Nearly There
By Ian Clark
WEEK 3
MAY 24th 2008
3rd TEAM v CURDRIDGE (A), Regional South 1
1st TEAM v PORTSMOUTH 2nds (A)
Curdridge snuggles into the South Downs. A third of the ground is an embankment; if you are at long leg or wide long off you are ten feet above the pitch. Curdridge's square is excellent and with its mature oaks and chestnuts it's a beautiful venue for cricket.
Curdridge are top of the division. They were champions of South East II last year but while we clawed our way up to promotion they skipped ahead and gazed down on us all from mid-summer. After 2 defeats for the thirds pragmatism is already framing our approach and today may be about getting bonus points. In our league you get 12 points for a win; a point for taking 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 wickets and a point for 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 runs. You can therefore get up to 24 points if you win. But we are looking to survive and what often distinguishes survivors from relegated teams is picking up points in defeat and avoiding a thrashing.
Craig has been dropped and Jake has kept his place in the Seconds. Our attack is Dr. Mike, Robbo, Danny and me. We're all over 35 and it's hot. Dr. Mike and Robbo open the bowling and bowl steadily but ineffectively. Curdridge may look like a traditional village side but they have a quality wicket and quality openers and they are soon 50 without loss. Danny and I come on and we manage to get both openers; Danny to a spectacular one-handed caught and bowled and at 80-2 after 20 overs we are in the match. The Curdridge number 4, Proctor, has been watchful but some players can intimidate when they are playing defensively and Proctor look like he is taking the longer view. Proctor on drives me for 4 and I know we're in trouble. On-drives are played by proper cricketers. We bowl respectably for the rest of the innings but concede 7 an over. Proctor speeds to a century that culminates in a series of tracer-bullet 6s. Like good players he hits the ball really hard. Generally a player who hits 6s at our level will swing and get under the ball with his weight on the back foot. This can result in 6s that soar but do not go far. Proctor is hitting a 4 iron with his weight coming forward with the ball skimming flat. At deep long off I'm trying to obscure my hope that I don't have to try to take a catch. Eventually Proctor toes another attempted 6 and 14 year old Sammy Floyd takes a good running catch.
Dr. Mike then bowls well and we pick up some late wickets as Curdridge finish on 233 - 6. On a good pitch, on a small ground against an old fielding side we should fancy our chances but we don't. Already the inadequacy of our batting has been dissected in this league.
We start well but Reevsy is bowled and then Tosders is run out. He shouts something back to Danny as he hauls himself up the embankment to the Pavilion. Danny is one of the most expressive players I've ever played with. If Danny plays and misses, he whips his head back like a tango dancer; sometimes he does it twice. If he's out he either walks quickly off like a man leaving a crime or wades back like a man up to his waist in sand.
It's clear from Danny's body language that he thinks the run out was Tosders' fault. Run outs are often the product of large run chases. We have dropped behind the run rate, but not hopelessly, and I suspect the reason for the run out is the different approaches of Danny and Tosders. Tosders is a pugnacious hitter who wants to attack and win the game; Danny is accumulating to bring us points and will review our chances of winning the game with 10 overs to go. Danny probably rightly thought the second run was not worth the risk; Paul's game is all about risk. Paul sits next to me and is seething. It's uncomfortable because Paul is usually so avuncular.
Run outs bring out the worst in cricket and the way it imposes individual performance, good and bad, on collective effort. If you make mistakes you not only damage yourself but also your team-mates. It's rewarding when it goes well combining team success with individual achievement but it can be damaging when it goes badly. It's a good job we're only playing for fun. The chance of a first class cricketer committing suicide is three times higher than the national average.
I suspect Danny is affected by the run out because he is bowled having an uncharacteristic heave for 45 soon afterwards. Tosders lets him know his unhappiness as Danny walks past. Danny deals with it well but the tensions in the team are becoming apparent. Our good start has rapidly become 50-3. Sammy Floyd and Olly are now out there and most of us have resigned ourselves to starting the season with 3 defeats.
Bob arrives and shambles up the hill to join us. Bob has a hayrick beard; a baseball cap and big round glasses. Most clubs have a Bob; he is groundsman and has been Chairman of Selectors, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer and has played for all our teams. Bob relishes his reputation for being cantankerous and unkempt and unsentimental. I've only known Bob for 2 years so I've never met the guffawing Bob. Bob's son, Stephen, a fine player, died suddenly nearly 3 years ago at the age of 21.
"You heard about the firsts Bob?"
"Yeah, last I heard they were 200-1 and Pete was going like a train."
Everyone cheers up a little at that. We've accepted we'll be bottom and 0-3 but the firsts should be top and 3-0.
Pete will score so quickly that Portsmouth II will be unable to match the run rate. Pete is Peter Hammond. Club cricket is filled with those who had trials or were cut or weren't quite good enough. Tom says everyone at that level has a hard luck story. And club cricket, unlike say football or rugby, doesn't allow those who near miss to become restoratively deluded about the might have been, because cricket can quantify failure. If you can't average 40 at this level you can't bat at a higher level. If you can't bowl with an average under 20 you can't go up to the next level. Sometimes the 5mph increase finds you out or the ball turns just too much and you make your excuses and leave. I remember watching Ken McEwan bat as elegantly as Gower for summers at a time but he would wilt once the bowling went above 85mph. Just like us, only 10mph faster. And it's there for everyone to see.
Pete scored his first hundred for our firsts at 13, he played for Hampshire 2nds at 15, he played 2 years above his age at county youth level and captained the West of England. He had a scholarship at Millfield (that he declined) and was apparently destined for a first-class career. And then he had a bad season and Hampshire didn't offer him a contract and then the West of England dropped him and it all unravelled.
Colin, our opener, who played a dozen games for Hampshire 2nds, defers only to Pete. He told me "he plays a different game to the rest of us." And he does. Pete hits the ball so hard the bat makes a sharp cracking noise like a gunshot. It's a noise no-one else makes. It's the noise of someone with a high backlift snapping their wrists shut at the exact time a cricket ball comes into contact with the middle of a cricket bat. Pete is one of the few might have beens in club cricket. Who knows where Pete could have ended up; would another 5mph have been too much? What is clear is that even at County 1 the ball is 10 mph too slow for Pete.
Sam Floyd and Olly play very well. This is Sammy's first year of league cricket and Olly's 30th. They show that although Curdridge's batting will win them many games this year, their bowling is not strong enough to bowl out good batting sides. Sammy and Olly put on 90 before Sammy is LBW. He says he hit the ball and has a tantrum.
Sammy's dismissal for 43 is the end of the contest. We struggle on gamely but the slide to defeat is inevitable. We end on 187 but at least its good bonus points.
Tom arrives at 9.30. Portsmouth's IIs had fought hard but the firsts had won comfortably again. Tom took 3-37. I keep waiting for Tom's bubble to burst with a 4 overs spell for 42 runs but it's clear this outcome hasn't occurred to Tom.
