Eltham CC

Match Report

Match report Eltham CC Vs Old Pilotonians CC

First, an apology to those avid readers of the Eltham website who have been waiting on a report for this game. It seems that no-one was offered the chance to pen a report and so I volunteered a whole week later to do so! This may mean that some of the details will be poorly remembered, some perhaps downright lies, and so for this I apologise. But hey, that's nothing new in an Eltham report.

So our final game of the season at Bexley Grammar dawned, with the wicket looking rather greener than it had in April. Derek was busy mowing the wicket, trying to take anything off it to make it slightly shorter than the rest of the square. Despite his valiant attempt, it really didn't look any different in the end, but full marks for effort. I hope Nancy (Derek's Wife) had better luck with the lawn at home, once the mower had been hastily returned.

And so to the game; Captain Bulpitt was unfortunately delayed and had his plans somewhat ruined by the fact that vice-captain Swain won the toss and, following orders of the assembled committee, decided to field. This was largely due to the haunting memory of our batting in the previous fixture against this opposition. I believe the stats say that we were 32 for 7 at one point (before Cohen and Fisher Senior saw us through to the draw).

Therefore plan B was brought into action. This largely entailled keeping the bowling tight, the fielding even tighter and managing to keep 11 men on the field. (Refer back to the last game - injuries to Swain, Horne). We almost came unstuck immediately, when we realised that Jones hadn't returned from Belmarsh (no questions asked!) and Horne Junior was still trying to find a pair of boots that fitted him. (Apparently he is hoping to sell the others, so anyone with shoe size in the range 8-12 might be lucky!) However, they both arrived just in time to start the game with 11 fielders.

This idea of keeping everyone on the pitch seemed to work as excellent opening spells from Page (1 for 13) and Swain (4 for 22) saw a steady tumble of wickets and the opposition were reeling at 40 for 5. One important note here, Wouldham kept wicket for a while, whilst Cohen limped off for some strapping for an old war wound, (so we were down to 10 men for a short time). To Mick's disgust, that spell yielded a catch behind the stumps for Wouldham off the bowling of Swain.

Now at 40 for 5, the more ruthless among you might expect Eltham to go for the jugular and finish them off.

"Bowl 'em out for under 50 and 'ome in time for tea!"

Well that's not like the decent chaps of Eltham. (Well at least not since George has stopped playing, or Don for that matter, or Mick Redman, or Fred. Ok you get the point.) Anyway we took our foot off the pedal to make a bit of a game of it. Jolly good show!!

At this point a rather heavy shower/downpour/torrent/flood of rain threatened to end the game there and then. 10 minutes later however, the blue sky returned and we got on with the game.

And so, despite another fantastic late bowling display from Wouldham (3 for 9), and 8 catches of varying quality (age-adjusted, David Jones' was considered the best) Pilotonians crept up to 150 all out. A few more than they had achieved in the previous fixture and a few more than perhaps we would have liked.

After an excellent tea (thanks Sandra!!), Eltham set about overcoming a tricky total. Some early runs set a good pace but all too soon the scoreboard read a worryingly familiar 22 for 3, and the fears of a repeat performance seemed to have some substance.

****BRIEF ASIDE FROM REPORT****

One of these wickets (and one of the later ones) was a rather dodgy LBW decision which seem to have become part and parcel of an Eltham batting performance. Whilst knowing that everyone is doing the best that they can when umpiring and not wanting anyone to cheat, it seems that we are far too kind to opposition bowlers.

Being on school holiday, and therefore having a little more time than usual for non-educational pursuits, I put myself up for huge ridicule and hefty fines, by doing a little research in to the matter. The conclusion of this research is as follows:

Opposition LBW decisions given: 7

Eltham LBW decisions given: 11

9 of the Eltham LBWs have been given on the hard, true, trusty wickets at BGS or Hall Place !!!

4 of the Eltham LBWs have been given against Captain Bulpitt (a conspiracy??)

A matter for the Discussion board, I think.

Are we.....

1)too generous?

2)just plain unlucky?

3)regularly playing poor shots when batting?

4)not really understanding the LBW rules? (who does?)

5)getting our own back on the Captain for having to field at fine leg both ends for the whole game?

6)Or a combination of the above?

Discuss.......

****BRIEF ASIDE FROM REPORT****

Back to 22 for 3, trouble looming large. Never fear, Horne Junior and Wouldham steadied the ship to take us to 75 for 3, halfway to the total. Then disaster as both lost their wickets. Soon to be followed by Bulpitt, 91 for 6. Page then took over and decided to attack and the score rapidly moved onto 118, victory was in sight until he lost partners Jones, Webber and Cohen (dodgy LBW) without further addition to the total. 118 for 9, surely game over.

However, with a confident Wells striding to the wicket, following the previous week's 30. There was still some hope. Soon the runs needed to win dropped to thirty, twenty, ten, five and before we knew it the 'new boys' had seen us home with a handful of balls to spare. With Page unbeaten on 42 and Wells with 16, we had snatched victory and used another 'get out of jail free card'.

Well done lads, but try not to make it quite so nerve-jangling next time. A few of us are getting on a bit and the heart won't take it much more. Pilotonians were very gracious in defeat, but will no doubt be desperate for revenge next year.