Moor fun for Strongmen
Lustleigh, Devon, 5/15/2010
Strongroom won by 8 wickets
Lustleigh: 130 [H.Patel 4-9]
Strongroom: 135-2 [M.Newkirk 79*]
View the Scorecard
I awoke Saturday morning to the sound of Woolhouse R snoring, the thin canvas of my tent doing little to dampen his deep bass tones. Most of us had camped on the boundary edge of Harberton’s picturesque ground, and were greeted by a fantastic blue sky and clear, deep views. I was expecting some ‘natural wastage’ to take care of any selection dilemmas as the tour progressed, and sure enough two of our pacemen (Paddy Ell and Andy Orme) ruled themselves out due to ‘over exertion’. It took the rest of us a couple of hours to shake off the cobwebs of the previous evening before we were ready to venture again into the Church House Inn. Andy and the rest of his Dolphin crew (Dave P, Hem, Guy) had survived the night, tightly moored in the centre of the village, and as soon as our quality breakfast was dispatched we were off on our merry way to deepest Dartmoor.
At least that was the plan. The Dolphin had other ideas, and after a brave attempt to penetrate the tight, bendy lanes leading into the centre of the moor, there was no option but to head back and park-up by Haytor. Some helpful ferrying to and fro of Strongmen and kit by Dave P eventually had everyone assembled at the lovely ground and ready for the game. I lost the toss again, and we were duly asked to field first.
Ujjal and Mellor took the new ball, and Lustleigh’s openers batted sensibly and competently in nearly seeing them off. Neither Ujj nor Mark were quite at their best, partly the result of adjusting to the quirks of an unfamiliar ground. Viewing all this was Andy Orme, who used his vocal chords to good effect in dishing out some bowling tips from the comfort of his boundary edge chair. The track was a bit inconsistent, but intriguingly the boundaries were very short on one side, defined by a small moat, which meant the batsmen could quit easily flick anything off-line for 6. As it was, Ujjal evenutally castled one of the openers towards the end of his spell, and thereupon another quiet but attritional partnership followed for the 2nd wicket, as Joe and myself were economical but didn’t appear threatening. At this halfway stage the innings appeared to meander along, and so wily veterans Rich W and Dave Gower were introduced in the quest for breakthroughs. Rich raised a few jeers as his first three deliveries were wided, yet, as so often witnessed over the years, his next delivery tempted Bartlett into an edge, smartly pouched by Hem at slip. At the other end Dave G [5-0-18-2] tempted Smerdon into knocking one straight to Guy at deep cover, and suddenly there were two new batsmen at the crease. The rest of the Lustleigh innings folded rather tamely, with Hem Patel [3.2-0-9-4] grabbing a career-best ‘4-for’ as his waspish line and length perfectly exploited the local conditions. Indeed, three clean bowled and one lbw was a testament to his impressively straight lines.
Tea Report: Excellent Devonshire tea, including scones with cream and jam, tuna and cucumber sandwiches, large cakes, chocolate ‘hedgehog’ cake and hot tea. Proper job!
Martin and Jules set out to hunt down the modest total after tea, but after scoring only 4 runs Jules was caught half-forward, shaping to cut, and succeeded only in edging a fullish ball back onto his stumps. Rich W was next in, and plundered a fairly Rich-like 18 runs, but then holed out just as he was looking well set. At 70-2 the run chase was hardly in danger, but the combined experience of David Gower [16*] and Martin Newkirk [79*] put any thoughts of a collapse to rest, as they saw Strongroom home with an attractive partnership. Martin had treated the accurate bowling of Sessions and Brewer with the respect it deserved, but with about 30 left to win he suddenly moved up through the gears and clipped a number of flat 6’s, racing us to victory.
After the game we enjoyed a good pint of Otter in the local tavern, before heading off to Widdecombe in search of sustenance and shelter.
Written By:
|