Deerest team mates.
Welcome back to another weekly edition of the Sennocke Chronicles, this time the tale is one of many shenanigans, starting very early indeed at 7.53am on the morning of the match with a message from one George Guterres. Getting a message that early in the morning, on the day of a game, from one of the Guti’s, is enough to send shivers down the spine of the hardiest captain. However, the message started with the words “We’ve got problems”, and the tone of the day was set from that moment. A positive COVID test and some recent exposure meant we were staring at the losing 3 key players in one fell swoop. Luckily, two negative tests later, we had both batsmen back in the team, leaving Seb set to quarantine with cold pizza for the foreseeable (later in the day having a negative test result only adding to the confusion around the incident). Even luckier for us, we have a Knole Park resident who was ready and willing to step forth into the breech once more and bring the team back to full strength – cheers Willy.
All this before we’d even got to the ground, which was slightly damper than anticipated after the showers of the day previous, but after a long week being baked in the sun, I for one thought it would have taken the downpours with ease. A sticky green top it was then, so obviously we wanted to bowl first…..until I lost the toss, again. Any advice most welcome. Fordcombe put us into bat, which was the nightmare scenario given our number 2 and 3 batsmen were still 30 mins from the ground after getting their swabs done. Julian was promoted back to his old opening role and built a ‘steady’ partnership with Dan at the top, guiding us to 34 before DC nicked one behind. Frustrated at his missed opportunity, he watched one as Cameron turned up just in time to get his whites on and walk out in his place. Looking busy from the start, Cam looked to push on against the slow spin and connected with a full ball perfectly – apart from the fact it was straight back to the bowler, who seemed to be the only person in the opposition who could catch.
That brought the other late arrival to the crease, an already tired George, exhausted from a morning of COVID angst and orifice swabbing, searching for a negative result. After all that negativity, it was all positive for George in the middle with willow in hand, as he settled in quickly before taking a liking to a few of the Fordcombe bowlers. All of the tennis shots and the classic cover drive were on show (along with a complete inability to lay bat on anything the slow spinner tossed up to him), George was motoring along soon enough, and was at one point very close to getting to 50 before Julian (not actually that surprising really). Both made it past 50 in glorious fashion, with boundaries bringing up the landmarks, and both within an over of each other. Their rich run scoring form continued throughout the innings, with Jules even clearing the ropes over mid-wicket for a big six, something not believed to have been seen at Knole for some years now.
However the glorious partnership of 140 came to an end late on, George skewing an edge high to gully/point, leaving one over for the next batsmen to make their mark. At this point, I’d been sat there with pads on ready to go since ball 1 (in case we lost a wicket before Cam and George turned up), so was keen to get out there. However, past glories meant we sent Boom Boom out there to give the scoreboard a late boost. Fair to say, it was more bum bum than boom boom, as Phil picked out the only offside fielder in the ring first ball. Laughs all round at what can only be described as a comedy cameo. With five balls left, I wandered out to see the innings out with a shattered Jules, who’d managed to get another red inker, of course. This is a bittersweet accomplishment however – on one hand, carrying your bat as an opener is a highly commendable achievement, a rare feat that should be applauded. Conversely, Julian has previously been very vocal about the fact that if one bats for 40 overs, you should always have hit a ton. So Jules, you left 20 runs out there and I expect to see those repaid in the next few weeks please!
All in all, we posted a strong total of 206 of our 40 overs, the first time a team has batted a full 40 over innings in any of our games this year. Something else to note is that there was (to my count) 7 dropped catches in the field, 4 of which from George’s bat, so there was an element of luck in reaching that total.
Over to our bowling innings. I’ll admit to feeling confident about fielding given our strong stock of younger players this week. However, Jules and George were wiped out given their exertions with the bat, Cam rolled his ankle early on, Phil C pulled his groin chasing down a ball, Willy had to leave after 30 mins of the innings, Dan was hidden behind the stumps in Jules place – plus the usual veterans we have to be careful with, you know who you are – that confidence was very quickly eroded and we had to rely on a lot of running from just a few fielders. With Seb drowning his sorrows in margarita slices, Phil C stepped up to open from the house end, with Ross taking up the charge from the road end. Phil quickly found which shots their openers like to play and out of the kindness of his heart, decided to feed them short wide long hops to tuck into. Four overs were enough for him on the day, his groin injury perhaps saving him from another spell (he’s got to find a length at some point, surely!). Ross has been unlucky in previous weeks, bowling very well in every game but not benefitting from any wickets. Today he got his reward – a tight opening spell prizing out the number 3 bat. Figures of 1-15 off 7 overs with 2 maidens are very impressive and he continues to push for the Signing of the Season trophy at the End of Season awards.
Medium Phil (as it was agreed on Saturday) bowled with accuracy as usual, but looked like he wouldn’t be fairly compensated as chances landed between fielders regularly, until one was spooned straight up and he barely had to move (luckily for him) to claim a wicket c&b. Meanwhile I got stuck into my first proper spell of the season, bowling 9 on the bounce and taking 2 wickets with 3 maidens on top. In truth, there was not a lot of turn and the bowling wasn’t my best but the batting wasn’t the most expansive at that point so I benefitted from the match situation in this case, and also from a top drawer from Ben Dixon at mid-wicket. Speaking of Ben, he also came on to bowl a 9 over spell of spin from the other end, and showcased his ever improving leg spin with an economical spell that also brought a wicket, caught behind. Lovely to see it and looking forward to see a lot more on the turning pitches to come. I bowled Brian from the road end this week to balance out the ends and despite his lack of wickets, he proved his skill at being unhittable, with a spell of 5 overs, 4 maidens, 4 runs conceded – truly astounding figures again. A word too for Dan, who stepped up to keep wicket very well while Jules was enjoying a chatty spell at point/square leg – very tidy behind the stumps, aside from when tail enders try reserve sweeps, which is fair enough I guess.
There are 2 incidents I need to highlight in particular during our time in the field. The first is the most embarrassing so we’ll get that out the way. After his unfortunate showing with bat and ball, Phil C was presented with a glorious opportunity to redeem himself with a simply enough catch at mid-on. Lo and behold, his clown outfit came out and he juggled for what felt like minutes before the ball eventually hit turf – however not before it connected sweetly with his cheek. We usually prefer to get cherries on the middle of the bat Phil, not in the middle of your face. Secondly, after an innocuous ball that clipped pad on its way through to Dan, Brian went up for an appeal and then immediately celebrated as though it had been given. Cue confusion and chuckles from the rest of the team as not a single peep was heard from keeper, bowler or fielders.
In summary, the run chase never really got going from Fordcombe and it was a long 40 overs spent in the field, with the opposition finishing 98 runs shy of our target. It was however a rare treat to get a full game in, and a lovely warm day for it too. A fourth victory in our 5 league games that keeps up well in the running for the promotion spots.
Onto the awards. Another week where our strength in depth in the bowling department was clear for all to see, however the batting won us the game today, putting up a total that looked too much at the tea interval. For all his rushing around in the morning, his wonderful knock of 80 from 82 balls including 9 fours, and the effort he continued to put in while fielding despite being totally out on his feet, the MVP award goes to George Guterres. Well done sir.
As for TFC – it is becoming an unfortunately regular occurrence now, and it was regrettably rather nailed on this week, that Phil Clayton is bestowed this honour. Between a golden duck, a short and unsavoury spell with the ball, a dropped catch that hit him in the face, and a pulled groin, there wasn’t much to cheer about for Phil. We appreciate the broad shoulders he brings to each game with the knowledge that this is almost a foregone conclusion every week, but also the good humour in which he delivers this less than noteworthy performances. Really Phil, thanks for coming – the rest of the team have one less thing to worry about when you’re playing.
Guess who was not out…
We move on to week 6, on the road at Shoream & Otford (Otford). A much changed line up sees a lot of regulars missing and some old faces come back for a run out, so it should be a fun one. Look forward to seeing you all, with hopefully no pre-match palava this week. See you there and in the meantime – swing true Sennocke.