Colonel Mustard reports from Dymock; the county of the pear and the Bays’ latest cricketing endeavour.
When Dymock is mentioned to Old Moutarde here, I must confess that memories and flights of fantasy come readily to mind. I blame the ‘hand on hip’ poetical air that swirls about the place, in just the same way that the sea fret was posing a nuisance before Sunday’s cricket. Before you ask dear reader, the answer happens to be a great big No, to the request that this weeks’ report is rendered in iambic pentamer, sonnet form or any other strange Japanese verse form learnt at school, such as the revered square numbered Sudoku or was is Suzuki 5/7/5? Both powerful constructions they are, I remember being taught. I think I’ll try one…
Cricket
Cricket on the green,
Not Pritchers batting again,
Yes, but out, a duck!
Now where was I? Ah yes, the Dymock poets such as Frosty, Brooksie, Gibson, Drinkwater and my personal favourite the bespectacled Abercrombie. I must say that ‘Old Abbers’ as I like to call him, in spite of his Harold Wilson style raincoat, is described by those in the poetical know, as having an ability to produce gem-like imagery and his verse, which is the important bit for poets I believe, is considered to be generally rugged and of sound metre. Well, you won’t be getting anything of that nature here I tell you. I’m not an expert on semaphore or even millipedes for that matter, so I won’t be comparing you or any blasted cricketer or anybody to a summer’s day. Ah, now you thought you had me there, thinking I meant similes and metaphors! Well, you didn’t I tell you, because a clever johnny can get a damned bally good idea across to the listener or reader using semaphore and or millipedes if they’ve been correctly instructed at school, for that matter.
To the game, before I start to grow my hair, or wear an Oscar wilde blouse, or start putting my thoughts into rhyme and forming a Bayshill poetical society of my very own.
The game of cricket has two wickets. Now that was purely accidental! Pull yourself together old chap. Ah yes, Dymock. Talking of wickets and such things, in 1997, Chris Horner and Steve Liley shared a record-breaking 7th wicket partnership of 66, that lasted exactly 13 years. It was beaten with an 87 partnership by Adi Rai and one of today’s
occasional players, that being Aaron Brown in 2010, against Irby. This record stands to this day.
On Sunday, Dymock won the toss and decided to put the Bays into the field. Singh and Saunders opened the bowling for the Bays and did little wrong apart from removing the batsmen. After five overs, the score was still, just in single figures. Aaron Brown replaced Singh and in his second over (the tenth in all) bowled Alexander for 43. The team score had climbed by now to 56, with the overs yielding just a little over 5 each. This state of affairs continued until about the twentieth over, after which the score moved along a little more freely. Brown took the only other wicket to fall by running out T Harris for 6, with an accurate throw to Angus Guthrie who removed the bails adroitly.
Dymock had amassed 154 off their 25, with 3 retired batsmen back in the hutch. B Caffull made 42 with just two singles and 8 fours and a six, whilst M Addis made just the one more, but with seven 4s and a six as well. J Cherlton, also retired made 21 with mostly singles apart from the one four.
Scott Carpenter Bays’s Scilly tourist made his debut with 5 overs for 35. Well done to him! Thorp still without the E, Van Dyke A and Guthrie A also bowled creditably, but sadly without wickets.
Bays were soon on the field again, after a short break during which the Chairman, the wicket keeper and his lady wife enjoyed some fermented apple juice in the pavilion. Yes, and before you dare ask, cheese and beetroot sandwiches were dispatched with relish. Well, in fact there was no relish, unless you count mustard into that category.
Ajit Singh, the man in a hurry as ever, opened the innings with Katie Guthrie. Ajit who before the innings had a Bayshill strike rate of 132.7 with a top score of 114* faced seven dots before being caught behind for a duck. Old Pritchers, (str rate: 0.888) back from a Majorca and dare I say it, ‘brown as a nut’ (is that allowed these days?) joined Katie. He sadly didn’t last long either, going for two balls less than Ajit for a quacker as well. Katie was on 5 by now and the team score six, but 2 wickets down.
Chris Weyman, next in, steadied the ship, with a controlled innings, which finished 40 not out off 41, including 6 fours. Steve Liley after last weeks 50*, replaced Weyman, to score just 6 singles off 12 deliveries, going trying to cut one to the off. Not a wise decision to a ball heading for middle stump. Before he left, Katie reached 41 to retire after 44 deliveries and six 4s, a very good innings, with some fine aggressive shots. Alex Bertie Van Dyke made 7 off 9 with just the one four, before being caught.
Aaron Brown made a quick fourteen, which included a mighty six that flew over the sightscreen to hit a silver Skoda on its roof bars. The next car along belonged to Bays’ keeper – thank goodness he didn’t hit that one!
Saunders joined Angus Guthrie, who was making a go of getting the Bays over the line. 138 off 23, leaving 17 needed off the last two. In the end Guthrie scored 16 not out off 9, with two fours. Saunders scored one off 5, but the last run bye moved the score to 154.
As the players left the field, there was just a little confusion over the result. The score board seemed to indicate that Dymock had made 155, but that was in fact the score needed by the Bays for a win. So Dymock had not won, but neither had the Bays. It was the fourth tied game in all of 706 Bayshill games.
I would like to have placed a few jimmy-‘o-goblins on a tied result before the game, but then I don’t suppose I could have found a silver ring bookie to take my bet, that I estimate should have been given, at odds of 235/1.
Dymock 154/2
Caffell 42*, Cherlton 22*, Alexander 43.
A Brown 3/0/25/1
Run outs: A Brown
Bayshill 154
Guthrie K 41*, Weyman 40*
Richall 2/14, Walker 2/28