Outwood CC - a club nestled at the meeting points of Kent, Surrey & Sussex - were the hosts for the ‘Peckers latest game of a seasonThe weather and setting was a fitting canvas for a game that was being played in honour of “quintessential Woodpecker” and former stalwart, Nigel Phethean AKA The Partnership Breaker, who had sadly passed away 6 weeks ago after a battle with Parkinson’s. It was great to be joined in the team by Grandsons Ollie & Mannie,

Pobsy won the toss and combination of heat, bar and spectators screamed ‘Bat First!’ James ‘Kamikaze’ Gaunt & David “Thommo” Thompson opened up for the Peckers, Thommo, played the role of lynchpin up top, whilst Kamikaze came out of the blocks quickly and looked in fine touch, timing the ball sweetly throughout.

As his strike rate of 142.86 might suggest, Kamikaze was here for a good time, not a long time and a flurry of sweetly-struck boundaries resulted in a 50 off 35 balls, bringing with it a surprise decision to retire and let someone else have a crack . Sadly I only lasted four balls…

Nige pictured with three grandsons, LP and the Beearon

Richard “Levers” Anthony strode out and with a flurry of sweetly struck boundaries in quick-fire 20.Levers’ dismissal in the 16th over brought Jamie “Magic Carpet” Mitchell to the crease. Possessor of a classic Peckers nickname.The 20th over brought an end to Thommo’s obdurate vanguard, and his Ferring team mate “Binnsy” followed quickly. A flurry of pads 120-4 and we were wondering about Kami’s retirement…

He was quickly replaced in the middle by Will “Pippin” Dabell. From here, the day’s premier partnership was struck, with Pippin and Magic Carpet putting on a clinic. Pippin’s innings was at his most swashbuckling for the Peckers to date, showcasing an admirable array of shots and making clever use of the shorter side boundaries, and the Magic Carpet oozed class in his 52 before the rug was snatched from under his feet in a cruel run out.

The Ferring Oggies -Thommo, Oggy, Kelly and Binnsy

This brought Grandson Oggy to the crease but he ended up making Nige’s favourite quacker. Pippin was cruelly run out by his skipper on 48 and then Snax provided a brilliant moment in the middle, where he was clocked square in the box by a delivery from the oppo’s strike bowler, leading him to fold onto the turf like a deck chair at the beach. He recovered and he and Pobsy scrapped us to 228-7, about par with very short boundaries on one side. Tea time followed, and with that, Pobsy gave a lovely - and at times moving - tribute to Nigel Phethean as both teams and Nigel’s family gathered around to listen to some words about the great Partnership Breaker who was the 1999 Woodpecker of the Year and the “epitome of how a Woodpecker should play the game”. He was also described as ‘the possessor of the finest pair of shins that ever stopped a smartly-hit drive’.

Magic Carpet & Oggy opened the bowling for the Peckers and it was fitting that grandson Oggy struck the first wicket of the innings in the fourth over, the ball sailing high to Snax at mid on who in spite of many team mates having considerable sums on the ball, pouched it.

Two teams and a large Phethean support clan

Runs mounted but after a shrewd change of ends two wickets fell. Snax struck with his fifth ball to remove their opening batsman - who was just starting to get going - with a beauty that cleaned him up. A couple of balls later, Oggy struck with his first ball from the opposite end. There was an absolutely inspired piece of work in the field by Pobsy to remove Outwood’s dangerous #3, who pounced on a ball as the batsman tried to rush through a quick single and with one stump to aim at, threw them down from his knees .

The batsman managed to build a more-than-useful partnership and steady the ship in the middle overs. Thanks to some smart rotation of strike in the beginning, and helped somewhat by some expensive bowling by yours truly, Burgess & Gill were able to build the score to 134-4 at drinks and up with the rate.

Enter Tim “Chefrey” Morgan. Denied the chance to wield the willow earlier in the day and with some work to do to stem the flow of runs from Outwood’s batsmen, Chefrey had a steely look of determination written on his face: he was going to have an impact on the days’ play. Bowling in partnership with Pobsy, the two veteran Peckers were able to put their experience to great use and cauterise the run rate.

Chefrey was extracting spin and bounce from the wicket & the Pobsy’s partnership did not stop there, as the latter took two catches off the former, and then diving low to his right, managed to take a (literal) blinder of a third catch - He was then rewarded with the ball with two wickets, the second a caught and bowled gave him his 4th catch of the innings which equals the club record.

Chefrey took his fourth which completed the collapse of Outwood, all out for 165. It meant that all 10 dismissals involved Nige’s grand son, or one of the three 50+ veterans who played with him back in the day. Pobsy put all this down to the spirit of Nigel smiling from above, and bringing this remarkable victory. We also broke a club record…9 games unbeaten in a season, and a fitting way to celebrate Nigel Phethean.

https://woodpeckers.play-cricket.com/website/results/6718913