Bryanston Butterflies 156 (G A Bucknell 72; W H Wingfield Digby 5 for 12); Pilgrims 157-7. Won by 3 wickets.
Murky light and a greenish tinge to the wicket at an otherwise splendid venue for our inaugural match in the over-50s version of the Cricketer Cup made it a great toss to win, with skipper Rupert Bagnall calling correctly. With no hesitation he elected to field and the opening bowling combination of Rob Rydon and Chris Ward did not disappoint, restricting the Bryanston opening batsmen to 30 runs in the first eight overs, with Ward eventually making the breakthrough in the tenth over, trapping Lengyel leg-before.
Bucknell and Bryanston skipper Austin then put on a decent partnership of 60 before the wily Welsh fox James Pexton claimed Austin in the 24th over, thanks to a tidy take by the skipper at long-off. Austin gone for 28, one of the dangermen safely accounted for and a key partnership broken, just as they were starting to get seriously going. Pexton’s first five overs only yielded 13 runs. His old mate from The Green, Paddy Evans seemed equally as inspired as his first five overs only went for 19 runs.
The Pilgrims were now asserting crucial mid-innings pressure and creating chances to dismiss Bucknell, who was now well into his stride (let’s not dwell on the three catches spilt). No need, because then came the bowling change of all bowling changes – on comes Will Wingfield Digby – and sure enough Bucknell, the other dangerman, is dismissed, finally one sticks, courtesy of Mark Jackaman showing his team-mates how to do it. Bucknell gone for 72 out of a total of 125 in the 26th over.
The Butterflies must have been targeting at least 190 with nine overs still to go and seven wickets in hand. But Wingfield Digby had other ideas. Bagnall, too, wanted some of the action, smelling blood after softening the batsmen up with two wides in his first two balls. Indeed, it was Bagnall who sent the middle order packing in quick succession with a brace to his name and a canny four-over spell that yielded 18 runs, ten of which came in the first over.
This left the hero of the hour, Wingfield Digby, to clean out Bryanston’s 7, 8, 9 and 10 which included a hat-trick in the final over of their innings, the last of which was triggered in a beautiful tribute to the legendary Mike Earls-Davis, who must have been looking down from his perch in the skies for Wingers Diggers to seal the deal. Phenomenal stuff.
Tea and tobacco were taken, with victory very much on the agenda. Chasing 157 would require a disciplined and sensible approach to our response with the bat and the openers Paddy Clarke and Jackaman knuckled down to a partnership of 32 which was broken when Jackaman offered a sharp catch to Williams, annoyingly their best fielder, in the eighth over. Ticking over at 4 an over – job done – the pace had been set. Stuart Gillett joined Clarke and, fresh from the Halford Hewitt, entertained us with a few wonderful seven-irons and a couple of scuffed fairway woods to take the score to 68 in the 14th over when Clarke also unfortunately found Williams in the field, caught for a solid 32, our top score.
Al Cossins and Gillett were showing no real signs of weakness and both looked set for decent scores until both succumbed to the spin of Cooke, somewhat against the run of play. Gillett was out for a well-bludgeoned 26 and Cossins for 13 bowled by one that kept very low, shall we say. 96 for four after 20 overs; still bang on track and now with the Sussex legends Rydon and the bowling hero Wingfield Digby out in the middle, everything was going serenely well.
Rydon was plundering boundaries with his classic sweep shot, Wingfield Digby anchoring the other end nudging singles, 11 of them in a row at one point. But then within the space of a couple of overs the Sussex pair were done for, both holing out to well-held catches – Rydon was fuming that he hadn’t quite timed his lofted straight drive to clear the predatory Huntley on the boundary ropes, after a chanceless 28.
Now, inevitably, the Pilgrims were perhaps getting a little anxious, not least after Pexton was adjudged leg-before for nought. Panic not, though, when you have a tail like this one. Pete Crouch to his credit smeared a couple of lusty blows for four and eventually guided us home with two overs to spare by three wickets, ably assisted by Evans, who could easily bat higher up the order than No 9 in the future if required.
A great day out and a win which sees the newly-formed Pilgrims over-50s team travel to Berkshire later in May to face Old Wellingtonians in the quarter-finals. Everyone contributed and it was a lot of fun getting back together again. It would appear that we can still just about play this great game. How the bodies cope this week is another matter.
Charlie Allen