Full Fixture Information

Result Descriptiom

Win for the Meon

Man of the Match

Ali Wheeler

Champagne Moment

Mooro - caught behind

Teddy Bear Moment

Andrew - drop

Full Match Report

It has historically proven difficult to pull together a team for the Sunday game after Sixes, but this year there was a little more enthusiasm as there had only been room for one Meon team in the Sixes. Nonetheless, it was a tired mob that turned up to the Rec at 2 pm, fresh from dancing to midnight, drinking far too much and turning up at 9 am the next day to pack up and clean. What could be better than an afternoon run around the park to clear those heads and stretch the legs?

Saturday's fabulous weather had been replaced by leaden skies, and some light rain earlier in the morning made some wonder if the weather gods might intervene. But the weather held, and 22 men and boys gathered to take part in that ancient English cultural pursuit: Sunday village cricket.

Our opponents were first timers to the Meon, harking from Wield, courtesy of an introduction from Wheeler, A. Upper Wield? Lower Wield? In-between Wield? It wasn't clear. Perhaps we will need to wait for a reverse fixture next year to find out. Rumour has it that they have a lovely, if somewhat unusual home ground in that the boundary is uphill in all directions from the centre.

Our captain for the day was Andrew, Will being indisposed following a hard day at the office on Saturday. Andrew returned from the middle to inform us that he had lost the toss and we were fielding. The groans were genuine and widespread, but we steeled ourselves for the fray.

David Blackburn opened from the alpaca end with a good spell of fast and mostly accurate bowling. The dry wicket provided some good if uneven bounce. Our first wicket came in the third over when their number 2, Bertie, failed to get on top of a fast, shorter delivery and chopped on to depart for 4. Wield 7/1. David's testing spell continued and he was unlucky not to have another when Tim Clay put down a genuine edge at first slip. It travelled fast and to his left, but having got both hands to it, Tim was disappointed not to hold on.

Josh Edney was labouring away from the village end and despite some good deliveries, their number 1 and 3, Ben and Yorkie, held him at bay. Scoring was slow, but they were good at despatching the bads balls and with relatively short boundaries and a fast outfield, their score moved steadily on to 40.

Matt replaced David at the alpaca end and bowled a tight maiden to start. Nick Sole, the birthday boy, took over from Edney at the village end, and opened his spell with a straight, slow, pie which somehow bamboozled Ben, and knocked back his stumps. Here was back in the pavilion for a hard-fought 14. Wield 40/2.

Sticko's next over continued the lovely line and length he had begun with and he was given due respect by the batters. Not least for a couple of attempted bouncers, one of which dribbled through to Mooro, while the other reared menacingly and whistled past the batter's shoulder. A mixed bag in the end though, with 4 tight overs and a couple less so. He was unlucky to end his 6 overs for 32 without a wicket.

Yorkie and their number 4, Ed dug in, playing cautiously yet putting away any loose balls. They put on 60 for the 3rd wicket, building the total to 100 before Wheeler (A), bought on to take over from Sticko (and choosing, after consultation with his captain, to bowl his legal varieties), had Ed adjudged LBW for 25. Ed kept a passive countenance as he departed the crease, but one wonders how pleased he was with the decision against him given by an umpire barely tall enough to see over the stumps. Pure conjecture, but was it coincidence that the umpire was called in and replaced along with the batter?

However Ed went, the Meon were glad to see the back of him. His partnership with Yorkie, while slow and not taking the total to any worrisome heights, provided a solid platform from which it was feared they may be able to build a formidable total. But it was not to be. Kyle came in to replace Ed and retired hurt without troubling the scorers, and barely facing a ball. Ali promptly despatched the next bat, Henry for a duck, finishing with the excellent figures of 4-1-10-2. Tension was rising in the Wield camp and the positive momentum dispensed with any residual lethargy in the Meon fielders.

Wield had brought a good contingent of spectators with them, though by the halfway point of their innings, the pub seemed to hold slightly more allure for them than the cricket. The somewhat more sparse EMCC support crew was swelled partway through the Wield innings by a couple of rather seedy looking Atkinson?s shouting encouragement from the sidelines.

Back in the middle, Sole Man, unable to repeat the magic of his opening delivery, finished on 4-0-16-1. He was replaced by T Clay, who bowled a fairly standard village mix of great and not so great deliveries, ending up with 1-26. His wicket was one of the great ones, clean bowling Oscar for a duck.

Several of their batters flirted early on with various edges and dabs to backward point, none of which resulted in a wicket, but one dab too many for Piers and yours truly, swooping eagle-like on the ball, threw a shocker back to Mooro, who thankfully had the presence of mind and time to gather and send the batter back to the pavilion with his trademark demolition of the stumps. Run out for 6. The wheels were falling off for Wield. The Meon pressed on, egged on by Will from the sidelines, and keen to keep the chase to a reasonable total on what wasn?t an easy pitch to bat on.

Our captain, eager to ensure he didn?t miss out on the wicket bonanza, and no doubt eager to enhance his end of season figures, brought himself on to bowl from the alpaca end, replacing Ali, much to his chagrin. ?I got taken off for you?!? Undeterred, Andrew ripped out a couple of the tail enders to end with the excellent figures of 2-11, including a wonderful catch by Mooro.

Yorkie however, stood firm at the other end. He'd passed 50 after batting through most of the innings. In obvious desperation, the captain called on yours truly, looking for the breakthrough, and after a couple of tidy overs, Aussie Tim had Yorkie smartly caught behind for a well-made and otherwise chanceless 57.

Kyle, recovered from his earlier injury, returned to the crease seeking to improve his team?s fortunes, and smote a few boundaries. Arthur, the young umpire we met earlier, came in at no 11, and showed he has potential. He got off the mark with a lofted on-drive which looked to be going straight to our captain. However Andrew becoming somewhat confused at the length, went back, came forward, missed the catch and watched with bemusement as the ball trickled to the boundary. No longer trusting his fielders, Tim L took matters into his own hands and had the youngster caught and bowled a couple of balls later for 8. Kyle was 16 not out and Wield finished on 159, a total which they would undoubtedly have been disappointed with.

Despite being pulled together hurriedly after the exertions of the previous day, tea looked enticing. It's demolition was delayed for a few moments while we sang Happy Birthday to Nick Sole and presented him with a cake with (far too few) candles.

After the break, the Meon went out to chase down the total, cautious but confident. Ali Wheeler and Chris Hollis strode out to do battle and soon found that their caution was well founded. The track wasn?t an easy one, and Tufnell, their opening bowler from the alpaca end was a handful, his energetic and slinging bowling action extracting good pace and occasional sharp bounce from the pitch.

Hollis played some lovely shots, making use of the fast outfield, until he copped a jaffa from Tufnell which jagged back and took out his stumps. He?d made 14. After a slightly loose start, Reed from the village end began to also generate some useful pace and movement, passing the edge a few times. This despite some mutterings from Wield about not having the use of a new ball for the second innings. Ali remained resolute in defence.

Charlie Dutton, making a rare appearance this season, and batting at no 3, soaked up some tricky deliveries from Tufnell, before departing LBW without a mark on the scoresheet. Captain de Wob came in to steady the ship, striking some nice boundaries. He was also on hand to witness first-hand the controversy of Sticko-snicko-gate.

A snorting delivery from Tufnell, drew a waft outside off stump from Ali. A snick audible to those watching from the pavilion, behind the stumps and at square leg, but no doubt due to unusual atmospherics, not to the umpire or the batter, drew a raucous celebratory appeal from Wield. But umpire Sticko was unmoved and Ali remained at the crease, protesting his innocence. After some bemused grumblings, Wield carried on, no doubt begrudging every (important) run Ali scored from then on.

Reaching his 50 with a smack to the cover boundary, Ali graciously retired on 53, bringing Tim Clay to the wicket. After some good and unlucky bowling from Reed at the village end, he was replaced by young Arthur. Sporting a Michael Holding-ish run up and a nice action, he demonstrated that he will one day be a cricketing force to reckon with. But while bowling well at times, he lacked the ability to extract the pace and bounce he obviously strives for. de Wob and Tim C played some good shots, Andrew scoring nine boundaries in his 39 before departing caught off the bowling of the young speedster.

David Blackburn came in and provided solid and stylish support to Tim Clay, between them taking the score to 159. But one too many aggressive shots against the youngster had Tim caught behind and walking. No controversy this time.

One run to win. Tim L came out to face the last two balls of Arthur?s over. It is said that such a situation offers zero opportunity for glory and every opportunity for disaster, and so it almost proved for Mr Lawrence, who after aggressively punching the first ball for nothing, spooned the second to short mid-off for the easiest of catches, only to be reprieved by the most embarrassing of fumbles from one of the better Wield fielders. It was left to the solid Mr Blackburn to score the winning run at the beginning of the next over.

A good win for the Meon. And despite a little controversy, generally played in a good spirit by a friendly bunch of guys.

Everyone agreed we were too tired for fines and accepted a default ?4 fine and retired to sample some of the beer and cider leftover from the festival and contemplate the reverse fixture next season. Bring it on.