Fixture Secretary’s XI

Match Report

XXII Stragglers gathered to play the Inter-Straggs game to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Shepway Stragglers at a warm, muggy, overcast and, unusually, completely still Belmont. Following more than a month without rain, the outfield was brown and hard, offering some interesting moments in the field, but the wicket was still tinged with green and looked in very good order. A slightly engineered toss saw the Stragglers in the field, with Rufus Pullen and Harry Thomson doing well to keep a lively opening pair of Harry Heming and Inigo Pullen watchful at the crease. Harry (1 for 14) managed to induce a false shot from an impatient Inigo, to bring Theo to the wicket. It turned out to be a match of number 3 batsmen playing the key innings. For the Fixture Secretary’s XI, Theo was in a class of his own, in great touch, and dealing comfortably with everything coming his way. It took a moment of magic to separate Harry and Theo, with Patch M, the Straggs own jack-in-the-box, leaping vertically at mid-wicket to pluck a hard hit shot to remove Harry (30). Thereafter, with the exception of Theo who hit boundaries at will, the other FS XI batsmen struggled with the variety of bowling on offer. Having fallen to the Chairman in Oporto, Charlie defended with extreme diligence for two balls and then scooped the next to mid-wicket for a very long duck (his innings began at the start of the drinks break). Will Fenwick removed both Jasper and Theo (95) to finish with 2 for 24, and the score a modest 167 for 7, the Chairman (3 for 63) having also picked up a brace of Pollingtons in between being smacked to the fence by Theo. A brief cameo by Jonno Ross, ended by a Felton catch off Mitchell, saw Hugo (15) arrive at number 10 to give the innings some late momentum. A couple of lofty blows later he was undone by Archie Barwell and immediately declared at 201 for 9, with Olla undefeated on 9.

Hugo opened the bowling downhill with considerable pace, and Nick Wright steamed in from the bottom end, the Straggler openers Will F and Benny struggling to get the innings underway, with Benny falling to Nick early on. The other number 3 batsman of the day, James Felton, came in for the long haul, defending good balls as required and thumping bad balls to the boundary with considerable power. At the other end Will fell for 25, Patch M came and went, and then Harry T (22) joined James to push the chase along and put on 54 for the 4th wicket. Another fifty partnership between George BW and James continued the impetus, before James fell for 84 to another exceptional catch behind the stumps by Inigo, the Straggs now in a strong position at 159 for 5, with overs to spare. The key man now was Harry Churchill, coming to the crease with the instruction to keep George on strike. Hugo, sensing an opportunity, came back on racing up the hill, almost from the distant boundary, and Jasper was chipping away at the top end, but George was still there, finally finding an occasional boundary. Harry got bored with the non-striker’s end and took a single early in a Hugo over. The next ball was smacked across the line over cow corner for an important boundary, Harry showing a total lack of respect, and putting himself in contention for the champagne moment. The partnership of 29 (Harry finally undone for 10 by Jasper (3 for 38)) nearly did the job, and when George was then removed with an electric stumping from a wide looking ball, it took a careful couple of overs from Toby (not his natural game) and Archie Barwell to see the Straggs home, victors by three wickets. Both keepers kept with distinction, Benny with three catches and Inigo also with three and a stumping, the latter even more impressive in standing up to Hugo, not something we see every day

The tea interval included a short celebration of 75 years of Straggler cricket and recognition of the considerable contribution made by 42 Straggler in making a success of the Club. Details of this can be found on the Chairman’s Blog page of the web site.