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After previous seasons, where playing into
September invariably saddled the captain on the day with a shortage of
players, it was not known until about a week before whether or not
this game would be scheduled. As the weather forecast was reasonably
good (well, as good as a long-range forecast in the UK can ever be,
that is) Cap'n Beefy collared most of the previous week's crew plus
one or two "irregulars" for this game, arranged through the
Conference. They came up with Banstead, from near Dorking in
south-east Surrey.
After all said and done it
was a fine afternoon, warm and with plenty of sunshine. As West End
batted first I take it on trust that Cap'n Beefy won the toss for
about the second time this season (a new club record, surely? - ED)
and unfortunately started off up against it. The top of our order was
fair decimated with ducks scattered around. Then followed a bit of a
consolidation and rally as the middle order men played firm against
continued good bowling. Richard Tedder was instrumental in holding the
innings together at this point and the rest of the order (that batted)
offered him solid, if unspectacular support. At the end of the
allotted time we had made a gritty 130-odd runs that, while all
present agreed may not be quite enough, was nevertheless defendable
especially if West End took to the field with the correct attitude and
approach despite the handicap of fielding only ten men.
In reply, Banstead batted
after tea and their men played hard. They had to, reigned in as they
were in the early stages by some tight West End bowling, backed up
with some equally good fielding. As is the case with a team numbering
ten men, the field sported one or two more gaps than Captain Howard
Turner would ideally have liked. Wickets fell at fairly reasonably
intervals but despite this Banstead remained in contention with the
required run-rate. As one bowling option had been removed early on -
Phil Dawson pulled a muscle in his second over - the pressure
gradually increased to keep the lid on things as both teams vied
almost neck and neck to gain the advantage. A few runs here, an
excellent stop there, it was exciting stuff for a season finisher.
Banstead's men had managed to retain their nerve as well as precious
wickets at this stage and the scene was set for a last throw of the
dice. Phil Dawson being unfit to come back, the task of breaking the
partnership at the crease (or at least retain it) fell onto the
shoulders of our young spinner, Neal Haworth. Unfortunately, one of
the batsmen took a
fancy to his flavour of spin and inflicted some suffering on him with
a couple of high scoring overs. This made their task a whole lot
easier and with three overs to go made their target without further
loss. Had West End not been deprived of a main bowler before the
start, never mind losing the services of another during the game, the
result may have been quite different – who knows? As it was they
went for the win from the word go, and it shows. Banstead are a good
but friendly Sunday team but showed their appreciation by asking for a
return game during drinks afterwards. We shall certainly take them up
on that.
PICK
THE BONES OUT OF THAT
Well,
West End can hold their heads well up at the end of this very
developmental but extremely positive season in the evolution of the
club. They went for it throughout the season and although overall the
wins were outnumbered by losses the difference was far less than in
2002. Another heartening statistic was the increased number of drawn
matches, mainly attributable to the increased stubbornness and
consistency of the batting line-up. In the field some excellent
performances with the ball were backed up with some quite
inspirational fielding that lifted the ante of West End’s game and
made the whole experience that bit more enjoyable as a result. We also
suffered fewer player shortages than in recent seasons, partly due to
a successful recruiting campaign during the previous Spring, and
partly due to the diligence of the new captain Howard Turner. The
resulting increased availability of more players in any given weekend
made life a little easier all round. That is, save for one forgettable
weekend when virtually every player was “otherwise engaged”,
leaving us with five players. Never mind, here’s to next year!
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