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