With two wins from two needed to equal the best season in recent Buccaneers history, the pressure was on debutant captain Vollers to get a result. The XI assembled at Esher for our first ever fixture against the Wanderers and were send out into the field after the captain failed in his main task of the day.
Rydon, bleary-eyed from a Ball the night before, took the cherry from the pavilion end and shared a very tidy opening spell with Harry Mann; 12 overs between them and only 24 on the scoreboard. With a Buccs team full of runs and short on bowling, the first and second change bowlers were key to our day. Warwick had already recounted the story of his debut at Esher where he was slog swept for six into a neighbour’s smart new Porsche. None of that this time however, as he bowled a super 12 over spell, tying down one end either side of lunch and claiming a crucial wicket via a smart boundary catch from Bennison. With Wozza’s tweakers and Hobbo’s dobblers delivered with sustained accuracy, the Wanderers were finding it hard to get the ball off the square and at the halfway stage they were short on runs, but had wickets in hand, and plenty of logoed whites padded up waiting for action.
A breakthrough was needed so the captain threw the ball to the Mann father-son combo. Jim removed opener Balch with a ripsnorter of a delivery, before Harry took the crucial wicket of their ‘biffer’ at No.4 – Bennison again dashing around the rope to snaffle a good catch. If only the rest of the team could have held their catches as he did…plenty hit the turf, and I felt for anyone who’s butter fingers wore the wrath of Hobbo, who deserved more from his 14-2-53-2 spell.
The Wanderers accelerated to a strong score, and after a brief spell of rusty (promising? Ed.) leggies from the captain, they had 243 on the board in their 54 overs.
Kim Ross and James Stringer opened up, and accumulated well in the opening stages against the Wanderer quicks. 50 off the first 15 overs with no loss and the pavilion was buzzing, knowing we had plenty in the hutch to propel us to the target. Enter Taylor – tall left arm spinner. Seven fielders around the bat and darts fired in with vicious turn and bounce. A game changer, and soon Kim (35) and Stringer (13) were back in the pavilion. Bennison entered the minefield with an impressive Buccs average of 50 in his two games for the club. Taylor made sure he departed promptly with a new average of 33. The engine room of Vollers and the Chakravatis provided some resistance, taking the attack to the spin and putting a few to the rope. Sujay (20) was castled and Vollers (41) hauled out, leaving Jim and Subir at the crease. Taylor was removed from the attack and this allowed the Buccs to accelerate towards the target. Game on. The message was clear from the Buccs skipper – we were going for the win. With the required rate down to seven an over and Hobbo, Rydon, Mann Junior ready for action, spirits were lifted…. enter Taylor again. Sigh. Finishing with figures of 7 for 31 off his 12 overs, he removed star man Subir (43), Hobbo and Warwick for quacks, and Harry (3) in quick succession and ended the Buccs hopes of a great victory.
Hopefully the first of many fixtures against the Wanderers. A great day was enjoyed by all.
Innings of Wanderers
C Gill ct Bennison b Okines 20
M Balch ct Ross b J Mann 39
F Spackman not out 80
D Scott ct Bennison b H Mann 37
B Aldridge ct and b Hobson 3
C Parrrish not out 17
Extras 17
Total 243 for 5 dec
R Rydon 6-3-5-0
H Mann 13-3-56-1
P Hobson 14-2-53-2
W Okines 12-2-58-1
J Mann 5-1-29-1
C Vollers 4-0-27-0
Innings of Buccaneers
K Ross st Brocks b Spackman 35
J Stringer ct Spackman b Taylor 13
M Bennison ct Scott b Taylor 0
Sujay Chakravarti b Taylor 20
C Vollers ct Westin-Simons b Balch 48
Subir Chakravarti ct Aldridge b Taylor 43
J Mann ct Brooks b Spackman 31
P Hobson ct Balch b Taylor 0
R Rydon not out 11
H Mann ct Scott b Taylor3
W Okines lbw Taylor 0
Extras 17
Total 214 all out
J Aldridge 6-0-32-0
B Aldridge 7-0-35-0
J Weston-Simons 10-0-30-0
F Spackman 11-2-37-2
D Taylor 12-3-31-7
M Balch 3-0-16-1
C Parrish 3-0-23-0