Faversham CC

Match Report

With over 100mm of rain in the last 10 days of June, a last minute covid case in the starting XI, the BB failing to raise a team, and rain until eleven on the morning of the game, this fixture proved a challenge.  We are very grateful to Faversham 2^nd XI, who made themselves available at the last minute with a covered wicket.  The great disappointment was not to have been at Belmont, where the Trustees had planned a welcome feast.  Ten Stragglers were expected at Faversham, but the team was hit by a covid drop out (typhoid Harry), and Sam going AWOL – none of his friends knew where he was, nor could contact him.  Fortunately, Tom Tribe had brough his support bubble to watch the game, and father, James, was fitted out with whites and entered the fray.  The Straggs were inserted on a green pitch with a large and slightly damp outfield; boundaries would have to be properly middled.  Tom set of with that in mind, but then chased a very wide one only to lob it gently into the hands of point.  At the other end, Will Fenwick was in full flow, now joined by Benny, who cast off his reputation as the Cheteshwar Pujara of the Stragglers, and chipped a lovely six off his legs into the trees.  Apart from the occasional calling scare (Will has suffered in the past from Smallwood calling), the pair set about building a partnership, reaching 136 in the 22^nd over before Benny (34) skied one to long-on.  The catcher had earlier very nearly held on to the most remarkable catch in the deep, running backwards at pace and effectively diving on his back to catch the ball one-handed inches from the ground only for the impact of his head with the ground to shake the ball loose.  Jonathan (18) came and went, never quite comfortable with the pace of the wicket, and Harry P (23) joined Will for a final flourish.  On reaching his century (his second of the season), Will took a leaf from the Ed Solly playbook, practicing his reverse sweep with every shot.  It didn’t last long, bowled for 108.  Angus Balfour and Archie Barwell made a brief visit to the wicket, allowing James Tribe to record 0*.  The declaration at 226 for 7 seemed enough.

Angus and Archie (3 for 22) opened up for the Straggs, and Angus immediately fell into the old Straggler trap of believing in his slip cordon.  Bowling a lovely pace, line and shape, he regularly found an edge only to see it waved past by the support team.  Archie, on the other hand, took matters into his own hands, absorbing a return catch in his midriff, and then enticing a well-set opener to crunch a slightly wider one straight to Harry in the covers.  A third involved Benny behind the stumps doing a very good Nureyev impression to catch a top edge high over his shoulder.  The score had moved along to 47 for 3 at the first change.  Tom had worked out that the slip cordon might be a bit leaky, and took the direct route, hitting the base of off with his first ball. With a skied catch avoiding the Chairman’s outstretched fingers, he stuck to aiming at the stumps to finish with 3 for 14.  At the other end a full toss from the Chairman flicked towards the square leg boundary brought Angus into play, who turned and, Billings like, threw flat and hard at one stump to run out the batter by some way (very much a candidate for the champagne moment).  For the second time in the season the Chairman picked up a father and son combination in the middle order, the first well caught in the deep by James Tribe, the second another balletic catch behind the stumps.  When Tom knocked over the stumps to bring the innings to a close, Faversham had reached 74, the victory by 152 runs lying 12th= in the all-time margins.