The Cricketers 134 all out; Whalers 37 all out (in 13 overs)
Crickets win by 97 runs
This was intended to be one of the highlights of the Whalers season. A game in the early July sunshine on Richmond Green, large crowds and a feast of cricket and teas. It seemed to good to be true ...... it was !
The 9 Whalers who arrived on time spent a while looking for the square let alone the wicket, only the arrival of the stumps did it become much clearer. Lets just say it was damp, unrolled and green and to this effect we felt may be a little inconsistent and local knowledge may prove important.
Losing the toss we entered the field without Dan Hall - still at work and Khalil somewhere in the SW postcode and last reported sighting was in Richmond Park. Osgood and Mildon forged and impressive opening 4 overs of military medium bounce, seam and swing (the pitch and 90mph crosswinds not responsible at all) and did a Whalers record of 4 maidens in a row culminating in Osgood getting the first wicket. However once the Cricketers no.3, Mick, came to the crease the tide changed. The local knowledge came to the fore and he plundered the bowling to all corners. Only the eventual arrival of Khalil stemmed the tide and the wickets soon started to fall. Kirkness continued with his surprise wide and no ball delivery followed by the straight one and picked up a couple of middle order wickets. With Cricketers 99-9 we felt a sub ton possibility however good running and hitting by the last pair took the total to 134 all out. We felt we had given them maybe 40 runs too many - in the end it was not to prove decisive.
The lack of teas at the turnaround and the denial of cake consumption certainly wound up Kirkness however it seems the rest of the team were running on empty. Al managed to survive 3 balls before being bowled, Roland 5, Duncs charged up the wicket head in the air and probably screaming in his head, Ed and Dan and Hanmer followed shortly afterwards, Mildon gave slip catching practice and the score was amazingly 25-9. Only a last wicket partnership of 12 got us past our lowest total to 37 all out in 13 overs. Mick the local getting 6-12 off 5 overs.
The true impact of this debacle becoming clearer when the supporters of the team turned up at about 4pm expecting to see a run chase and finding the Whalers changed, tucking into a fantastic tea and 2 pints better off. Unfortunately we can only blame ourselves rather than the pitch but they are back on our patch in August where hopefully we can redress the balance or at least make a game of it.
Paul Mildon