In a land that time forgot, where the grass remains green & Pints are south of £5, the Road found themselves once more preparing to enter the field.
Abinger Hammer felt a world away from the straw, dust & concrete that adorn the pitches of south London. A popular fixture on the calendar, this Saturday afternoon jaunt down to central Surrey had been eagerly anticipated by those looking to enjoy escaping the city. A few even had a passing interest in playing a bit of cricket.
With South Africa cleaning up the English Test side before the weekend had even started, the denizens of this idyllic setting needed to turn their attention elsewhere if they wanted to see high quality cricket. With the Hundred on up in Nottingham & no One Day cup action available, their only option was to fill out the bank across the stream from the ground & watch as another Abinger CC vs Kings Road classic unfolded.
The toss was unceremoniously ignored as Abinger made it clear to il capitano PEJ that in a surprising turn of events, they would be batting first. Their plan, uncovered by sneaking behind enemy lines (i.e chatting to them) was to reach 150 in good time, see where they were & either make it to the agreed time break for Lunch or potentially declare.
A ferocious opening attack of Chris Brown & Matt Small was unveiled as the Road threw down the challenge to the Abinger openers. “Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war” PEJ whispered into the new ball as he handed it off to his openers. Browny running down the hill can strike fear into any batter & it was clear after 2 balls that Abingers no.1 batsman may not have been up to the task. By the 3rd delivery he was trapped LBW to a ball that was so down the middle, that it caused Burt the Umpire some bother, as he had to attempt hard to convince himself that it could possibly not have been out. Sense prevailed, the first Wicket was gone & a batters’ weekend ruined as they departed for 0 in the first over.
Quality umpiring saw Burt raise his finger for the LBW
Smally coming up the hill proved difficult for the new batter to read but he survived nonetheless. The start of the 3rd Over and the batting pair may have hoped for respite, however no quarter was offered by Chris Brown. A tidy dot was followed by a ball drifting away from the batter that he slashed at, the unclean contact diverting the ball wide, low but with pace. Most would assume it was going to sneak away to the boundary, but when Mandy heard the crowd wanted excitement, he felt it his duty at Slip to dive hard and low to his right to snatch the ball. Raising himself to his feet, he bathed in the adoration of his team & the spectators. The Road had them at 6 for 2 after just 2.2 Overs
With both opening batters dispatched to the sheds, it was now a father & son combination holding up things for Abinger. The elder looking in control of his surrounds, happy to ease himself into an innings whilst chatting to his boy & keeping him alert. The game had found rhythm now, both Abinger batters happy to defend the good balls & attack when appropriate. By the start of the 6th, Abinger had salvaged themselves to 20 for 2 & change of bowler was needed to help find a chink in their armour. Mahony was now unleashed like a Berserker, steaming in from the top of the hill, with hopes that his left arm variations would grind them into submission.
Smally was having none of this “change bowler” malarkey, he had been tasked to find a Wicket & he wanted to remind his captain that he was the man for the job. He did so with aplomb, initially by having his first ball guided by the batter into the hands of Mandy, to remove the elder batter in the family. This was then followed up with 5 balls for no runs. Some say a Wicket Maiden is exactly the kind of bowling you want to show your captain that you need to stay on. Some will say PEJ was ill advised to announce the end of Smally’s spell. Others will know he was playing the long game and preserving his prized spinner to attack at other opportune stages of the innings.
The bowling combination of Mahony & Rossi probed well but could not find a way to dislodge 2 batters that had very separate philosophies. For one, it was to swing with power and find gaps, for the other it was to swing with no power and still find gaps. Edges came but could not reach awaiting hands, shots lofted in the air fell gently on the ground and the game had progressed to 97 for 3 by the start of the 25th Over.
Newlove & PEJ had already entered the fray, Brown also returned for another tour of service but could not add to his collection of victims. The batter with more power in his bat had taken PEJ to the boundary a few times in a previous over, and perhaps was anxious to do so again. This led to a rash shot which he placed directly into the waiting hands of Keats positioned well at Backward Square. A bad shot, a good ball and a great catch.
The day was looking rosy for the Roaders
Following his own example, PEJ gave himself a blow immediately after taking his Wicket, so as to introduce Mandy to the attack. It initially proved a sage move, as he started off with a maiden. This was to be the high point of his afternoon in the field, as the Abinger batters soon decided they liked the look of his bowling and started to swing hard at most balls after this, often finding the rope. Quite apt of them, as Mandy had his own tale earlier in the day while patrolling the boundary. His ill fated tangle with the protective netting surrounding the ground had left him tumbling into the nettles and almost into the stream.
This was one of a few engagements with the ground by various Roaders. Dougie & Smally both placing their bodies on the line to dive face forwards into darting low balls and taking the brunt of the damage to their faces and chests. Connor losing footing on a divot as he dived before completely missing the ball & Moaney also enjoying a rendezvous with the net in an attempt to prevent a boundary.
Regular bowling changes kept the bowlers fresh for battle & the batters guessing, so they could not fully capitalise. It took a change of ends for Smalls to increase his Wicket haul, now coming down the hill like a Gladiator descending into the arena. The first was a ball that seemed destined to sail beyond the trees, but at the zenith of its flight suddenly it was plummeting hard and fast towards the Antipodean positioned at Long Off. Worry not though, Moaney took it into the loving embrace of his hands with the delicateness of a mother to her newborn.
2 notches in the Wicket column now and Smally had the fire in his eyes & arm to hunt for more. It took only 2 more balls for him to strike again, taking a fantastic Caught & Bowled off of the top scoring bat for Abinger. The batter was the young child, who perhaps felt today was a grudge match after some Bodyline tactics employed the previous year. He came back still very much a child, but played some lovely shots & rode his luck on the near misses. 59 runs from 107 balls was impressive and it took an equally impressive effort from Smally to collect the Wicket.
Abinger had slumped from 154 for 4 to 160 for 6 in the course of 6 balls. With the dangers of a small child taken out of the game, Keats was brought in from the wild to take the ball and lay siege to the Abinger defence. It did not take long as he struck on his fourth delivery, with the batter holing out to Mr Bucket Hands himself, The Mirth from Perth, The Mollydooker, The Southpaw, The Slime Master General……..Moany, the ball was caught by Moany. A nice clean catch it was too.
With another batter back in the hutch, Abinger turned to the charismatic Burt to sally forth and plunder. His instructions, simply to find the rope or rotate the strike. Rotation was his preferred expression, which saved him in the end, as it was another batter on strike when Keats bowled a lovely ball that collected the bails in the final over. The mop was out & young Keatings had 2 Wickets to write home about.
Abinger batted out 39 overs in the allotted time frame, scoring 181 for the loss of 8 before Declaration. An achievable target, but one to be respected all the same. Top scorer was 59 for the young bat, solid bowling figures from the Road & remarkably only 1 No Ball & 5 Wides as the only Extras.
Tea now and the conversation was about which side of the ground to target, how many dogs could surround Keats hoping for scraps of his lunch & the finer points on the etiquette of applying Tomato sauce to a Sausage Roll. By the time batters had padded up, focus was etched across the face of the Roaders ready to engage in an innings of PEJball. It is a curious philosophy to the outside eye, but to those in the know it has elements of calm, surprise & devastation.
PEJ was to be victim of this mindset quite early on, by unfortunately nicking his first delivery to the keeper and departing. Fear not, he had watched the Abinger opener depart early as well & knew that his place was now on the sideline to guide this side through the innings.
Doug appeared at no.3 and clearly wanted to be the rock upon which the Church of Runs could be built. His early stoicism allowed Sherman to take the reins and some nice shots in combination with good running had numerous 2s added to the board. By the end of the 11th Over, the goodship Road had steadied to 39 for 1. The game trickled along nicely with strike rotation, however it had now been 53 deliveries since a boundary. Sherman put an end to that with a delightful shot skipping along past the rope. This successful shot drew the ire of the bowler and on his final delivery he placed the ball through the gate and castled Sherman for a very well batted 31 from 40 balls.
This brought Keats to the crease to partner Doug, and he brought instructions from the sidelines that now was the time to get stuck into Abinger. Perhaps following Sun Tzu’s maxim on employing deception when attacking, Doug lured the Abinger bowler in by squeezing just a single run from the bat in the next over. Preying on the complacency of the bowler, in their next encounter the gloves were off as Doug lifted a glorious shot up and over Long On, past the trees and into the next field. This was followed by a rash of 4s and with support from Keats, the Road had progressed to 75 for 2 from 17 overs.
Drinks breaks can change a game, bowlers can get loose, batters can get tight and bladders could do either really. Resetting and refocusing can be a challenge to some. The Road required 107 to win from 19 Overs and Doug resumed with a massive over to significantly reduce that figure. He amassed 4 delightful 4’s before eventually missing the final ball and departing the field on 46 from 60 deliveries. An excellent innings that put the Road in the driving seat.
93 for 3 from 18 Overs and with Keats & Connor hoping to push that along things were shaping up nicely. “Dots & Boundaries” is the name of Connor’s game and it took until the 7th delivery to get the right shot and move off of 0, in a productive over in which the partnership had added 10 to the board. The bowler serving up a few extras as his deliveries were quite uncontrolled, and in the end this was the undoing of Connor. Finding a top edge, that instead of sailing over the stream it skied directly upwards before falling into the waiting hands of the bowler.
Cometh the hour, cometh the Mandy and he was in no mood to hang around. Moving himself onto 14 runs from the first 4 deliveries, it was a signal of intent. Facing his 6th delivery Mandy may have been motivated by the fact he had recorded a dot with his previous ball. To rectify this he kissed the ball off his toes and watched it skid along past the boundary. This was then followed with a crunching 6 that had the crowd baying for more. “Are you not entertained?” he must have thought to himself as those on the sidelines roared for more.
And more they received, with another drive towards the boundary for 4 in the following Over. However the gods of Cricket are cruel for they giveth, but they also taketh away. On this occasion what they took was Keats Wicket, which was lost by having his shot caught by the aforementioned Burt. Keatings departing for a solid 19 from 34 deliveries & it was not long before Mandy joined him in the changing rooms as he also fell at the hands of Burt, but on this occasion he was the bowler. Mandys Howitzer of an innings (30 off 12 balls) had pushed the Road onto 150 for 6 with plenty of Overs to spare.
The victory was beginning to present itself, Moans had been introduced and he kicked things off with a single and then back to back 4s from a bowler who was looking dangerous. He is Ayling by name, but his bowling was by no means ailing by nature. His next ball to Moany was a delightful effort to dislodge the top of Off Stump. He came over the wicket to the Left-Sided batter, the ball swinging away, pitching full to the outside Off, missing the swing of the bat before cutting hard off the surface and unbelievably crashing back onto the Bails. A joy to see, but not a joy to be on the receiving end of.
The Road now had Oscar & Matt at the crease, 30 runs were required, there were 10 overs to go. These two Champions of Bat & Ball had the weight on the Road upon them. An air of discontent had crept into the fielding side, a few had thought the game lost, others proclaimed it was still on. From the boundary there was eager anticipation, as coming away with the win looked on the cards. This battle of Willow & Leather was running out of time for the Abinger skip, so he decided to forgo the niceties with his bowlers, removing any chaff from the wheat and was content to only use Ayling & Burt as battering rams to bludgeon the Road for as long as their arms could hold out.
The Small & Newlove partnership added 21 to the total before Burt struck Smally down with a shot to a fielder. The drops where far and few between as anything takable was eagerly snapped up as the game inched towards a finish. Winviz would probably still have the game leaning towards a Road victory, lets say 78% to 22%. By the end of the 31st Over it would have tilted to 99% to 1% in favour of the Road as Oscar & Brown had added on 8 runs to bring the total to 181 and the game at a tie. 181 for 8 with plenty of overs to go, the game was appearing to position itself inside of a beautifully decorated box and then promptly wrap itself up with a bow.
He had dispatched Smalls with the final ball of his previous Over, the ball caught in the field. However with his first delivery to Brown he went back to the old adage of aiming for the top of off and just putting down the best ball he could. And he did. Sending the bails cartwheeling up the hill and cast Brown back to whence he came with 3 runs to his name.
Picture the scene, the day has waned into evening, a single run is required for the Road to win and the Universe Ross has approached the crease. Oscar is his batting partner, but there is nothing he can do to assist beyond advice, he will have no further impact on this game and can rest assured he will leave today on 24* from 20. The game is tied, Abinger cannot win but they can certainly still lose. 5 balls are left in the over & the bowler is on a Hat Trick ball.
Rossi adjusts to his surroundings, which is difficult as the Abinger skipper is promptly setting his field to be as watertight as possible. Burt, for all his effort, is not particularly consulted on this and I don’t think he would have cared really any way. He was going back to what worked the previous ball. To find line & length. To not worry about what the batter might do, to just be concerned about what he could do with the ball in his hand. These two Titans were matched, Rossi had confidence in his abilities, proudly declaring “I know what I’m doing” when questioned about his guard. He was ready.
Long story short, Burt put the ball in the same place, past Rossi’s bat, ripping the Bails off the Stumps and Abinger had dismissed the Kings Road for the same total they had produced of 181.
Questions of a Super Over or even a Bowl Off were floated, exclusively by Roaders. Abinger had zero intention of entertaining anything else, perhaps counting themselves incredibly lucky to walk away without losing. The square was quickly dusted with a leaf blower and the sprinklers on before the Road had allowed the events of the afternoon to truly sink in. They had watched a Tie be snatched from the jaws of Victory.
And so ended this late Summers dramatics on the Green. Pints were poured, stories regaled, shots replayed and as nightfall swept across the men from SW London, they pulled out of the car park still trying to grasp how they had let this game get away from them. The term winning draw was bandied about, but it felt as close to a Pyrrhic victory as Cricket could get
AWARDS
Tantrum: Oscar Vs Dog
Embarrassing: Mandy falling into the Nettles
Champagne: Mandy Slip catch low and to his right
MandyOTM: Sherman – No byes while keeping & batted 31
https://kingsroadcsc.play-cricket.com/website/results/5419319
Author: Connor McGilligan