Sheffield Park, as ever in May, looked glorious but a slightly woolly outfield was always going to make run scoring (along the ground) tricky.
The Buccs elected to bat and Berry was swiftly undone trying to take the attack to the opposition. Alex Rydon came in and steadied the ship with plenty of running and a number of well timed fours. He was unlucky to be out for 48, just shy of his half century, but his partnership of 66 with Sutton, who added a very useful 25, was the mainstay of the Buccs’ innings. No one else really got to grips with the tight bowling and the fluffy outfield although with drying conditions, perhaps batting second would have been the wiser option. Harry Mann, himself a Buccaneer, was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 7. The Buccs total of 131 all out may not have sounded sufficient but optimists reckoned it was a defendable total.
After a typically sumptuous Dills tea, the opposition openers launched into the Buccs’ attack with abandon. Wisely forgoing the jungle route, opener Paddy Cooper launched a blistering aerial assault and had wracked up 50 off just 18 balls. With 63 to his name the Dills captain gently withdrew him from the fray in order to prevent a 4pm finish. At that point the unlucky Robertson brothers, who had bowled a very respectable line and length to which Cooper had turned a blind eye, were replaced by Rob Rydon and Leefe. After the first wicket from Ollie Robertson and with the score on 70 for 1, wickets started to fall with the captain picking up a couple. However, at 113 for 4 and only 19 required it looked very comfortable for the Dills. Enter Angus Berry and his accurate left arm which quickly secured a successful LBW. A second wicket swiftly followed and at 123 for 6 the Buccs dared to dream. Evans picked up a deserved wicket having the hard hitting Sammy Maclay well caught by Sutton for 28 and signs of nerves were beginning to creep into the Dills’ innings. With only 4 required to win, some confused calling between Harry and Ollie Mann left the latter stranded as a quick throw by Berry and excellent pick up by Evans saw Ollie a couple of feet short of his ground. That however was the end of the excitement as Harry Mann saw his team to victory a few balls later.
As those who played know, the match was livestreamed to a global audience. The highlights are quite entertaining and very easy to access on the Play Cricket website. You have to register with Play Cricket then it is very easy to find the match and the “highlights” package.
Buccaneers innings
Angus Berry ct S Maclay b H Mann 0
Eswar Kalidasan b H Mann 10
Alex Rydon b J Colville 48
Max Sutton lbw b J Colville 25
Rob Rydon ct S Maclay b J Bebb 5
Simon Leefe b J Bebb 11
Isaac Evans lbw b O Mann
Richard Hobbs ct J Mann b J Cooper 3
Tom Fletcher not out 10
H Robertson run out 3
O Robertson lbw b H Mann 3
Extras 8
Bowling
H Mann 5.1 3 7 3
O Mann 7.0 0 16 1
J Colville 7.0 0 35 2
P Cooper 7.0 0 46 o
J Bebb 2.0 0 8 2
J Cooper 3.0 0 10 1
J Mann 1.0 0 9 0
Total 131 all out
Armadillos innings
P Cooper retired not out 63
Jack Cooper b O Robertson 2
Johnny Cooper lbw b S Leefe 0
Tom Randle lbw b A Berry 17
J Bebb b S Leefe 8
S Maclay ct M Sutton b I Evans 28
T Jeffery b A Berry 0
O Mann run out ( A Berry) 1
H Mann not out 10
J Mann not out 0
Extras 5
Total 134 for 7
Bowling
H Robertson 3.0 0 37 0
O Robertson 3.0 0 31 1
R Rydon 4.0 1 16 0
S Leefe 4.0 2 14 2 0
I Evans 3.1 0 32 1
A Berry 3.0 2 4 2
Armadillos won by 3 wickets