Theatrical Cavaliers won by 2 runs.
THEATRICAL CAVALIERS 128-9 (30 overs)
M. Ford 29
R. Swift 28
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D. Drumm 1-7
R. Pocock 1-14
HALVERSTOWN 126-9 (30 overs)
M. Ronaldson 37
N. Greene 20
Report by Des Drumm
“Superhuman effort isn’t worth a damn unless it achieves results”, as the Halverstown-linked Arctic explorer , Ernest Shackleton, unsentimentally once said- and as Mark Ronaldson felt after our 2 run defeat to the Cavaliers. We matched them Measure for Measure, but it was not All’s Well That Ends Well. We could have won- and should have won- but that would have done a disservice to Cavaliers, who were very good.
It was a Winter’s Tale as the weather was once again an issue with “the icy fang /And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind” leaving the pitch “ a drowned field”; it was like poor Ophelia - “too much of water hast thou”. The winds had blown and “the cataracts and hurricanoes spout, till they have drenched our steeples and drowned our cocks”- as well as other parts.
Cavaliers won the toss and batted. We bowled well, notably Mark Ronaldson opening, but wickets were hard to come by. In the mucky,slithery conditions, though, our fielding turned into a Comedy of Errors- one chancey single even ending up as 3 runs. Andrew Myers , ever the trier- “’Tis very like: he has the falling sickness”- was covered in mud by the end .A captain’s innings by Ronan Swift (not an actor but a musician of quite some note I found later) supported by Michael Ford were their highlights, but their first 5 batsmen all got to double figures. The few highlights in the field were a superb catch by Robert Pocock off me– for which I returned the compliment just a few minutes later with a rather less difficult one.
Our batting started slowly, but they were bowling tightly. The usual fireworks from Nassau Greene when he returns to his alma mater did not happen- but though his 20 was not “the right Promethean fire” we are used to it was a mortal one that would not have disappointed any of the rest of us. We subsided to impending defeat and I certainly did not emulate Ronan:“Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part, and I am out”.For a duck.From a weak off cut-“the most unkindest cut of all”. The fielder, though, deserves mention since Owen Stott took 3 catches in all that day.After 22 overs we were only half way to the target, with 8 overs left.
Then up strode Mark and he re-shaped the game , verily “he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Clossus”. It looked like he would win the match single-handedly. 13 to win off two overs.8 to win off the last over. But Simon Coury bowled the final over brilliantly. 2 off the first ball then 4 dot balls as Mark swung the bat with a hint of tiredness. I was runner for the mud-spattered and now limping Andrew. Last ball and Mark hit it for no more than a single, but we kept on running-and running –and running- until I was eventually run-out by a demented keeper who gave up on the fielders and ran the length of the wicket to just beat me to the wicket . We almost ran 4, but would have lost anyway.
So “When shall we teams meet again/In thunder, lightning or in rain?”. See you in September, Cavaliers, when “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” (including our two honest umpires who called two short runs!!).
des drum
PS Thanks to Bill (Shakespeare, that is) for all the quotes. Pics below.
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