Blazing sunshine, a rock hard pitch and outfield heralded a runfest at the Park. Play was delayed somewhat by the need to clear a bucketful of goose sh*t from the square and when it did start, the Buccs umpire only lasted four overs before ageing knees forced an early retirement. However, when the Dills started their innings they duly tucked in. Ben Mackintosh timed the ball sweetly and hit good and bad balls alike ferociously hard. James Marsh bravely stopped one with his thumb and fielded left-handed thereafter.
At 125 for 0 the Buccs were struggling until pace and guile from Ludo Milne and Archie Marsh respectively stopped the rot. Ludo had two clean bowleds as well as a good shout for an LBW while Archie took the crucial wicket of Mackintosh who fell for 93. Charles Pexton made no mistake at mid on when Mackintosh skied a leggie from Archie and took the difficult catch comfortably. Archie bowled with great control and mixed up his deliveries. Harry Mann was undone first ball by one of Archie’s well disguised express deliveries. Archie finished with figures of 4-53 and crucially the Dills runaway innings rather ran out of steam. Alex Rydon bowled tidily and picked up one wicket before securing a run out by deflecting a shot onto the stumps, clearly a deliberate act. The Dills finished at 208 for 9.
The Buccaneers’ innings started as unpromisingly as our efforts in the field. Jeremy Milne had barely wiped the last crumb of cake off his whiskers before a good ball from H Mann shot under his bat. The skipper decided to leave a perfectly straight ball and Archie and Max Sutton also fell cheaply. Enter the freshly crowned Buccaneer of 2024, Ludo Milne, and Sussex Over 60’s finest, Rob Rydon. Both took advantage of the unusually quick Sheffield Park outfield and clobbered the tiring attack, both falling just short of well deserved 50s. Crucially, they had staved off the embarrassment of a 100-plus run defeat. Sadly a mix up led to Ludo’s early departure, run out. This brought David Close to the crease where he played a vital role keeping Rob company and firmly declining to run any threes. Quite rightly. The two of them kept the innings going nicely until a second miscommunication led to Rob’s downfall, run out.
At that stage the Dills must have thought the job was done. But they hadn’t accounted for the one-armed bandit, James Marsh, who came in and stroked the ball to all parts. He accumulated 50 in no time before a good ball from Ollie Mann ended his entertaining innings. A slightly reluctant Jeremy made his way slowly to the wicket, generously invited back by the Dills on the basis we were a man short. Unfortunately the journey was wasted as another good ball from Ollie did for David and the innings closed on 178 all out, some 30 runs short.
Armadillos innings
B Mackintosh ct C Pexton b A Marsh 93
Noah b L Milne 40
H Lloyd b L Milne 12
R Proctor run out 5
L Russ b A Marsh 0
H Mann b A Marsh 0
O Mann lbw A Marsh 0
J Harding ct J Milne b S Leefe 6
A Mondail ct & b A Rydon 8
Mackintosh not out 19
J Mann not out 9
Total 208 for 9 (35 overs)
Bowling
R Rydon 7-0-52-0
C Pexton 6-0-51-0
L Milne 7-1-23-2
A Marsh 7-1-53-4
A Rydon 4-1-9-1
S Leefe 4-0-16-1
Buccaneers innings
A Rydon b H Mann 21
J Milne b H Mann 0
L Milne b B Mackintosh 47
A Marsh b O Mann 1
R Rydon run out 41
S Leefe b O Mackintosh 0
M Sutton ct b O Mackintosh
C Pexton b Noah 2
D Close b O Mann 7
J Marsh b O Mann 50
Total 178 all out
Bowling
H Mann 7-0-38-2
O Mann 7.1-0-38-3
O Mackintosh 4-2-9-2
Noah 4-0-28-1
J Harding 6-036-0
H Lloyd 5-1-23-0
Armadillos won by 30 runs