September 15th -
Ivinghoe & Pitstone
Cancelled - Rain
September 8th - Goodwill Wanderers
Abbotts Langley cancelled on Thursday
and we welcomed a last minute change to a Cricket Conference side Goodwill
Wanderers ...
and WON !
A win! A bloody win. After a joyless August, the (no
longer) mighty Heath registered our first victory since July 28th. With
Abbots Langley dropping out on the Thursday, much conferring took place
and it was finally agreed that Goodwill Wanderers would be the day's
opposition. And what an aptly named cricket team - for they proved a most
entertaining bunch, full of abuse directed (as it should be) relentlessly
towards their own players.
But before we get to the report proper, first, an apology. Last week's
match report was written after a very boozy evening and I'm afraid it all
got a bit Mark Nicholas in places ("Stephen Harmison, with a slower ball,
one of the great balls. Given the moment, given the batsman, and given the
match…" Yep, sorry about that one, chaps.) So this week, a review in
strictly rigorous fact-based fashion:
1. Hyde Heath fielded first. (I can't remember if we won the toss.)
2. We bowled. Ben sent down a very tidy opening spell to pick up one
wicket; at the other end Spencer picked up three, but was expensive in his
second spell. Ateeq took two (or one) and I took one.
3. I bowled the best I had in some weeks but proved expensive as one of
Goodwill's batsmen made an inexplicable 60 or so, in which he looked like
he might get out any second but periodically timed the ball, much to our
surprise.
4. Sohail bowled well, although his figures were ruined by a sole death
over that cost 16, and Goodwill finished on an eminently threatening 179
(later upgraded to 180 for reasons that never became entirely apparent).
5. My fielding was ghastly.
6. Tea was belting, with jam and cream bedecked scones the stand-out
performance in a strong all-round display.
7. After being horribly dropped offering one of the simplest
caught-and-bowled chances you could imagine, Dom proceeded to compile a
second consecutive half-century, and along with Capper, finding form after
a couple of low scores, put together an increasingly authoritative opening
partnership of 120 that effectively sealed the match. Both timed the ball
well, with Dom particularly strong on the cut, and Capper timing the hell
out of it off his legs.
8. Jez and I then came in to steal some glory with a few boundaries
against a demoralised opposition (who have clearly never witnessed a Hyde
Heath collapse before).
9. We went to the Plough.
10. The end.
Tom Jeffreys
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September 1st - Roxbourne - Home
The pattern of the 2013 season continued this Sunday at home against
Roxbourne, as Hyde Heath again fell just short of victory, with the
absence of several key players increasingly keenly felt. On the plus
side, it was an extremely enjoyable and competitive game, thanks almost
entirely to a quite brilliant innings from Dom Haddock, who pitched up
at Fortress Heath having only just returned – engaged, no less! – from
glamorous Copenhagen.
With most of the team slow to arrive, the mighty Heath were forced to
bat first and the makeshift opening partnership of myself and Capper got
off to a poor start, when after a couple of well-times strokes, Henry
was bowled by a gently away-swinging yorker. Jez, at number 3, and I
steadied the ship –although it turns out there is such a thing as too
steady, and after a rather painful 11 off 40 balls (dropped three times,
never looked like scoring any runs) I was finally caught behind having a
horrible swish.
Thereafter, our middle order stuttered and all looked grim, until Dom
rocked up, played himself in carefully, before accelerating through the
gears. At first he made himself comfortable, judging the pace of the
pitch and the bowlers; then he pushed the singles hard to irritate the
fielders, bowlers and captain; before really cutting loose in the final
overs. It was probably the best innings I’ve seen Dom play – placing the
ball perfectly and running hard, or drilling it through the gaps for
boundaries, he made a mockery of line or length or fielding positions.
In the final two overs, there was a sense of inevitability about his
batting that echoed Michaels Hussey or Bevan at their best. Whatever
field was set, whatever the bowler bowled, Dom placed it where he wanted
– for a scampered single to keep the strike, or in the gap for yet
another boundary. It was pretty amazing stuff.
Given useful support by Ben, Angus (who injured himself trying to keep
up) and Stanley (who played one glorious stroke through the covers) Dom
was able to drag us up to a relatively respectable 150ish thanks to his
unbeaten 65 off 47 balls. Especially impressive as he was about 12 off
30.
Unfortunately, from there our lack of bowling was exposed. I opened and
picked up a couple despite bowling dross (the wickets came from a
brilliant stumping by Capper and a quite extraordinary one-handed catch
low down by Spencer at cover) whilst, at the other end, Spencer picked
up three, bowling with more height and pace than usual. But he probably
bowled an over too many, and despite being 7 down , the oppo cobbled
together a sufficiently significant partnership to take them over the
line. It’s rather been the story of our season – just a bowler or
batsman (or both) light.
How we could have done with Richie Austin.
Tom Jeffreys
Tom Jeffreys
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August 25th - Bank of England
- Home
| Trophy Presentation
Veronica Hartley presents the team captains with the Brian Hartley
Trophy which will be played for annually in his memory
in the annual match between Hyde Heath and Bank of England - a long
established fixture originated by Brian
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As bad light prevented England from what
would have been an historic 4-0 series
victory over the old enemy, Hyde Heath
marked our own long-standing fixture with a
touching tea-time ceremony in memory of the
man who originated it, Brian Hartley. A
couple of hours later, and the newly
inaugurated Brian Hartley Trophy (a rather
nice silver tankard) was held aloft by the
captain of the Bank of England, as we
recorded our sixth loss of a disappointing
season.
Chasing an arguably below-par 165, the
Bank cruised home with 3 overs to spare
thanks to a monumental effort by one of
their young batsman who saw them home
single-handedly with one of the most
clinically inevitable centuries I’ve ever
had the misfortune to witness. We didn’t
bowl badly – I was reasonably accurate, as
was Sohail, Spencer was steady, and new man
Usman bowled with pace and swing away. We
did probably have attacking fields for too
long (Usman still had two slips, a gulley
and a backward point when he was past 70),
and I think we could have tried a few more
bowlers. Charlie was limited by the attack
at his disposal, but Sohail should have
bowled more than just 6 overs, and I
probably would have given Dom a couple just
to see what happened on a stodgy wicket.
I, block
But in the end it probably wouldn’t have
mattered: he was simply too good for us. To
underline the chasm between him and the rest
of us (by ‘us’, of course, I mean ‘them’),
when his hundred was brought up, the Bank’s
total was only about 120. When he hit the
winning runs off Charlie (batting and
bowling in the same match for the first time
in years) the next highest score was just
23.
Earlier, we’d got off to a poor start as
Henry cut the fourth ball of the opening
over straight to point. Dom and I then
steadied things with a careful 50-run stand.
It was slow going, but the opposition bowled
accurately, found a little swing, and the
pitch made all but the rankest of long-hops
difficult to time. As we began to grow in
confidence, however, Dom skied to mid-off
and I gloved a silly sort of late cut / dab
shot to be caught behind for 38. After doing
all the hard work I was bloody fuming.
The customary clatter of wickets which
followed was halted by Matt Sims, who played
several rasping shots through the off-side,
and Usman, who – despite some ropey calling
– looked very solid for his 50. On a pitch
with a bit more pace, he could be very
dangerous.
There was one moment of genuine concern when
one of the Bank’s fielders slid round the
boundary to avert a four, collected the ball
and hurled it in, only to buckle and remain
on the ground. It turned out he’d
inadvertently slid along the rubber matting
surrounding a new children’s climbing frame
that had earlier this season been placed
inside the boundary by some half-conscious
dunce. The poor fellow in question was taken
to hospital with a cut so deep that
witnesses said they could see bone.
Fortunately, although hobbling visibly, he
returned to the ground later in the day. But
it’s about time somebody moves that bloody
thing.
Anyway, enough local-issue griping. In the
end we scrabbled up to 165, which I thought
was probably just about enough. With their
young centurion in the ranks, however, I
think they could have chased many more.
PS. I've been told off for neglecting to
mention tea. It was excellent. And there was
bloody loads of it! Which is almost as
important
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Tom Jeffreys
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August 18th - Gamecox - Home
Dom Haddock
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August 4th - Bourne End - Away
So apparently that old adage about London buses also applies to half
centuries. You wait over a decade for one to come along, and then
suddenly it's two in consecutive innings. Yes, after my long-awaited
maiden 50 against The Full Tossers two weeks ago, 50 number two was
registered immediately afterwards, away at Bourne End. If the first was
painfully slow, this was a much freer affair – flowing even, with
several fours and even a six – although I did benefit from two or three
lapses in the field – not drops exactly, more a kind of lethargy that
prevented the oppo's fielders from even bothering to attempt to catch
the ball. Perhaps the same lethargy overcame our spectators who failed
to acknowledge the momentous landmark until after I was dismissed, top
edging a pull, for 52. No claps, no jugs people.
Batting at three again due to absences – have I nailed down this pivotal
position? Where will Capper slot into the order when he returns? – I
came to the crease after the openers had made a calculatedly aggressive
start to our chase of 220 in 40 overs. After playing one of the most
sweetly timed lofted drives you could wish to see, Dom was extremely
unfortunate to be given out caught of his forearm by Ben Sonley, and
left the field absolutely fuming. He's subsequently emailed me to say
that he has a rather large bruise half way up his arm where the ball
hit!
At the other end Shrimpie “had the dog” after several catches were
dropped off his bowling and Bourne End captain Azhar had capitalised by
depositing a series of increasingly fast, flat deliveries into the
nearby field. After smiting several glorious sixes himself (“Do you
reckon I can win the sixes cup in one innings?” he asked as I came out
to bat) he essayed one big hit too many and got himself stumped.
Strangely, the run rate didn't drop that much as I found an able ally in
young Olly who batted extremely sensibly – blocking the good stuff and
capitalising on anything legside – and the partnership began to grow. It
was by a distance the most I've enjoyed batting: the pitch was a
minefield, and the opposition's battery of “quirky”-actioned spinners
were turning it square and finding occasionally laughable amounts of
bounce. Olly was sconned twice in an over, one was called a wide so high
did it bounce over my head, and I have a cluster of bruises on my ribs
from a succession of off-breaks that spat off a length. But I felt
confident judging the length and there were sufficient bad balls to keep
things ticking. Thank god they didn't have any genuinely fast bowlers –
Sohail would have been lethal on that pitch. At the half-way stage we
were 100 for 2 and very much in the game.
When Olly and I were eventually dismissed, Jez and Spencer kept our
hopes alive with a quick-fire partnership, but their dismissals exposed
our inexperienced lower-middle order (comprising Gwillem (sp?), Angus,
Ben and Liam). And as the run-rate began to escalate, the wickets
tumbled, our innings rather tailed off and we eventually fell short by
20 or so.
Earlier, we were so short of seamers that I opened the bowling, picking
up two wickets – one to an excellent reflex catch by Ben in the gulley.
But it was nothing compared to Liam's quite brilliant snare to get rid
of their dangerous number four, who I'm pretty certain has scored runs
against us in the past. The batsman was lured into a false drive against
Ben, who like those battalions of Gloucestershire medium-pacers in the
early 2000s (Mark Alleyne, Ian Harvey, James Averis, Jon Lewis, Mike
Smith... any others, Ali?) found a niggardly length to record our most
economical figures of the day. The ball in question flew high over
Liam's head at point. Backpeddling rapidly, he kept his eyes on the
ball, leapt backwards and somehow caught it one-handed. An absolute
screamer.
Inexplicably, Liam decided to make up for this moment of brilliant by
shelling two much more straightforward catches – one at long-on and one
at backward point. Those moments proved crucial, as thereafter the
wheels rather came off. Spence dropped one in the deep after having run
in too far off the boundary and Angus got nowhere near two that were
arguable catchable, as the bowling was put to the sword. Even more
inexplicably, I actually took two catches – one pretty well-held inches
off the ground at deep backward square leg. But, increasingly lacklustre
in the field, slow between overs, and lacking much bowling, we were
incapable of preventing Bourne End's late innings acceleration, despite
good spells from Ben and Dom. In the end we got closer than might have
been expected, but not close enough.
Oh, and before we conclude this week's match report, special mention
should go to the makers of Bourne End's tea. Well-made sandwiches were
supplemented by an absolutely belting chicken biryani – heated up in the
pavilion and served in 22 separate tupperware boxes alongside a cooling
yoghurt and mint sauce. Yum! Perhaps it was the curry that contributed
to all those runs. Ahem. Sorry.
Tom Jeffreys
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July 28th - The Carpenters Arms
- Home
A brand new fixture, courtesy of the conference (how much conferring
actually takes place, I'll never know) saw Hyde Heath cricketers
travelling all the way to the village (town?) of Harpenden and its rather
charming environs, to do battle with the Carpenter's Arms CC, inside the
very pleasant grounds of a well-heeled boarding school.
Winning the toss in a limited overs match, Charlie decided (eventually) to
have a bowl. Things started badly as Jez rediscovered his wide problem,
but at the other end, Spence bowled with accuracy and a bit of movement
with the new ball to pick up three wickets and help disguise the fact
that, for a limited overs game in particular, we were pretty light on
bowling. Replacing him, I then picked up two further wickets (to fairly
average shots) to leave the Carpenters in need of some rebuilding.
Fortunately they were able to do so thanks to a talented left-hander, and,
off another batsman, one of the worst dropped catches I've ever seen.
Shrimpie, whose bowling has really picked up in recent matches (the very
quick and the very slow deliveries now supplemented by a good stock ball
that has a bit of loop at decent pace and still grips a fair bit off the
surface) enticed the batsman into a poke outside off stump. The ball
looped gently - no more than a little under-arm lob - straight to the
hands of the man stationed at 1st slip. Inexplicably, however, the ball
went not cleanly into his hands, but clunked into his thumb and thudded to
the floor. A moment's pause for bafflement. The realisation that it had
truly happened. Derisory laughter all round.
And the culprit? Um, yup. Sorry chaps.
On the plus side, this enabled me to pick up another three wickets (two to
fairly average LBW decisions) to make it five in total. Two jugs in
consecutive weeks. Good lord.
Furthermore, that the opposition were able to recover to post 164 (still
well below par on a flat pitch with a fast outfield) meant that Henry was
able to record his first hundred of the season, putting some fairly
average bowling to the sword - strong as always through the legside but
also playing the occasional back-foot forcing stroke through the offside.
In his slipstream, Dom made 30-odd and Shrimpie chipped in with a few, and
that, ladies and gentlemen, was that. Another win for the mighty Heath
Tom Jeffreys
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July 26th - Petts Wood - Home
The tourists arrived at Hyde Heath after narrowly
beating Ley Hill on Thursday by 1 wicket having been set 160 to win.
Sadly one casualty was my little brother Toby, who having stroked a
glorious 7 pulled his hamstring attempting a leisurely two. So sadly
there was to be no opportunity for me to sledge him from behind the
stumps. Petts Wood stayed at the Premier Inn in Hemel and discovered to
their horror that the nearest pub was 10 minutes walk away..they recovered
their composure to sink a few at the Wetherspoons pub and consume a dodgy
pizza.
The Heath X1 showed several changes with Charlie
wisely recruiting several experienced Man. Utd fans who greatly added to
our batting strength. Charlie won the toss and of course we fielded,
with Jez opening the bowling with Mark James, fresh from his maiden 50
against the Full Tossers. Our bowling was a little wayward but Jez was
unlucky not to get a LBW in the fitsrt over. However he succeeded a few
overs later, swinging one back into the left handed Nuttall’s pads.
Another wicket followed thanks to Charlie’s astute captaincy. He moved
the slip to leg slip, and with Jez serving up an accurate leg stump half
volley the other Petts Wood opener hit it firmly straight to him.
Liam bowled a long spell, grabbing two wickets,
including a member of the fraud squad. Despite a tight spell from Atif
Petts Wood’s total continued to mount, partly due to geriatric wicket
keeping from the Chairman, who was slow to move to anything that meant he
had to move his arms or legs. The tourists’ total of 225 looked pretty
formidable, with extras contributing an unbeaten 48...
Caroline Capper and Jan did a wonderful job of
arranging teas and the tourists were suitably impressed. I managed to
embarrass my bro’ by leading a chorus of happy birthday to him...and he
was later rather harshly fined for having a birthday on tour.
The Heath started slowly with Shrimpy (opening with
his Uncle) falling early to a good catch by the fat policeman off the
Wood’s skipper, Buttery, who was bowling gentle but accurate off spin.
There also followed a road rage incident right next to the common with a
local resident getting out of his car and berating the owner of the car
behind him for trying to overtake in the village...it nearly came to
blows. Not as exciting as the ladies fighting on the common last year but
I am wondering if Hyde Heath is becoming a crime hot-spot? Is it the
sight of cricket on the common that tips people over the edge? Anyway
Charlie’s experienced pros saw off the opening bowlers but the nagging
left arm gentle guile of Ward meant runs were not flowing and the run rate
was up to 8 an over. It was at this stage that Toby upset his team mates,
committing the unforgiveable sin of ambling over to The Plough to get a
G&T and failing to get his team mates a jug of Pimms...a well deserved and
hefty fine was to follow. However the departure of Hubbick for a well
made 48 brought Mark and Kevin (Charlie’s secret weapon) together and they
began punishing some wayward Petts Wood bowling. Their female tourist was
treated in most ungentlemanly fashion and deposited into the trees ( I
appreciate this could be misconstrued) and with 20 coming from one over
at a critical time five were needed from the last over. Mark duly sealed
the win with three balls left.
Although the game was marked by some dodgy bowling
over 450 runs were scored with most players getting a good game , thanks
to the efforts of both captains. Buttery could have tightened up one end
but ensured that all the tourists had a game, even if it meant losing the
match.
Petts Wood 226-5 Hyde Heath 227-3 Hyde Heath won by 7 wickets and
with three balls to spare
Matt Sims
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July 21st - Full Tossers - Home
A
great week for sporting patriots (an Ashes thrashing, some rugby, that
tennis fellow, some other stuff) reached what was universally acclaimed as
its apotheosis on the hallowed turf of Hyde Heath last week, with a
long-awaited maiden half century from your humble correspondent.
Long-awaited, it must be said, in more ways than one: for not only is this
something like my 14th season at the club, but it was also one of the most
painfully tedious innings that Fortress Heath has had the misfortune to
witness in some time.
Batting first after losing the toss, we lost Matty fairly early, before I
(batting at three due to several absentees) and Shrimpie put on a hundred
or thereabouts for the second wicket, of which I contributed about 12, or
maybe 15, certainly no more than 20. Shrimpie was at his best, timing
every shot perfectly and manipulating the ball into gaps with ease. I was
leaving elegantly as ever, and playing and missing with real flair. The
crowd surely sensed something special...
Once Shrimpie was out for 60-odd, played on (I think), Heath newcomer Mike
(a friend of Shrimpie's form Lacey Green) proceeded to demonstrate what an
asset he could be for the club with some powerful hitting and judicious
defence on his way to an impressive debut fifty. Meanwhile, I pootled
along, increasingly hot and exhausted, but really nailing the odd forward
defensive. Strangely, I also hit my first six ever (a rank full toss obvs)
and then somehow I had 50, before being caught (rather brilliantly in fact
at long-on) attempting to hit another. Oh well.
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| I actually caught one |
Of more note, perhaps, than my non-existent strokeplay was
the occasionally fractious dialogue with the opposition, The Full Tossers.
At the half-way stage of our innings they had only bowled 18 overs, and
the more quickly Shrimpie scored, the slower the over-rate seemed to
become. Whether or not this was a deliberate policy, there certainly did
seem to be a lot of field changes (possibly to counter my vast array of
strokes) and things did get more than a little frustrating - to the extent
that words were exchanged and threats made. But we all kissed and made up
shortly afterwards, as it should be with village cricket. By the time of
tea, they'd bowled a perfectly respectable 40 overs, so all was well.
After some smashing cucumber sandwiches (thanks me!) it was back out in
the blazing sun. Ali bowled his usual immaculate line and length and
Shrimpie varied his pace and found some turn, and soon their top order
were in tatters. Shrimpie took five wickets (of which I managed to catch
one at midwicket) and by drinks, with no other bowlers used, the draw was
the only option for the Full Tossers. From that point, it was a case of
trying to winkle out the remaining wickets, with short spells for myself,
Liam, Tim Nutman (making a welcome return to the club) and others. Despite
a rare run out by me (bullet arm? Err, rubber bullets at best), we were
unable to take that final wicket, as their captain bravely came out (in
jeans, after having earlier retired hurt) and blocked out the final over.
A four-jug draw, therefore, and very easily they went down too.
Tom Jeffreys
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July 14th - Red Square Lions
- Home
End of July, holiday & wedding season, a skipper’s worst nightmare.
Almost a full eleven of regulars were unavailable for our fixture against
the Red Square Lions (Capper, Shrimpy, TJ, Sohail, Atif, Luke etc) and
Nico’s in plaster, ending his season. Those selected would have to play
well if the Heath were to win again this week.
Our opening bowlers had read the script and play well they sure did.
Having been asked to bowl first in 30 degree heat, Charlie and Jeremy
combined youth and experience to get us off to a flyer. Jeremy bowled in
excellent areas with some nice shape, giving the oppo no free runs. His
patience was rewarded with a nick to the ‘keeper, soon after he fired down
a yorker which hooped through air, dumbfounding the poor batsmen and
cleaned him up. I can’t remember him bowling a tighter spell all season,
his 12 overs going for just 17 runs. With Jeremy tying them down at one
end, Charlie Fosterripped through them
at the other. A lot had been made of Jimmy Anderson’s never-ending 13 over
spell at Trent Bridge earlier that morning. Charlie went one (well, three)
better and reeled off 15 overs (6 maidens), taking wickets at regular
intervals, finishing with 5 for 53. It’s worth noting that all of the
bowlers were supported with some solid fielding all afternoon from the
rest of the gang, Harry chased everything down, Ben wore one in the chest
at gully, Mark saved a number of runs sweeping on the cover boundary and
the stand-in keeper (yours truly) did a decent job with a couple of
catches and a stumping. We were guilty, however, of not capitalising on a
strong start. It looked at one point that they wouldn’t make many more
than 80 or 90 odd. However, we were a bowler light (the keeper made sure
that his skipper knew that he was loose, but to no avail) and Red Square
Lions are no mugs. They batted deep, used all of their overs and somehow
crept up to 168-9.
Stevens 12-3-17-2
Foster 15-6-53-5
Sonley 5-0-28-0
North 7-1-22-1
McHugh 6-1-24-1
An excellent tea marked the break and gave us time to get up to speed
with England’s heroics in Nottingham. To quote the great Geoffrey Boycott
‘’Bad luck you Aussies, bad luck!’’.
Our reply began well. The Lions’ bowled wicket to wicket, line and
length, nagging sort of stuff. But Matt looked in good touch, flaying
anything wide of off stump to the point boundary in true Sims style. And
Haddock had his favoured pull shot fed on regular enough occasions to make
a fluent 45, before a he was done by the ol’ shin high full toss, as we
know, a deadly wicket-taking delivery. Harry came in at three and hit the
ball hard and far. Whilst he was there, we were in the driving seat and
the scoreboard ticked over nicely. He passed 50 in style but was bowled
very shortly afterwards, in less style. A great knock, was it enough for
HHCC victory?
Capitulation.ca·pit·u·la·tion (noun)
- The act of surrendering or giving up. 2. A document containing the
terms of surrender. 3. An enumeration of the main parts of a subject; a
summary. 4. HHCC middle order falling at regular intervals, without
notching up a double figure score between them.
Well, that’s what we did. It all rather petered out with ten or fifteen
overs to go. They didn’t look like bowling us out, setting defensive
fields to contain rather than take wickets. We didn’t look like getting
runs. And we didn’t. We fill 19 short of our target, a shame, because Jez
and Charlie had put us in such a great position early on. Credit to the
Lions for a good comeback. Ah well, win some, lose some. Oh, and draw
some.
Haddock – 45
Sims – 13
McHugh – 52
Mandeville – 4
North – 7
Harrison – 8
Robertson – 7*
Foster – 4
Stevens – 1*
Dom Haddock
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July 7th - a tribute to Richard Austin
Firstly from
Matt Sims - Chairman Hyde Heath cricket Club ...
RICHARD AUSTIN MEMORIAL SERVICE
Thursday 18th July 2013-07-17
All of the Hyde
Heath community-not only the cricket club but also villagers and the
Plough’s darts team are still shocked that we have lost such a
popular, respected and wonderfully entertaining man. We were lucky
to have Richard at Hyde Heath Cricket club-not only for his
undoubted talents-but also because he was just a lovely guy. It was
only 11 days ago that he played his last game for us.....most of us
are still able to recall their last conversations with him..whether
it was about the joy of spin bowling or congratulating Nick and
Emma’s young son Stanley on his performance.
Richard had played
at a good level for Stevenage cricket club before joining Hyde
Heath. He made an instant impact-taking 3 wickets on debut and
winning the bowling cup in 20002. He was a really good pace bowler
who regularly put in match winning performances and was a
considerable asset to our club. Charlie-our captain always wanted
him in the team as he was a proven match winner with both bat and
ball. Richard had some self belief and always believed that he could
make a difference Despite much mocking from his team mates Richard
decided in 2011 that he was no longer fit enough to bowl fast and
re-modelled himself as a spinner-to great effect-winning the bowling
cup for the last 2 years.
Cricket reveals many
aspects of our personalities and in over ten years at the club Rich
revealed many sides to his. Going away on tour together means one
gets to know your team mates and find out new and interesting
aspects of their personalities. I had the misfortune to share a
room with Richard and can confirm that he snored horribly after a
few pints of lager and a curry.
It was on tour in
Kent that he volunteered to don the wicket keeper’s gloves and then
promptly dropped the easiest catch ever seen..Widen reports;
“Richard called
confidently for the ball, settled himself under its trajectory,
steadied himself, and missed it completely. (refer to Ashes- as
supportive team mates..) We all howled with laughter...Richard
appeared rather puzzled..” and was eventually able to see the funny
side. However he could get quite grumpy on the field if catches
were dropped off his bowling or if he disagreed with the captain’s
field placings-and the club recognised this in 2008 by awarding Rich
a place on an Anger Management course. Richard accepted this
ridiculous award with great good humour.
Richard and Lynne
both came on the club’s tour to Menorca in 2003. Richard unwisely
used his suitcase for all his clothes and cricket kit. He rather
foolishly told Charlie and Jan’s 8 yr old daughter Harriet the
combination. She thoughtfully emptied his case of all his kit and
replaced it with a concrete umbrella stand. Rich was briefly in a
state of complete bewilderment.....
It was on tour that
we first encountered egg throwing as a form of post match
entertainment and Richard thoughtfully decided that this should be
introduced to Hyde Heath. He proudly appeared at a game with 2
dozen eggs which then ended up being splattered all over the common
as many cricketers demonstrated their lack of talent in the skills
of throwing and catching eggs.
Richard was always a
bit of a stats man and this manifested itself in several ways. He
created the Hyde Heath fantasy League on 2011. All the players were
rated at varying and often unflattering values-I was worth only
£1.50 (probably overpriced). I am not sure that we all understood
Richard’s complex rules but his league did provide us with a lot of
entertainment over the last 2 years. Last year he wrote a
marvellously entertaining match report and used Google Earth to
measure the length of 2 sixes hit by the same batsman on different
grounds.
Richard was a great
asset to the club off the field. He served on the committee for
many years and used his design skills to draw up some beautiful
pavilion plans. Just a few weeks ago his witty and original designs
adorned the barrels at our club beer festival. I think Rich loved
playing for Hyde Heath as well as a pint and a fag after, and
sometimes during, a game.
He loved bringing
Rosie to the club where she helped on clear up days and she proudly
followed her dad around the ground.
Richard was an
integral part of the club and the community and we will all miss him
in Hyde Heath. He will be long remembered by all of us. Our love,
thoughts and prayers are now with Lynne and Rosie and we will help
and support you in any way we can in the future.
Matthew Sims
Chairman, Hyde Heath
Cricket Club
Secondly from Dom Haddock ...
HHCC players and supporters met this weekend
devastated and in a state of shock. It was perhaps the saddest week
of the club’s history, as on Saturday morning we received the
shattering news of our friend and team mate, Richard Austin’s,
sudden death. The chairman broke the news to the team and a
consensus of whether we should play the next day was taken. It was
decided that, in Richie’s honour, we should. And that we would meet
at the ground early, to remember him with a minute’s silence before
the match.
At 2pm on Sunday, with the flag at half mast,
Chairman Matt gave us some simple and beautiful words, about a great
club man, an excellent all-rounder, and one of the nicest guys you
could wish to have a beer with on Sunday evening. The crowd of the
entire team, committee members, our families, former HHCC players,
regulars from the plough and Lynne, Richard’s widow – those that
knew and loved him, who he knew and loved – said goodbye to our
friend. Thirdly
from Tom Jeffreys ...
 |
| Richie
batting |
It's difficult really to know what to write, if anything at all –
especially on a flippant little cricket blog such as this. But it
would be wrong, I think, not to mark the tragic event in some
small way. To readers of Cricket Tragics, Richard Austin will be
known as a classy batsman, one-time excellent seam bowler before
turning cannily to off-spin, an endlessly thoughtful strategist of
the game, and a funny and warm-hearted individual, who was always
good company in the pub and whose entertaining writings graced
these pages from time to time. Of course, his life involved much
more than simply cricket (as it does for all of us) and it is his
partner Lynne and young daughter Rosie with whom our greatest
sympathies must lie.
But it is through cricket that we knew Richie, and so through
cricket that we will remember him. The club held a minute's
silence for him before our last match and we are privileged to be
hosting refreshments in the pavilion after his funeral this week.
I'm sure our warm and varied memories of Richie will live long
into the future, and many a glass will be raised in his name.
The last time I saw Richie was in the Plough after we'd been
thrashed by Great Gaddesden at the end of June. He was wearing his
superhero t-shirt from the Kent 'Invicta' tour of 2010, during
which he played a starring role with both bat and ball. It brought
back some great memories of his highest score for the club (a
dashing and extremely attractive 80-odd). Richie was one of those
naturally talented cricketers, who could change a game
single-handedly with either bat or ball. He was always a pleasure
to watch, to chat to, and to play alongside – whether sending one
of his signature pull strokes scorching to the mid-wicket
boundary, finding extra bounce off a good length, or, in recent
years, deceiving batsmen in the air with his flight and drift
away.
 |
| Richie
bowling |
Richie was also a great thinker about the game, and always had a
strategy or a plan of some kind up his sleeve. His attention to
detail was to the fore when he produced a piece of analysis on the
exact measurements of a 6 hit by Sohail in 2012, using
Google Earth to compare it to a similar blow struck by the
same batsman 3 years earlier. Only Richie would have gone to such
lengths for a blog read by about 12 people.
Some of his ideas were less successful than others, however, and
it is one such instance that is still one of my favourite things
ever to have happened in my years at Hyde Heath. Back in 2008,
away on tour at Harvil, Richie was bowling close to his very best,
getting the odd one to bounce and really zip through. Frustration
growing after repeated plays and misses from the batsman, Richie
requested that the short leg be moved to second slip. Much to the
bowler’s unconcealed annoyance, the captain, Matt Sims, refused.
But what should happen two balls later? Richie pitched one up on
middle and leg, the batsmen tried to flick it through midwicket,
instead chipping it straight to myself, at the disputed short leg
position, where I just about held onto a very straightforward
chance. Magic.
Richie was an excellent cricketer, but the great thing about
village cricket is that actually talent doesn't really matter very
much at all. Richie was a pleasure to play alongside and to know
and to call a friend. He will be greatly missed.
|
July 7th - Ballinger Waggoners Home
Taking the field soon after, was a difficult thing to do. But we all
did so together, as Charlie, spotting it was 30 degrees, an absolute road
of wicket and a lightening quick outfield, decided that we ought to have a
bowl. Our opening pair were on great form. Jeremy, it was concluded, had
‘got it back’! Gone were the wides (well, most of them), back was the
nagging line and length and movement through the air. With Jez tying them
down at one end, Charlie Foster ripped through the top order at the other.
His accurate, nippy, left-arm-angling deliveries were too good for the
Ballinger top order and Charlie kept hitting the top of off and top of
middle to claim four wickets. With a good number of the Ballinger batting
line up under 16 years old, what we really needed was ‘the specialist’ Tom
Jeffries in the side. TJ not being available this weekend Shrimp and
Spence took up the mantle. Trouble was, Ballinger had by far their best
batsman lurking in the lower middle order, who dealt out some heavy blows
and got the scoreboard rattling along. Fiddy and Shrimpy kept plugging
away and were duly rewarded with three wickets and two wickets
respectively (including a reaction return catch by Spence, which went like
a rocket. Ballinger might have been able to really get away from us in the
last few overs, were it not for some excellent, miserly, death bowling
from the returning Charlie Foster, who was the pick of the bowlers all
afternoon. Ballinger 187-9 at tea.
There was the danger of HHCC’s reply being overshadowed by Andy
Murray’s efforts in SW19. As Capper and Haddock negotiated the first few
overs, roars could be heard from within the Plough. Had he done it?
Another roar. Was it over? We expected it was. We still had work to do.
HHCC’s run rate rattled along early on, then your reporter attempted to
put a slower ball over the road, failed and was clean bowled. This brought
Shrimpy and Capper together who continued to punish bad balls, all round
the ground. Unfortunately (both for them and for jug-hungry team mates)
they both perished in the high 40s, leaving us with 80 to win, in our last
20 overs.
Harry bludgeoned some decent spin bowling to race to 39 in what seemed
a matter of minutes, before he swiped across the line one too many times.
Neither Gus nor Ben managed to get going and HHCC were left six down.
Ballinger brought their quick opening bowlers back on to try to finish
us off. Liam was unfazed and resolute, offering no way through his forward
defence. At the other end, Spence blocked the good balls and put the bad
ones into the trees. One of Fiddy’s sixes cleared the road and landed on
one of our neighbour’s car roofs, leaving a pretty decent dent. HHCC's
insurers may have already received a claim! Anyway, Fiddy and Liam guided
us home with ease. Spence's cool headed 30*, three wickets and sharp catch
probably sees him snatching man-of-the-match status from Charlie Foster
and his four-fer.
A good, all-round team performance from HHCC, on a very difficult, very
sad day for the club.
Dom Haddock
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June 30th - Gt Gaddesden - Home
Scorchio! The hottest day of the year so far (probably) saw an
under-strength Hyde Heath XI brushed aside by the might of Great Gaddesden,
although, whilst the eventual winning margin of around 80 suggests a
thrashing, we did have our moments, and with a bit more
luck/application/talent, could well have pulled off something special.
Alas, it was not to be.
Missing several players meant that Jez assumed the gloves behind the
stumps (as 4th choice keeper? 5Th?) and our bowling
attack featured no less than four spinners with just the one seamer (Mike
Perera, playing his first match for the Heath and his first game of
cricket in a decade). On a divine track for batting (flat and easy-paced –
nice work My Duck!) we were always going to be in trouble unless a)
somebody bowled like a genius, or b) the opposition were terrible.
Unfortunately, neither came to pass, as a succession of spinners – Nick
bowling off-breaks, Shrimpie, Richie and myself – all singularly failed to
do anything dramatic.
Like a thoroughbred horse, GG (geddit?!) got off to a flier, with
Mike's extra pace proving much to the liking of their top order. With a
few more matches under his belt, he'll be an excellent addition to the
team (his batting – brief but wristily brutal – could also come in very
useful) but this time proved expensive. He was given especially harsh
treatment by their hard-hitting number 3 – at one time a talented fast
bowler who had trials with Derbyshire, but reduced to bowling spin (and
thrashing us round the park) by cruciate ligament damage. He hit one of
the biggest sixes I've ever seen at the Heath, and at one stage we
had everyone on the boundary against him. It may have been a negative
tactic, but it worked, as he drilled my first ball – the trademark wide
long-hop – to Shrimpie at deep cover. Class.
Shrimpy and I were then able to slow things up for a time, but we both
probably bowled too many overs (24 between us) and it might have been
worth giving Stanley or Atif a whirl. I struggled to quite find the rhythm
of previous matches, but finished with four wickets, which could easily
have been more in Gaddesden's eventual total of 220. Jez, you may be
interested to hear, did an excellent job behind the stumps. He dropped a
very tough chance off me, and missed a tight stumping chance when he got
carried away with a caught behind appeal, but he did take a good catch off
my bowling and gave away only 2 byes (or was it 1?) in the whole innings.
Tea of course was a highlight – Atif's pakoras and chicken tikka of
particular note.
Then Shrimpie and I strode out to open the batting against, *gasp*,
a woman! We negotiated her opening spell and that of an ok medium-pacer at
the other end, and were just beginning to build something that could have
been significant when I decided to play a pull-shot (last seen: 1998) and
got myself bowled. Urgh. It was the best I've ever felt batting, on a flat
pitch, against not enormously challenging bowling. That half century is
never going to come...
That led to a bit of a collapse as Atif was run out (your correspondent
was diplomatically looking the other way so cannot say for sure which of
Shrimpie or Atif was to blame) before new player Mark was beaten by their
Derbyshire spinner, who was turning it both ways (albeit slowly off the
pitch and with a discernible change of wrist position). From there, most
of our middle order got starts, with Shrimpie, Mike and Nick all scoring
between 20 and 40 at decent pace, but we were losing too many wickets.
When Charlie came out to bat at number 11 with 12 overs still to block
out, it never looked likely. Jez settled things by having a heave at the
widest delivery you could possibly imagine, and that, ladies and
gentlemen, was that.
Tom Jeffreys
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June 23rd - Southwell Ramblers
- Home
.... a win for Hyde Heath
Southwell Ramblers are an interesting team with quite
an association to the Heath, many of our members having played for them
including a Past Captain (Terry Laidlaw) and our current Secretary, who
is, still, a mainstay of their club. In the past, we have had many fine
games with well fought results. However, you never know how good a team
will turn up!
The Heath were a bit on the weak side with the
batting looking a bit thin. However Charlie won the toss and, as is
usual, asked the Ramblers to bat first. Although their line-up seemed to
be a variable feast, it didn’t take long for the Heath to strike. Ollie
Haddock, well known to us all as an excellent bat, opened and looked in
good form. However, Alastair Richards bowled 3 successive balls which
bamboozled him, ending with a caught-behind, as fine a piece of bowling as
any the Heath have produced. Alastair bowled 13 overs in succession, never
taking the pressure off with figures of 6-32, with two bowled and,
strangely, 3 caught by Harry McHugh at short mid-off. Charlie Foster
(1-25) bowled well from the other end in support, without as much
penetration but keeping on the pressure. As usual with the Ramblers, they
often change the order and their two best bats came in at 7 and 8. Ali
Turner, who has scored a century against us, at 8, although he succumbed
to the combination of Alastair and Harry! The number 7, however, batted
really well, farming the bowling and taking the pressure and taking their
score to 127 all out. Spencer and Jeremy taking a wicket each (catches off
slogs), but the high-light was Stanley Burgham’s bowling with 1-12. He
looks a cracking prospect. In spite of being a bit short of our best
bowling (where was Tom?) this was a good result, well under par on another
fine wicket from Mike.
The good news, from bowling them out, was that tea
came 10 minutes early and very welcome too. It was a cold afternoon but
cake of many varieties, fruit from around the world and sandwiches
(possibly too much tuna for me, but I am Mr Picky), with crisps and hot
tea, all courtesy of Maureen Shrimpton (not actually present as James was
playing elsewhere), Janet Samuels (and Harriet with her A-levels out of
the way - best of luck with the results), and the Delectable Caroline
helping too. Well done, girls.
One other point in that it was great to see Robin
Richards, our President, back in his customary seat as scorer. As avid
followers will know, it was not possible to play the President’s Day
match, the previous week, because of rain although all had a very
convivial lunch with much enjoyment. It was a shame that this afternoon
was so cold for him but good to see him on two consecutive weekends.
OK, back to the cricket. The Ramblers seem to really
enjoy their cricket but can have some strange collapses, as today, in
their batting. However, they more than make up for that in their fielding
as they did again. I am not a fan of constant “chat” in the field, and
certain sides are just obnoxious and, frankly, intimidatory. The Ramblers
stay on the right side of this although they are extremely noisy in the
field but then they also produced a phenomenal display in their catching
and stops. I suppose one cancels the other and they do really enjoy
themselves. I would also point out, they never dissented at any decision
which is not always the case with “enthusiastic” sides. To digress,
umpiring, when sides challenge a decision in an aggressive way, is
distinctly unpleasant. I am pleased to say the Heath have been very good
on this front over recent seasons (not purely because of my retirement!)
Henry Capper and Harry McHugh opened together and
looked in good form. Henry, after some beautiful blows, fell to a stunning
catch off a full-blooded drive at Short Extra. What the fielder was doing
there anyway was strange, but he caught it on the floor when most would
have waved it through. The game could have got away as Henry is so often
the centre of our batting, and in the past quite often would have done,
but Harry (24) and Nick Burgham (26) knuckled down and put on a good
partnership. Both departed when well set, Harry bowled by a beautiful
delivery that left him and Nick caught off a sliced drive. In strides Atif
Mirza and Spencer North, with neither renowned for “steadiness”! But, huge
credit to them, they played beautifully, Atif showing a restraint which,
for him, is most unusual and Spencer seemingly forgetting his batting by
numbers! For those who haven’t seen it, Spencer usually blocks two balls
and smashes the third irrespective of length, but this time he really
seemed to assess each ball on merits. This didn’t stop him hitting 4
sixes, but they were off poor balls. Anyway, their total was easily
overhauled for 3 wickets down, Atif scoring a very patient 6 not out and
Spencer 37 not out. As I have mentioned, the Ramblers fielded very well
and stopped everything, making their total more formidable than it might
sound and the Heath were delighted to beat a tricky side.
Off to the Plough, under new management, and very
inviting too after an enjoyable game played in good spirit. The only
casualty of the day seemed to be the outfield mower which was sounding
very sick before the match. Thanks to the members of the club, the Heath
have a great collection of ground equipment (and a great Groundsman) but
it is worrying when such a vital bit of kit fails. Hopefully it will be
restored to full fitness by next week, but if not, all volunteers to
report at 11.00 am next Sunday with scissors at the ready!
John Capper
John Capper
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June 15th - Presidents XI -
Home
Need we say more ....
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June
9th - Misfits - Home
Well, what a match? Here at the Heath, there are two
unwritten but obeyed rules. Play a timed game and Bat second. Fortunately
Mr “Timed Game” himself, was Captain for the day as Captain Charlie was in
Turkey kick-starting their economy. No doubt about the first rule, but
apparently Charlie couldn’t resist tinkering from his hotel room in
Istanbul. “Bat first, as they are a bit weak” was the advice delivered
from afar. Unfortunately, down on the ground where the first captain’s
change of plan involved all the team who had turned up early (and that was
only 4) having to have an early pint, all of the “Misfits” were there on
time and in the nets looking young(ish) and even worse, warming up. In
spite of warning signs to the contrary,Charlie’s advice was taken and the
Heath batted first. Stunned late arrivals on questioning “said Captain”
were met with “How could we field with only 4?”, a pretty poor excuse in
my view!
So, the second Rule of Hyde Heath
cricket having been broken, even stranger was the Opening Pair’s
behaviour. Everyone knows our “openers” always impose themselves on the
attack, but this was reversed. Even Dom Haddock seemed mesmerised by some,
admittedly, accurate and fast bowling. No swishes, merely defence, defence
was the method, supported by last week’s hero, Matt Sims, equally
becalmed. 25 off 10 overs was a pedestrian start, mimicking Trott and Bell
in the Champion’s league. However, Matt (26 no) soon saw sense (or was he
protecting his average) and walked off the field with a calf injury,
allowing Shrimpy a go at the same bowling. Suddenly, the score-board
started moving and, helped by the second-string bowlers, even looked
respectable until Dom, after a cracking innings of 40, gave way to Henry.
Henry spent the morning looking at wedding venues and, as well as being
late to the ground and missing his opening berth, could he forget
crinoline and lace and bat. He did and together with Shrimpy played some
glorious shots to bring up the 100 runs. Unfortunately, Henry (28) decided
to give the only fielder within 30 yards some very simple catching
practice and despite 3 juggles he was out.
Now, as we said earlier, Hyde Heath
are not used to batting first. Batting first requires a certain urgency to
take advantage of the extra half hour batting time. Unfortunately, that
urgency was lacking until Sohail (out for a golden duck). Fortunately,
Jeremy (10no), re-born as a batsman, and Shrimpy played beautifully,
murdering the last 4 overs to end up 176 for 5. James Shrimpton played a
really accomplished innings of 70 not out. When he doesn’t give his wicket
away, he really is a very good batsman.
So, in for tea and see what delights
await. This week Maureen Shrimpton and Caroline Capper were in charge. The
cakes were delicious,Carrot Cake, Chocolate and Victoria sponge, sausage
rolls, fresh fruit (including strawberries!) and sandwiches with Brie and
grapes, Cottage cheese, Mango chutney and Rocket and finally Chicken tikka
wraps. If that doesn’t make you long for Sundays, nothing will. A small
word on the participants; one of the Misfits was seen taking the filling
out of his sandwich -heathen – obviously HS2 has affected him; the second
point is the Tea-Bunch, those whose timing is impeccable with the regular
rush round the boundary as tea time approaches. Actually, my views on
these people were modified since they all stayed for the second half and
one of them umpired for the whole second innings.
Right, back to the action with our
opening attack of Sohail and Ali Richards producing about as good a spell
of bowling as you will see on our pitch. Both bowled accurately and with
hostility to their openers. Had it not been for a really true surface
again, prepared by Mike Thompson, batting would have been really
difficult. Ali seemed to have been very unlucky with an LBW shout and both
passed the edge repeatedly. The openers survived both looking fairly
secure in spite of this.
Actually,it’s time for another
digression. Why must some umpires change the wide definition over tea (Ali
will understand), it’s as if they are standing in a T20 suddenly and it
causes bad feeling. It didn’t help to then turn down a perfectly good
request for a wicket. His successors seemed to be fair-minded and honest
but you do wonder how the first umpire manages to sleep at night! I would
like to add, we gave 2 LBW’s and very few wides indeed!
Eventually two wickets in 2 balls from
Sohail changed the game, one caught behind with the batsman walking, the
other bowled – no need for decisions there.( In fact no decisions were
needed at all throughout the innings, 2 big nicks to the keeper, caught
Atif (who?), run out by a mile and all the others clean bowled!l) His
Hat-Trick ball was almost edged too. However it took a change of bowling
to bring more luck. Mr TG brought himself on and soon snared a victim,
caught behind. Not too much later he had another wicket with that rarest
of beasts, caught Atif, and things looked good although a win on this
pitch seemed unlikely. The next wicket was a gem. After the ball was
turned to mid-wicket a quick run seemed a formality, until Shrimpy swooped
and hit with an underhand throw with amazing agility. What a day he had
(including his Mum’s cakes!).
Back to the action and the Misfit’s
number 5 (33, their top scorer) looked to be in no trouble and batting
very competently until Jeremy(1-11) came on. With a mixture of very wide
down the Leg and very wide down the Off he appeared to be bowling for a
draw until he chucked in a straight one to bowl the poor man all ends up.
Tom continued his excellent spell from the other end (7-1-25-2) but was
scheming how to get success from the opposite end. After Jeremy was taken
off, Paul the Plasterer came on for his debut bowl and immediately created
a record. Firstly with a ball, his first, which bounced so often before
arriving any spin or momentum had ceased (actually in a post-match
interview, he said this wrenched his arm and all the blood went from his
head -and presumably, brain – to his arm and accounted for the rest of the
over). Secondly, in bowling 10 more deliveries in this same over without a
run being scored until the ultimate ball with his analysis reading,
eventually, 1 over, 12 balls and only one run (plus a few wides, no
balls), a record number of balls in one over. Jeremy, eat your heart out!
Atif chucked a few down and was relieved they were defending, unlike last
week, but it was back to the opening pair in a rush to achieve the
impossible victory.
Great bowling from Sohail (3-32) and
Ali (10-4-2-16) accounted for the last 3 wickets who couldn’t cope with
the pace and the Misfits were 104 all out. These two and Captain Tom were
outstanding. It is no mean effort to winkle out all 10 batsmen in such a
short time particularly as the Misfits were much stronger than Charlie
Samuels predicted. No question Shrimpy was man of the match and, after a
dodgy start to the season, things have improved considerably for the Heath
with this win.
John Capper
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June
2nd - Ley Hill - Drawn
At last, it seems Summer has arrived and Hyde Heath Common
looked a picture of England at it’s best. Mike had done his usual miracle
on the square with a belter of a pitch and other than the Monstrosity down
at Third Man reducing the outfield, all was well with village life!
Ley Hill are a very reasonable league
side, playing in the Mid Bucks League Premier Division. They turned out a
very high quality team, presumably out of respect and awe for the mighty
Heath. Certainly they had 3 very high calibre batsmen and the opening
attack from their Saturday league side. I am afraid to say, we weren’t
quite at our strongest. What with trips to France, Venice, to a Party (up
North), not allowed out (again) and family commitments, several of our
hardened veterans were missing. However, with the two Foster brothers,
Spencer North and The Chairman, all making rare appearances, there was a
feeling of optimism on taking the field after Charlie won the toss.
We have debated before the merits or
otherwise of limited or timed games of cricket. There is no doubt with
evenly balanced sides, “overs” games can be very enjoyable. However,
sometimes timed games are the only way to play to allow both sides to have
a really enjoyable afternoon. This was one of those games.
Ley Hill started very effectively
scoring 5 an over for the first 20 overs. One of their batsmen, who scored
170 against us 3 years ago, looked particularly good and hit some rather
elegant lofted drives, only one of which offered a hard chance. Our
opening bowlers seemed intent on saving the stump-line of Mike’s pitch for
our innings, which was a bit worrying and the number of wides crept up.
However due to a bit of frustration, these tactics paid off when one of
the openers played on from wide outside the off stump from a ball by
Jeremy. Neither Jeremy(1-51) nor Spencer (2-32)settled down to a good
line and it was left to Charlie Foster(2-47) to re-gain an element of
control with his excellent left-arm over deliveries. He has a beautiful
in-swinging delivery and bowled quite impressively and soon had their
number 3 out LBW. However Captain Charlie was forced to change his other
bowlers with poor Atif taking an unwarranted amount of stick in his 4
overs, Spencer coming back on to have their impressive opening bat out,
caught by Henry and eventually their even better number 4 caught and
bowled, both batsmen having scored well over their fifties. Charlie Foster
took a brilliant sharp return catch of his own bowling, but Ley Hill went
in to tea with 227 – 5 on the board, Nick having taken 2 wickets towards
the end. I am afraid the optimism was less evident by the end of their
innings but, hold on, who cares when you’re coming off to a Hyde Heath
tea!
Tea was excellent with Emma and Janet
delivering a masterpiece. I would particularly commend the scones with
cream and jam and a lovely chocolate cake. Maybe this was why Ley Hill
fielded such a strong side?
Starting with their opening league
bowlers, there was pressure from the start for Dominic and Henry. Both
batted particularly well with Dominic showing rare restraint and Henry
several blistering drives. Dom was unlucky to be out when their ‘keeper
threw the stumps down while he was considering how he missed the ball, a
great shame as he looked in good form. Henry (28) was joined by Harry
McHugh (46) and they looked to attack against very accurate bowling. Henry
was eventually out caught off a slower ball. Simon Foster on his debut and
a bit ring-rusty having not played for 7 years, was bowled without showing
his true form and The Chairman, Matt Sims strode to the pitch.
Hyde Heath have had a nasty habit of
dropping like flies when the pressure was on and many pundits reckoned
Matt was the man to stick fast and steady the ship. Actually, Matt (43no)
played one of the real gems amongst innings at Hyde Heath. He drove
through the covers, slogged a six over mid-wicket and hooked a beamer for
the most glorious 4, a really good innings. Harry had earlier smote
several 4’s all around the wicket and was unlucky to be out for 46. Nick
(28no) came in and hit some excellent blows and, amazingly managed to bat
out the last over off a dobbing leggie without either getting out or
sustaining a hernia, leaving us on 157 for 4 for a well-earned draw.
Bearing in mind their class of
bowlers the quality of their whole team, I think this was a good result
for us. Draws can be boring but the Heath produced some great batting even
if the bowling was not so good and, as some seasoned watchers on the
Common know, the Heath have been known to wilt against a large total!
Honour was satisfied and both teams went away with pride intact, actually
with Pride on tap at the Plough where Matt remained as modest as ever.
John Capper
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May 26th - Chesham - Home
Our
Cricket Club continues to enjoy mixed
fortunes…there was a seventy-run defeat last Sunday by Chesham Sun.XI Tom
Jeffreys bowled well to finish with six wickets for seventy runs as the
visitors made a competitive total of 195, but we had nobody who was
prepared to graft and build an innings of substance in reply. Not like
last week, when Henry Capper (86 not out) and Dominic Haddock (51) led the
charge to 190 to beat Greenwood Park of St.Albans by nine wickets and with
nine overs to spare.
Robin Richards
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May 19th - Green Stock CC
- Away
So far this season
the “Heath” had not had the brightest of starts. The first match against
our old rivals, Chartridge, had ended in a sad loss when chasing a
reasonable total. The second game ended with the rain against the Lee but
only after suffering the indignity of one of their batsmen making one of
the less cultured 40’s ever seen. If Captain Charlie had placed all 9
fielders in an arc between Square leg and a wide mid-on, he would have
been lucky to score a run! The rain soon put an end to the misery and
after a pretty good tea everyone left, frustrated.
The agreed match
between us and Great Misseneden Pelicans never got off the ground. The
initial problem appeared to be a burrowing animal had ruined their pitch,
necessitating a change of venue. Badgers and a cull were mentioned, but
the idea of playing us on a neutral venue filled them with apprehension
and they cancelled the fixture. Whether it was the real badger or our
Umpiring Badger, Tim Barnsley, that worried them was open to question.
Certainly Shrimpy was hoping to regain his form with outside help!
From the fixture
exchange, Green Stock appeared, allowing Mike an extra weekend off as they
offered their ground, and what a ground. The post-code took us near Luton
and it’s airport (Spencer became very romantic at the thought), and even
better, they had laid on a fun-fair on the edge of the pitch. Actually the
pitch itself was of a very high standard with an accompanying outfield
that was huge. Charlie won the toss and elected, as usual, to field. Now,
I’ll be honest here, your correspondent was a bit late getting to the
ground and the early story varies. Some say Jeremy’s first over was 15
balls long, others 16, but either way, probably the longest over in our
history took quite a while. Jeremy will say the umpire was a bit harsh on
wides, Henry was laughing too hard to care but it was a shocker.
Fortunately Sohail bowled well at the other end to make up for it. Green
Stock made steady progress on a very fast outfield despite Charlie Foster
(0-24), Spencer (2-28 including a very good return catch) and Nick “The
Kiwi” (1-32) all bowling well. By the end of their 40 overs, they were
189 for 6, a formidable total or so it seemed.
On entering the
tea-room, the Heath were a bit worried about a sign saying tea-money was
£60, but apparently this referred to another side who used the pitch.
Unfortunately there was neither milk nor sugar for the tea (which itself
was a high-point) nor much variety elsewhere. Fortunately this lack of an
enormous meal seemed to inspire the batsmen, especially Dominic.
Back on the pitch
Dominic played a startling innings, hammering the bowling all round the
ground and reached his fifty well before his partner Henry. Unfortunately,
rather a slow lobby bowler came on and Dominic, trying to achieve a
century, win the match and clear the sight-screen, all in one go, missed a
sneaky one and was stumped. Many thought he could have regained his
ground, but it was probably a lack of sugar in his tea that did for him.
Anyway, a fine innings of 53, leaving Henry to be joined by Shrimpy with
90-odd still needed.
Now, many
experienced Heath-watchers have seen defeat snatched from the jaws of
victory on many occasions but not today. Henry batted really well, scoring
86 not out while Shrimpy, very kindly in my view, tried to give the
bowlers a little bit of self-confidence, (or was it lack of sugar again)
but staying around to the end. The Heath had a whole 10 overs still to go
and also, Golden Mason, Atif, Foster, Spencer and even “wide-boy” Jeremy
still in reserve if needed. A notable and important victory to start the
season properly. Green Stock were a very congenial side to play (other
than the milk and sugar) with a really good pitch encouraging good
stroke-play.
Ah well, Chesham
next week and let’s hope the weather improves. It was rather cold but that
didn’t stop proud parents (Haddocks and Cappers) and even the Grandparents
of Henry and his cousin Charlie Foster, enjoying what was a very
entertaining day – or perhaps I’m biased!
John Capper
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May 12th - The Lee - Away
On Sunday
12th the Cricket Club was not so lucky. It made several attempts to
continue play at The Lee,but eventually had to abandon, due to rain, with
The Lee on 123 for 3 wickets. Luke Brennan bowled well and took two of
those wickets. This Sunday's match (19th) vs Gt Missenden Pelicans has
been moved to Lt Kingshill due to burrowing creatures infesting their
square - 2.00pm start.
Robin Richards
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May 5th - Chartridge - Home
The Cricket Club made an inauspicious start to the
season with a defeat at home to Chartridge. Their innings closed on 161
and we began our reply brightly with a half-century from Henry Capper, but
there was no great substance in our later batting and we finished
twenty-odd runs short. This Sunday (12th.) the match is at the
Lee with a 2.00 pm.start.
Robin Richards
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