Sunday 1st September

Match Report

After nervously being on ‘thunder and lightning’ watch all morning the mighty Lavant breathed a massive sigh of relief that the day had turned out to be warm and sunny and perfect conditions for the annual BBQ day event. With all the planning and effort put in by Chris ‘John Maclean’ the village green was looking picture perfect. It was a great sight to see the Lavant team members (plus friends and families) pull together to help Chris assemble his ‘vision’ with gazebos being assembled, chairs arranged, bowling machines set up and many MANY cakes being baked and organised ready to be sold.

This year the opposition for this special day was the Loafers who were sporting a few familiar faces in their side keen to participate in this year’s special event. In a return to form the Lavant captain won the toss and elected to bat looking to rack up a big score and entertain the gathering crowd.

GAME ON!

The Lavant skipper (looking to set the tone for the innings) was given an early reprieve, heaving a ball right at Dave ‘the shoes’ Burford (who was playing for the Loafers) but the normal safe pair of hands spilled the chance. Perhaps the glue on his shoes hadn’t quite set yet?

Keen to cash in on this life line the Lavant skipper moved into top gear and started hammering the ball to the boundary but repeated the mistake of hitting the ball to Dave (after being off the field several times offering IT support for his infamous card reader) who this time clung on being out for a quickfire 19. (I blame his shoes). 

At the other end Harry remained steady whilst picking up the runs and keeping the scoreboard moving at a decent run rate. At the other end Joe (sporting some fierce footwear) took over from where the Lavant skipper left off by punishing anything loose straight to the fence including a flat bullet 6 where he almost took out his mother in law. People can make their own minds up on that situation….

With the scoreboard now flying, the shot of the day came from Joe hitting a stunning 6 straight down the ground and smashing a window at the Lavant pavilion much to the delight of his children! 

Suddenly both men lost their wickets in quick succession with Harry being bowled for 36 and Joe being caught for 41.

With the score racing past 100 Super Steve Brooker walked to the middle looking to continue his role in the side of being the glue that holds the Lavant innings together and looked in the mood getting up to speed quickly and playing at his fluent best dispatching some picture book shots that deserved a place in the Wisdon this year (the pick of the bunch being a back foot cut through square leg for 4). 

At the other end Fraser had joined Steve and had decided to lull the opposition into a false sense of security by giving the off proper ‘village’ vibes by arriving at the wicket without his helmet (which had been taken by his sister back to uni) and a pair of glasses that he had patched up with a plaster after stepping on them. 

However the team have seen this season that Fraser is anything but ‘village’ and started to show his class hitting some wonderful shots through the off side before accelerating through the gears quickly including launching Dave (who seem to have card reader PTSD) over long off for 6. However he was out shortly after being caught for a very fast 32.

Next in looking to keep the Lavant rapid scoring going was Phil who had been showing decent form in recent weeks and did not disappoint the paying public by heaving a massive 6 into the farmers field (almost taking out a spectator and losing the ball in the process). There would have been a massive cheer in the crowd….but most seemed busy getting stuck into burgers and cakes.

This didn’t deter the Lavant VC who continued looking to score quickly but was clean bowled for a rapid 14.

At the other end Steve Brooker was still going well and had also joined in with the boundary hitting fun but still striking a decent balance of keeping good balls out whilst keeping the runs flowing. Steve hit 50 runs and retired a much deserved applause for his hard work and efforts. A classy knock.

At the point of Steve’s retirement the scoreboard had ticked over 200 runs. With 4 overs remaining Lavant deployed James C and Tam to enter the stage looking at a big finish to the end of the innings and boy did they deliver! 

Both men certainly didn’t die wondering and looked to blitz every delivery as hard as possible finding boundaries and also running at any given opportunity. James and Tam took the team home by adding another 34 runs to the total off the last 4 overs with James walking off with 15 and Tam 19 taking the Lavant first innings total to 243 from their 35 overs.

Tea was taken with both sides enjoying a slap up feed at the BBQ and cake stand whilst washing it down with a nice cold beverage from the bar. After a change of whites and consuming a couple of bananas the Lavant skipper had to round up the troops (dragging them away from the hot dogs, beers and burgers) and take to the field looking to start strong in their defence.

Will and Justin opened the proceedings and both men started on point. With no signs of any looseners both picked up wickets in their first over. Will removing the Loafers opening bat (breaking through his forward defence to clean bowl him) and equally Justin (fired up for being no balled for not telling the umpire what he was bowling) did the same clean bowling the #2 and #4 and ripping the heart out of the Loafers run chase. Will ended with 1 for 8 runs and Justin 2 for 5.

The Lavant skipper quickly turned to the slower bowlers with Phil bowling tight lines and decent pace picked up deserved wicket finishing with 1 for 9 runs. 

The ‘King’ Richard got stuck into his work and like all season delivered a quality 7 over spell of bowling that bamboozled the opposition batsmen finishing with 2 for 19 runs. 

Young Lewis Hamilton had been asked to bat at 5 for the loafers and as the young man walked to the middle the home side only knew of one man who was perfect for this situation……of course it was James ‘the slayer’ Cartmell! After a generous moment of not appealing / withdrawing the appeal ( clean bowling the young man) blood in the water was smelt and James clean bowled the youthal #5 for a second time and added his scalp to the collection. James finished with 2 for 17 runs

With the game drifting to a conclusion Fraser came into the attack and delivered a mixed bag of deliveries of mystery and picking up a wicket with the age old deadly ball…..a catch from filthy long hop! Fraser was able to take the 12th wicket and finish the game finishing with 3 for 22 runs with the Loafers all out for 85.

With the game concluded the team celebrated by sharing a well earned beer (and more BBQ meat and cakes) whilst enjoying being ‘pinned’ by Jim and John in the bowling machine net where it was delivering toe crushing in and out swinging yorkers! A massive thanks to Jim, John and Lloyd for forgoing playing for the team to help run the bowling machine nets all day and for Phil W for helping out at the cake stall.

Of course a HUGE thank you to all the family and friends who also contributed. This kind of an event would not be possible without the support from everyone.

It was a proud moment for the club to see so much of the team (including people who were not playing on the day) AND all the friends and family come together to deliver such a successful day where the actual game of cricket was secondary to the BBQ and fund raising event. 

Most of the team stayed behind to help pack and tidy up and once completed stayed late into the night at the pub afterwards. Congratulations to everyone who was involved and helped the day become such a success. I fear it might be hard to top next year but knowing the people we have at the club if any group of people can do it they can. 

Man of the match goes to Steve B for a classy innings and a much deserved 50 which was the backbone of the Lavant innings and perfect balance of hitting gaps, running 1s and 2’s hard whilst also finding the boundary to help post a terrific first innings score.

Champagne moment goes to Joe for his 6 (no…not the one that almost took out his mother in law) but for the straight 6 down the ground which not only left a mark in people’s memories on the day but also on the pavilion window. It has been noted however he didn’t completely smash the glass so perhaps he could have hit it harder? Great hit Joe! 

On to the next!