It was a gorgeous evening in August in the North East – perfect for a game of cricket. So, with that in mind, 22 men good and true (well, mostly) gathered at Belmont Community Centre to fight the gladiatorial contest of ball vs bat, leather vs willow, Mallards vs Belmont Knights!
Due to the captain being somewhere on the A1 southbound when it came to the time to do the toss, young Mexter stepped up and continued the tradition of the toss with aplomb by losing it and being asked to field. Captain Buxom turned up just after this and thanked Mexter for losing the toss as fielding first is the option he’d have gone for!
Opening with A Watson from the far end and I Watson (or I Hudson as was originally written in the book) from the “pavilion” end, conceding only 2 and 3 runs respectively off their first overs. Belmont’s openers, N Bradley and A Clark, saw off Mallards’ opening bowlers spells (max 3 overs per bowler) and the Watson combo had certainly worked, finishing with figures of 3-0-6-0 (A Watson) and 3-0-9-0 (I Watson). After 6 overs, Belmont were at 17-0, which was a great start by Mallards.
Thacker came on to replace A Watson at the far end and was hit for 4 off his second delivery by Clark. However, he got his revenge by clean bowling the batsman a couple of deliveries later for 14. This brought D Bradley to the crease who subsequently whacked his first delivery to the long off boundary for a comprehensive 4! Mexter (or Dexter according to the scorebook – scorers doing very well so far!) came on at the pavilion end and started with 3 dot balls. Obviously bored by this, Dexter Mexter decided to do something about it and had the opener Bradley given lbw (back leg, low down, right in front of middle stump) with his fourth delivery. The next batsman, Wright, came to the crease and was sent back first ball in exactly the same fashion. 2 in 2 balls and Dexter Mexter was on a hat-trick. Clamours from the fielders for everyone to crowd the batsman were dismissed by Captain Buxom who didn’t want to change a winning formula and, sure as eggs is eggs, the next batsman (Peterson) was out lbw first ball (back leg, low down, right in front of middle stump) and Dexter Mexter finished with a triple wicket maiden from his first over. Mexter offered to retire there and then but the Skip was having none of it!
The pressure was on Thacker now who only conceded 2 off his next over to Bradley. Mexter came on again to bowl to their new batsman, R Coy (dressed in shorts!!) and almost had another after A Watson dropped a rather hard chance at head height at short cover. That was to prove costly but Dexter Mexter didn’t care as he was demob happy knowing he’d dine out on his hat-trick for years to come. A couple of singles and a boundary followed over the next couple of overs before Thacker got his 2nd wicket, clean bowling Bradley for 8. Not many runs followed again as new batsman Gimple took an age to get off the mark so Thacker finished with 3-0-12-2 whilst Dexter Mexter finished with 3-1-9-3. A fantastic achievement from both and, after 12 overs, Belmont were 35 for 5.
Thacker and Dexter Mexter were replaced by Haylock and Latif respectively and the batsmen decided to go after these two bowlers, hitting several boundaries, particularly Gimple, who retired for 30 rather quickly. Despite their best efforts, the bowlers finished with figures of 2-0-17-0 (Haylock) and 2-0-24-0 (Latif). Belmont, after 16 overs, had moved on to 62-5 rather quickly, with Gimple back in the hutch if needed. Captain Buxom brought on messrs McCaffery and Butcher to bowl the last four overs and they chipped in to the wickets with McCaffery getting Pennels caught by Buckley for 0 and Coy caught (finally) by A Watson for 20. Butcher bowled Harris for 6 after he swept a bit too much and hit the ball onto his stumps! Batsmen 10 and 11 (Blenkiron and Wake) saw off the last few deliveries and Belmont finished on 98 with the bowlers finishing with 2-0-12-2 (McCaffery) and 2-0-10-1 (Butcher). The game was on with Mallards requiring a run rate of less than 5 an over. Definitely attainable you’d hope!
Mallards opened with Thacker and McCaffery and, off the 2nd ball, Thacker hit opening bowler Pennels for 4 and nabbed a single of the last delivery and we were on the run rate. The 2nd over was taken by Harris and, after a few deliveries, got one to bounce a bit higher and Thacker fended it off straight back to him for a caught and bowled. Harris started with a wicket maiden (though not a triple wicket maiden like our very own Dexter Mexter – he needs to up his game a bit!) and Mallards had McCaffery & G Taylor at the crease. The score crept along rather slowly and, after 6 overs, Mallards were 19-1 and Pennels finished with 3-0-9-0 and Harris had 3-1-4-1. Pennels was replaced by Coy (still in his shorts despite it getting a bit dark and rather cooler) and, in his first over, he removed McCaffery for 3 by bowling him.
A Watson came to the crease and, over the next few overs, he and Taylor inched the score along. After 10 overs, Mallards were 32-2 in comparison to Belmont’s 33-4 so game was still on. After 12 overs, Mallards were 39-2 (Belmont 35-5) and bowlers Coy and Blenkiron finished with 3-1-7-1 and 3-0-9-0 respectively. Mallards were ahead of Belmont in runs and with a lot more wickets in hand too. Gimple replaced Coy from the far end and, from his 2nd delivery, A Watson hit him for a huge 6 over the long on boundary. Great stuff. Wake replaced Blenkiron from the pavilion end and was hit for 10 off his first over, Watson getting a couple of fours.
After only one over, Gimple was replaced by Petterson who had Taylor caught off his first ball. Taylor was gone for 10 and this brought Butcher to the crease. A few extras off Petterson’s first over and Mallards were 59-3 after 15 overs (Belmont were on 62). 5 runs came off Wake’s next over and then Petterson conceded 3 wides and a four off his first 2 deliveries and also A Watson retired on 33 with that aforementioned four. This brought Captain Buxom to the crease and Mallards needed 28 to win. 3 more singles and a further boundary off Petterson’s bowling and he finished with 2-0-17-1. After 17 overs Mallards were on 78-3 and needed 21 off 3 overs. Wake started his final over and had Butcher stumped off the 2nd ball, when he forgot to put his foot down behind the crease. This brought Latif to the wicket and he got a single off his first ball. This was followed by a dot as Buckley gave himself a chance to get his eye in at that end and then hit 2 consecutive boundaries so Wake finished with 3-0-26-1 and Mallards were now on 89-4 with 2 overs remaining. Only 10 to win off 12 balls. E Wright came on to replace Petterson and went for 3 off his first 3 balls but, keeping a tight line and decent length, made it very difficult for Latif to get the ball away. One over left and Mallards were on 92. 7 to win. Gimple came back on to bowl the last over from the pavilion end in the, by now, almost complete darkness.
2 came off the first ball. 5 to win off 5 balls. A single off the next one. 4 off 4 required. A dot ball. 4 off 3. A single off the next. 3 off 2. Then, off the penultimate ball, Latif is run out at the non-strikers end and 3 is needed off the last ball to win, 2 to tie. Dexter Mexter comes to the wicket and says to Buckley “I’m going to run like a gazelle”. No pressure thought Buckley, I’ve just got to hit the ball now. Belmont put everyone out to the boundary to stop any four but, as the pitch was quite a size, it still left an opportunity. Buckley tried to cut the ball down to 3rd Man area but missed it. However, the keeper didn’t take it and the ball flew down to around fly slip. Buckley set off like a slug whilst Mexter was already practically lapping the skipper. Buckley turned round for the 2nd and the keeper had the ball in his hands with pretty much what seemed like the entire number of extras used in Gandhi around the stumps waiting for the ball to be thrown in. For some unfathomable reason, the keeper kept hold of it and ran in with it. Even Buxom was faster than this and made it back for the 2nd run meaning the match was tied. A fantastic finish to a very good match that was greeted with cheers from the boundary darkness.
A great game all round and everyone went back to the pub for a drink and lots of chips (thanks to Gareth for those!).