Buccaneers Cricket Club

The Buccaneers Golfing Society visited Isle of Purbeck GC and Knighton Heath GC on Wednesday and Thursday 22nd and 23rd May. A group of 14 played on day one and 12 on day two and enjoyed two varied courses.

Winners of the competitions

Overall winner of The Princeps Trophy: Johnny Philips

Day one winner and nearest the pin: Johnny Philips
Day one longest drive: Phil Hobcraft

Day two winner: Richard Morrogh
Day two longest drive: Johnny Philips
Day two nearest the pin: Bob Palmer

Spud/Hack tankard: Tim Mynott for being forgetful

Isle of Purbeck GC

Dinner in Poole

Knighton Heath GC

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

Buccaneers 124 all out. Tilford 127 for 1. Tilford win by 9 wickets

On what was a gloomy yet typical British spring day, the Buccaneers gathered at Tilford cricket club for the curtain-raiser of the 2024 season.

The match manager had been told ahead of the game that there were two fundamental requirements that he had to fulfil across the day: field a team of 11 and supply an adequate match ball – both of which were soundly missed.

Having settled for a pub lunch beforehand at the quaint local, we were somewhat relieved to be put into bat on a chilly, cloudy day at Tilford. Valentine and Berry started the tone playing some conservative shots, (as if six months of cobweb’s hadn’t just been removed from their pads) – before Gus timed a half volley almost too well into square leg’s hands much to the shock of the spectators as well as the batsmen himself.

Mr Milne, who would have opened with Berry had it not been for an unfortunate delay in his lunch order, succumbed to an unlikely very good first ball of the season which jagged up the slope. Debutant Watson-Smyth entered the fray and demonstrated his class to get us to 64-3 before holing out to another impressive catch at mid on.

Neil Robertson had only been convinced to join the team after several servings of pinot noir the night before, but was quick to demonstrate that deteriorating eye-sight is temporary and that class is permanent, playing some eloquent shots to reach his 28. He was supported with valuable contributions with the bat from Moules and Rydon (and likely Hobbs had it not been for his partner anticipating an early tea).  

The newly appointed President of the club was eager to demonstrate his exuberant youth and volunteered to bowl uphill and into wind in order to aid the mediocre performance from the match manager so far. Both bowlers hit the right lines and lengths and had it not been for the ball deteriorating to something resembling a “mosaic” after six overs, the game could have ended in a different manner.

Having failed to make the breakthrough (despite a few encouraging appeals from stand-in glovesman Rich Hobbs), attention turned to Stephen Moules, who demonstrated his tidy lines to take the wicket of the opening batsman. Watson-Smyth provided us with a free tutorial of his action with a couple of jaffers and a few dropped catches but in the end, it was difficult to prevent the flow of runs and Tilford knocked off our total in 26 overs.

Innings of Buccaneers

A Berry ct Windsor b Stearn 5
A Valentine b Barran 9
J Milne lbw Stearn 0
F Watson-Smyth ct Laking b Windsor 19
N Robertson b Barran 28
P Burnell-Jones b Barran 1
S Moules b Windsor 22
R Rydon ct Bozier b Windsor 11
R Hobbs not out 1
H Robertson b Stearn 1
Extras 27
Total 124 all out
Overs 34.1

Bozier 4-1-5-0
Stearn 8.1-0-22-3
Barran 10-2-31-2
Windson 8-2-24-3
K Barran 4-0-19-0

Innings of Tilford

J Barran lbw 17
J Barran (jnr) not out 50
C Barrow not out 47

Extras 13
Total 127-1
Overs 25.2

H Robertson 5-1-9-0
R Rydon 6-2-23-0
S Moules 5-0-26-1
F Watson-Smyth 6-1-24-0
A Berry 3-0-33-0
A Valentine 0.2-0-4-0

A select group of Buccaneers of all ages met at The East India Club on Wednesday 21 February to toast a successful season.

The evening was preceded by the AGM where two leadership changes were ratified. Simon Woolfries, our longstanding President, stood down to be replaced by former and similarly longstanding Honorary Secretary Rob Rydon. Rob’s role has been filled by Tom Fletcher.

Simon was presented with an engraved tankard for his service from a very grateful club.

Rob reviewed a successful season for the club and in response Simon gave his reflections on the essential but often frustrating role of the Match Manager.

The Geoffrey Moore Award for the season was presented for a second time to Simon Leefe.

The rearranged 2023 Annual Dinner will be held at the East India Club, Pall Mall on Wednesday 21st February at 18.45.

The speaker is still to be announced but as is now the tradition, we will be announcing the winner of the 2023 Geoffrey Moore Award. Please also feel free to join us for the Annual General Meeting before Dinner at 18.30. The agenda for the AGM will be available in due course.

Please note that due to cost increases, tickets will this year be £65 per person. Please pay this to the Buccaneers’ bank account and advise David Close that you have done so. David’s details are below. When paying by bank transfer, please put your surname as the reference.

To book your Dinner ticket, please contact David Close at dclose@griffithsandarmour.com or on 07947 370069.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Follies Farm game washed out but presentation goes ahead to mark Rob Rydon’s 27 years as Hon. Secretary

Rob Rydon was presented with an engraved tankard at the final fixture of the season at Follies Farm on Sunday 17th. Sept. to mark the end of his tenure as Honary Secretary of The Buccaneers.

Rob is standing down after 27 years in post making him easily the longest serving Hon. Sec. since the days when the Founder fulfilled that role.

As torrential rain prevented any play Rob had plenty of time to give his tankard a proper christening!

Match Manager for the day, Tom Fletcher, will be proposed at the forthcoming AGM to be the next Hon. Sec.”

For the first time since before Covid, the Warborough & Shillingford and Buccaneers fixture was played over the longer all-day format. The prospect of the famous lunch no doubt contributed to the rare sight of 11 Buccaneers at the ground well before play was due to get underway. On a humid morning where both searing heat and disruptive rain were expected, and with a green-tinged wicket underfoot, the Buccaneers won the toss and elected to bowl.

Rob Rydon and Charlie Pexton opened for the Buccaneers, both causing problems for the W&S openers with their swing and seam movement. Runs were hard to come by and Rydon drew first blood while at the other end Pexton was joining dots. When Pexton tempted the dangerous Zagoritis to fence at one, Jim Harcourt gobbled it up greedily behind the stumps. Only a four off a no-ball had spoiled impossibly frugal figures, with every other ball in a seven over spell being a dot in the scorebook.

Simon Leefe entered the attack and dominated most of the rest of the innings. Confusion reigned when opener Searle walked, caught behind, despite on-field protestations that there was no intention to appeal. Then it actually rained, with thunder and lightning adding to the drama, an early and extended lunch being taken in the safety of the soon-to-be-refurbished pavilion. Once the players were wet and the outfield was dry, the resumption brought Leefe his three-wicket haul and a startling catch at square leg off Archie Marsh. Marsh was at his bamboozling best while Ollie Robertson would probably have shared more of the spoils if he had worn spikes on a greasy surface. Warborough’s number four, Gedara, held the innings together with some tasty blows all around the wicket until Leefe caught him – in more comical fashion this time – off skipper Warwick Okines. Once the second drinks break had been taken, the cricket resuming almost apologetically for interrupting the day’s food and drink, Tom Fletcher’s direct-hit run out closed Warborough’s account at 129. Six bowlers had bowled seven overs and all chipped in with wickets.

So, over to the batsmen, who also shared the workload between them. Eswar Kalidasan tried to finish it in the first over but a lavish drive against the prodigiously swinging ball ended his day. Will Gresswell demonstrated why he shouldn’t be considered the weakest player in the Gresswell-Marsh-Pexton household with some powerful shots including a brilliant leg side swivel-shot that hasn’t got a name. Owen Gibbons was unluckily given out LBW while later Harcourt benefited from Warborough’s trademark sportsmanship to have an on-field decision reversed and then scored fluently. In between came the biggest shock of the day, Fletcher getting out for the first time at a ground where he has feasted many times before. He and the upper order had done most of the work by the time an enormous tea was taken, but it still required Leefe and Robertson to see the away team home without any late dramas.

The day was dominated by two meals and four drinks breaks, but in between the Buccaneers played some excellent cricket to notch their first win here since Fletcher’s century in 2018. Both teams retired to the Six Bells with full bellies and in good cheer, looking forward to what 2024 would serve up. 

2023 scorecard

Innings of Warborough & Shillingford

M Searle                     ct Harcourt      b Leefe                        11
Maple                                                  b Rydon                      1
A Zagoritis                   ct Harcourt      b Pexton                      5
Gedara                        ct Leefe           b Okines                      61
Firth                             ct Gibbons       b Leefe                        6
Hartley                                                 b Leefe                        5
E Potter                                               b O Robertson             0
Allen                            ct Leefe           b A Marsh                    14
I Potter (c)                                           not out                         5
Du Winton                                           b A Marsh                    3
Bell                                                      run out (Fletcher)        0

Extras 18                                                                    
Total (42.3 overs) 129 all out

Bowling

R Rydon                      7-3-13-1
C Pexton                     7-6-5-1
O Robertson               7-1-26-1
S Leefe                        7-2-27-3
A Marsh                      7.3-3-16-2
W Okines                    7-1-27-1

Innings of Buccaneers

E Kalidasan                                         b Hartley                      0
T Fletcher                    ct Zagoritis      b Gedara                     31
W Gresswell                                        b Gedara                     29
O Gibbons                   lbw                   b Gedara                     2         
J Harcourt (wkt)          ct                     b Du Winton                31
S Leefe                                                not out                         17
O Robertson                                       not out                         8
R Rydon
C Pexton
A Marsh
W Okines (c)
Extras 15
Total (29 overs) 133 for 5wkts

Bowling

Hartley                         8-0-25-1
I Potter                        3-0-24-0
Gedara                        5-0-21-3
Du Winton                   4-0-15-1
Firth                             4-0-20-0
Bell                              4-0-15-0
E Potter                       1-0-10-0

Buccaneers won by 5 wickets

Various crack troops assembled at Hurstpierpoint (some more prompt than others) on a cloudier than expected August day. The Buccs captain duly won the toss and decided to bat (without really looking at the wicket). Jim and Will kicked off proceedings in a measured way before Will was caught behind. Max Sutton entered and calmy accumulated with Jim, before again being caught behind. Jim meanwhile was cutting and driving with gay abandon and notched up another fifty at the ground before (tactically?) falling just before lunch – a splendid affair in the top gallery of the school dining hall, with plenty of strawberries and cream.

Surprisingly, Stephen was out quickly after lunch and so Tom Fletcher joined Ludo to carry the load. Runs flowed and continued to flow as Simon replaced Tom. Ludo upped the tempo and responded to the captains request by moving from 61 to 80 in one over. On 224 for five after 46 overs, Rob felt he had enough. Ludo thought otherwise as he was eyeing a century, but it’s a team game and Rob wanted as many overs as possible to bowl OHJs out. A special mention must go to O Khot who bowled unchanged from the bottom end for 23 overs.

The Buccs opened up with Harry and Ollie Mann and it wasn’t long before Harry castled one of the openers.  Then OHJs regrouped and counter-punched, keeping well above the required run rate. A change of bowling with Tom Rydon charging down the hill did the trick as he took two quick wickets.

A bit more regrouping and a bit more keeping well above the run rate, gave Rob a few nervous minutes as he calculated that the Buccs would bowl at least 50 overs. No worries, as he turned to Simon who took the crucial wicket of Mark Semmence. Stephen quickly followed with another wicket and then between them they changed the game with four wickets for one run. With twelve overs to go and two wickets needed, the Buccaneers surely had this in hand.

The tail for the OHJs thought otherwise and resolutely defended. Back came the Mann brothers and Ollie took out their number 10 with four overs to go. With everyone round the bat, each play and miss was greeted with a groan. In the final over of the last 20 (and what was the 50th of the innings), Harry bowled the first ball: short, fast and straight. It looped off a glove, arcing to leg gulley and Tom Rydon safely wrapped up proceedings. A Buccs victory by 77 runs.

Innings of Buccaneers

Jim Mann                                  LBW       Khot    54
Will Metcalfe……………ct Warrender    McGahan  6
Max Sutton………………ct Warrender   Harrison     29
Ludo Milne                         not      out                     80
Stephen Moules            LBW                 McGahan     2
Tom Fletcher               ct Moulton         Khot           13
Simon Leefe                      not                      out      18

Harry Mann, Ollie Mann, Tom Rydon, Rob Rydon did not bat

224 for 5 dec

H.McGahan   12-3-45-2
0.Khot              23-2-104-2
M.Harrison      7-0-34-1
R.Lunn              4-1-20-0

Innings of OHJs

O.Meredith                   bowled      H.Mann   2
J.Pilgrim                         bowled      T.Rydon  35
M.Semmence                LBW          S.Leefe  39
B.Moulten                      bowled      T.Rydon  7
R.Willsden                      LBW           S.Moules  28
S.Warrender         ct T.Fletcher      S.Leefe    2
R.Simms                    bowled            S.Moules 0
M.Harrison              ct H.Mann        S.Leefe     0
R.Lunn                      ct T.Rydon        H.Mann 13
H.McGahan               bowled            O.Mann    2
O.Khot                        not                      out      5

Total 147 all out

H.Mann                             8.1- 1-23-2
O.Mann                             10-1-34-1
T.Rydon                             7-1-19-2
L.Milne                             7-1-35-0
S.Moules                           8-3-13-2
S.Leefe…………………………10-4-18-3

Innings of Buccaneers   

J Marsh b Yashveer Kakkar            22          
W Hammersley b Ross Pedley      25          
C Portman run out Ross Pedley                   19          
F Kottler c Abidine Sakande          b Yashveer Kakkar            0            
L Milne b Peter Booth     18          
M Sutton b Imesh Udayanga       24                          
T Fletcher lbw    b Jack Beaumont              1                            
J Milne run out Ross Pedley                          44          
R Rydon lbw       b Monty Brown 0            
H Kane c Pranay Krishna b Monty Brown 6                            
B Evans not out                 0                            

EXTRAS: 44 (1b, 5lb, 32w, 6nb )       Total: 203 ( 32.1 Overs, All Out )

Fall of Wickets

47-1  W Hammersley (J Marsh-0*); 65-2  J Marsh (C Portman-0*); 66-3  F Kottler (C Portman-0*); 114-4  C Portman (L Milne-0*); 120-5  L Milne (M Sutton-0*); 125-6  T Fletcher (M Sutton-0*); 179-7  J Milne (M Sutton-0*); 192-8  R Rydon (M Sutton-0*); 203-9  M Sutton (H Kane-0*); 203-10  H Kane (B Evans-0*);

* not out batter

BOWLER              

Abidine Sakande 4           0             34           0            
Pranay Krishna  6            1             30           0            
Ross Pedley         4            3             1             1            
Yashveer Kakkar 3            0             51           2            
Peter Booth        4             0             20           1            
Jack Beaumont  5             1             31           1            
Monty Brown    4.1         1             17           2            
Imesh Udayanga 2           0             13           1            

FIELDING EXTRA RUNS: 6     NON-BOWLER WICKETS: 2     TOTALS: Overs: 32.1, Maidens: 6, Runs: 203, Wickets: 10, Wides: 0, No Balls: 0

Innings of Lindfield

Charlie Weir c J Milne     b F Kottler           48          
Phil Weir b R Rydon         10          
Pranay Krishna b B Evans              14                          
Abidine Sakande run out M Sutton                           6            
Monty Brown b B Evans 4            
Ross Pedley c M Sutton  b W Hammersley              19          
Imesh Udayanga lbw       b R Rydon            63                          
George Lawrence run out W Hammersley                              8                            
Peter Booth ct & b J Marsh           5                            
Yashveer Kakkar not out                3
Jack Beaumont not out                  3                            

EXTRAS: 12 (1b, 2lb, 8w, 1nb )       Total: 195 ( 35 Overs, 9 Wickets )

Fall of Wickets

32-1  Phil Weir (Charlie Weir-0*); 51-2  Pranay Krishna (Charlie Weir-0*); 69-3  Abidine Sakande (Charlie Weir-0*); 89-4  Monty Brown (Charlie Weir-0*); 93-5  Charlie Weir (Ross Pedley-0*); 131-6  Ross Pedley (Imesh Udayanga-0*); 183-7  George Lawrence (Imesh Udayanga-0*); 188-8  Imesh Udayanga (Peter Booth-0*); 191-9  Peter Booth (Yashveer Kakkar-0*);

* not out batter

BOWLER              

R Rydon               5             1             29           2            
L Milne  7             0             28           0             0            
B Evans 7             1             43           2             0            
J Marsh 6             1             28           1             0            
W Hammersley  7             0             45           1            
F Kottler               3             0             19           1            

FIELDING EXTRA RUNS: 3     NON-BOWLER WICKETS: 2     TOTALS: Overs: 35, Maidens: 3, Runs: 195, Wickets: 9, Wides: 0, No Balls: 0

Much to everyone’s surprise given the monsoon the previous day, the Buccaneers completed a full 40 over match on 23 July at West Chiltington & Thakeham CC, and came up just short in a high-scoring thriller.

Buccs lost the toss and found themselves fielding on a pitch offering good pace and bounce and an outfield on the slow side after Saturday’s rain. Unperturbed, the WCTCC openers got off to a flyer, B. Van Noort in particular punishing anything slightly off length. The introduction of Stephen Moules and Archie Marsh saw wickets begin to fall, but Buccs struggled for control in the face of some big hitting, and did not aid their own cause by dropping nine catches in the process. Special mention must go to Warwick Okines who bowled his leg spin with guile and was unlucky not to pick up a couple of wickets. WCTCC finished their allotted 40 overs on 251 for 6.

Following an excellent tea, Berry and Marsh, J. made a steady start to our chase and were beginning to go through the gears when Angus was superbly caught at long off attempting a lofted drive and James was grabbed on the deep long-on boundary. Ludo Milne joined the party and struck the ball cleanly on his way to 52, before he too was very well caught in the deep. As Sutton and Milne snr departed in quick succession – the latter “googled” for the first time in his career by Davies, who extracted significant turn both ways – much depended on messrs Moules (58) and Rydon (38). Stephen and Rob kept us very much in the game with some lusty blows and speedy running between the wickets, but both eventually fell to yet more good West Chilts catching. The Buccs late-innings wobble left us needing 11 from the final over and five from the last ball – which alas proved to be just too many.

A brilliant day out at a wonderful ground and we very much look forward to returning next year.

Innings of WC&TCC
B. Van Noort b. S. Moules 74
O. Holden b. S. Moules 26
A. Tatchell ct. M. Sutton b. A. Marsh 3
C. Davies c&b L. Milne 65
N. Kuchhadia LBW A. Marsh 7
H. Gillespie+ ct. M. Sutton b. L. Milne 52
S. Collyer Not out 10
N. North Not out 9
J. Hodgson* did not bat
P. Rawlins did not bat
T. Beeks did not bat

Extras 6
251 – 6 (40 overs)

Buccaneers bowling
R. Rydon 6. -. 24. –
L. Milne 8. -. 24. 2
S. Moules 8. 1. 36. 2
A. Marsh 8. -. 58. 2
J. Marsh 4. -. 43 –
W. Okines 6. -. 45. –

Innings of Buccaneers
A. Berry ct. [Unknown] b. Rawlins 31
J. Marsh ct. N Kuchhadia b. Beeks 40
L. Milne ct. [Unknown] b. Van Noort 52
M. Sutton ct. [Unknown] b. Beeks 4
S. Moules ct. [Unknown] b. North 58
J. Milne b. Davies 2
R. Rydon ct. [Unknown] b. North 38
A. Marsh ct. [Unknown] b. Rawlins 9
R. Hobbs st. H. Gillespie b. Van Noort 6
W. Okines Not out 0
T. Fletcher*+ Not out 0

Extras 7
247 – 9 (40 Overs)

Buccaneers lost by four runs