Harpenden Dolphins C.C.

Scorecard

Great Gaddesden v Harpenden Dolphins C.C. on Sat 11 Jun 2011 at 1pm
Harpenden Dolphins C.C. Won by 2 wkts

Match report Great Gaddesden 172 All Out (52.5 overs) v Harpenden Dolphins 173-7 (47 overs)
What a perfect day for a perfect game of cricket. With the clouds from the opening scenes of the Simpsons being carried in the breeze and intermittently breaking the sunshine, the Dolphins turned up at the idyllic ground of table topping Great Gaddesden……..well most of them! The Chuckle Brothers (Ant & Chris) somehow managed to take 45 minutes from Redbourn to the ground despite living the nearest of anyone and they arrived just in time for the start.
Whilst young at heart, I am beginning to realise how much of an old timer I am because having played at Great Gaddesden many times before I had no-one to reminisce with because of the team from those pre-league days in the 1990s (ie. Messrs Keeley, Crompton, Lacey, Hamilton, Finch, Jubb, Hall, M Downes, G Downes, R Gregory, Coulthard, Burford) only I was present, Zippy was resting his wibbly wobblies and Jubb Snr has been superceded by the new and improved, Duracell powered Jubb Jnr. Anyway, the pavilion was the same as I remembered and the ground was picture perfect.
Tom won the toss and the oppo were inserted. Jubb Jnr opened the bowling along with Holdy and whilst Thomas was only given three overs before the uncontrollable swing got the better of him, the Dolphins had one of the best pre-drink sessions we have had against a good side. Although by the end he was more Ian Craig than Ian Holden, Holdy (10-2-23-1) produced a superb spell of bowling – swinging the ball both ways and giving the diminutive left hand opener a few rib ticklers, although he seemed convinced it was the pitch doing the work rather than the bowler. Holdy and Ronaldo (replacing Jubby 3-0-19-0) tied the batsmen down and the catches stuck. I caught out the opener, Duncan instinctively caught out their dangerous skipper at short mid-wicket and Ant, sporting the new “I got a duck last week” yellow Dolphins cap, took an amazing catch by his left ankle to dismiss the dangerous J Cheeseman. Andy Fereday (11-4-34-3) having taken over from Holdy caused the batsmen trouble, bowling one and getting two catches by yours truly and Jubby. Jubby making up for reproducing his Dad’s art of diving to avoid having to chase the ball to the boundary and being outpaced by Bon (all arms and legs flailing and trousers around his knees) after another shot.
So the drinks break came and the Dolphins were in good shape, but then something happened. Velcro was replaced by Teflon! Having had one comedy moment when Chris was hunting in the bushes for the ball only for Holdy to pick it up from behind him, leaving Chris to carry on searching whilst play got ready to resume before getting the call to rejoin us. I can only imagine that Holdy retrieved a bar of soap not a ball. Having had Great Gaddesden at 101 for 7 we started to spill the catches, firstly Bon unusually let one go at square leg, Chris couldn’t hold onto one at full stretch and then Holdy juggled a skyer. Despite Skip’s best effort at the end (5.5-1-23-2 : I won’t mention the two nutmegs when fielding at extra cover Skip!) the total kept building, as did the grey clouds but the Dolphins kept pushing to try and get the maximum bowling points (5) having put the oppo in. In the final over I couldn’t hold a bottom edge whilst standing up but we finally got the last wicket off the penultimate ball with a run out masterminded by the now knackered Ronaldo (23-9-54-3). The target of 172 was set, which we probably would have settled for at the start.
We tea’d well. Prawn cocktail, egg and ham sandwiches to name but a few, followed by a variety of cakes, choccy biccies and melon/orange.
There were a few spots of rain falling as Ant and I opened the innings, but it never really took hold. Both Ant and I were dropped before really troubling the scorers but went on to post a 50 opening partnership at approx. 3 an over. We were going comfortably until we had a Fred Carno yes-no-yes-oh s#@t run out situation – the first of a few for the innings. It was a real shame as Ant (28) was going well having weathered the initial storm. The innings ebbed and flowed a bit (Lacey 33, Chris 22, Duncan 17, Bon 18) with bursts of run scoring interspersed with a few barren overs. The required run rate never really got above six but the wickets were gradually falling, despite a few catches going down off J Cheeseman (the pick of the bowlers), mainly because the curse of Fred Carno striking Duncan and Holdy taking a yellow cap for the team as the run chase was on. Anyway, our own TomTom (Roche & Jubb) set about trying to find our way home with about 30 required off the last 5 overs. Skip hit a 4 and 1 before Jubby swung and missed at the next four balls, only for him to make up for it with a huge six in the next over that ended up in the field with the horses behind the bowler that had been cleverly painted white so as not to interfere with play. The game came down to the last two balls – a single being required to win and with 7 wickets down the Dolphins could not lose. Jubby dabbed one down but was run out on the scrambled attempt for a single. After a long debate the final ball was bowled to Skip who flicked it to short mid wicket and set off for the single with Andy Fereday charging in the opposite direction having run in level with the bowler for what seemed like his entire run up to ensure he would get home. I positioned myself (as umpire) square on to the wickets as Skip came thundering by as the ball was picked up by the fielder and thrown at the stumps whilst diving forwards. A direct hit would have found Skip short, but he missed and the game was won by the Dolphins. The second exciting finish in two weeks that sees the Dolphins on 147 points and 8th in the league.
A perfect game of cricket on a perfect day!

Great Gaddesden Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 10 wickets
0
172 (0.0 overs)		     
J Cheeseman snr ct  Jubb, Fereday 40
S Oliver ct  Lacey, Holden 15
J Crawley ct  A Rayner, Giovanni 4
J Cheeseman jnr ct  Lewis, Giovanni 12
I Pitkin st  Lacey, Roche 45
A Yiasoumi b  Fereday 0
D Hearn ct  Lacey, Fereday 2
C Ambrose b  Giovanni 0
S Upton Not Out  32
Fothergill b  Roche 0
Bolton run out  (Giovanni) 6

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Ian Holden10.0223123.002.30
Thomas Jubb3.001900.006.33
Ron Giovanni23.0954318.002.35
Andrew Fereday11.0434311.333.09
Tom Roche5.5123211.503.94

Harpenden Dolphins C.C. 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 8 wickets
0
173		        
Ant Rayner Run out  28 1
Mike Lacey ct  J Cheeseman jnr 33 2 1
Chris Rayner ct  Crawley 22
Duncan Lewis Run out  17 1
Paul Bonney b  J Cheeseman jnr 18
Amit Mathur ct  J Cheeseman jnr 6
Thomas Jubb Run out  15 1
Ian Holden Run out  0
Tom Roche Not Out  17
Andrew Fereday Not Out  0
Ron Giovanni   1

Great Gaddesden Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
J Cheeseman jnr19.0358319.333.05
S Upton10.003700.003.70
D Hearn3.001500.005.00
A Yiasoumi4.011600.004.00
C Ambrose4.001300.003.25
J Crawley7.0124124.003.43