We arrived at the lovely old Kent ground in Mote Park in bright sunshine. We agreed a 40 over match much to the dismay of their Umpire. As he was descending the stairs of the large old pavilion he asked us what the format was and then was heard to mutter “oh how disappointing” then descended four more steps to and almost in the same breath ask their Captain to confirm the format and was then overheard to say “oh bloody hell not this 40 over rubbish” to much eye catching and sniggering in the back rows.
We lost the toss but were inserted which suited us nicely as the pitch looked good and the outfield was fast; although we quickly found out that the wicket was actually slow and misbehaving from the top end. This was in evidence early on when Ludo Milne (15 yrs) was hit on the elbow from a lifting delivery off a length. He bravely carried on although he was in some pain but was the first wicket to fall to a good ball not long afterwards. Jeremy Milne played a superbly measured innings of 72 to give us a great platform and was ably assisted by Crispin Vollers, Somak Bose and Richard Hobbs the latter confusing everyone with a hook shot that looked like a Phil Mickelson lob wedge that spun around the stumps.
We got slightly bogged down in the middle period of the innings but a superb big hitting knock from debutant Angus Berry (68 not out) and a lightening between the wickets Tom Fletcher (28 not out) put together a nice partnership that just gave us enough runs (218) to defend.
We opening the bowling attack with Hobson and Caspar Milne (13yrs) two great fast bowlers who’s hang time rivals that of Michael Jordan. They started well with two maiden overs. Then their opening pair relaxed their shoulders in the next two overs to hit some big boundaries but this did not deter Caspar who struck back with the last ball of his third over having Buckland (13) caught magnificently by Angus Berry diving low to his right at square leg with a well worked out field placing by the captain. Hobson then had Sterling stumped by the impressive debutant keeper Fletcher for a duck with some vicious tempting outswing outside the off stump.
Caspar ‘s fourth over was an absolute joy to watch from all perspectives. He had Bristow (4) lbw with a straight looping ball that, although the batsman got a fair stride in, hit him on the front foot right in line. The batsman was absolutely furious with the decision and let a sharp volley at the umpire that rent the atmosphere. Totally undeterred by these events the umpire strode after the departing batsmen with the fury of a whirlwind gesticulating and admonishing him severely for bad sportsmanship. After another four dot balls, Caspar had Feltham caught for another duck at cover to much hooping, hollering and head patting from all the fielders. A double wicket maiden
Hobson then took himself off for Warwick Okines who took a wicket with his fifth ball by dismissing Joseph for a duck (bowled with a fine turning ball that went through the gate). Another wicket maiden in successive overs, the visitors cock-a-hoop and the hosts in tatters at 25 for 5!
However there was another twist in the tail as we suspected that a reversed batting order was in force as one of their first team players arrived and started to knock our few bad balls for big fours. Williams (68 not out) and White (43) chased down our total well until their partnership was broken by a real fast bowler and debutant Stephen Moules bowling White and shattering the stumps.
Walters (51) then assisted Williams to take the chase even further toward our total and we started to get a little bit nervous. However, with the return of Hobson and Caspar Milne to bowl at the death victory looked assured.
Caspar went for only four runs off the first over of his second spell and his last over for two runs where he dismissed Walters to a fine catch to restrict the hosts to 205 and win the game. A fantastic spell (of 8-1-27-4) for a terrific young cricketer in the Buccaneer mould. We look forward to his next game at Brook.
Another fine Buccaneers victory.
Toss: Mote
Buccaneers Innings
J Milne c Buckhard b Adams 72
L Milne c Buckard b Walters 7
C Vollers b Waterson 17
S Bose c Adams b Waterson 8
S Moules c Buckard b Adams 0
A Berry not out 68
R Hobbs b Feltham 8
T Fletcher not out 28
Extras 10
Total (for 6 wickets, 40 overs) 218
Bowling:
Walters 8-2-30-1
Williams 5-0-19-0
Adams 8-0-34-2
Waterson 8-1-64-2
White 5-0-16-0
Feltham 6-0-45-1
Mote Innings
S Buckland c Berry b C Milne 13
M Bristow lbw b C Milne 8
T Sterling stumped Fletcher b Hobson 0
C Feltham c b C Milne 0
J Joseph b Okines 0
R Williams not out 68
M White b b S Moules 43
L Walters c b C Milne 51
R Adams not out 4
Extras 18
Total (for 7 wickets in 40 overs) 205
Bowling
P Hobson 8-1-30-1
C Milne 8-1-27-4
W Okines 7-1-30-1
A Berry 4-0-23-0
L Milne 3-0-22-0
S Moules 4-0-32-1
R Hobbs 4-0-23-0