Hinton Charterhouse Vs Venturers, Wednesday July 22th

Hinton Charterhouse 152-5, Venturers 134-5

Some of the expected attractions of Hinton Charterhouse were unavailable, notably the very local cider that the bar normally stocks, but the ground looked even more like a cricket ground than usual because of the marquee pitched next to the pavilion. This served as an aid to social distancing in that we used it as a base and they used the large tree at the other end of the pavilion. Access to the changing rooms is barred, though the pavilion proper was open. A former editor of Wisden was the only person present when we arrived. We were surprised to see him, expecting that he would be in the Old Trafford bubble. He said that to his relief he was not: probably the only time Scyld Berry has been glad not to have watched a Test Match.

We always lose to Hinton Charterhouse, and we set about the job in a previously untried manner, with some loose bowling by Ian Corrick. He did clean up one of the openers, but his first two overs cost ten, which is about double his usual rate, and his third an unheard-of seventeen. Chandrabhan at the other end was tighter but we could not get rid of the other opener. Olly, replacing Ian, leaked runs at first but then improved the situation a lot by bowling the number three, who had done most of the damage to Ian and looked capable of doing the same to the rest of us. Gregory at the other end was asked to keep the runs down, and more or less did, and Olly bowled the next batsman as well, but his successor was quietly competent. Jerome did quite well as a makeshift death bowler. Eventually the opener reached 50 and retired; his partner scooped a Bruce loop to Jaideep at fine leg; and Chandrabhan spectacularly threw out the new batsman, who had not faced a ball, at the non-striker’s end from long-on as he attempted a second.

We always knew that 152 was steep. Jaideep and Ritvij are not the ideal players for such a situation: in fact Jaideep managed rather better, with five fours, three punched through the covers when given space. Ritvij hit one glorious straight drive but found the field more than he would have liked and eventually missed, trying to force the pace, as he had to. Jamie and Farooq kept us just about in touch, though. Farooq was to some extent let down by the bat he was using: three shots that almost carried for six fell short and yielded only two, and a fourth also fell just short but went for four. Those fourteen runs, and little more aggression when running, would have made the difference in theory, although our opponents probably had more in reserve if they needed it. Jamie hit four fours in an over, followed by a six off the editor, but trying to repeat the shot he was casually caught under the tree. Jerome got a single off his first ball but missed his second, and Chandrabhan hit his first ball to mid-on. Imran and Farooq were left with far too much to do.