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Eight of the tourists remembered the shenanigans of 2002, when demands by the Enville first XI had such a knock-on effect during the holiday season that the thirds could not raise a team to face The Gents. Something similar happened again, but instead of phoning up Victor at 10.45pm on the Friday night with the bad news, their organiser moved heaven and earth to honour the fixture and thanks are due to him. The resultant XI comprised three veterans and eight youngsters (mostly 11-13) and my how well they bowled, reducing Gents to 71-7 and eventually bowling them out for 163, though they were always going to struggle with the bat against, to them, giant bowlers, slow motion Joel Garners, perhaps, though in two cases a little tubbier.
All the hosts bowled well and Captain Victor ensured that involvement was optimised. The Gents were on a team yellow for bad language in front of minors, so it was with amusement that we heard a 12-year old call one of his team “a prick” for a slight misfield. No matter, Enville, senior and junior alike, bowled and caught well and it was with some consternation that Gent supporters noted the score of 71-7 in the 21st. over, the run rate not helped by the long, damp outfield certainly, but nevertheless composed against the youngest attack they had ever faced. Norcott and Wright then turned the innings round with 85 runs in exactly 11 overs.
Enville’s innings presented Sanjay with a conundrum. There was little point in bowling Snelling and Thompson but he needed to get Dhruv, who has suffered from a lack of confidence this season, into form for the Sunday. In the event the ankle-biters and vets popped up 9 catches, all of which were taken, though the kids managed a few fours second time around. This ‘ginger beer’ match was subject to debate as to whether it should be included in the averages, so rapacious are several Gents, but no accurate record was kept, so sadly it cannot be.
Statisticians feasted heartily. The Norcott/Wright stand was the highest for the eighth wicket in a Gents’ game, beating the 62-run Cotton/Swiderski project for London Saints in 1999 and the 59 by Burville and Ashton in the ten-wicket loss to London Owls in 1993. No Gents’ team has equalled the number of catches taken (previous best 8 v. Urban in 1993). Wright scored his 15th. score of fifty plus, Dhruv achieved another monster analysis in this fixture and Burman’s wickets were his first since 2000, though he has hardly bowled since then.
Enville were generous hosts and Michelle Lockley provided the tea of the year, though it was equalled 26 and a half hours later after the Bedouins game. A worthwhile day out, then, for young, old and middling. |
