Full Fixture Information

Result Descriptiom

Drawn

Man of the Match

Oli - excellent batting

Champagne Moment

Oli's huge six

Teddy Bear Moment

Josh Edney - wearing a Compton shirt

Full Match Report

Hawkley ? 16th June 2024

Match Drawn.

It was an unusual start to Sunday when, woken by the growling of two of East Meon?s fiercest guard-dogs, Mooro peered out the window at 3.15am to see a fiery blaze on the outfield.

Blazing away at the gate just inside the boundary rope was a farm vehicle, stolen from who knows where (at the time of writing) by who knows whom. It was certainly a depressing start to the morning as the EMCC whatsapp pinged relentlessly with pictures of smouldering vehicle, melted boundary ropes, singed trees and a real sense of FFS.

From a selfish, cricket point of view, it could have been worse, the pavilion was still standing, the square unmarked and the eventual damage to the outfield while unsightly won?t make it unplayable. But for the owner of the vehicle, for Matt Atkinson whose transit van was also stolen, for the village who will need to replace and repair the gate, it?s a depressing sign of casual criminality, organised crime or mindless thuggery and vandalism (take your pick.)

It wasn?t long before the whatsapp was pinging again.

Turns out it wasn?t a home game after all ? Hawkley were expecting us at theirs and the website was wrong. Usually, an away game comes with a few groans, after all there?s nowhere better to play cricket and eat tea than East Meon (ask anyone who has played away at Westbourne) but actually, although it might be a very un-vice-captain-like thing to say, I think Hawkley may pip East Meon to the post with the teas and setting ? or certainly run us pretty close.

Anyway, one thing was certain, we?d been spared David?s Cider cake which sounded like something that had seemed like a good idea at the time but perhaps should be filed away quietly at the back of the recipe book.

Anyway, there?s a match to report ? so here goes.

Hawkley looked a picture, the clouds racing around the sky, the hangers framed in a very green vista for middle of June kind of way and the wicket hard and bouncy-looking despite the rain.

Skipper won the toss and Oli and Tim L were sent in to build the platform.

Hawkley had a fast and accurate Left-armer from one end who after his first seven overs had gone for just nine runs. The fact that the score was 83-0 tells you what the three bowlers at the end had been like.

Oli, especially, had a fine time filling his boots with some thumping fours and one enormous six into the garden of the house beyond the sightscreen. But, after 7 overs their opener came off to be replace by Whybrow, playing with her dad on father?s day, recently come down from Durham where she?d played first team cricket, she immediately struck in her first over with a smart caught and bowled to one that stuck in the pitch a bit and Tim L departed for 16. 83-1.

The skipper went in and batted nicely with his brother, who had passed 50 before deciding to see if he could get to his hundred in two blows and was out for 88 having skied a huge yahoo. A tired shot perhaps? But he?d batted well and certainly considerably better than any of his team-mates. Will soon flashed at a wide one and was caught behind for 6. 125-3.

Sticko (batting at the lofty heights of number four) and AdL batted on for a bit before the opener was bought back on and promptly bowled AdL for 10 with a fast vicious inswinging yorker (or that?s how I saw it / or didn?t see it).

Sticko, despite bringing out the reverse sweep for the first time this season soon departed for 6 and it was 146-5.

George Atkinson and David Blackburn were then tasked with rebuilding the innings ? there being 10 or so overs to go before tea. George made six before being caught and David again looked good with the bat, batting positively and looking to score quickly, before a moment of Mooro madness saw him run out for 16 following a direct throw from square leg to a run that was never there.

Mooro soon departed, bowled by a slow straight one that somehow evaded his text-book forward defence ? 171-7. Nick Crombie did his best to get out, and didn?t make the most of his life when dropped by the keeper off a skyer. And it wasn?t long before East Meon had fizzled to 177 all out. Given we?d been 83-0 it was a bit of a disappointment and without Oli?s 88 it?d have been a very sad affair.

However, there was no disappointment when tea arrived. Hawkley?s approach to tea is that one person makes the whole tea ? and the tea felt like it must have been made by an army of chefs, sous-chefs, commis-chefs and pastry chefs. Sausage rolls, pasties, sandwiches, flapjacks, scones, brownies, cakes, melon, fruit and other delicious treats laid out across three tables.

If their plan was to turn us all into truffling piggies too portly and rotund to run around the field ? they couldn?t have done a better job.

But eventually we dragged ourselves out onto the pitch and it was time to defend 177 and take 10 wickets.

And we started well ? with father and daughter opening for Hawkley, it was up to David Blackburn and Josh Edney to make the breakthroughs. And in Josh?s second over he did just that, having Whybrow jnr edging to Will at slip for a duck. In Josh?s fourth over he bowled their number three, 16-2. David was unlucky, his pace was such that most shots seemed to be edged through gully or the slips and after five overs he was replaced by Wayne who also bowled well and was unlucky not to take a wicket. By this stage Hawkley seemed to be hitting everything in the air but not to the fielders.

The skipper replaced Josh (7-2-14-2) and despite a horrible wide first ball picked up a wicket in his first over when Whybrow Snr drilled the ball to short extra cover where it was well caught by me! 54-3.

We then had two left-handers at the crease who batted well and put on 50 before Sticko replaced Will and struck in his first over when Chetwood was well-caught by Josh at long-off. 103-4. We were into the 20 overs by now, and they needed about 6 an over to win and we needed 6 wickets, it still felt like a match that could go any of three (maybe even four) ways.

Will juggled the bowling, George Atkinson came on and had their aggressive number 6 caught behind, there was a run out, George had their number nine LBW and suddenly it was the last over 133-8 and the skipper with the ball in his hand. Two balls to go, two wickets to take. Suddenly there?s a shout for LBW and the umpire slowly lifted his finger? one wicket to get, one ball to go, their number 11, who had bowled five balls earlier in the day before his ?hips had gone?, dragged himself out to the middle with EMCC resisting the temptation to appeal for timed out and it was left to Will with one ball to conjure the last unlikely piece of magic?

But it was not to be, the ball whistled through, missed the bat by two mm, the stumps by a mm and we?d drawn the game ? Hawkley 134-9 after 39 overs.

A fitting end to a closely fought game, played in a very fraternal spirit on one of the loveliest grounds in Hampshire. They?re a good bunch at Hawkley and I?m already making myself available for tea and runs in 2026.

There was just time for a drink in the pavilion, fines and then for (some of) us to speed home for the football...