I’d like to start this report with a classic cricket cliche. Catches win matches. Bare in mind as you read, how many dropped catches would you expect in an innings or in a game?
Pob, Borgav and Degsy on their way to the grounding looking like the opening of The Hangover 4
Whatever your answer, a few things are certain. This week the Woodpeckers were up against a mighty Marlow Park that had enlisted their best players for what they describe as the toughest fixture in their season. Peckers with a possible 16 players to choose from had a nice mix of youth and experience. With a few late comers, the sun beating down and Two-legs having to pull out last minute (shoutout local boy Gravy for stepping on zero notice), Pobsy decided to bat first. Greasy and Biscuits made their way to the middle to start a 40 over rollercoaster of a game.
Losing Greasy early (3) and a tidy opening spell from their bowlers left us 12-1 when Borgav joined up with Biscuits to show the value of experience. A slow and steady build to 62-2 from 12 when biscuits, who had knocked up his elbow and pulled his quad for his 23, fell gave Mama a promotion up the order to inject some needed hitting. A Brilliant 85 run partnership with Borgav boosted us into a great position of 147-3 when Borgav (75) finally left the crease and GK Smeagol took over for a quickfire 30.
Top man and top scorer Borgav with a fluent 75
Then in true Peckers fashion we had a smallish mid order collapse from 210-4 to 256-8 with a 21 from Novichok (including a hugeeeeeee 6), a fairly rapid 19* from Pobsy and Mama departing on 65 with a couple of lovely 6’s in there the only things to write home about. Finishing up on 267 looked like a pretty good total and the lads went into the tea break fairly pleased with their work.
The highlight of the tea (and perhaps the whole day) was this wonderful courgette cake from Marmalade.
Much like last week, tea was not something to linger on for too much so after a bit of half time water hydration (the local brewery does a fantastic IPA) we rolled back out into the sun to defend our total and push even closer towards the Peckers record. Morale was high as GK Smeagol charged in with the new ball to open up from the river end, looking unstoppable. Thwack. First ball deposited high and mighty over long on for six. Two balls later steaming back in Smeagol got his precious… wicket as he picked up the first.
One more from GK and one from Degsy at the other end (thanks to a great catch and the only good thing Milky Milky did all game) left Marlow 38-3 and with a huge task ahead of them. After a tidy opening spell from both ends Degsy and GK handed the baton to Greasy and Scooper to try and attack. Tides started shifting at this point as back-to-back 70 run stands for Marlow gave them a sniff. Scooper knocking back the middle stump of Ahmed (54) who had survived as he decided to start dancing and shuffling around the crease. The embodiment of fuck about and find out. Milky Milky debuted some unsuccessful but unlucky spin bowling (we really let poor Milky down) as Scooper and then Pobsy battled hard at the other end. At 176-4 and two set batters, although they needed about 12 an over from the last 10, it looked possible.
Well earned rest at the tea break
In moments like these a team often turns to their captain for inspiration and grit. For the Peckers, Pob pegged back the middle stump of Brent Lombard on 73 and then later in the same over clipped the top of off sending another man back into the hutch. At this point, with them 176-6 and still needing 12 an over, spirits were high. Little did we know that Marlow’s number 8, Donovan Pullin, was about to channel his inner Dewald Brevis and carve boundary after boundary pushing Marlow towards chasing down the total.
Now before revealing the result of the match, I would like to take you back to the original question I posed at the start. How many catches would you expect to be dropped in an innings? 2 or 3 perhaps? Marlow Park set the bar low by dropping 11 themselves ( according to their grumpy keeper Kyle) We managed to drop 14 chances in this innings, couple would have been brilliant but all catchable. It may have been down to excellent barman Don serving delicious low-cost ale. Almost every Marlow batter got a second life and while Donovan is launching six after six over mid-wicket and causing 2 new ball changes, those in the field really started to rue the missed chances. Bringing back GK and Greasy to finish their allotment of overs didn’t help as he hit 67 from what I would predict to be 30 balls before Novichok pulled an absolute stunner that mimicked Stokes’ boundary catch vs SA in 2019 to remove him. This left them needing about 12 from the last two. The new bat sent one to the boundary as the other set batter got a couple leaving them four to get off the last and who else to bowl it than the skipper. After pushing a couple of singles at the start of the over, all the fielders are in, the pressure is on and they need just one run from the last 3 balls. Unfortunately, a controversial wide call provided an anti-climatic ending to the game and Marlow the win by 3 wickets.
A very warm day and some scorched earth but a lovely ground by the river nonetheless
Despite the loss, it was a really fantastic game that swung both ways several times. A game that has all three results possible in the last over is always a good one. Some slightly sharper fielding might have put the game to bed a little earlier but every enjoyed a good pint and some convivial banter afterwards, Marlow justifiably delighted to have won such a great game. There was a good contingent of fans to watch on with Marmalade, Alpaca, Saucenbinder and 6 Doggies showing their support. The Pecker team spirit and banter was superb despite the succession of howlers and I look forward to my next appearance.