Match report

On the road once more the mighty Lavant (who were starting to feel a little homesick) travelled to West Meon. Due to traffic the long slog to cross the county line into Hampshire took an age with the Lavant skipper taking note of the car thermometer slowly dropping as he approached West Meon.

Upon arrival the temperature registered 15 oC and with the clouds grey and the wind blowing you could have been forgiven for thinking that you had jumped forward in time to the Autumn. How long had I been in the car for??

Alas no, this was June 2026…

With the rainfall from the day before we appreciated that the game was still on, but it had clearly taken its toll on the wicket  and outfield which looked wet and soft.

After some confusion within the opposition’s ranks (seemingly taking a captaincy by committee approach) some rules were defined and the toss went up for a timed game. Winning the toss in a timed game is crucial as it gives the winner control of how they want to approach the game. 

Frustratingly the toss was lost by the Lavant skipper and (unsurprisingly) West Meon elected to bowl first. 

Trudging back to the team the grumpy Lavant skipper broke the news to the team and assembled his batting line up.

Pads, helmets, winter coats and woolly gloves (that Steve B would be proud of) were donned.

GAME ON!

Justin and Harry walked to the crease knowing that the batting conditions would be challenging due to the soggy wicket. On top of that the West Meon opening bowlers started on form and made the most of the stodgy conditions. 

It was tough going to score with every run a valuable commodity and with nothing loose being offered until the 6th over when Justin dispatched a full toss heaving a huge 6 into the trees. In fairness to West Meon they didn’t let this momentary let up derail their bowling and were able get back into their work frustrating the Lavant openers. 

With the outfield slow and the pitch staying low and nipping around, at the 10 over mark only 36 had been scored. It was becoming clear it would need batters to tough it out and just try and get a score on the board.

There was no let up in the bowling too with the West Meon first change bowlers taking up the baton of the openers and continuing the good work of frustrating the Lavant batters. In the 13th over Harry succumbed to a ball that stayed low and turned, beating his defences to clean bowl him for 20.

Next was Will MC who had come to the middle with a clear game plan in mind and looked to get in and then be as busy as possible. 

With drinks approaching and 60 scored, Justin fell mistiming a delivery to be out caught for 22.

Drinks were taken and next in was Chris ‘John Maclean’ Mac who joined Will ‘The Master’ MC and together they were able to start to construct a partnership that allowed them to put pressure on the home bowlers, looking to bludgeon anything they could to the boundary fence across the slow outfield. With 100 being posted by the 31st over it started to feel like the tide was turning with Chris and Will building nicely upon the solid platform that once again the openers laid.

West Meon suddenly were struggling to control the run rate and the runs started to flow, passing 130 at the 38th over and with Lavant starting to shape up for a par score the home side returned to their opening bowlers in the hope to wrestle back control of the game.

The change worked for the home side with first Will MC being out caught for a brilliant 41 and then Chris being clean bowled for an equally brilliant 39.

Lloyd was in next but was undone by the returning West Meon opening bowler out for 1.

With wickets falling in a cluster 15 minutes remained in the game with 138 on the scoreboard. The general feeling was 140/150 would be a par score so it was an important stage of the game to try and finish the job that had been started by the previous batters and push the score up and past par.

The Lavant skipper joined T-Rex in the middle who was prowling around looking for blood. It had been a difficult start of the season for the club predator with the bat but both men were clear with what was required and neither took long to get into their work.

After a few deliveries faced, suddenly with an almighty roar T-Rex launched the West Meon spinner over his head for 4 and suddenly the timing was back, the shackles were lost and the runs were flowing. With Lavant skipper (knowing he was just a beta) happy to get off strike and let T-Rex do his thing, you could see the batting confidence returning to T-Rex who can be a nightmare to bowl at as he can hit 360 around the park. 

Suddenly the scoreboard was motoring and in the 15 mins of the game a 40 run partnership was formed with both men carrying their bats taking the team score to a very defendable 175.

Tea was taken. Hot drinks were drunk. Many many layers and jumpers were donned and Lavant took to the field hoping that they could make some early breakthroughs in the attempt to bowl out the opposition in their allotted time. 

With the slow and soggy conditions the Lavant skipper wanted pace off and asked Mark ‘The Chairman’ S and Peter ‘The Professor’ to open the bowling. The brief was simple – Keep things tight and the run rate low so you don’t lose control early so you can attack later. 

After an interesting way of deciding who would start first (using rock paper scissors) it seemed the responsibility fell to ‘The Professor’ to bowl the first over.

With the field set Prof wheeled away keeping things tight and sticking to the brief. Extracting some spin out of the pitch Peter stuck to his task well and frustrated the West Meon opening batters. After 5 decent overs Peter was taken out of the attack, saved for later in the game when (hopefully) the team was wicket hunting.

At the other end ‘The Chairman’ had started brilliantly. Forming a decent partnership with Peter the spin twins bamboozled the West Meon openers who were getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of scoring options. Mark however was undeterred and, being backed up with some good work in the field, kept landing the ball in good areas and going for very few runs. 

By Mark’s 4th over the pressure took its toll and forced the West Meon #2 into taking a risk, but he was only able to clip the ball straight up off the back of his bat which was gladly scooped up by the keeper. With ice in his veins Mark then was able to continue his focus and deliver a maiden in his next over and completed his 7 overs for a superb 1 for 13. Very well done Mark.

Thanks to the start from the two spinners the Lavant skipper (who was blessed with bowling options) was in the fortuitous position to switch his bowling options and bring on his premiere opening bowler in Tam ‘Jean Claude Van’ Tran who had been held back this week. Obviously the break from opening the bowling allowed Tam to assess the conditions and come into the attack with a plan in mind because he continued his good form with the ball and bowled superbly well.

His first 4 overs were fizzed down for next to no runs and you could just feel something had to give, and by his 5th over Tam, deservedly so, was rewarded with a wicket maiden clean bowling the West Meon #1. Tam bowled 2 more overs and finished with a brilliant spell of  1 for 18 off 7 overs.

At the other end there was no relief on offer with Will ‘The Master’ MC joined the attack and was being equally as miserly with his bowling. Dropping the ball time and time again on the same spot it gave the West Meon batters nothing and really started to turn the screws. After rattling off 6 overs overs for only 6 runs (and also taking a nasty blow on the hand when stopping a ball hit directly back at him) Will capitalised on the pressure he had built up clean bowling the #4. Will completed his 8 over spell for a brilliant 1 for 13. 

With all the bowlers doing their jobs perfectly (applying the screws to the West Meon batting) the mindset had shifted from staying in the game to all out attack! Having many a fielder stationed in close the team were wicket hunting! 

Will T entered the attack and bowled with attacking intent. With the ball suddenly hooping the team dino was able to bring out a false shot from the West Meon #3 who hit it high up which allowed Lloyd to take a very smart catch. The burst of bowling from Will T had done the trick and he completed his 4 over spell 1 for 20.

With the game entering the closing period the Lavant skipper turned to spin in the hope it would tempt the home team into some false shots. 

Peter ‘The Professor’ returned to the attack and was put under pressure right away by the West Meon #5 who had decided to move into top gear. Peter suddenly wasn’t having it all his own way and had to show good character to hold his nerve because in his next over he was able to deliver a wicket maiden forcing the West Meon #7 to be caught in the deep. Peter completed his 8 over spell finishing with 1 for 32. Well bowled Peter.

At the other end Chris ‘John’ Maclean was looking to attack with the ball, accepting some tap in the hope to pick up wickets. In his first over he had the vital breakthrough of picking off the West Meon #6 who hit it up high to Harry (who wasn’t having his best day in the field) but was able to cling on to a tough catch. Chris kept wheeling away trying to bust through the West Meon lower order but to no avail. Chris finished his 3 over spell 1 for 23.

With the game completed West Meon concluded their innings 124 for 6 which led the match to end as a draw. 

With the two teams leaving the field of play to return to the changing rooms the Lavant skipper had mixed feelings. With a good total on the board the bowling unit performed extremely well and couldn’t do much more to prise out more wickets. It was an achievement not to lose the game (which must be celebrated) but the wonder of what could have been was crossing his mind. 

The ground fielding of the team was epic. From Mark S, Rob and Tam chasing down everything behind the wicket to keep the runs down to Will T flying around the boundary edge to block off anything that came near.

It wasn’t the greatest of days from a catching point of view but honestly I don’t know how much that would have made a difference when faced with the determined batting from West Meon.

The bottom line is that it was yet another good game between two clubs who have the highest admiration and respect for each other and (so I’m told) that is the most important thing. 

But…it would have been nice to have won. 

On to the next!

Man of the match

SO many decent performances it’s another hard one but when you look at the contribution with bat AND ball to affect the game this week it goes to Will MC. For forming a crucial partnership and scoring 41 (that was probably worth 80 odd on any other pitch) and then finishing with figures 1 for 13 off 8 overs (with a swollen thumb). Top top work Will.

Champagne Moment

This week’s champagne moment goes to Lloyd for taking a great catch at an important point of the game. As everyone knows, dropped catches are like a virus in a cricket team and it was great to see Lloyd rush into position and pouch a great catch at an important point of the game.