CURDRIDGE vs FAIR OAK IV's - 28th June 2025
The Harry Wikins Special: Team Win Good
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After a chastening loss last week, we returned to the Bowl for a home game against the league leaders, knowing a win was needed to keep us in touch in a league with many teams separated by less than a point. The forecast was for heat, and the weather didn’t disappoint.
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Cunningly, Mark lost the toss, and the Fair Oak elected to bat – but this week bowling first felt like the right decision, especially with the prospect of higher temperatures out in the field by the second innings.
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Into the side this week came Tom ‘Radar’ Mould, Dan Williamson and Gary Rodgers, replacing Dom (injured), Stu (tired) and Monster (on the run from the law, somewhere in Panama). So it was a new look bowling attack with Danny Clark opening as usual from one end and Radar from the other. Homing in early, the runs were restricted for the first 5 or 6 overs, as both Danny and Tom found their range and the batsman limited mostly to singles.
It was around the fourth over that there was a collective dawning on half the side that we only had 10 players on the pitch, Gary having not yet turned up. Despite a few boundaries then coming the score after 10 overs was only in the 40s, an excellent effort with only 10 men on the field. Gary turned up after 12 overs, and Curdridge were up to full strength. A change of bowling brought Mike into the attack, immediately giving the batsmen some tricky balls to navigate, but the runs continued, and the partnership moved into the 60s the end of the 15th over and the first of two drinks breaks in the innings.
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The first ball of the 16th over and Mike, as he regularly does these days, struck, inducing a mistimed shot from the batsman which looped its way slowly towards Rob at point. There was a spot of the hokey-cokey as Rob first thought the ball was going to drop short, then that it was going over his head, but in the end positioning himself to take a simple catch and the breakthrough came, 67-1.
With Sammy on the attack from the other end, a second wicket soon followed, with a catch arrowed towards Craig and a sharp reaction catch at head-height to his left saw Craig snatch the ball from the air to send Fair Oak two down.
Thereafter a partnership ensued, with the Fair Oak batsmen knuckling down and amassing the runs slowly but surely; it never felt like they’d got away but no clear-cut chances emerged. A great effort in the field amidst growing heat restricted the boundaries, but without wickets falling the score crept its way upwards. A further change of bowing brought Rob into the attack; evidently feeling the total wasn’t challenging enough yet, first the fielders decided to ignore a ball which carried on its way for four, Jules only realising in time to put in a desperate dive which resulted only in a well-scraped arm, and then Rob followed up with a couple of overs of rubbish.
Meanwhile Mark was making up for this at the other end keeping the runs down, and rewarded with a vital wicket, dismissing the opener who had remained steadfast throughout – and to his credit having nicked through to Jack immediately turned and walked. Rob’s fourth and final over only went for two runs, which was a bit of a relief personally-speaking, and it felt like the pressure was forced back onto the batsmen to fight their way to 200.
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What followed was an outstanding effort in the field and with the ball in the final overs. Radar coming back into the attack for his last two kept things tight, as down the other end Mark struck not once, not twice, but three times in an over to send the wickets tumbling. Coupled to Danny Clark patrolling the boundary and letting nothing past, a run out from Gary arrowing the ball into Jack at the stumps, and encouragement all round, it felt like Curdridge were gaining the upper hand.
The final act of the innings was sharp thinking from Jack as the batsman tried to run a bye on the final ball, stranded in the middle of the track as Jack threw the ball back to the bowler and claimed another run-out for the eighth wicket and another vital bowling point.
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At the end of their innings, Fair Oak ended on 195-8, with credit to the effort in the field and capitalising on the tumbling wickets when it looked like we may only come away with a solitary bowling point. An outstanding spell from the skipper claiming four wickets.
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Following up a tea provided by Mark including some excellent home-made cake and flapjack, it was time to chase down the total. With Dom’s absence Rob was promoted to 1 in the batting order, and Craig accompanied him to the crease as the new opening batsman. 196 to win, and it felt like this would take some controlled batting all the way through the innings but a very gettable total.
Rob has three initial aims when batting – don’t be out first ball, get off the mark, get into double figures. Much to his, and probably everyone else’s, surprise, this was all achieved in the first over as the score rapidly went to 11-0 from the first five balls, before Craig dug out a yorker to ensure the first over passed without damage to the batting order but a rapid start to the chase.
The runs continued to flow for the first few overs as both batsmen picked off singles, moving the score to 25 quite easily. It was at this point the cricketing gods, ever present, decided once again they had it in for Rob, as the ball hit the pitch, refused to bounce, and cannoned along the surface under his bat into the stumps, leaving a dejected batsman trudging off – although again showing the excellent spirit the game was being played in, the Fair Oak team didn’t celebrate. (I’ll admit, there may have been some of what rugby commentators call ‘colourful language’ when I got back into the changing room…).
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Out went Jules to join Craig at the crease, and Craig picked up the task of advancing the score, with controlled batting taking the runs on offer. Sadly Jules missed a full one, and was soon returning to the clubhouse with the score still only in the 30s. Out went Jack to join Craig, and immediately started picking off the boundaries as the Fair Oak bowlers cycled through to find a breakthrough.
Craig was dismissed, though, for a solid 29, soon followed by Dan W, and with the score at 80-4 things were beginning to look fragile for the Curdridge run chase. In next came Gary, and immediately took the attack to the bowlers, striking three rapid boundaries to turn the pressure back onto Fair Oak, before being out LBW – on which matter I shall point out that for LBWs what counts is where the batsman’s leg is when the ball hits it, not where the batsman has moved it to afterwards!
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In came Danny to join Jack at the crease, and the attack was back on. Both Danny and Jack began to find the boundary with regularity as the score mounted, the required run rate never really creeping much above 5 an over in an outstanding partnership of controlled and calm batting, to which the Fair Oak bowlers really had no answer.
As the score moved towards the target it was clear things were going to come down to the wire, and turn on whether Curdridge could find a couple of big overs or Fair Oak could restrict the runs for a couple. Fair Oak struck first, with the ball just clipping Danny’s off stump bail to send him back for 39 off 20 balls. Soon after Jack followed, caught at mid-off just shy of a half century, and things seemed to be turning in Fair Oak’s favour.
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With Mark and Sammy at the crease, 25 runs were needed from the final four overs. A well-placed edge for four from Mark made that 19 needed from three overs.
What followed was the big over Curdridge needed, Mark hammering a drive for four down the ground, before Sammy sped through for a bye to the wicket keeper in a scampering run worthy of indoor cricket (and totally out of character for Sam-I’ll-lean-on-my-bat-and-admire-my-shot-Gatade).
The next ball was a moment of magic, as Sammy struck a drive airborne up the hill. Stopping to do the afore-mentioned admiring, before realising he needed to run. Sam jogged through for a single, and the as Mark carried on for a second finally started to sprint even as the ball was in the fielder’s hands. An arrow of a throw to the stumps, and it would have seen Sammy run-out by a country mile… However, it wasn’t to the stumps, hit the ground, went past the keeper, past the backing-up fielder, and as Sammy ran his bat in for the second run the ball ran on down the hill and over the boundary for an additional four overthrows. A superb piece of strategic thinking by Sammy to fox the Fair Oak fielders by stranding himself at the other end of the strip and induce the overthrow…
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The score on 190 with two overs to go, just 6 runs were needed for a famous win, and those duly came from a mixture of singles, and extras from the bowler, and Mark and Sammy saw us home for a terrific win over the hitherto league-leaders.
A great effort in the field, and a run chase characterised by calm, controlled and sensible batting – plus a crucial bit of luck! A word also for Fair Oak who played in a great spirit and manner.
Thank you also to Hayley for doing the scoring once again – a warm day to be sitting at the scorer’s table for 79 overs.
Next week we take on Eastleigh Warriors, also at the Bowl, as we start the back nine fixtures of the season, with the teams from fourth to seventh in the table all divided by less than a single point.
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Man of the Match: Lots of candidates this week – Jack for gluing the innings together and more victims behind the stumps, Mark for his four wickets and guiding the innings home, but this week for an all round performance - runs, tight bowling and fielding too, Danny edges it.
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Donut of the Day: I’m tempted to award this to the pitch just because I’m feeling hard-done-by! There was also Radar tripping over his own feet, but this week Donut of the Day goes to Mike - for thinking he can see LBW decisions better from over in the clubhouse than the umpire on the pitch.
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Champagne Moment: The win is a close candidate for this, but it as to be Sammy’s “6” which turned the run-chase in the final overs. Serendipitous perhaps, but it’s nice for fortune to be on our side for once!