Forest Irregulars - 7th Sept. 2008

Our last match of the year was unusual for a number of reasons.

First, there was the reappearance of The Invisible Man. All season, rumours had been rife about our chairman, Mike Nicholson, and why he had failed to don his whites. There were stories about a pile of clothes left on a beach, a canoeing accident and even unconfirmed sightings in Australia. Occasionally, an email purporting to be from Michael would arrive, written in that familiar blue text, but he remained elusive. So it was with a mixture of delight and relief that we watched that familiar figure making his way towards the pavilion, clutching the usual bag of surplus cricket jerseys.

On the pitch, it was a bit of a bloodbath: one Forest Irregular split his lip when the ball hit him in the face as he dived forward for a catch, and another broke a nail – a particularly nasty injury which refused to stop bleeding, even when his finger was encased in ice. The home side didn’t escape unscathed: Andrew Pinnell suffered a bruised hand and Ed Alexander had to leave the field at one point, suffering the after-effects of food poisoning from the night before.

Even more unexpected was that Pinnell, normally the safest pair of hands in the West (see above), dropped three catches, two of them off successive balls (sorry: had to mention that because it was off my ‘bowling’), and Jonathan Boulton, one of the most urbane men in cricket, showed mild dissent at an lbw decision.

But perhaps the most surprising thing about the match was that it took place at all. Somehow, while people in South Wales were being dragged from their drowned homes by rescue teams in boats, groundsman Clive Hamblin managed to prepare a strip in between torrential downpours. Our opponents couldn’t believe how good the pitch looked, given the conditions, and declared it better than most tracks Cheltenham CC had played on this year.

So, on an overcast afternoon, brightened by occasional blasts of hot sunshine, Pinnell won the toss for a record tenth time in a row and, as usual, chose to bat. Ed Alexander, who fielded like a demon during the Free Foresters match but didn’t get a chance to bat or bowl, looked mildly startled when he was asked to open with Jonathan Boulton but exuded confidence from the word go. Jonathan, still glowing from his Free Foresters triumph, carried on from where he left off and made his intentions clear with a four and a six off consecutive balls in the third over.

The bowling was friendly but boundaries were hard to come by on an outfield too wet to cut during the previous week. Several times batsmen took a leisurely first run after a well-struck drive or pull, only to have to sprint a second as the ball plugged or stopped well short of the line. Jonathan survived an assassination attempt by Andrew Jolliffe, who gave him out leg before despite a faint bottom-edge. Jonathan was visibly disappointed and the Irregulars sportingly called him back. Ed fell to a good diving catch by Mark Guest and was replaced by Ben Tollworthy, who looked in good nick before Guest bowled him a beauty which moved six inches off the pitch.

Nicholson began in his usual no-nonsense style, going for his shots, but struggled to time the ball; not surprising, considering this was his first innings for almost exactly a year. Only two runs had been added before Jonathan, forced to go the aerial route, was caught in the deep by the ubiquitous Guest, having made a typically elegant 42.From here on, Mike anchored the innings, securing one end and scampering quick singles like a man half his age (many of the fielders WERE half his age) and sharing excellent partnerships with two fine shotmakers. The first of these was Richard Waters, a Babington member making his club debut, who quickly showed his class with a succession of textbook strokes. Initially pinned down by that man Guest again, he started to score freely and had raced to 32 with a succession of boundaries when he was smartly stumped by – yes, you’ve guessed it – Guest, who had swapped places with keeper Luke Sellars.

The fact that Mark Meadows was next in at number six speaks volumes about the depth of our batting these days. Anyone who saw his chanceless, unbeaten 77 against the Tappers in June will be familiar with his style – classically correct with a full, flowing, follow-through – and this was another masterclass in how to bat on a damp, slow wicket. He peppered the boundary with sixes and fours and one shot in particular, when he was beaten in the flight but used his feet to clip the ball effortlessly through midwicket, had Pinnell purring with pleasure. By the time he was bowled for 59, the damage had been done: he had shared a 91-run stand with Mike and we had amassed 204 off 35 overs. Mike was 37 not out which, as the number-cruncher who compiles our stats, he must have found doubly gratifying.

Perhaps it was the size of the tea, but the Irregulars made a disappointing fist of chasing a fairly challenging total. Wigzell did his level best to give them a head start by sending down more than his usual quota of leg-side full tosses but the openers seemed unable to take full advantage. Jolliffe didn’t help matters by taking two wickets in his first over, bamboozling the batsmen with his hooping swing and metronomic line and length. Luke Sellars, who hit a hundred here a few years ago, was out for a duck and Lewis, the only Irregular to reach double figures, was run out by Jeremy Player, who hit the stumps with only one to aim at.

Then Chris Player came on, did a Jolliffe by taking two wickets in his first over, and that was pretty much that. It was even too late to bring back Wigzell to let them score a few: by this time he’d exceeded his allocation of seven and technically forfeited the match. The batsmen who remained certainly didn’t enjoy Ben Tollworthy steaming in down the hill and, perhaps fittingly, it was Jonathan who wrapped things up with his perfectly-flighted spin. At least the bowlers could celebrate with some extraordinary figures: Jolliffe 3 for 6 off 7; Chris Player 3 for 6 off 3.

Man of the Match

Mark Meadows (59 and three catches)

Champagne Moment of the Match

Mike Nicholson’s smile as he left the field on 37 not out