Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

Fulham Taverners (tour), Friday 6 August

[Ed: owing to a forecast of rain and grey clouds overhead, it was agreed that instead of one long match, there would be a 20/20 game before tea and, if conditions allowed, a second shorter game post tea]

Match 1: FT 181/4 (20ovs, Chapman 2/30). Cav 137/6 (20ovs, McVeigh 30no, Payne 29, Chapman 22no). Lost by 44 runs

Match 2: Cav 85/9 (12ovs, Chapman 35, Fraser 23). FT 88/3 (8ovs, Duffy 1/7, Ward 1/10). Lost by 7 wickets

Scorecard - match 1

Scorecard - match 2

The story of the Tavs and Cav nots!

The setting was Chiswick House. A magnificent neo-Palladian villa set in beautiful historic gardens in west London. The weather unfortunately was not so beautiful. It was greyer than your Nan and cloudier than a traditional West Country cider but that did not dampen the spirits.

It was decided early on that the instead of playing one game of cricket, with the added enthusiasm of the tour party there would be two. The day would consist of 2 x 20twenty games although the second game was curtailed to 12 overs a side.

It was agreed in the first game that the hosts would set the target for the cavs to chase. Steadman decided he liked the look of the opposition better than his own team and so he decided it was time to bat for the other side!! His cameo did not last too long though as the mighty McVeigh had him trapped leg before after hitting a quick boundary. This is then followed by the Gog showing he is still in with a shot for a place in the Glamorgan team with just one run and 3 wides of off his first over.

Payne struggled to get to grips with his length often thinking it was far longer than it actually was which resulted in a number full toss/beamer like deliveries. At time even the low flying planes were in danger. Questions were then asked of the umpires as to whether or not the deliveries were legal. The umpires were not fazed and where they were clearly illegal they were given. Dave B was given a few extra chances to stay at the crease and bring up his half century thanks to the very slippery fingers of Chapman and Ward (not sure where they had been prior to the catching opportunities). He was then skittled for 56 being caught behind by Parsons off of the bowling of Chapman.

Matt H went on to make a notable 42 before being bowled by the Chapman and the hosts went on to notch up a charitable 181 for 4 from their 20 overs. The pick of the bowlers was Chapman with 2 for 30 from his 4 overs.

The cavs innings then got off to a steady but slow start. Needing 9 an over was a tall order especially with the pace of the Bjorn Borg look-a-like finding a near perfect length which proved to provide a bounce that would keep the sharpest of batsmen on their toes as it seemed to be about as predictable as a bouncing rugby ball. None the less Payne and Thomas enjoying the opportunities to show off their batting prowess. Thomas was then watching the planes overhead when he managed to play on to his own stumps and was soon followed by Duffy caught by the traitor who was Steadman with a big smile on face. Payne then though he would try and hit the kids with a well hit shot to long off just missing the 5yr old enjoying a fine summer stroll with mummy.

The 9 an over though unfortunately was not materialising and the target was getting away from the cavs quicker than the wickets started to fall. With ward going for poultry 1 and Parsons chasing him back to the pavilion the very next ball the bowler found himself on a hatrick. As a result the field was contracted to surround the batsman at which time a Chiswick belle walking her 2 black Labradors became unaware that the whole of the pitch was still in play and after walking across the pitch on the edge of what would have been the inner ring gasped in amazement that we were actually still using the whole ground for a game of cricket. McVeigh then decides that an effort had better be made to reach the target although little and late sprung to mind. He finishes with an unbeaten 30 with Chapman supporting him an equally impressive 22 not out.

All in all this was a fairly decent effort against a decent team. Cavs finishing their 20 overs at 137 for 6.

2^nd Game  -

After a good bit tea (without any tea as there was no kettle or something like that anyway) making our own sandwiches and rolls it was time for a re-match. Time was rolling on into the evening so it was decided that the 2^nd game would be an all out slog with just 12overs per side.

Unfortunately though the number of overs in the game had changed the fortunes of the brave cavaliers did not. 

McVeigh who had led the first innings so well let his generosity get the better of him when he gave the bowler some catching practice off of the very first ball of the innings – the bowler duly obliged.

Fraser the then got out his battering ram and smashed 5 consecutive boundaries before being caught out by a straight one which sent his wickets v-shaped.

In came the Captain Marvellous Marchant who was in need of some serious confidence boosting. Unfortunately he gave his confidence boosting to the bowler who sent all 3 stumps in various directions somehow on the Captains 2^nd ball at the crease. Gog and JT could not give too much reason to contribute to the match report as they went for 1 and 0 respectively.

At this time things were looking down for the Cavs with only Chapman being able to make some sort of stand. ‘Sort of’ being the operative phrase as he too went in the 11^th over for a slow but steady 35.

Duffy was then quick to show his wickets to the bowler after a quick fire 10 runs which bought Payne to the crease. Having done so well in the first innings he was soon found out. He hit 2 runs before playing onto his own stumps at which time it had become apparent that he had glued his own bails on however karma played a part and he was caught next ball.

The 12 overs then finished with Parsons coming to the fore with a ‘single’ contribution, Ward demonstrating that he is no Ferrari between the stumps and was run out but stays at the crease for the final ball of the innings as a certain G Brown found, along with his similar namesake (G Brown the recently defeated prime minister) was also unable to develop any sort new radical movement. The only difference being our G Brown couldn’t get enough movement from his foot having used it in the previous match to stop a rasper finding the boundary.

The innings finished with the Cavs scoring a (p)lucky  85 for 9 off some good bowling on a wicket with more variety than an episode of Britains Got Talent.

The parrots (or were they parakeets) were the topic of conversation during the change around. Parsons seemed to get an overdraft of credit on his phone which kept him in the changing room for the first few overs. Captain Marvellous Marchant gallantly took the gloves without pads for the first few overs. It wasn’t long before Parsons did make an appearance only to be hit on the head by the ball. What looked like it could have been a nasty blow was simply brushed off as if nothing had happened.

No 2 bat Wrattan is looking for a place in the England test side. He is donning an England shirt and sporting a S African accent so apart from his batting he should fit in well. Unluckily for him when he was on 13 he was skittled by Fraser (according to the score book although my notes had Duffy down as the bowler) [Ed: this 'wicket' has been a matter of some dispute between the two aforementioned Cavaliers, with a welter of writs and emails threatening to make Jarndyce v Jarndyce seem but a mere babe in legal arms - Stato has now been stripped of the wicket in the light of this evidence and will appear before His Honour Judge Gog Davis before the end of the season.]

Gog is soon to bowl and gives the Tavs more than a fighting chance 15 coming from his one and only over before being asked by the whole side to take a breather.

The Tavs have 54 runs from their first 5 overs. A number of byes and wides contribute to extras being the second highest scorer however Parsons is quick to make some sort of amends with an excellent dash from behind the stumps, a pick up and throw to the bowlers end sees the first wicket go down to a run out. Could this be the turning point in the Cavs day?

Unfortunately not. JT sees a couple of balls of his over finding the ropes before some more good work by Parsons taking the bails off from a wondering batsmen off of the bowling of Ward.

Steadman (who is still batting for the other side) scores his only run which is enough to break the back of the Cavs and leave the Tavs on 88 for 3 with 4 overs to spare.

All in all it was just as well that there was some good camaraderie in the ranks as there was certainly plenty of room for improvement in the cricket.

A good 2 games played in good spirit and I think everyone went to the pub that evening having enjoyed the day.

Tour party: Steve Davis (manager), Graeme Brown (asst mgr), Jimmy Marchant (capt), Jason Duffy (vice capt), Dave Parsons, Andrew Steadman, Michael McVeigh, Jonathan Thomas, Gareth Payne, Bill Ward, Glenn Chapman,  Nick Hutchings, Alasdair Fraser