Nonington

Match Report

A lovely, sunny afternoon greeted Stragglers on arrival Nonington, and it quickly became clear that the outcome of the match would hinge on a key wicket.  Adam Cork has plundered plenty of runs from Straggler attacks over the years, and smacking skipper, Sef, for three boundaries in the opening over set the tone for the first half of the Nonington innings.  At the other end, Will Gafney (on debut) kept it tight, but anything that could be hit was hit very hard.  The Straggs needed a wicket and one finally arrived, the score on 69. Some unusually sharp fielding found the other opener at the wrong end and Adam standing still.  Stan knocked over an off stump for a second, and a change of pace, with Archie Brown, Will Evans and the Chairman, had a marginal moderating effect on the run rate, but we went into drinks with the score on 105 for 2, and batsmen well set.  Archie Brown, 3 for 15 from 8 overs, bowled a magical spell, and took the key wicket.  Adam had reached 89 of a total of 128, when he miscued a flick over the leg-side boundary and a very gentle catch looped to Will G at short fine leg.  From here, the bowlers were on top.  Will E (2 for 37) came back and gave nothing away, Sef induced a very gentle return catch, and scoring runs had become a significant struggle.  Straggler fielding has not been the sharpest in 2024, but today proved an exception.  Catches were held (it would be harsh to record James Grant’s remarkable one-handed dive as a drop) and another very sharp run out ended a modest Nonington recovery.  Hector Hulme brought the innings to an end with a sharp stumping off Will E, the total 154 with four balls of forty overs remaining.

In a gentle, unexpected and rather cold drizzle, the Straggler chase began very quietly indeed, only reaching double figures in the fifth over, and, sadly, losing Hector early.  This brought James Grant (fresh from winning the over-50s Cricketer Cup with Bradfield) to the crease to accompany Jeremy Godden (midweek Straggler stalwart).  The two senior batting pros gave a master class in building a partnership and timing a chase.  Always up with the required rate, the score sheet was remarkable binary – an awful lot of singles.  Having put on 103 for the second wicket and reaching his half-century, James (51) decided to launch one into next week, only to find a fielder waiting on the boundary.  Jeremy (57), whose innings had not been without jeopardy, followed much the same route, albeit with only 18 runs now required from the final 10 overs.  Surely it couldn’t go wrong from here?  The youthful middle order had clearly not been paying attention to the lessons of their seniors and went in search of instant gratification.  In a careless tumble of wickets, Felix Turl, Stan and Sef managed to give their wickets away attempting to end the game in a single blow, although Sef was talked out by both the opposition and his own team-mates – two to win, why not hit it out of the park?  It was left to Will Evans and Ben Edge (11* on debut) to bring the Straggler innings safely home with a couple of gentle pushes, victory by 4 wickets.  There is a long-standing Straggler connection to the Edge family. Ben was accompanied today by his father, Steve, who very kindly umpired both innings.  Steve’s brothers (Ben’s uncles), Joe and Matthew, played for Wye against the Stragglers in 1992, and both were bowled by the Chairman – first two Straggler wickets.