Standard Athletic Club

Match Report

After a draw and a big defeat in the previous two fixtures against the SAC, the match manager was determined to bring home a victory for the Straggs. Recruitment started at the annual pre-season drinks, where 18 year old sensation, Angus Hay, was signed up.  However, even more useful was Angus’ late recruitment of Henry Elliot, to help fill in some classic last minute drop-outs.  Both Angus and Henry were content to pause revision for a day. The second job is to win the toss, and more importantly, to make the correct decision. Ben Stokes has made bowling first fashionable in this BazBall era. However, the Straggs are more traditional and prefer to take WG Grace’s advice “When you win the toss, bat. If you are in doubt, think about it, then bat. If you have very big doubts, consult a colleague, then bat.” The Straggs were fortunate to win the toss and chose to bat first.

New signing, Angus Hay, and the ever-reliable Benny Smallwood opened the batting. In form Benny (two half-centuries in as many games) started strongly with a Viv Richards style flick through midwicket. Unfortunately, that very shot would be his demise next ball, when square leg took a spectacular one-handed catch. Angus at the other end was showing he grew up watching Zak Crawley and not Alastair Cook. The ball flying to the boundary through the “V”. One spectacular straight six hitting the sightscreen. He departed for a well-made 42. What the Straggs needed now was to control the game. Fortunately, Pettman and Skinner were at the crease, and brought a calm to the Straggs ranks, seeing off the good balls, and putting away bad balls, with tremendous skill. Pettman (34) was the first to fall, LBW to their skilful spin bowler. What was odd was he walked, for a ball, which hit above the knee-roll of a man who is 6”8. Perhaps this was a guilt-based walk after gloving a ball to the keeper a few overs previously. DRS is yet to reach Belmont. Skinner carried on unperturbed by the antics at the other end to make a well-earned 58 on debut. A flurry of batsmen came and went in the middle to late order (Falcon 33 and Elliott 28). A highlight towards the end of the innings was a genius reverse sweep for 4 by Theobald on his first ball. Unfortunately, he tried one too many inventive shots and was bowled, concluding the Straggs innings for 258.

Minchin and Henry E opened the bowling. Being the senior statesman of the side, Minchin (aged 26) wisely chose the bowl down the hill, with tremendous speed and accuracy and with the 3rd man boundary getting most of the action. However, in the second over an edge flew straight to Fenwick at 1st slip, but his eyes were not open at this point, the speed of the ball causing an unhelpful instinctive reaction. Fortunately, Ferreira. who has played a lot of cricket with Fenwick and is alert to his failings in the field, leapt like a salmon up a Scottish waterfall to take a remarkable catch. Henry E came charging up the hill and bowled with real pace. He took a wicket in his second over, only to sparked controversy. The match manager was beckoned to the sidelines to watch footage of an apparent bent arm in Henry’s action. You may not be surprised to read, that Belmont does not have the facilities to judge whether the arm is bent by more than 15 degrees (the maximum degree allowed by the MCC).  To protect Anglo-French relations post-Brexit, and risk a rerun of Agincourt, Henry was stood down after three successive maidens. Skinner came on to bowl and carried on his form from the first innings. Ferreira took another smart catch at second slip to remove the SAC number 3. It was truly remarkable to see two genuine slip catches in a Straggs cricket match. SAC’s middle order came together to put up a serious fight, playing watchfully, with the occasional aggressive shot, to put the target within reach. We are often told by Sky Sports pundits that the best bowlers, bowl in partnerships, and that is exactly what Falcon and Ferreira did. They kept the run rate low, building pressure. Ferreira (2 for 8) broke the resistance with a fantastic “bowl and catch” (as described by Theobald for a “caught and bowled”, even if his phrase is more logical). Falcon bowled what can only be described as brilliantly down the hill, bowling three of his 4 victims (4 for 25). His last wicket was an LBW to complete a 71 run victory for the Straggs.  I would like to thank the SAC for once again making the trip to Kent to play the Straggs, and to Henry for his organisation.