Match Summary
It took many of the Twenty Minuters a while to find the Chesham Bois Cricket Club ground, situated as it was in a small wood with no road access. The pretty sylvan setting, with attractive thatched pavilion, gave one the feeling of being hermetically sealed in a wonderful cricketty world far from the travails of the modern world. The picture was completed by a barrel of local ale stationed on the square leg boundary throughout.
Stand-in skipper Greayer won the toss and immediately elected to bat first on a sporty deck. Godsal B and Godsal T soon took advantage of the pace of the pitch and short boundaries. After a nervous start Godsal B soon began to compile the big score he has long threatened to make, ably supported by his brother. The shortcomings of such an idyllic setting soon became clear as ball after ball disappeared into the undergrowth. A long, hot afternoon of rummaging in the bushes and trips to the nearest sport shop seemed to lie ahead. Just as the opening pair looked like completely running amok, Godsal T heaved at a straight one and got a tight LBW decision against him.
If the Corridors were hoping for respite they were to be disappointed. Elwes looked increasingly classy as home bowlers Lee and Yorke began to tire in the blazing sunshine and were replaced. It appeared that our hosts generosity stretched beyond the excellent tea, and pork pies were not the only type on the menu. The scorers were scouring the archives (carelessly left at Vauxhall station) for the second wicket record just as Elwes inexplicably holed out to Glenn McGrath doppelganger Armstrong-Bunker at long off. Godsal B was then encouraged to slog to give others a chance and was promptly caught, but not before completing a masterful half century. The law of sod dictates that the middle order will then collapse. Greayer in particular failed to be inspired by the captaincy and continued his hapless form with the bat, strangled down the leg side for a third ball duck. The West Indies engine room of Walker (who unilaterally decided to make up numbers by batting, bowling and fielding for both sides) and Forbes also failed to fire, and a good start appeared to be going to waste. Some lusty late hitting from Cannon, who put some very brief innings this term behind him, and a real collector's item from Curtis arrested the decline. The final total of 203 was imposing by Twenties standards, but could have been so much more given the explosive start, lightning outfield and some indifferent bowling.
The Corridors' reply got off to an inauspicious start when star all-rounder Yorke failed to recover from a side strain picked up during a typically wholehearted bowling spell. But skipper Mallard avoided any allusion to his waterfowl name, looking dangerous with some good orthodox strokes to the boundary, whilst Lee rode his luck at the other end with some wild slashes through the slip cordon. Our stand-in skipper responded to his unique style with an umbrella field, and Lee duly obliged with an edge to eccentric but tidy gloveman Felwick. Armstrong-Bunker added to the tally with some meaty blows after Mallard departed, but the rest of the Corridors subsided in the face of some probing and hostile bowling from Cannon and Elwes. Cannon in particular was spurred on by a pitch offering alarming pace and bounce, allied to a dangerously sinking sun. He even captured Scott's bail-carry record with a staggering 21.5 yards when he barged into Strachan's stumps. The best analysis though was from Godsal T, who was one run worse than the Twenties best ever figures, taking 4-21. This despite an attack of the yips that led to a rash of Brett Lee-style rapid beamers.
Greayer eventually ensured a record 76 run win with some inspired tinkering to his attacking fields and cannily intuitive bowling changes. He felt a bit bad though, given the Corridors amazing hospitality, fighting spirit and fantastic potato salad.
