Match report: v Redbourn 22 Oct

Like Chamberlain's piece of paper from Berlin, Princess Diana's last letter to the Queen, the Russian linesman's match report from the 1996 World Cup Final and the score-sheet from The Colts v. Redbourn match - some documents are destined never to be found. On this basis, The Colts famous win against their old nemesis will live on in the memories of those that witnessed it whilst the facts and figures evaporate in to history. Tall tales will be told by old men with rheumy eyes in the corner of The Snug in "The Crossed Keys" on a wet Thursday evening - of Steve "Monsters" Ball's final over, of Don "200 Degrees" Fahrenheim's clean striking of an orange and of Trevor "Harbour" Bridger (brother of Sydney) with hands like fly-paper on the bark of an old apple tree.

The Colts had to make wholesale changes for this match with no Whiteley, Spencer, Howard, Hedges, Callender, Murphy or Williams (was there a party on somewhere that we weren't invited to ?) so there were first appearances of the season for Neil "Chuck" Berry, Tony "Hooperman" Hooper and the old hands Fahrenheim and Bridger whilst Ball and Sprowson made up the final six with Williams watching from the stands with a dicky knee. Redbourn won the toss and chose to field perhaps looking at a perceived weakness in The Colts' line-up as Sprowson and Ball opened up in their contrasting styles. This fixture has some history and is notoriously closely fought but The Colts have always been the crocodile to Redbourn's Captain Hook and there was almost a frisson of interest in the crowd as the first ball was bowled by Redbourn's "Wiley" (it's not known if this is his nickname or his proper name but either way he's a cagey opening bowler). Sprowson nudged and nurdled but Ball was becalmed like a Spanish galleon in calm seas and an attempt to hit a "pieces of eight" to the back wall saw him sink without trace without many on the board. Hoops then strode to the wickert but was a class apart from this crude form of the game and he was run out quickly as Sprowson shrewdly managed to protect his average by sending the sporting scientist back to his test tubes. It was Don Fahrenheim who put bat to ball after Sprowson retired on 25 and he connected freely with several hits to the back wall and aided by the "old skool" cunning of Bridger the score was nursed towards 120. With Sprowson back on court it was agreed that anything like 130 might be a good total and helped by the odd leg-side wide in the final over The Colts reached 134-4 - a par score with the new orange ball but defendable if the bowlers could hold their nerve and their line.

The second innings bowling performance was almost flawless. Ball and Hooper were straight, true and miserly. Whilst no wickets fell in these early overs Redbourn were unable to get up to anything like 10 an over and as the pressure grew it was clear that like Freddie Mercury in drag somebody was going to have to try to break free. Eventually a single to Mr. Bridger (aptly positioned near the cell on the side wall) was a desperate attempt to get things moving and the run out was completed at the non-striker's end. Berry and Sprowson then came on and bowled just as straight with hardly a hint of a leg-side wide. Bridger swooped for a sharp catch and another run out as only the Redbourn opener managed to make it to 25 despite having taken a few overs to get there. A very sweaty Sprowson then conceded an 8 to the back wall of the first ball of his final over but responded with two dots as the rest of the over yielded few extra runs and Redbourn were under intense pressure. The Redbourn opener came back in but "Hooperman" bowled a tremendous penultimate over including a fantastic final ball strategic bouncer that almost took off the batsman's nose. Surely 20 runs off the last over would prove to be too much ? Well, it just about was - but don't call me Shirley. It was a great end game of cat-and-mouse as Bally speared in darts to the one class Redbourn bat who was determined to get down the track and hit straight. By the final ball only a magic top "10" hit would result in a draw/tie. A hush went round the 9 people watching in the gallery. Ball let the orange go - was it a shade too slow, a shade too full or just a hazy shade of winter ? The final delivery was hit hard and well but roughly a bat length wide of the "10" target. The Colts had won by 2 runs despite being the underdogs. Church bells peeled across the night sky as men of Harpenden still a-bed held their manhoods cheap that they had not been with us to celebrate that evening.

Men of the Match : "Big" Don and "Big" Trev - a very welcome return.

Colts v Long Marston match report 6 0ct

A welcome return to winning ways last night. Murph was left stranded at work pricing some german sausage, or that's what it sounded like, so our new recruit Hedge stepped in resplendent in a shirt fast approaching 20 years old.

I lost the toss and we were invited to bat. Dave and Graeme started solidly with Graeme luckily being dropped off a sitter. The use of a new ball and the reinforcement of the cage meant shots were pinging off the walls and returning to fielders rather too quickly to steal singles easily. Dave was the first victim of this, from a well timed cut that went straight back to the keeper, but the opening stand had made over 50. Bally then helped Graeme up to retiring, pushing up the run rate too before he fell to another run out from a well timed shot. John then joined Hedge who was starting to show his pedigree chum narrowly missing a 10. John fell and I joined Hedge and we kept up a reasonable rate until I also fell to another run out neatly bisecting the sidewall back to the bowler. Graeme and Hedge finished off the overs in fine style reaching 159 for 4.

Long Marston lost their first wicket in the first over to an outstanding catch by Graeme from an upish cut returning to the stumps off Dave. John could not quiet return to hero mode and Steve took over determined to stem the flow of runs from last week with a flatter trajectory. Long Marston lost wickets regularly three to run outs by John, Hedge and myself. At this point they were in deep in trouble but there was no recovery as I took the final two wickets, one a great catch by Hedge off his boots via the sidewall from a hard hit drive. They were 63 all out with two overs to spare.

Colts v FinalCC match report

I am afraid this is another season where we have lost our first game. We lost the toss and they decided to bat and made 143 for 5.

Our fielding was clearly rusty, but whilst we didn’t bowl many wides, there were also far too many 6 balls. I think we most have conceded at least 6x6s, which made up for quite a few dot balls we achieved inbetween. I screwed up clearly on one occasion on the back wall and several others perhaps could have been stopped, but were so close to actually hitting the corner it was difficult to slide behind the ball. John Cal, bowled very well throughout his spell as did Mike and Dave in their last two overs who stopped their total creeping completely out of reach.

Mike and Dave opened and started confidently in the first two overs and we were up with the run rate. Then sadly Dave hit the cage which is normally a certain run, but unusually tha ball rebounded much more than expected and when Mike called “no”, Dave was stranded. Steve joined Mike and again continued to push the score along at the required rate, but sadly didn’t quite follow through with shot that could have gone for 10, but there was a fine running catch taken on the backwall off the fielder’s boots. I joined Mike, who then retired on a quickly made 25, but I didn’t last long, moving across my stumpts too far to expose my leg stump. Trevor also didn’t last long, leaving Mike and John as the last pair, with plenty of work to do. On the positive side, we had always remained up with the run rate, but then Mike was given out to a very rare LBW, which looked out, but was a bit unbalanced as we had had 4 good shouts when the new pink ball kept low. John however then played a blinder hitting an 8 off their best bowler and taking 19 off his last but one over. It went down to the last over, we needed 12 to win, they needed one wicket. The first two balls were dots, so John felt then need for big hit, but didn’t get it straight enough, hitting the sidewall hard but going straight back to the bowler. We were 132 all out, with John making 43, clearly our man of the match. However overall, we really just didn’t do well enough.