Match Report: Clyst Hydon - 17th Aug

Clyst Hydon CC v Southwell Ramblers CC – Sunday 17th August 2014
Result: Ramblers won by 48 runs
 

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." – Closing Time (Semisonic)

The final day of Tour 2014 arrived with rain and melancholy in the air. Morale was wavering, bodies were aching and hangovers were taking hold. The Five Bells couldn’t come quick enough, and after a restorative lunch and a quick sing-song spirits were soaring and the Ramblers were ready to go again.

With a 3pm start and 30 overs-a-side agreed, the Ramblers elected to bat first, desperate to right the wrongs of Edgcumbe. Leacho and Stanners began at a steady, if slightly uninspiring pace, but 6 overs in and we were yet to lose a wicket. It didn’t last. Ben was first to fall to a deadly delivery that cut in off the deck, and when he was followed in quick succession by Gwat, MJ, Stanners, Macca and Moo, the Ramblers were 53-6 and in dire straits.*

* It should be noted at this stage that four of said wickets were given LBW by one James Lane, a man who just six hours earlier could be found head down a toilet contemplating that the previous nights’ 6th bottle of red was possibly not the best option. Thanks Laney.

Cometh the moment and cometh the men, Shippers joined Gus at the crease, two men who in a time of need know how to get it done. A 50 partnership came and went with some frantic running and a flurry of shots around the ground, including two superb ‘over-the-top’ sixes for Gussy. The Ramblers, digging deep, reached a respectable 147-6, with GW and Shippers finishing with red faces and red ink: 40 and 35 not out respectively. We were back.

After another superb tea and the pleasing discovery that the England v India Test was already over in calamitous fashion (for the Indians anyway), the Ramblers took to the field for one last time in 2014, hopeful of defending a total and getting a ‘W’ on the board in Devon.

Macca and the now almost totally sober Leggie opened up with some superb early spells and when both rattled the stumps in successive overs, Leggie twice, and bowling for a hat-trick for the first time this year, there was a sudden sense that once again something special could happen at Clyst.

The hosts counter-punched and the runs flowed in all too swift a fashion, but with the double bowling change of Jansa and Knight Rider, wickets fell again. Flight and guile, turn and bounce – this was a spell that the legendary Robert Spencer, SRCC’s leading wicket-taker of all time, would have happily put his name to.

With the scoreboard building pressure at pace and Clyst’s lower order having to make a move, Marcus (3-27) floated a few more up there for super-skip to snaffle on the boundary, leaving our leader an over to claim the final wicket, the glory, the yellow and the day.

What a season. What a finish. 

See you in 2015!

Team in batting order:

Ben Leach, Tim Stansbury, Matt Unwin, Marcus Jansa, Ali Macleod-Smith, Gus Williamson, Nick Mullen, Mark Shipway, Matt Knight, James Lane, Tim Powell

Toss: Won by Southwell Ramblers
Yellow: Gus Williamson