Sarisbury At Lord's
By Ray Hammond
Lord's Cricket Ground, 18 March 2007
Underneath the Crown and 3 Lions crest of the ECB were the words
"Indoor six-a-side
Club Cricket Championship
National Final 2007,
Lords Cricket Ground, London. Sunday 18th March."
The official programme for the special day also included the complete player list of each team as well as the details of their progress on the way to Lords. There was also a brief piece about each of the clubs and, aware that our boys had drawn Broadstairs in the 2nd semi-final, I noticed that the Kent club were on their 4th visit to Lords in 9 years and had been champions in 1998. Tough one.
But Sarisbury were here , wandering around in their splendid new embroidered shirts, gazing at the excellent indoor set-up and wondering how the day would go. The spectators were reveling in the large, very comfortable viewing area, looking down right over the bowlers end umpire's shoulder. There was also a bar serving food and drink. At least, there should have been but for some reason, nobody had turned up to open it. Penny was really miffed, as she had been assured that food would be available before she was needed to score. As there wasn't, she dashed down the road and bought a nasty sandwich from a garage and sadly missed the official team photo. Penny wasn't the only Hammond to be upset. Pete was mourning the theft of his much loved Honda Civic on Saturday morning, stolen and completely wrecked in a crash into the woods at the end of Prelate Way in Fareham. Sadly the thief had survived! Not good preparation for such an important day. The rest of us were in a better frame of mind, however, as the prospects for the day were very promising. Some cricket to watch of course, but a free guided tour of the ground as well, plus a reception in the hallowed Long Room at the end of the day. There were over 40 Sarisbury people in the place though the other clubs were, for once, just as well supported.
The beautifully equipped Lords Indoor School was a wonderful sight as the teams were given a pre-match briefing that included one item that I have always found ridiculous. It had been decided that instead of a no-ball line, the judgment of whether a ball was pitched too short or not was left to the decision of the umpire, based on the height at which it arrived at the batsman. "Armpit high" was a no ball, below that was OK! Sounded daft to everyone but the umpires but never mind eh!
The first semi-final was between Lutterworth, a Leicestershire club and Blaydon, from Durham. It ended in a very close win for Blaydon, clinching it off the last ball. Now it was our turn!
Simon won the toss and decided to bat first. After 2 overs he and Bondy had got the score up to 16 but the skipper was clean bowled for 3 off the last ball. In the 3rd over Bondy got a 3 but Pete, off his first ball, was given out lbw for a duck, disaster threatens! Dom was next in and he and Bondy hung on, with the ball swinging well and the bowling and fielding very threatening indeed. The scoring was worryingly slow now but the partnership took the score to 64 before a sharp piece of work in the field saw Bondy run out for 22 in the 8th over. Joe joined Dom but only 10 more were added before Dom was caught and bowled for a gutsy 19 off the first ball of the 10th over. Keith couldn't get the ball away and had to fend off some sharp, shortish stuff before getting a 2 off the last ball. 76 for 4 off 10 overs didn't look good. However Joe and Keith managed to put on 24 in the last 2 overs, though Joe was stumped for 12 off the penultimate ball. Keith even managed to hit the back wall with an on-driven 4, the only one of the innings! He ended up with a brave 20 not out from a total of 100 for 5. Nobody thought it was enough but the boys had fielded their way out of trouble before so it wasn't over yet.
Joe's first over went for 11, but Dom's was a disaster, as he was picked off for five 3s as Broadstairs moved effortlessly to 30 off 2 overs. The ball would not swing at all now and one back of a length delivery was immediately no-balled as "armpit high" so neither bowler knew quite where to pitch it. After 4 overs the score was a comfortable 55 for no wicket as both opening batsmen retired. However Sarisbury now managed to get back into the game a bit as the number 3 batter was run out for a duck with the score on 86. Then Keith had the number 4 caught by Pete and numbers 5 and 6 were both run out with the nerves jangling all round. Both Broadstairs openers were back in, refusing to take any chances as they edged their way to victory. Keith completed his second over with the remarkable figures of 1 for 9 as everyone else went for 10 an over or more! When the 9th over (Pete's 3rd) started Broadstairs needed 9 to win. Pete had been furious for being no-balled previous over for a short delivery identical to those bowled to Keith in our innings. Now he was obliged to pitch it up but still there was no swing and Brennal had no difficulty knocking off the required runs as Sarisbury were beaten by 4 wickets and the dream finally died.
Beaten by a better team on the day? Didn't perform on the big stage? All those sporting clichés could be used but the great strength of the team, the ability to bowl and field opponents out of a game, just didn't happen. The fielding was there, a good catch and 3 run outs testify to that but the bowling didn't happen. Dom went for 16 an over, Pete 12 though Joe, at 10 an over was at least competitive. Keith's 4.5 an over was extraordinary but the opposition were determined not to take any risks at this stage so they treated him with great respect. There was no pace on the ball and no loose deliveries! The game was already lost by then so they could afford to take it steady. You can analyse all you like but what nobody could deny was that Sarisbury Athletic Cricket Club had been to Lords. How many clubs have tried to do that and failed? And we weren't even a Premiership side, just a humble Hampshire League club. That is something to be very proud of. Later in the year, when the test match between England and the West Indies took place at Lords on the 17th -21st May, the match programme contained an article about our magic day, entitled "Bouncing off the walls" There, Sarisbury Athletic got their mention "beaten in a hard fought semi-final contest" as the 20 odd thousand copies of the programme spread our name. That was something to be proud of too.
Keith was very proud of his performance on the day and rather unwisely tried to tell his team mates how he had played out of his skin and lost etc, etc. Dom summed up their feelings "Keith..shaddup!" Later, feeling rather dejected, Keith was sitting in the bar when a stranger, one of Broadstair's supporters, came up and, putting his hand on Keith's shoulder, said, simply "Well bowled, lad" that was nice.
So as the afternoon wore on, the mood improved and everyone was able to enjoy the special occasion. Blaydon beat Broadstairs in the final and after the presentations all the Sarisbury supporters came down on to the playing arena to have their picture taken with the team. Lots of smiles and a few sad faces too. I am looking at the picture now and I notice a grey haired old gentleman standing next to Andy Oliphant. I remember him, Dom Ducellier's Grandad, Roy Scott, the man that nearly crashed the car on the Isle of Wight. It's nice that he made it to Lords. He passed away only 5 days later.
After the pictures came the really special event as we all trooped off to the Lords pavilion and were allowed in to the holy of holies, the Long Room at Lords, for a wine and snacks reception. All that free plonk was too much for Pete who, having decided to drown his sorrows (remember, in addition to his cricket misfortunes, his car was in a scrapyard!) found that having as much free wine as he could drink was a great help!
The bus back was a fairly drunken affair, though much of Terry's booze was left untouched as everyone was already full up! The players presented Penny with a Lords embroidered shopping bag for all her work as organiser and scorer. Andy O spent the whole journey telling Tom Clark just what he thought of him, though he couldn't remember much of what he said the next day, probably just as well. Pete fell asleep on the bus and slept all the way back, holding an unopened can of Fosters till we got to the M27 junction when it finally fell from his nerveless fingers, still unopened. Finally, we all piled off the bus back at Sarisbury after an extraordinary day, the climax of an extraordinary cricket journey.
