3xi vs British Airways - a Clough and Crane production

BA 1st/2nd XI vs. HWRCC 3rd XI – Saturday 28th April

D Ewen, A Risman, D Clough, A Crane ©, P Sayce, I Taylorson, D Nicholas, T Robinson, Z Tughral Jr, Alex Walters +, K Laight

There was an initial scare when we arrived at the well maintained, if not noisy BA facilities when we saw “BA 2nd XI vs. Young Lions XI”. Having a team with an average age low enough for the Arsenal team to point and laugh, we thought this wasn’t an error in team name merely a reflection of our burning desire to get our first game of the season under way. Cranesy, having captained last about 4 years ago, unsurprisingly lost the toss and we were put into the field.

Ian opened the bowling and immediately found the spot, not giving the batsmen much room to manoeuvre, bowling with good speed. Derek from the other end was swinging it more than Ray Quin jacked up on Haribo. Alex behind the stumps, myself and Cranesy in the slips knew a wicket would come early doors if the opening bowling pair carried on like that and sure enough a swipe from a wider delivery gave Derek his first ever wicket in Hampton Wick colours when Dick Ewen collected a nice catch at gully. At this point they were scoring no more than 3.5 an over and we had them at a comfortable 25-1 after 8 overs.

Their number three was one of their 1st XI batsmen, no doubt about it. Anything short, anything not on the off stump, anything small, red, and kind of round got smacked for four. Kirky was on the wrong end of some fantastic shots. Tom Robinson, this season to be known as Juicy (Clough & Crane, 2007), was bowling good stuff on the spot, only to be given the same treatment. We found out soon enough that their number four was equally talented but inspirational captain Cransey picked up his vital wicket (albeit after his century) after a spell of tight bowling slowed their run rate. An attempted clip of the legs ended up in Ian’s safe hands.

After 30 odd overs the run rate we were looking to chase was in the region of 7 an over. And if it were not for some truly outstanding fielding from Paul, it would have been considerably worse. They had amassed a massive total of 244 after 38 overs and mercifully decided to declare.

The tea was distinctively average, and certainly not on a par with the facilities they’ve been provided with by the generous folk at BA. Paul asked Skip what the tactics were going to be after the batting order was read out, to which the all knowing Cransey announced “to score more runs than they did”. With genius like this it’s easy to see why after only on one season he’s made such at impact on the people at the Wick.

Dick and Rizzo opened the batting and had a solid start. They never really looked like troubling them, although they did manage to restrict us to only a few runs after 7 or so overs. Rizzo in an attempt to push the score along was unfortunate to be caught at deep mid off, which put me onto the field. Dick Ewen was dismissed not long after, leaving Cransey and myself in the crease. 26 runs later I was walking back with my head in my hands after swinging and missing a full toss which hit middle.

Cranesy was soon after cleared up by their leggie getting an inside edge onto the stumps, departing for a brisk 19. This left the two new boys Paul Sayce and Ian Taylorson at the crease. Paul followed his good work in the field with some wonderfully played shots including one (at least) sumptuous cover drive. With Ian backing him up well the score was moving on at a decent rate.

I forget how these two departed and on what scores exactly however I know Paul must have been around 30(?).

Along came another new boy Derek who looked to work the ball around and take advantage of any bad balls that came his way. Partnered with young Tom for a while who looked comfortable against both spin and seam.

Derek departed with around two overs to go looking to move the score along to a more respectable total. Bringing forth young Zohaak, clearly frustrated with his lowly appearance in the order he looked to prove a point but this point however lasted 2 balls as he slashed wildly and skied one to point.

Alex who had a good game behind the stumps came out with little more than an over to go hit a couple of strong shots, before doing something truly indescribable on the penultimate ball. Kirk came in played and missed and that was that. At least we were spared being all out.

Overall it was a good team effort against a stronger opposition, who were strengthened by their 1XI being called off. Particular mentions must go to Paul for manful efforts in the field stopping several powerfully struck shots in the covers, young Tom for bowling an excellent line and length though his overs, and finally Alex for a fine performance with the gloves.