Full Fixture Information

Result Descriptiom

EMCC 94 all out / Brentham 96-5 and win by 5 wickets.

Man of the Match

Josh for his batting

Champagne Moment

Lakh's catch

Teddy Bear Moment

Ian's catching

Full Match Report

WE first played Brentham in 2016 ? a stand-in team at the last minute when our opposition cancelled. And it was against Brentham that the legend of the ginger all-rounder was born.

Ivor, their scorer, who?d scored for them for over 40 years, came back the following year and made enquiries about our ginger all-rounder. I remember us to a man saying we had no gingers and certainly no ginger all-rounders at the club ? however, a quick look at the match report from the year before revealed that our ginger all-rounder was none other than Mr Dave Hales who?d taken wickets and smote fours with abandon that day.

How we could have done with the ginger all-rounder on Sunday.

It was a pretty miserable day on Sunday, no matter what our phones said and continued saying it was raining, it did rain and it didn?t really let up. I?d seen Mr Gubbins taking a look at the pitch before we started, and I asked him if he fancied batting three. No thanks he said, he?d had enough of green tops this summer with Hampshire.

It definitely felt like a bowl first kind of day, but Brentham had the same idea and won the toss and put us in.

We weren?t replete with batsman ? but I thought we probably had enough if we buckled down and batted sensibly.

Ian Cook opened up and saw out a maiden.

Lakh Jemmett at the other end saw out another maiden.

Ian looked to have played out another maiden before being bowled off the last ball of the over to a lovely delivery that swung away before jagging back off the seam and hitting his off-stump.

Lakh then decided that blocking wasn?t getting him very far, chased a wide one, and played on. 0-2 after four overs.

I blocked out another maiden.

Tim Lawrence at the other end was unlucky to receive a ball that bounced and left him and was caught behind.

So, after 5.5 overs EMCC was 0-3. There can?t have been many worse starts in our history.

Josh thumped the last ball of the over for four and at last we had more runs than wickets lost.

Josh and I then put on 34 in the next 8 overs before I was caught behind for 15. David Blackburn came, hit a nice four, walked past the next ball and was stumped. 47-5.

Mooro joined Josh at the wicket and they set about repairing the damage and trying to put some runs on the board.

Josh was batting nicely and very sensibly, hitting boundaries and defending with aplomb.

I?d come out to umpire and was enjoying a front-row seat of both his and Mooro?s boundary hitting.

But the umpire is not just there to enjoy a front-row seat, they are also there to adjudicate, and when the question was asked I felt I had to give Josh out LBW? would there have been an incident if I?d given him not out, probably not, was I absolutely sure it was out, definitely, was Josh absolutely sure it was not out, definitely, Tim from the boundary had him half way down the wicket when it hit him, I?m not so sure, and without the benefit of Frogbox, we?ll never know.

But all you can do is call it as you see it.

Josh LBW for a very good 47 and EMCC on about 85-6. Mooro, not sure whether to stick or twist with the tail missed and was bowled for 17 including two huge sixes. Wayne smashed a four through the covers and then popped a ball back to the bowler two balls later.

Dave, Aaron and Al Lacy, came, scored a single each and then were bowled and LBW (me again ? definitely out) and EMCC were all out just before tea for 95.

It wasn?t a good score, the bowling was good, but as Josh and to some extent Chris and I showed, you could survive it and score off it. But 0-3 is never a great place to be starting from.

So, the only thing to do was take wickets and take them fast.

Brentham decided they didn?t want to let us get in our groove and came out at a rate of knots.

For some reason (perhaps they were missing Ivor) they didn?t actually score in the book so our bowling figures are mainly estimates.

The faster David Blackburn (2-0-30-0) bowled the harder they hit it, he was unlucky when their more aggressive opener was (badly) dropped off the last ball of his opening over. Tim Lawrence replaced him and his first ball was smashed to Lakh at extra cover who held on to a terrific catch.

Dave Rees (4-1-15-1) opened from the other end and was much tighter and had their other opener well caught at deep mid-off by me. Suddenly there were two new batsman at the crease and it was about 47-2. Tim (5-2-10-3) picked up two more wickets, bowled and LBW and Al Lacy (3-0-22-1) replacing Dave Rees picked up another wicket caught deep mid-off by me again.

Aaron and Wyne had an over each but 95 was never enough, and their number 6 hit one more huge six and that was that. Another 40 runs and it might have been interesting.

Fines didn?t happen, either because we all knew how wretched we?d been, or because of the rain and there being nowhere to sit, Brentham having taken over the pavilion, but there was just time for Dave Rees to tell us that this was his last Sunday game for the village, and to pass on his jacket to Aaron.

Cricket is about much more than winning or losing to Brentham on a soggy Sunday in September, it?s about the friendships we make and the fun we have playing with each other, and Dave, it?s been a pleasure playing with you over the last ten years, thank you for all you?ve done in and around the club (and will continue to do!) we?ll miss your slightly quicker than expected, more accurate than Rees Jnr, bowling, usually up the hill and often against the top order.

I?m glad you?re still playing Thursdays, coming on tour and as long as you know the door is open to come back on a Sunday next year perhaps it won?t really be your last game.