In the flat lands of Cambridgeshire, a brace of BBC production units were at a loss to determine the nature of the largely immobile figures in the out-field of Thriplow cricket ground. In an arc from point round to square leg seven fielders lingered unmoving, with a...
There was a moment in the winter, when shooting in the woods at Otterden, that Hugo shot a Jay; the bird did not reach the ground, as it was neatly pouched by Toby fielding at second slip. I understand that Trevor Bayliss is now in discussion with the Otterden shoot...
2014 Awards Leading Batsman Jasper Smallwood 442 runs at an average of 55.25 Leading Bowler Patch Mitchell 8 wickets at an average of 11.88 Young Straggler Bart Forster 181 runs at 45.25 (top score 74*); 7 for 182 at 26.00 and 1 catch Centurions Ralph Taylor 107* vs....
The annual season finale at Hollingbourne, perched in a bowl in the Downs gloriously looking south across the Weald, was locked in controversy, as senior staff at the ECB were called in to rule on Nige's unconventional choice of footwear. Apparently he had left the...
The cricket ground at Otterden boasts a wonderfully bucolic setting, timeless against the garden wall of Otterden Place, and the surrounding park land. To keep the ground in such pristine glory there is one pre-requisite; keep the gate closed. Early arrivals were met...
Straggler annals do not record sufficient detail to be able to identify when (or indeed if ever) the arc between gully and keeper has been responsible for 8 opposition wickets. Such was the vice like grip imposed behind the stumps at Benenden, that, even with a...
In the late summer of 1946 the first match was played by the Club that, in the following winter, was founded as the Shepway Stragglers. Some 68 years later, at 6.35pm on Sunday 24th August in the fading evening light at Tenterden, Emma Park became the first lady to...
There are a number of sayings, which describe the vicissitudes and bipolar nature of life, the vagaries of fate, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune; among the most eloquent is "Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you". And at Nonington...
With Patch needing another partnership breaker, Heals talked himself on with the guarantee of a wicket. And he promptly produced a great piece of exhibition bowling, asking many questions that Toto Berger had never found the need previously to answer. For the older...
Cephalopods stop play...or at least they encouraged Giles to focus on the tea to come. Not since the great days of the Parry lobster extravaganzas, have we seen such an eclectic contribution to a Straggler tea. On a day favouring the bat - 526 runs scored for the...