Milstead

Match Report

After a dreadfully wet spring, it was a joy to be at Milstead on a hot early summer’s day. The track was still suffering from the excessive winter rain, and bowling bouncers tended to be of limited value, the ball just sitting up saying ‘hit me’. And the Milstead slope, just a little more severe than seems to be the case at first viewing, tends to deliver the occasional head-high beamer from those coming down the hill. Losing the toss, the Straggs were invited to field first, Nick Wright hurtling in downhill, and Harry Pattinson dealing with the challenges of gravity from the bottom end. The approach of the Milstead number one bore an uncanny resemblance to that of Benny at Tonbridge – launch every ball into space. He was marginally more effective at connecting with, until a miscue was sent straight to Harry at mid-on, where he took the first of three outfield catches. The ball followed Harry to gully and then the covers, a fielder for all positions. 23 for 1 became 24 for 2 as batsman three chased a very wide one to lob a very gentle catch to Albie Tremlett, who still managed to get in a dive. Shortly afterwards, Albie put in an early, and unusual, claim for the champagne moment, with an extremely vigorous and excitable appeal for LBW – he seemed to be oblivious to the fact that the batsman had played a simple forward defensive and connected with the middle of the bat. The Milstead innings never quite caught fire, with wickets falling regularly enough to keep things in check. Gabriel Hamlyn found the edge to gully, Theo (2 for 10) and Kieran (2 for 38) showed the value of spin, and the innings closed at 167 for 7 from 35 overs.

Straggler openers, Will Fenwick and Archie Brown, began with a degree of caution, albeit with Will taking most of the strike. Anything dropped short was hammered through the leg side by Will, although Milstead posted a fielder on the mid-wicket boundary to deal with this. At the other end, Archie was piercing the field with lovely drives along the ground – I was not aware that shots along the ground were taught at school anymore. Sadly, the drinks break did for Archie (19), as he sought to heave the second ball after the break into the car park. Kieran joined Will, getting comfortable with the pace of the wicket, before smacking a huge six toward the pavilion. However, the run rate began to slow, as bowlers found lengths that were harder to hit, and then wickets began to fall. Will (73) was bowled by a very long-term friend and adversary, James Creed, who used to plunder runs off Straggler bowling at Sheldwich; Gabriel came and went, the Straggs 132 for 3, with overs running down. Harry (21) joined the fray and upped the tempo with a handful of glorious shots around the park, before both he and Kieran (38) fell in quick succession just shy of the target. The winning blows were left to our Australian guests (not a common line in a Straggler match report), Ollie Duthie and Rob McClay, victory by 5 wickets with 14 balls to spare.