There’s a pleasing rhythm to the cricket season. Ah, Mid-June, you think to yourself. The hawthorn’s almost over. The elderflower is out. The cuckoo has changed his tune. And we’re back at the Candovers – Brown Candover, to be precise. (The valley is colour-coded to help would-be house-purchasers find the right berth: they can choose from Tory-minded Blue Candover or the tiny socialist enclave of Red Candover; I’m not sure what they believe in at Brown Candover, but it’s quite possibly beer and cricket.)
Brown Candover is a lovely ground, and lovingly tended. Lovingly protected, too. The church is protected by netting (there’s a £100 fine if you hoick it over square leg, over the net and onto on the church roof, and you are possibly given out as well, though local opinion is divided on that.) The windows on the cottage at one end of the ground have bespoke wire shields put on before every game. The hedges are well-clipped, though still impossible to find a ball under. The only blot on the landscape was the substantial crack lying roughly on a length at one end of the wicket. No fault of the groundsman, though. We’d had weeks of hot sun with barely any rain.
The Racqueteers opened the batting – and opened it somewhat unsteadily. David F fell early to a good one that nipped back in, while the President, Skipper, Bard and Rishi all offered the ball up for straightforward catches. We were suddenly five wickets down with very few runs on the board. Enter G, who presented the straightest of bats and became increasingly fluent in his strokeplay. He finished on 28 retired, having hit 5 fours and having effectively rescued the game. (Well, no one much expected a win, but at least there was a good game now to be played.) Tom Talks contributed a strong and stylish 14 before being clean bowled, and Prav added another 6. Jolly’s contribution was an odd one: after facing a no-ball he was stumped regardless by Brown Candover’s enthusiastic wicketkeeper. Order was restored by the umpires, however, and in the end Jolly carried his bat.
Brown Candover probably expected an easy win. It was not as easy as all that, however, due to a display of bowling from the Racqueteers that was as confident as our batting had been uncertain. Head of Salmon in particular focused and probed his way to figures of 3 for eleven (off 3 overs), while Tom Talks and Rishi both troubled the opposition with accuracy, pace and some movement. There was a moment I think when some of us wondered if a remarkable comeback was possible, but the Candover men know their ground well, and they know how to find the boundaries, and in the end it was a comfortable win for them.
Result: Candover CC win by 6 wickets
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 