Halverstown v. Blacksmiths & Artisans

Social Fixture, Saturday 30th June
Blacksmiths & Artisans won by 36 runs.


Blacksmiths & Artisans 172-3 
T. Pettit 61*
Osmond 56*
---
R. Pocock 1-9
David Gray 1-12


Halverstown 136-7
TP Plewman 23*
I. Walker 19


Match report by Des Drumm


After the euphoria of Hubert captaining the team to a win last week it was business as usual as I led us to an undeserved 36 run defeat- undeserved in that we deserved to lose by more. The applause that greeted our 100 was occasioned more by shock than any sense of congratulation. That we went on to reach 136 was miraculous-yet if TP had not decided that he and I would score only boundaries and singles we would have come  much closer again to their total.
Getting a game in at all was a surprise given the weather, but we had to  given that they had come from deepest Somerset -and were a nice bunch to boot. John Brown felt we bowled tidily, but their young Tom Pettit scored his first ever half-century, which might suggest otherwise. My socialist tendencies  probably did not help, using a record 10 bowlers. Iain Walker was the only one not called on to bowl- is there a message there Iain?.The wickets taken were a run-out and a stumping ( Iain at his panther-like best , though many thought the umpire must have had a score to settle with the batsman) with only Robert Pocock managing  a “real” bowlers wicket.
Our batting line-up did not look overly strong and once Iain had gone for 19 and Barry for 17 (with J.Brown contributing a nice little 5 as opener) the rapid fall the next 3 wickets sealed our fate. There was a late flurry from the tail with a quick-fire 14 from Adam Myers ,18 from me before “retired hurt” and 23 “retired not hurt” from TP put a decent gloss on things. Tom Pettit’s excitement at bowling his first ever maiden over , though, did not make me feel good.


They loved their day in Harristown. One of them declared in the Stray Inn that it was the best day’s cricket they had ever had. However, since he later declared Markey’s to be the best pub he was ever in, I decided that the Guinness may have influenced his judgement. It was a good fun game played in a thoroughly sporting spirit. We got on so famously that four of us turned out for them the next day (two batting, two fielding). However the reality of playing real cricketers in the form of the Leprechauns came home to them-and us. But that’s another story…