walked to the crease looking to continue the good work and got into his stride quickly showing all the class and touch we are accustomed to. His partnership got up and running with Justin quickly and between the pair they helped each other move the scoring along.

Justin, after a solid start, did go through a period of losing his shape but battled hard and refound his rhythm to get back his groove but, with the game passing the halfway point (and plenty of keen batters left in the hutch) looked to push on and ended up holing out with a solid 44.

Next in was Will who joined Harry and decided to light the touch paper! Dealing almost exclusively in boundaries suddenly the scoreboard started to shift. It would appear all the ‘special training’ Will had received on using and operating the electronic bowling machine at Littlehampton had done him wonders.

With Harry falling in the 28th over (for a very solid 32) someone woke up ‘super’ Steve who slowly made his way to the middle….but something seemed a bit ‘off’…..His voice was low…eyes half shut….walking in a zig zag….a strange fog of booze surrounding him…it had been reported that been out all night in Portsmouth. I couldn’t possibly speculate what he was doing at the docks all night but his innings was short lived falling for 4.

The stage was perfect to unleash the Lavant power house middle order…..tragically (after immense power hitting being shown in the nets) suddenly a mini collapse proceed with wickets falling cheaply (Lloyd – 0, Phil – 2 and Tam – 4) which left the Lavant skipper (who was enjoying a banana and getting ready for wicket keeping) had to suddenly rush out to bat without a box and a thigh pad looking a little scrambled.

Thankfully Will at the other end was cashing in with some very charitable fielding positions by repeatedly crashing the ball into cow corner. However when the final over arrived the Lavant skipper seemed to forget that batting is not about trying to hit the ball as hard as possible and after 3 balls doing his best Babe Ruth impression (and nearly pulling an arm out his socket) somehow managed to thrash the ball for a single and save everyone the embarrassment! 

Thankfully Will was able to continue peppering the boundary and finished the innings off with a very decent 48 but, more importantly, able to move the first innings total to a very respectable 167 giving the Lavant bowlers something to defend.

Tea was taken and an amazing spread had been provided by King Richard who had seen it fit to get his servants (a Mr. Marks and a Mr. Spencer) to provide a tea that was quite literally fit for a king with many amazing treats laid out topped off by a bottle of the royal court’s finest Port (which strangely Steve seemed VERY interested in). 

With the Lavant skipper slightly concerned with the amount of tea being consumed (and the rumblings that many team members might require a late afternoon nap / siesta in the sun) he quickly rounded up the troops getting them ready for fielding.

With Pagham able to deploy a young side full of enthusiasm Lavant were able to deploy their ‘experience’ and took to the field confident they could defend the total set by the batting unit. 

The team looked to their premier ‘overseas’ Tam to set the tone and he didn’t disappoint. Tam got into his work quickly and picked up the wicket of one of the Pagham openers in his second over (assisted by a great catch by Lloyd who was spectacular in the field all afternoon). 

Tam continued to terrorise the Pagham batting, holding a good line and bowling at a threatening pace that was passing the edge countless times and hitting the keeper’s gloves hard. After a build up of dots the relentless pressure finally gave in with Tam finding the edge through to the keeper for a much deserved second wicket finishing his 7 over spell for an amazing 2-18. 

At the other end James ‘The Slayer’ was equally as good with both opening bowlers dovetailing perfectly together. Picking up the other Pagham opener in his first over set the tone and James remained frugal with his bowling….he appeared to be a man possessed trying ever so hard to get into the Pagham youthful middle order where he could unleash his special skill set and pick up more trophies for his collection. Alas James had to settle for giving the batsmen nothing to score from until finally picking up his (much deserved second wicket) for an equally amazing 7 over spell of 2-11.

With a great start the pressure was on for whoever had to follow the openers and the skipper turned to Mr Chairman Mark to build upon the solid start. With the field set Mark bowled beautifully and stuck to the plan offering very little scoring chances. With the game getting away from Pagham Mark offered very little in the way of boundary options and picked up 3 deserved wickets and classical dismissals for a spinner with the first drawings false shot chipping the ball to the King (who was stationed in close), a big high skyer (which was caught brilliantly by a very stiff Tam who went over like a felled tree) and beating a charging batsmen for a stumping finishing with 3-21 off his 7 over spell. 

At the other end the skipper has asked ‘super Steve’ to come and have a bowl (mainly to help him sweat out the big night in Portsmouth). Once Steve had finished telling the umpire that he ‘was hish bestest mate’ he finally started to run in the correct direction and bowl the ball. Steve bowled extremely well for someone who was a bit ‘tired’ and struggling in the bright light (as shown by his collection of sunglasses)  and delivered ball after ball on a challenging line and length and (deservedly) picked up a wicket finishing 1-12 off his 5 over spell.

With the game nearing its conclusion the Lavant skipper threw the ball with Will MC and the ‘master of ceremonies’ certainly wanted to keep the standards up! He struck in his second over clean bowling the Pagham #10. 

The match finished with Pagham all out for 69 in the 28th over and a much deserved win for Lavant. With a long season ahead it was a perfect start to the year. A big thank you to Pagham (who joined us in the pub after to see the mighty Liverpool win the league) and we hope to do it again with them next year.

This is certainly one of the harder times I’ve had when deciding upon the man of the match and champagne moment due to the amount of great performances on show…however as skipper it’s my decision to make.

Man of the match goes to Will ‘Master of Ceremonies’. Although a terrific platform had been set the game was slightly in the balance at the point The MC entered the fray. His quick fire 48 definitively swung the game into Lavant’s favour. Well done Will.

Champagne moment could have easily gone to one of the many great catches during the game however the three way relay run out between Lloyd, Justin and Mark was the standout moment and a real highlight. I think both Mark and Justin would be the first to admit that the contribution from Lloyd to execute the run out was brilliant (and combined with his overall ground fielding) the champagne moment goes to Lloyd.

Well played everyone, on to the next!