Award! Award! Award! • Bayshill Cricket Club

Steveos collecting a gigantic medal from Jared Warner!

Colonel Mustard reports from Cheltenham Cricket Club ground on the Display Refrigeration Hire Ltd Cheltenham Indoor Cricket League Presentation evening (Wednesday 1st March), whilst sucking half-heartedly on a long Churchwarden…

A good coarse, but nevertheless moist shag, before writing a cricket report is quite a necessity for me. Such a tradition, helps inculcate the old cerebral matter and gets the creative juices flowing. Indeed, these can be the most difficult of times, when parts of the ancient atrophied cranium simply refuse to cooperate and need a damned good thrashing or to be slightly more polite, kick starting. It’s a sort of dual-lobed corporeal punishment, to get the blighter working, if I’m permitted to use such a terrible semantic liberty.

For those who have never visited Cheltenham Cricket Club, images of long rooms with dark wooden panelled splendour spring to mind. Possibly a thatched gem of a pavilion resting lazily on ancient lichen-covered staddle stones? And how about Pedunculate Oak and native Dutch resistant elm trees, shading random parts of the boundary, which is no doubt marked each match day fastidiously, with a thick spliced nautical looking rope, made before you ask, of nothing but natural fibres in an age when rope making was a trade in its own right.

The rope used today, may be similar to the one described above, but all else is sadly different. The pavilion although no doubt functional in the modern day, is little more than a neon tube lit box, with large double glazed viewing windows. I must move swiftly on, before I cause any offence. The reason for this evening’s get together, was the presentation of various awards.

Jim Hyland, the generalissimo of the league, was in attendance with Jared Warner ((Glos CCC) to hand out gongs various and ensure that matters of etiquette were followed to the letter and that rowdy factions weren’t allowed to hijack the event into the realms of debauchery that can only be reached by star-struck cricketers receiving medals and awards. Bayshill were represented by Chairman and founder of the club, Pete Van Dyke, Web site supremo Martin Van Dyke and two ex captains and possibly the most sensible members of the club Alex Van Dyke and Steve Liley.

The overall league winners were Cheltenham Civil Service CC who completed their twelve game season with just the one loss. Runners-up, were hosts of this evening, Cheltenham CC who returned 9 wins out of 12.

However, in Division 3, which is the most important of all, in the eyes and minds of Bayshill CC players and supporters, at least, there were some interesting statistics to detail.

Cranham won the division by what turned out to be a whisker. In their last match, Bayshill had them for the taking, but in the end Bays’ run chase faltered and allowed Cranham the win and thus 15 points, that ensured they won promotion on Net Run Rate, the tightest of margins possible. Bayshill finished 3rd with a creditable 5 wins and five loses. It must be said that 4 of the losses could, on another day quite easily have been victories. But then as Fran Stirrup (2022 fielder of the season) said at the time, ‘Who wants to play cricket on a Tuesday?’ Clearly the Bays doesn’t at the moment.

Alex Pockett of Cranham carried his teams run chase through the season, winning the division’s overall top run-scorer of the season with 279 runs. The best fielder award was won by Bradley Jacques with 5 catches and 4 run outs. Tom Liley was just two dismissals behind, with 7 from only six games played. Bayshill’s Adi Rai received the best bowling award having been 7th best in economy (7.12) and 3rd highest in wickets (8) taken. It is the first time a Bayshill bowler has won this award. Congratulations to Adi for this achievement. Unfortunately, Adi was unable to be present to receive his award, so Alex Van Dyke gallantly deputised. The wicket keeping award went once again to Steve Liley for the fourth time now, with 9 dismissals in all, 8 stumpings and a single catch. This was 3 more than the next best in the division and in fact in all 4 divisions.

After the awards for season 22/23 had been distributed the attendees dispersed, with three quarters ending up in The Rotunda for further libation and jollity. Interestingly, this season’s awards are dated 2022, the same date ascribed to last year’s 21/22 season. Taken to its illogical conclusion this means Steve Liley has won the keeping award twice in the same year and 3 times in just two years. What did I tell you about Mulberries in one of my previous articles or as some would have it, diatribes? The full stop or exclamation mark had been put on the indoor season and now it was all about looking forward to next month, when the close-cropped bright green grass of a new outdoor season beckons. In the interim, there are nets to be attended on Sunday, where the pace bowlers can hone their efforts and injure their own batsmen and the batsmen and get used to a nice even bounce, which won’t be available outside on unforgiving mole shagging tracks. Such are the trials and tribulations of that body of men (and women, but definitely no other ‘fluid’ denominations to date) who collectively are referred to in hushed tones as The Mighty Bays!