Buccaneers Cricket Club

West Chiltington & Thakeham (232-8, 35 overs) beat Buccaneers (222-7, 35 overs) by ten runs

The Buccs enjoyed another fantastic day out at West Chiltington & Thakeham on Sunday 21 July, losing by 10 runs in a high-scoring 35-over match.

Fletcher won the toss and elected to field on a quick pitch with a good covering of grass. That decision appeared initially to have been a wise one, with club president Rob Rydon and Ludo Milne bowling with decent pace and craft. Rob bowled through and finished with figures of seven overs, three maidens, one wicket for 13 runs – “not bad for a 66-year-old” per the comment from a spectator (NB, our President is yet to turn 60).

Ludo took one wicket in his opening spell but should have had Reimoser who went on to make 40, Fletcher dropping an edge diving in front of first slip and Berry unable to hold onto the rebound. Spinners Archie Marsh and Simon Leefe were accurate and economical, and the Buccs found themselves in a decent position at drinks with WC&T on 69-3 after 17 overs.

The second half of the first innings could not have been more different and could not have gone much worse for the Buccs (see Fig 1, Worm), with Gillespie (83 from 78 balls) and Tatchell (64 from 29 balls) smashing boundaries seemingly at will. Multiple cricket balls were lost into the houses and gardens at the windmill end of the ground, Hobbs and Okines the recipients of some particularly harsh treatment. Berry was brought into the attack and did manage to claim the scalps of both set batsmen, but the damage had largely been done. Buccs required 233 to win at a shade quicker than 6.5 runs per over after a wonderful tea of sandwiches, honey sausages, cake and beer.

The Buccs innings stuttered at the outset despite a healthy smattering of extras, and we rather quickly found ourselves at 41-4. Enter Jeremy Milne, armed with a nearly-new bat and a willing accomplice in the form of Simon Leefe. Jez rolled back the years with some clean striking, including one particularly handsome straight six into the sightscreen at the longer end of the ground. Simon, as ever, found a way to make a score and encouraged Jeremy into some surprisingly quick running between the wickets.

Unfortunately, the Chilts ground fielding was some of the best we can expect to see this season and the required rate began to climb as Buccs were squeezed in the middle overs. Jeremy and Simon fell in quick succession after their partnership of 101, but the rate was getting away from us as the youthful Chilts outfit continued to cut off boundaries. Marsh (20 from 13 balls) and Rydon (39* from 23) gave us hope with some enterprising hitting, but tight death bowling saw us fall just short.

Further beers were taken as the players enjoyed some rare evening sunshine on the pavilion decking.

The full scorecard is available here: https://wct.play-cricket.com/website/results/6552492

Figure 1:

On what was a stunning day in the rural Oxfordshire countryside, the Buccaneers fielded a strong side for the rejuventated fixture versus Oxford Downs. The toss was quickly won and the opposition put in. For the third or fourth time this season, C. Pexton and H. Robertson toiled hard for the opening spell without prevail. Wicketless but incredibly tidy, they kept the run rate to below two an over for the first twelve sets. Lo and behold, the younger brother (O. Robertson) took a wicket with this first ball, nicking off an edge to Fletcher behind the stumps. Archie Marsh took the other end and bowled fantastically well for his four wickets, by varying his pace and flight.

The Buccaneers fielding was crucial to maintainaing pressure, with a sturdy performance from Neil Robertson at mid-off as well as fine catches from Clark and Marsh J. Ollie Robertson took an absolute blinder at short cover – somehow managing to sneak his hand under the ball to send a bewildered batsman packing. With the score on 160-5 at the second drinks break, the opening bowlers returned for some death bowling with cutters and slower balls a plenty to quench Oxford Downs of their aggression and finished 200-6 after 44 overs.

A nice spread preceded a fine opening stand by Marsh J and Clark, who exhibited some lovely timed shots and hard running to put together an opening stand of 78 before drinks. Jeremy Milne (keen to explore the middle of his new bat) came into the fray and supported the extravagant Marsh with countless hard run threes, to much applause from the rest of the batting order. Milne chipped a ball in the air and Marsh fell just shy of his third Buccs ton, to leave us at 169-3 with a nice 42 runs to chase. A workmanlike partnership ensued by Valentine and Berry to bring the spoils for the visiting side.

With both James (95) and Archie (4 wickets) providing some adequate jug avoidance, quick getaways were a plenty, with the hope to get home before the Euro’s final that evening.

Football might not be coming “home” but one thing is for certain, the buccaneers form has delivered three wins from three. Roll on West Chilts.

Innings of Oxford Downs

Innings of Buccaneers

Buccaneers v Brook – 30 June 2024

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Marsh and Fletcher were tasked with getting the Buccaneers off to a good start. It soon became clear that the wicket had the potential to be a “leveller”, but both openers batted with determination. After Fletcher fell, Sutton battled it out admirably but one brought three for Brook, as Marsh, Sutton and Gresswell fell in quick succession leaving the Buccaneers at 66 for 4 – and the captain wondering whether chasing might not have been better. Thankfully, such fears were misplaced: enter Y Bahemou (debutant) who, with Kalidasan, mounted a successful counter-attack as much against the wicket as Brook’s bowling. It was one shot too many for Bahemou who missed a straight one, and Kalidasan fell to an lbw decision that left everyone scratching their heads. But the tone had been set: Moules continued the offensive with his trademark brutality, striking a quickfire 54, with Rydon finishing the innings off in style with a flurry of boundaries. The Buccaneers finished 207 from their allocated 33 overs.

A very light and quick tea followed, as general consensus (with the exception of the President) was that we should attempt to have play finished in time to watch England play mediocre football.

Fortunately, the Brook batsmen also got the message. Brook’s innings never really got going, with wickets falling at regular intervals thanks to the merciless Buccaneers’ bowling attack. Papasavvas and Rydon proved deadly with the new ball, seeing off the Brook top three in just a few overs. Marsh and Okines bowled with grace and guile, rattling through the middle order – one Brook batsman looking particularly bemused by what should have been a safe leave costing him his wicket, as Okines turned a ball two feet to hit the top of off. Disaster struck, however, when just a few balls into his Buccaneers bowling career, Sutton – in a valiant attempt at a caught and bowled – fractured his little finger at the ring joint. We are informed both finger and ring are recovering well. Moules – particularly keen to get to the football – took the ball to finish Sutton’s over, taking one wicket then and the final Brook wicket in his following over, leaving Brook 101 all out and everyone ample time to amble to the adjacent public house.

Result: Buccaneers win by 106 runs

Innings of the Buccaneers:

J Marsh                            c&b Mosely                   35
T Fletcher                       c&b Soar                        12
M Sutton                         b King                               6
W Gresswell                  b Shaw                            2
Y Bahemou                    b Shaw                            17
E Kalidasan                   lbw b. Thompkins       20
S Moules                        c&b Johnson                 54
A Marsh                          b Longmore                   15
R Rydon                          Not Out                           25
P. Papasavvas              c. Both b Johnson       0
W. Okines                      did not bat

Extras: 21

Buccaneers: 207-9 (33 overs)

Innings of Brook CC:

L Soar                              b. Rydon                         0
L Botha                            c&b Papsavvas            4
J Cooper                         c&b Rydon                     7
C Longmore                  b Okines                         3
A Shaw                            c&b Okines                   11
S Johnson                       c&b A Marsh                 21
J King                                c&b A Marsh                 24
J Moseley                       Run Out                          8
L Mosely                         b Moules                        1
N Reily                             Not Out                           3
N Thompkins                b Moules                        4

Extras: 15

Brook: 101 all out (25.4 overs)

Buccaneers bowling (O-M-R-W):

R Rydon                          5 – 2 – 10 – 2
P Papasavvas               4 – 0 – 16 – 1
A Marsh                          7 – 1 – 23 – 2
W Okines                       7 – 1 – 38 – 2
M Sutton                         0.3 – 0 – 3 – 0
S Moules                        1.1 – 0 – 1 – 2
Y Bahemou                    1 – 0 – 7 – 0

On Sunday, the Buccs returned to Frensham, with their youthful side eager to bounce back and regain some winning momentum for the rest of the season.

A 35-over game had been agreed, and the toss was won by the 10-man Buccs, with A. Marsh choosing to bat first on what looked like a good deck.

J. Marsh and E. Kalidasan took the reins of opening and batted sensibly, but aggressively from the off, capitalising on any loose Frensham bowling they were presented with and utilising the short boundaries on offer. J. Marsh fell for a well put together 35 and was replaced at the crease by M. Sutton. More sensible batting from both followed, with M. Sutton eager to knock-in his brand new MRF willow. When Sutton fell just after drinks for 33, the platform had been set for the Buccs lads to up the tempo at the crease. Some mighty blows were shared by Kalidasan and ringer X. Barette, including what can only be described as a Djokovic-esque forehand slap over mid-on by Barette. After Barette’s departure for 24 and as Kalidasan passed 50, the Buccs middle order carried on the tempo demanded by the skipper, with both W. Gresswell, H. Machin and L. Milne ticking the scoreboard over with some mighty blows (including four consecutive Gresswell maximums), all the while supporting Kalidasan who was still at the crease and edging towards a potential major milestone…Alas, it proved to be one mighty hit too many for Kalidasan, top-edging one straight to the Frensham keeper, four short of what would have been a well-deserved first Buccs century. A thunderous Milne six off the last ball of the innings perfectly capsulated what had been a middle order Buccs barrage, and with that the Buccs finished 253-6 off their 35 overs, with a star-studded bowling lineup ready to defend the fabulous total our batsman had set.

A quicker than usual Buccs tea was taken and enjoyed, and after a short turn around, the Buccs were limbered up and had taken the field, with Milne and Rydon given new ball duties. Some beautiful bowling from both followed, mixed in with some sharp Buccs fielding, with both bowlers picking up wickets in their very first overs. This would set the precedent of what was to come and after Rydon claimed his second and third, the Buccs were into the middle order with Frensham at 50-4. Skipper A. Marsh decided it was his turn to get into the action and not satisfied with only one-leg spinner on, H. Machin took the reins at the other end. Both bowled tidily and with guile, with A. Marsh taking a couple of Frensham middle order wickets, and Machin unfortunate to go wicketless from his seven overs. After a spectacular Rydon run out at backwards square leg, A. Marsh and Machin were replaced by Barette and J. Marsh to attack the Frensham lower order. Barette claimed his first Buccs wicket thanks to the safe hands of Sutton and it was left to J. Marsh to mop up the Frensham tail, picking up two wickets including a fabulous Gresswell grab at mid-on, who fielded like a man possessed all day,  to leave Frensham 153 all out.

It was a well-executed Buccs performance and a richly deserved victory, which was timed to perfection allowing ample time for the lads to get home in ample time to watch England defeat Serbia (in what was the second biggest sporting event on show that Sunday). The lads will be keen to keep this winning momentum going. On to Brook on Sunday 30^th…

Scorecard

Buccaneers Innings

J. Marsh c&b L. Rhoades 35
E. Kalidasan c L. Milne b M. Findlay 96
M. Sutton st L. Milne b A. Warren 33
X. Barette st. L. Milne b S. Platt 24
W. Gresswell b M. Findlay 32
L. Milne not out 9*
H. Machin c L. Milne b M. Findlay 21
A. Marsh not out 1*
R. Rydon
T. Fletcher

253-6 (35 overs)

Frensham Innings

C. Ward c W. Gresswell b L. Milne 0
S. Platt b R. Rydon 0
M. Taylor c X.Barette b R. Rydon 14
R. Doran c T. Fletcher b A. Marsh 31
A. Warren c J. Marsh b R. Rydon 7
R. Doran run out R. Rydon 16
AL. Warren c W. Gresswell b J.Marsh 45
L. Rhoades b A.Marsh 6
L. Milne c M. Sutton b X. Barette 10
C. Doran c H. Machin b J. Marsh 10
M. Findlay not out 0*

153 all out (29.5 overs)

Buccaneers Bowling Figures

L. Milne 5-0-33-1
R. Rydon 6-0-15-3
A. Marsh 7-1-22-2
H. Machin 7-0-43-0
X. Barette 3-0-21-1
J. Marsh 1.5-1-10-2

A new venue for the annual Buccaneers versus Nomads fixture found both wandering teams arriving at a Wimbledon CC 2nd XI ground in Raynes Park, nestled perfectly next to the busy A3 and SW railway mainline to the South coast.

As has become the norm this ‘summer’, it was a cold, windy and overcast setting which made deciding on whether to bat or bowl a slightly harder decision. Luckily the skipper lost the toss and the Nomads elected to bat first. With Hamish choosing to steam in down the hill, Pexton had to make do with the other end. Both bowlers started well, especially Robertson who quickly found he was getting some assistance from the pitch. Kandampully fell to a pretty unplayable delivery aided by the pitch in only Hamish’s 2nd over for 4 runs. The wickets then continued to steadily fall for Hamish in his 8 over spell racking up his first Buccs 5-fer!! Some absolute jaffers in the pick of the bowled batsmen, more often than not being bowled just clipping off stump. Glorious to watch. The Nomads other opening batsmen, Pascall played diligently, making a hard fought 40 only to be bowled by Marsh’s bamboozling leggies. The rest of the wickets were picked up by Ollie Robertson (2) Angus Berry and the stalwart Rob Rydon, who showed everyone watching, he still has the ball on a string. Nomads all out for 89.

The chat at lunch from the tactical maestro Tom Fletcher was that this was a very competitive score on such a pitch. It turned out to be a very accurate observation. Rydon and Fletcher opened the batting facing the very tricky Shawl from the top end. Shawl’s first ball to Fletcher was a no ball and then with his 2nd delivery, Tom snicked off. Rob batted bravely in such testing conditions as a number of Buccaneers came and went. He finally fell, another victim of Shawl for 12. It began to look pretty dire as the Buccs slipped to 46-7. Enter Charles Pexton. Charles came in and started to make it look relatively easy, scoring freely and quickly moving the score 72 in a one sided partnership with Clark. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and Shawl picked up his 6th wicket, bowling Pexton for a quick fire 23. It was then left to Clark and Metcalfe to see if they could scrape the win. They couldn’t, Metcalfe ran Clark out after only 2 balls and that was that. A few beers were enjoyed post  match and the discussion was directed towards the potential Buccs tour in September….

Result: Nomads won by 17 runs

Toss:   Nomads CC

Umpires:Nick Stevenson &

Scorers:Several

NOMADS CC Innings

V Kandampully* bowled    H Robertson  4
T Pascall      bowled    Marsh       40
S Khokar       bowled    H Robertson  4
B Rose         c ?     b H Robertson  0
M Walker       bowled    H Robertson  1
S Shawl        c & b     H Robertson  8
R Eldridge+    bowled    Rydon        0
R Bonneywell   bowled    D Robertson 13
S Chakravarty  lbw     b Berry        1
C Page         not out                5
C Bartlett     bowled    D Robertson  0

Extras        (b5,lb3,w4,nb0)        11

TOTAL         (All out,37 overs)     89

Fow:1-7(1),2-16(3),3-16(4),4-29(5),5-45(6),6-61(2),7-61(7),8-74(9),9-89(8),10-89(11).

Bowling
H Robertson 8-2-25-5
Pexton 5-1-7-0
Marsh 6-3-16-1
Rydon 7-2-16-1
Berry 6-3-5-1
D Robertson 5-2-12-2

 BUCCANEERS CC Innings

R Rydon     bowled          Shawl    6
T Fletcher  c Eldridge    b Shawl    0
M Sutton    c Kandampully b Shawl   12
A Berry     c Rose        b Shawl    3
G Clark     run out(Chakravarty)     6
O Robertson lbw           b Shawl    0
H Robertson bowled          Bartlett 9
A Marsh     bowled          Bartlett 4
C Pexton    bowled          Shawl   23
W Metcalfe*  not out                  0
Extras     (b2,lb1,w6,nb0)           9

TOTAL      (All out,28.3 overs)     72

Fow:1-2(2),2-17(3),3-26(4),4-26(1),5-28(6),6-42(7),7-46(8),8-73(9),9-73(5)

Bowling

Shawl 14.3-7-23-6
Bonneywell 2-0-16-0
Chakravarty 6-0-9-0
Bartlett 6-1-24-0

Hurlingham 233-5 dec (39 overs) beat Buccaneers 188 all out (37.1 overs) by 45 runs.

The Buccaneers arrived in full force in blazing sun at The Hurlingham Club for our much anticipated 2024 fixture. An agreement was reached of a hybrid format with 80 overs in the day, the team batting first able to take up to 42, or declare prior to that with the team batting second given the remaining overs to make up the 80. Hurlingham won the toss and elected to bat.

Hamish Robertson and Eric Wedge-Bull opened up the Buccs seam attack, bowling some good areas and keeping the scoring fairly tight, given the traditional shortness of outfield at The Club. Hamish took an early wicket in the sixth over with a regulation feather edge to Jim Harcourt with the gloves.

Leech and Moules came in first change with Leech taking a wicket in his first over and Moules bowling out their remaining opener with style. Hendrick Robyns came to the crease for Hurlingham and started to nudge the ball around very effectively, forming long partnerships with two different batters holding up the other ends. Hendrick went on to make 112 not out, setting The Buccaneers a good total of 233 to chase with 41 overs to use following Hurlingham’s declaration after 39 overs.

Tea was taken, comprising a few sandwiches and cakes.

Chris Leech and Eswar Kalidasan were given the task of opening up on the hard, flat, dry wicket and they got us off to a strong start, looking solid and pushing the ball around for 1s, 2s and the odd 4 flashing across the croquet lawns. Eswar was eventually bowled out leaving the Bucc’s 48-1. James Marsh quickly followed LBW. Sutton and Leech then put on a 50 partnership before Chris eventually threw his nailed on 100 away, getting bowled for 65. Then the trademark Bucc’s mini collapse ensued with 4 wickets falling for 9 runs. Jim Harcourt stayed in trying to steady the ship as those wickets fell around him, posting a handy 33 runs. He was supported by Eric and Hamish and after he fell in walked Will Metcalfe with a pristine new bat. Will and Hamish crunched a few 4s and 6s to start to get the Bucc’s hopes up, but alas Hamish was bowled out leaving the Bucc’s 45 short with 4 overs to spare.

Further drinks were taken with the opposition in the Rose Garden. A great day was had by all.

Scorecard is below.

Buccs 128 all out. Reigate Pilgrims 43 all out. Buccs win by 85 runs

A typically leisurely start saw the Buccaneers fixture with Reigate Pilgrims get underway a good 40 minutes after the official start time. Following overnight rain and an enormous boundary, skipper Berry decided that batting first was the obvious choice. Some tight bowling and the aforementioned long and wet outfield meant scoring was difficult for openers Berry and Fletcher. Despite this, they moved the Buccs to 40 without loss. Berry was caught in the gully shortly after and Marsh followed soon after that. Fletcher, meanwhile, was batting well and even managed to get a few over the boundary line, to ironic cheers from the Buccs who, at this point, were making good use of the Red Lion pub. Shortly before lunch Sutton hit one straight to square leg and called yes, unfortunately for Fletcher he obliged and was run out for a well compiled 27. Talk in the pub later, from the opposition no less, was that Fletcher was set for a hundred… no real consolation.

Lunch set the standard for Sunday cricket nourishment. A fabulous curry, cold cut meats, as well as more pints from the pub. A suitably stuffed batting line up took once more to the field in an attempt to set a competitive total.

Wickets began to fall in relatively frequent intervals until Robertson and Morgan came together. Both batters began to find the boundary as well as keeping the scoreboard ticking with singles into the field. Morgan, in either his 59th or 60th year as a Buccaneer (one for the club historian to fact check) set the example for many of the younger players on how to compile an innings. After Robertson fell foul to an LBW shout, the tail did a little wagging with some decent hits from Fishburn, on debut, who took the Buccs to what felt like a slightly underpar 128.

Opening pair Robertson and Pexton bowled extremely tightly for the opening 10 or so overs, keeping the Pilgrims at a sedate 2 runs an over. It took a piece of inspired fielding from Robertson to finally get the Buccs on the board with a direct hit from mid off bringing a wicket in the over before tea.

Another stunning spread greeted the team and with just twenty minutes to enjoy, half a dozen pints were quickly dispatched before the final session of the day. Berry brought himself on for the first over after tea and duly captured two wickets. Debutant Fishburn bowled excellently for his two scalps and the Buccs, bucking the trend of recent weeks, were brilliant in the field, taking a number of decent catches.

Berry completed his five wicket haul before Cosi Sutton (on debut) and Marsh mopped up the tail with a wicket apiece. A great display from the Buccaneers to register the first win of the season. Both teams retired to the Red Lion for a final beer (and a Merlot for Morgan). A longstanding fixture played in good spirit and with a lunch and tea that has sadly become a rarity since Covid.

Onwards to the Hurlingham Club.

Scorecard

Innings of the Buccaneers

A Berry            Caught            19
T Fletcher        Run Out           27
A Marsh          Caught            5
M Sutton          Caught            1
A Valentine     Bowled            4
H Robertson    L.B.W              34
C Pexton         Caught            0
A Morgan        Not Out            13
F Fishburn       Caught            17
R Hobbs          LBW                2
C Sutton          Caught            0

Extras                                      6
Total                                        128

Innings of Reigate Pilgrims

43 All Out

Buccaneers Bowling Figures

                        Overs  Maidens          Runs    Wickets

C Pexton         6          3                      10        0
H Robertson    5          1                      7          0
F Fishburn       7          1                      9          2
A Berry            7          3                      16        5
C Sutton          1          0                      1          1
A Marsh           0.1       0                      0          1

The Buccaneers Golfing Society visited Isle of Purbeck GC and Knighton Heath GC on Wednesday and Thursday 22nd and 23rd May. A group of 14 played on day one and 12 on day two and enjoyed two varied courses.

Winners of the competitions

Overall winner of The Princeps Trophy: Johnny Philips

Day one winner and nearest the pin: Johnny Philips
Day one longest drive: Phil Hobcraft

Day two winner: Richard Morrogh
Day two longest drive: Johnny Philips
Day two nearest the pin: Bob Palmer

Spud/Hack tankard: Tim Mynott for being forgetful

Isle of Purbeck GC

Dinner in Poole

Knighton Heath GC

Sheffield Park, as ever in May, looked glorious but a slightly woolly outfield was always going to make run scoring (along the ground) tricky.

The Buccs elected to bat and Berry was swiftly undone trying to take the attack to the opposition. Alex Rydon came in and steadied the ship with plenty of running and a number of well timed fours. He was unlucky to be out for 48, just shy of his half century, but his partnership of 66 with Sutton, who added a very useful 25, was the mainstay of the Buccs’ innings. No one else really got to grips with the tight bowling and the fluffy outfield although with drying conditions, perhaps batting second would have been the wiser option. Harry Mann, himself a Buccaneer, was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 7. The Buccs total of 131 all out may not have sounded sufficient but optimists reckoned it was a defendable total.

After a typically sumptuous Dills tea, the opposition openers launched into the Buccs’ attack with abandon. Wisely forgoing the jungle route, opener Paddy Cooper launched a blistering aerial assault and had wracked up 50 off just 18 balls. With 63 to his name the Dills captain gently withdrew him from the fray in order to prevent a 4pm finish. At that point the unlucky Robertson brothers, who had bowled a very respectable line and length to which Cooper had turned a blind eye, were replaced by Rob Rydon and Leefe. After the first wicket from Ollie Robertson and with the score on 70 for 1, wickets started to fall with the captain picking up a couple. However, at 113 for 4 and only 19 required it looked very comfortable for the Dills. Enter Angus Berry and his accurate left arm which quickly secured a successful LBW. A second wicket swiftly followed and at 123 for 6 the Buccs dared to dream. Evans picked up a deserved wicket having the hard hitting Sammy Maclay well caught by Sutton for 28 and signs of nerves were beginning to creep into the Dills’ innings. With only 4 required to win, some confused calling between Harry and Ollie Mann left the latter stranded as a quick throw by Berry and excellent pick up by Evans saw Ollie a couple of feet short of his ground. That however was the end of the excitement as Harry Mann saw his team to victory a few balls later.

As those who played know, the match was livestreamed to a global audience. The highlights are quite entertaining and very easy to access on the Play Cricket website. You have to register with Play Cricket then it is very easy to find the match and the “highlights” package.

Buccaneers innings

Angus Berry ct S Maclay b H Mann 0
Eswar Kalidasan b H Mann 10
Alex Rydon b J Colville 48
Max Sutton lbw b J Colville 25
Rob Rydon ct S Maclay b J Bebb 5
Simon Leefe b J Bebb 11
Isaac Evans lbw b O Mann
Richard Hobbs ct J Mann b J Cooper 3
Tom Fletcher not out 10
H Robertson run out 3
O Robertson lbw b H Mann 3

Extras 8

Bowling

H Mann 5.1 3 7 3
O Mann 7.0 0 16 1
J Colville 7.0 0 35 2
P Cooper 7.0 0 46 o
J Bebb 2.0 0 8 2
J Cooper 3.0 0 10 1
J Mann 1.0 0 9 0

Total 131 all out

Armadillos innings

P Cooper retired not out 63
Jack Cooper b O Robertson 2
Johnny Cooper lbw b S Leefe 0
Tom Randle lbw b A Berry 17
J Bebb b S Leefe 8
S Maclay ct M Sutton b I Evans 28
T Jeffery b A Berry 0
O Mann run out ( A Berry) 1
H Mann not out 10
J Mann not out 0

Extras 5

Total 134 for 7

Bowling

H Robertson 3.0 0 37 0
O Robertson 3.0 0 31 1
R Rydon 4.0 1 16 0
S Leefe 4.0 2 14 2 0
I Evans 3.1 0 32 1
A Berry 3.0 2 4 2

Armadillos won by 3 wickets

Buccaneers 124 all out. Tilford 127 for 1. Tilford win by 9 wickets

On what was a gloomy yet typical British spring day, the Buccaneers gathered at Tilford cricket club for the curtain-raiser of the 2024 season.

The match manager had been told ahead of the game that there were two fundamental requirements that he had to fulfil across the day: field a team of 11 and supply an adequate match ball – both of which were soundly missed.

Having settled for a pub lunch beforehand at the quaint local, we were somewhat relieved to be put into bat on a chilly, cloudy day at Tilford. Valentine and Berry started the tone playing some conservative shots, (as if six months of cobweb’s hadn’t just been removed from their pads) – before Gus timed a half volley almost too well into square leg’s hands much to the shock of the spectators as well as the batsmen himself.

Mr Milne, who would have opened with Berry had it not been for an unfortunate delay in his lunch order, succumbed to an unlikely very good first ball of the season which jagged up the slope. Debutant Watson-Smyth entered the fray and demonstrated his class to get us to 64-3 before holing out to another impressive catch at mid on.

Neil Robertson had only been convinced to join the team after several servings of pinot noir the night before, but was quick to demonstrate that deteriorating eye-sight is temporary and that class is permanent, playing some eloquent shots to reach his 28. He was supported with valuable contributions with the bat from Moules and Rydon (and likely Hobbs had it not been for his partner anticipating an early tea).  

The newly appointed President of the club was eager to demonstrate his exuberant youth and volunteered to bowl uphill and into wind in order to aid the mediocre performance from the match manager so far. Both bowlers hit the right lines and lengths and had it not been for the ball deteriorating to something resembling a “mosaic” after six overs, the game could have ended in a different manner.

Having failed to make the breakthrough (despite a few encouraging appeals from stand-in glovesman Rich Hobbs), attention turned to Stephen Moules, who demonstrated his tidy lines to take the wicket of the opening batsman. Watson-Smyth provided us with a free tutorial of his action with a couple of jaffers and a few dropped catches but in the end, it was difficult to prevent the flow of runs and Tilford knocked off our total in 26 overs.

Innings of Buccaneers

A Berry ct Windsor b Stearn 5
A Valentine b Barran 9
J Milne lbw Stearn 0
F Watson-Smyth ct Laking b Windsor 19
N Robertson b Barran 28
P Burnell-Jones b Barran 1
S Moules b Windsor 22
R Rydon ct Bozier b Windsor 11
R Hobbs not out 1
H Robertson b Stearn 1
Extras 27
Total 124 all out
Overs 34.1

Bozier 4-1-5-0
Stearn 8.1-0-22-3
Barran 10-2-31-2
Windson 8-2-24-3
K Barran 4-0-19-0

Innings of Tilford

J Barran lbw 17
J Barran (jnr) not out 50
C Barrow not out 47

Extras 13
Total 127-1
Overs 25.2

H Robertson 5-1-9-0
R Rydon 6-2-23-0
S Moules 5-0-26-1
F Watson-Smyth 6-1-24-0
A Berry 3-0-33-0
A Valentine 0.2-0-4-0