Cardiff Cavaliers Cricket Club

Match Report

Sudbrook (tour), Sunday 8 August

Sudbrook 255/6 (40ovs Fraser 2/33, McVeigh 1/10). Cav 178/9 (40ovs, Steadman 85, Graveson 26)

Scorecard

Gray Cloud.  21 degrees.  (Zoltans spelling of grey has been used for the purposes of this report).

And here it is, the dreaded Sunday morning feeling of the final day of tour.  Half of the boys made breakfast half didn’t.  Although I have a feeling some of the boys wanted to stay around for the day because at 3.30am of the same morning it was spotted The Alexander Pope Hotel (now a firm Cavalier favourite), were advertising the Community Shield game in Full Colour.  What will they think of next?  3D?  You heard it here first.

After managing to get Mike and Al out of their beds the 12 tourists were heading down the M4 for their final tour match, against Sudbrook.  Luckily Duffy and Chapman had called upon their previous tour knowledge and had the foresight to call up reserves so they didn’t have to play.  Brownie, a veteran tourist decided to use the old fashioned method and had faked an injury in Fridays game so he didn’t have to bat in that game or play on the Sunday.  But that boys comes with experience and you just can’t buy it.

By the time we had reached Sudbrook we were down to 11, Nick had been kicked out at Newbury.  He only wanted the toilet.  So thanks to Gary, Garverson and Rabbit for joining us (JD’s spelling of Graveson has been used for the purposes of this report).  Rabbit also a veteran tourist had the foresight not even to go on tour.  But that is just stupid.

Jimmy was keen to win the toss, bat, get out quickly and go home.  He lost, and 40 overs in the field were to begin.  With Graverson (1/36) and Gary (0/57) opening and both bowling their full allocation.  Maybe it had something to do with them not spotting the colour TV football match a few hours earlier.  Gravy in particular bowled well picking up a well deserved wicket on the way.

Mcveigh (2/10) and Marchant were to take up the second spell and although Mcveigh worked very hard in his first spell of 1 over and took a wicket, he had to be taken off as he had now started to go the same shade of green as his good friend and room mate Al.  Marchant on the other hand chucked 8 overs down the other end (quiet literally chucked, according to him) and did well finishing with 1/36.  By around this stage it should be noted their opening batsmen had scored 100 not out and Jimmy was looking forward to his retirement.

Fraser (2/33) came off his sick bed and did very well to pick up 2 wickets in 2 balls, proving he isn’t just a batsmen after scoring 5 boundaries on the trot on Friday.

Gog (0/35) our other tour manager picked up the rest of the overs with Rabbit (0/40).

Gog was unlucky not to take a caught and bowled.  I think he may have dropped it on purpose to save Bill and Gary their blushes.

And that was the end of the innings.  Unfortunately for jimmy their opening batsman never did get a chance to retire, being run out.  For 181.

After a fine tea, and the cavaliers suitably refreshed Steaders and JT were set to open.  JT went for 9 and this brought Rabbit to the crease and he wasted no time in getting out for golden duck.  Which is better than a 32 ball duck as a certain Pakistan test batsman will tell you.  Steaders and his new grip got on well together and made over 80 before being caught in the last couple of overs chasing a ton.  This was an excellent performance considering the state he was in 24 hours earlier when he was chatting to Dizzee Rascal.

Steaders shared a good partnership with Gravy (26) and they steadied the ship after a couple of quick wickets.  The rest of Steaders teammates were meanwhile arguing who was going to be number 11.  Not because they didn’t want to but because they did..

We lasted the full 40 overs but unfortunately fell short of the target, but by this stage I don’t think anyone realised.  So there you have it another fine tour and thanks to our tour organisers Gog and Brownie.  And our drivers for the weekend - Steadman, Payne, Chapman and Gog.  Right I’m off to see if I can get a patent on 3D TV.   

Thanks for the beautifully scored book by Mr Chapman who did the full 80 overs.

Champagne moment: Steaders return to form.

Team: Jimmy Marchant (capt), Alasdair Fraser, Wyn Pritchard, Gary Elliott, Steve Davis, Andrew Graveson, Michael McVeigh, Andrew Steadman, Bill Ward, Jonathan Thomas, Gareth Payne