Nearly There
By Ian Clark
WEEK 12
JULY 26th 2008
4th TEAM v HOLLYBANK 2nds (H)
1st TEAM v BRAMSHAW (H)
The firsts are still top as seemingly the teams around them gave jaded performances. It's that time of the season. It seems to happen every year. The teams at the bottom develop a lifewish and become energised to avoid relegation; the teams at the top go off the boil.
I'm in the fourths again. We're on the fringes of promotion and a win today could elevate us into the top three. It's smug and easy to sneer at the lower leagues. Why would any balanced person care about being promoted from Regional South-East 4 of the Hampshire League to Regional South-East 3 of the Hampshire League? The sneering comes from above and below. But league teams, even ones in Regional South-East 4 are better than true village sides and why celebrate the inept rather than the mediocre who actually try to improve?
And even in the fourths you get to meet proper players. Some of them are barely teenagers and some of them will soon travel for free on buses; but they are there. Today Ian Farley is in our team. Ian is one of the leading run scorers in the history of the Southern League. He is here primarily because his 14 year old son, Tommy, is also in the team today. But I suspect the grass and the camaraderie is luring Ian back in. Fathers and sons (and daughters) are the pillars of league cricket clubs even grand, historic league cricket clubs.
Ian opens with Mike G and it's poignant. Ian is returning as Mike leaves; Ian chooses while Mike has no choice. That's league cricket: meritocracy and talent matter even down here.
Hollybank Seconds have an opening bowler who wants to be rampaging but is uncontrolled. He bowls a ball short that gets up to chest height. Ian transfers his considerable bodyweight backwards and pulls the ball down to bounce in front of square leg before it hides in the hawthorn in the distance. Mike and Ian put on 42 for the first wicket until Ian is out for 38. Mike is out an hour later for 11. We finish on 174.
Roger arrives at tea and has good news. The Firsts have scored 294-3 against Bramshaw. I love this feeling of being connected to the other teams; it's what happens in good clubs where the fourths are rooting for the firsts (and vice versa). Colin has hit an undefeated hundred. Colin played for Hampshire Seconds many seasons ago but in a very young, fit, first team he has begun to look his age; especially in the field. But Colin is remarkable - he nets as hard as anyone; he is in charge of the outfield; he never took a holiday in the cricket season until his divorce; he once got 93* against Sylvester Clarke and yet he is still as devoted to cricket as the young guns. He almost made it as a pro and I wonder if as an ex-pro he would still be playing. Players seem to lose interest when it becomes their job.
We bowl well and win comfortably. The fourths bowling is dominated all season by Mark Callow. Mark, like Colin, has spent most of the season fighting against time. He played one game for the thirds early in the season when he was smashed and has spent the rest of the summer bowling superbly for the fourths. But there is becoming a dissatisfaction, even abrasiveness about Mark. He is likely to be the best bowler in the division but the jokes about "seal-clubbing" are wearing thin and Mark increasingly looks like he too is working on an exit strategy. Last week he was unwell and threatened to stop umpiring when Mike was contemplating offering a substitute fielder for an injured player on the opposing team. This week he rants a bit when Mike bowls a colt when the game is won.
The firsts have won well. The ground looks magnificent as a combination of a wet summer and several hundred pounds worth of fertilizer have made the outfield so lush and green it almost looks artificial. The season will be defined by the firsts and they seem to have grabbed the reins again but the formidable accreditation fence is hurrying towards us.
