Full Fixture Information

Result Descriptiom

Win by 24 runs

Man of the Match

Will Atkinson ? heroic batting and bowling

Champagne Moment

Mooro?s match-winning catch off Will?s bowling

Teddy Bear Moment

Will running out Tim Lawrence for a duck

Full Match Report

Earlier in the week, when the team had been announced, it had been described as a team of fringe-players - the newbies, the hangers-on, the barely-play XI. Whether Hollis took umbrage at this description and stomped back to his dressing room in a pique of rage or whether he had a bad back and couldn?t play, I?m not too sure, but I suspect we were all a little relieved when his replacement grinned his way up to the rec and captain Will was back in the side.

Leading from the front he won the toss, scored more than half the runs and then took half the wickets for good measure. Which was probably a touch fortunate. Whether Hollis and Lawrence would have made more than the 85 he made we will never know, but I suspect not.

As it was, Will?s first action was more ignominious, as he tapped the ball towards square leg and set off for a lightening single, Tim managed to squeak a no, shuffle down the pitch a bit, before Will changed his mind, sent him back and poor old Tim was found a yard short at the non-strikers end and was dismissed without scoring. 11-1.

George Barnes who is nothing if not consistent, followed up his duck at number three at Westbourne with another duck at number three, this time playing down the wrong line and being adjudged LBW. I suspect it is only a matter of time before he is smiting the ball to all corners.

This brought the recently demoted vice-captain to the crease where for six overs or so, he proceeded to make batting look very hard indeed ? although Bertie Hillier steaming in from the Alpaca end was pretty unplayable and was unlucky to finish wicketless with 7-4-14-0. But captain and vice-captain saw off their opening bowlers and from 11-2 in the 6th over, took the score to 70-3 in the 18th before Andrew departed pulling a ?waist-high? full-toss straight to fine-leg. Jonjo umpiring at square-leg may not have been paying exact attention to the height of the ball, but it was a poorly executed shot and so probably deserved to be out.

David Blackburn came in and looked busy and correct, scampering between the wickets and was rightly furious with himself when he pulled an innocuous looking half-tracker straight to mid-wicket ? 86-4, George Atkinson came, stuck around for an over or so and then was out for 5.


Nick Crombie came in and looked good for 11, perhaps getting away with one that most people (but luckily not the umpire) assumed he?d middled straight to the keeper, until he fell for 11.

Mooro has been in form recently, and with his eldest daughter and all her cousins on the boundary waiting to see what the beast could deliver was issuing refunds to the crowd a moment later when he was promptly bowled first ball to a ball that spun in a mile and was too good for him.

125-7

Will was well past his 50 by this point, but it still didn?t feel enough. Will was then given great support by our Caribbean overseas Ollie Cooke who crunched several excellent shots through extra-cover and helped build a mini-revival with Will.

Hillier Snr came on, Will took two fours off him immediately, before holing out off the 4th ball of the over for an excellent 85. Two balls later and Dave Rees was out caught for the 4th duck of the East Meon innings. 151-9 which shortly became 157 all out when master Cooke was out LBW, leaving Jonjo stranded 99 short of his maiden 100 for the club.

Tea. Delicious as always, even if the prawn sandwiches had melted slightly and it looked like they might be making a break for the Meon.

The good news about David being out to a self-inflicted terrible shot was that he had his dander up. Steaming in from the top end he bowled a fast full ball first up which struck the batsman right in front of middle. Up went the team as one, down stayed the umpire?s finger and without the benefit of the DRS Frogbox the batsman lived on.

Matters weren?t helped in his next over when the other opener hit a ball crisply to short extra cover where it was put down by George Barnes ? perhaps expecting it to come a bit faster than it did.

Dave Rees was bowling well at the other end and in his third over had their opener caught behind for 22, three overs later David picked up his first and entirely deserved wicket with another lovely piece of fast bowling which had their number three groping at the ball before nicking it behind to give Mooro another catch.

One advantage of George Barnes? brief stay at the crease is that he?d been able to make his way up to the net and turn his bowling arm over, having seen something he liked out the corner of his eye while batting, Will called upon him first change and immediately he settled into a nice groove of extra-medium swing-bowling, unlucky not to have a stumping, he soon persuaded their left-handed number four to edge behind off the back of his bat where he was well-taken by Will at slip. A tricky (and costly) caught and bowled drop off their number 6?s first ball then followed.

At this point the score was about 50-odd for three, it wasn?t long before it was 60-odd for four when George Atkinson picked up a wicket to a good catch by George Barnes.

At this point, we needed 6 wickets, they need about a 100 and there were 20 overs to go. I would have said that we had our noses in front. But Martin, their number 6, making the most of his life, batted very well getting the score up to about 100-4 and them needing just under 5 an over. Tim Lawrence came on and tried 4-0-18-0, including a drop at mid off from David Blackburn, Will brought himself on but for three overs nothing happened.

Then, almost from nowhere there was a runout, Ollie Cooke throwing in well to the keeper to have then five down. Two wickets in Will?s next over (both bowled) and they were 7-down and the danger man was out for 34, Two wickets in his next over and they were 9-down. Five wicketless overs came and went and although a Rioteers victory didn?t look likely we went into the 19th over of the match with the last pair needing to survive two overs for a draw.

Will, now into his 8th over was still bowling fast and straight and with the 5th ball of his last over he finally had their number 11 nicking to slip. Nicking to slip isn?t what you want to happen in a high-pressure moment, but before the ball could get to slip, Mooro had dived to his right and somehow, incredibly, the ball was in his hand and they were all out.

East Meon had won by 24 runs. And as is often the way the game had ebbed and flowed in epic style, fortunes had won and been lost on the betting exchanges as the odds moved backwards and forwards from sure-fire Rioteers win, to sure-fire draw, to East Meon victory.

Will?s final figures of 7.5 ? 0 ? 24 ? 5 man of the match stuff even without the batting.

What a great game. Fines, jugs and banter back in the Izaak with David Blackburn consistently doubling down in the not talking in fines stakes until he?d been fined ?12 and eventually stopped was a lovely reminder of the passion and love there is in the club for good cricket played well.