Match Report

Ickenham CC was a conference fixture, arranged after our scheduled opposition, South Lambeth Imperial, cancelled the game. The ground itself was lovely, with three immaculately prepared pitches around a traditional clubhouse and bar, surrounded by woodland. It?s not too far either so this is a fixture we will look to keep.

Due to some late withdrawals Ickenham were under strength and fielding a side of mainly colts. We?ve been beaten by colts before though so we weren?t too complacent. Unfortunately, yours truly left our scorebook at home and that was the beginning of a chain of events that was to lead to some farce. Their skipper told us not to worry about the scorebook as their scorer would score the whole game and we could photograph the book afterwards.? I gratefully agreed, won the toss, and elected to bat.

Britto and Barras opened and both began scoring freely immediately. At about 130 for 0 I was umpiring, and whilst the fielders were searching for one of several lost balls in the woods, I asked the lads to think about retiring in order to give some others a bat. Steve agreed to retire at 25 overs, which was about 4 overs away, and we all agreed that Adam would stick around for his maiden ton. Given that, I asked the scorer what the individual scores were as we were surprised that neither batsman seemed to have reached 50 yet. He called back that Britto was on 28 and Barras 32. We all stared at each other. That meant there were about 70 extras which was unfeasible. Barras had struck 7 consecutive fours in his last scoring shots. We realised that something had gone badly wrong with the scoring. I went off to have a look and the young lad realised he had been misattributing runs and got a bit upset. We tidied it up as best we could and continued, but accurate recording of the opening pair?s runs was now impossible. Eventually Steve was bowled for a recorded 61 and Barras retired on 53 according to the book. In reality both scored considerably more runs but took it on the chin as true sportsmen. Thanks guys.

Leo Hawkins went in at 3 and scored 2, and Student followed and gamely retired at 19 with 8 overs to go in order to give Duray a knock (Student having had a good bat on Saturday). Duray scored 28* and we finished the 50 overs on 266.

Tea was excellent with hot onion bhajis and sausage rolls featuring among the usual sandwiches and fairy cakes.

Ickenham?s response never looked threatening and I took the opportunity to bowl almost the entire team. Kev Chau was the surprise package, taking 2 wickets for 18 off 4 overs, and Harry took 2 for 34 off 7. Uncle, Student, and myself took one apiece, and Matt Rees took 1 for 3 off 2.? James Murphy, Durex, and Leo Hawkins had nice spells which went unrewarded.

Ickenham finished 166 for 9, Plough winning by 100 runs.

Several Ickenham players including the skipper thanked us after the game for playing in good spirit and it was a very enjoyable day in the sunshine and extremely agreeable surroundings.

Looking forward to going back there next year.

Si.