Saturday 10th August

Match Report

This week the mighty Lavant travelled to beautiful ground at Lynchmere and after their run of recent results were feeling confident. With the continuation of the nice weather it was looking to be a perfect day for cricket (unlike the previous fixture earlier in the season)!

The Lavant skipper lost the toss and was asked to bat. The Lavant team assembled to strap on their batting pads looking to post a good score.

GAME ON!

The Lavant skipper was joined in the middle by Harry with both men looking to deliver their customary good start for the team. It was clear from ball one that the pitch (particularly at one end) seemed to have a few demons in it and was very two paced with some balls leaping up from the Lynchmere opening quick. Both stuck to their guns and remained watch full and looked to put anything away that gave a scoring opportunity playing solid back and front foot shots. There were some glorious cover drives and cuts on display from both men.

With a good opening stand of 50 on the board Harry (looking to clip a ball into the leg side) was out chipping an easy catch (21) and then Justin fell looking to get on the front foot got a ball that leapt off a length and slowly looped into the grateful hands at first slip.

Next over the Lavant skipper also was out after getting a good ball that beat his defences and clean bowled him for 35. After a solid start the Lynchmere opening bowlers had the breakthrough they were looking for.

With the Lavant batting line up wobbling it was left to Steve and Phil to rebuild. Both men stuck to their tasks and saw off the remaining overs from the opening bowlers. After which Phil lept into action and started to get into his work biffing anything away that was in his arch. It’s a glorious sight to see when Phil gets into this kind of mood with some amazing clean hitting with ball after ball being dispatched to the fence (with one huge six over long on)!

At the other end Steve was doing Steve things in his normal fashion of class batting hitting the gaps and accumulating runs however I think he must have felt he needed to join the party by suddenly launching a massive 6 of his own. 

However with both men looking comfortable and looking to build a big partnership disaster struck with Steve holing out for 33 and Phil being bowled agonisingly short of 50 (43).

With an hour remaining Tam and Dave walked to the middle looking to continue the good work but both men hit 4 and then got out. 

At this point the team turned to Fraser to go out and get the scoreboard moving and was given the title ‘Prince boshington’ by the Lavant skipper (obviously that title will have to be made official when ‘King Ricahrd’ next plays)…

Fraser certainly lived up to the title walking to the middle and slapping his first ball for 4! He continued to look busy hitting the ball into gaps and running hard whilst also dispatching other balls to the fence with grace and power. There were many cheers and applause from the crowd (particularly his family)!

Fraser was out for a very breezy 20 which allowed James C to walk to the middle and do what he’s done nearly every time he batted for Lavant. Hit a 6 first ball! 

…he was out next ball LBW mind….

With 15 mins remaining the Lavant innings seemed to be fizzling out. Hattie and Ian R only remained to try and get the last few runs that they could to push the Lavant score on and both looked in good shape until Hattie was out stumped and the Lavant innings came to an end. All out with 12 minutes remaining (which would be given back to Lynchmere for their run chase). The final score of 185 (historically) felt like a competitive total on a tricky pitch.

Tea was called and many cakes were devoured (including a Victoria sponge)! There is always such a great spread put out for tea at Lynchmere. A BIG thank you to my beloved Carly who managed to save a piece of Victoria sponge (which is my favourite) for me to have after the game.

Anyway after tea being eaten, a Lucozade glugged down and a banana eaten the Lavant team took to the field feeling very hopeful that they could make some early inroads into the Lynchmere top order. It had been a good team performance up to this point and confidence was high….

…BUT that soon changed….

The Lynchmere opening bats took a real fancy to the bowling and got off to a rapid start smashing everything they could throw their hands at to the boundary. After the early onslaught the Lavant opening bowlers were able to regain some control and put both put together 6 or 7 overs between them where it felt like ball after ball passed the edge. The general feeling in the air was that a wicket was surely coming! Finally the pressure paid off however the Lavant fielding curse returned with catches being put down. 

Heads went down and the Lynchmere openers looked to kick back into life capitalising on their good fortune. 

The team turned to Ian R and Hattie to come on and try and force a breakthrough. Ian took a bit of tap but was able to finally remove one of the opening batters who was looking to go big downtown but skied his shot up high which was taken very smartly from Harry who had managed to get under it from mid off. 

At the other end Hattie (making her Lavant debut) was thrown into the deep end. After not playing (or bowling) for many years she understandably looked a little rusty in her first over and the new #3 Lynchmere batter was not going to miss out. It was a tough time to come back into cricket but there were a lot of promising signs from her bowling (with the pace and accuracy shown in a mixed spell) but it just wasn’t her day. 

With the Lavant skipper shuffling his bowling and desperately trying to regain some sort of control he turned to James C and Dave who had to come into the attack with not many runs left to play with. It was a tough gig for both men given the state of the game but both performed so well all things considered. 

Dave bowled very well (even after telling the Lavant skipper he was going to bowl one way, have a field set and then bowl a completely different way)! It must be the shoes….

Even so he managed to keep things tight and also joined the ‘pass the outside edge loads without any reward’ club. There were quite a few members today.

Like all the other bowlers James C took some tap but was able to finally prize out the other opening bat by enticing him to try to run down the track and smash a delivery into Guilford but missing a looping ball and being out stumped.

He then picked up the Lynchmere #3 in the same over having him out plumb LBW! He then followed this up in the following over by also wrapping the #4 on the bads plumb in front for LBW. Suddenly there was interest from Lavant. To throw out a famous quote from Dumb and Dumber ‘so you’re telling me there’s a chance’…..

…..but no. I’m afraid not this time. The damage had already been done and with Dave and Jame’s best efforts Lynchmere reached the total of 186 with 10 overs remaining for a comfortable win. 

After such a loss I must say I was pleased (as always) with the sportsmanship shown by the team being happy to offer congratulations to the opposition players and recognising when they have been beaten on the day by the better team.

Looking back at the game the team’s batting was solid (with good contributions all the way through the side) but was perhaps missing someone to get a big score and being bowled out and allowing 12 mins to go begging is regrettable however 185 is a good score.

Apart from the opening onslaught from Lynchmere the bowling was ok and on another day more chances could have been found but the rare chances that did come needed to be taken so that the Lynchmere middle order could be exposed.

We should take the positives and move onto the next.

Man of the match – Phil for a box office 43. Was so great to see Phil in full flow and seemingly enjoying himself! Hopefully this form can continue to the end of the season and we can carry on seeing massive 6’s being dispatched!

Champagne moment – Steve’s pull shot from the opening quick. Considering the pitches (and the weather) we’ve played on most the year back foot shots off short balls have been few and far between. A thing of utter beauty…he obviously saw it early…into the shot nice and early and dispatched with aplomb.