As the season begins to draw to an end, one might think the final matches to be heavily subscribed, but alas Cousin David’s wedding in Dorset had pulled away a few of our regular players, so we hailed a welcome to three new peckers. Welcome Goose, Caius and Gandhi! Oh and congratulations Cousin and Tamsin! Pob, a truly devoted Captain, managed to make his way back from the weekend of merriment to help the team out or as others had suggested. to give Cat was to have his comeuppance for his seething match report of Dunsfold. I will be sure in this report to sing the praises of our assiduous secretary, I mean Captain!

For once we had a fairly strong batting line up and our leader supreme had been heard to say that this Tadworth team might not be the strongest. POB put us into bat first, with Gandhi and Cannon opening the order. Gandhi is a fine fellow which Cat managed to poach from the Wine trade team and looked the part of a cricketer as he dispatched the first ball for four. Alas the good start was not to continue for long and after a quick 7 he was bowled and replaced by the first branch to my tree, former school mate Caius. Cannon was soon to join Gandhi back in the pavilion after a masterful 1 and Caius too had a brief spell on the square returning with the grand total of quack. After four overs the Peckers were on 12 runs for three wickets. We are usually quite familiar with a middle order collapse, but an opening order collapse suddenly put the blinkers on. Fear not however as we had the reliable Henners and Lav further down the order to bail us out, but not before POB and Groundskeeper took to the crease to try and calm things down and play as many of the remaining 31 overs as possible.

POB managed to make it to double figures, being quick on the singles and hitting a couple of nice boundaries, but his wicket fell to possibly the best ball of the day and he walked back with 13 runs to his name and made way for Henners to show us how it’s done, which he did certainly did, soaring his way to 50 in no less than 30 balls with a couple of huge sixes to help him on his way.

Part of the friendly rules were for people to retire at 50, which Henners brought up with a 6 and strode off Tiddles drew a high card so got to bat 6 but only got 1, and Lav who was feeling the effects of a recent Covid jab made 20. At this stage you might be wondering what had happened to Groundskeeper, and those au fait with his batting would certainly find it hard to believe that he was still at the crease and a few shots away from his first half century for the Peckers. After 55 balls it finally came! Full of jubilation he too was asked to retire making way for Cat and Caius’s uni mate Goose. Cat hadn’t exactly been bigging Goose up prior to this match, but he looked handy with the bat, playing some nice cover drives and totting up a respectable 10 runs.

Cat and Spinach to try and make as many runs as they could in the last six overs or so. Spinach, went in and tried to make £50 of Cannon in attempting to hit a six on his first ball and wasn’t far off, narrowly missing the boundary on the full and having to settle for a four and no monies. Cat was pulling out every feline trick in the book to keep the strike including some reverse psychology which was undoubtedly the reason for Spinach’s departure on seven. Groundskeeper came out of retirement to join Cat until a very grumpy sour puss trundled back to the pav with 27 runs. He was in fits of disbelief after reliable Jim triggered him for LBW. Henners stepped back up to the mark and he and GK saw the last two overs out, GK finishing on 56* & Henners finishing on a mind blowing 76* from only 34 balls! The end of the first innings saw the Peckers on a strong and commanding 227 runs.

Pob decided that everyone should get at least 2 overs and the order ofattack would be determined via his trusty deck of cards which to our delight saw Tiddles and Spinach snuffle the new ball. Tiddles was bowling mean and tidy out swing and hit the stumps after his third ball of the first over and delivered an economic spell of 1-14 of three overs. Spinach, although unable to claim a wicket, was not giving much away either. With three maiden overs in the bag his figures stood at 0-5 off four overs. By this point the best word to describe the energy in the field was lethargic.

It is very rare in Pecker cricket, to have a successful reinvention of a bowler.,until Cannon stepped up to the mark, his fingers placed ready to deliver some spin. First ball dot. Second ball a peach, a wicket, the bail on the top of off stump hit. Celebration was back on the field. Cannon’s riches didn’t stop there as his second wicket came in his second over to dispel any murmurs of fluke. After his third bonus over Cannon finished on 2-14, with a spell Darling Runky would have been proud of indeed! Gandhi’s card was the next highest as he got his debut wicket. Not only was Gandhi’s bowling effective but his fielding was aggressive and proactive and much needed to make up for a more than a few of us. Pob bowled a tidy couple of overs only going for 5 runs before having a blow. Caius went 0-17 & GK 0-6.

L-R Goose, Spinach, Caius, Pob, Cat, Gandhi, Myrtle, GK, Tiddles, H-Bomb, Cannon, Lav

Lav had two maidens but couldn’t find the wicket in his third bonus over going for 0-1, and so as you can see, Tadworth weren’t scorning but we were struggling to get their wickets. On comes Goose, who finally made the breakthrough. It was a day for the G’s, Gandhi debut wicket, Goose debut wicket and GK first 50 for the Peckers although waiting three years for it!
Cat, a regular opening bowler for the Peckers was yet to get his mitts on the ball. Cat drew bad cards (Karma) sowas batting 10 and bowling seventh change . His bowling was fast and tight and consistently put in a very good area resulting with his first two overs both being wicket maidens with both batsmen being clean bowled by the aggressive puss. 2-6, with Pob suggesting perhaps 7th change was his rightful position.

Last to be given the ball was Henners who cleaned up and saw off the last of the batsmen.76* off 34 balls with the bat only to be complimented with 3-4 off four overs. . Before long the final wicket came, and the Peckers had dismissed Tadworth for 112 runs in only 32 overs. After a natter, a couple of beers and a delightful slice of lemon drizzle cake we pootled back to our various nests, wishing I am sure, that the season wasn’t concluding quite so soon. Thanks again to Pob for organising everything and making sure we had enough players to put a team out. Next up Rotherfield Peppard and then on to the Peckers Peckers. Thanks -Great to bring up our 10th victory of the season, a wonderful performance H-Bomb and great 1st 50 for Groundskeeper Willy (quite a month for him!!)