Finally, after what felt like months of rain, the clouds cleared, the sun emerged from hiding, the temperature soared by about ten degrees and the Racqueteers’ delayed first fixture of the season was on. And the Millbury’s bucolic ground, The Holt, was the perfect place to play it. Ringed by mature trees in the first flush of their spring green, it is home to a welcoming opposition of, typically, a similar standard. This being still so early in the season, the match was a limited-overs format: 16 per team, with no bowler to bowl more than three overs.
For this match, the Racqueteers welcomed three new players. As it turned out, they really are welcome additions to the team: Rob C, Leo from South Africa (by way of Hyde Close) and Rupert from London (by way of – who would believe it? – Nuns Road) all made great debuts.
The Milburys batted first. Opening the bowling for us were Farmer Chris (16 for 1), and the President (8 for no wicket). Both were probing and economical. To give away just 24 runs from our first six overs was no small achievement given the consistent bounce of the Milburys’ astroturf track and the decent quality of the opposition’s batting. Our first change pair were Rishi – “but I’m not even bowling at my full pace” – (13 for 1) and Rupert (16 for no wicket), who brings a well-flighted leg spin to the Racqueteers’ armoury. But it was new boy Leo who had the most startling success,finding pace and movement through the air and claiming three wickets in his first match. It is worth noting, too, that as a team we gave away only one bye and one leg bye. Clearly the off-season had not caused G to stiffen up any, and he was as agile as ever behind the stumps. (Five wides was not unrespectable, either, given that this was the first game of the season. If we improve from there, I think the Skipper will be happy.) Honourable mention must also be made of new boy Rob, who dived to his left twice in two balls to stop the single. Had a third shot come his way, would he have gone down again? And would he have gotten up? How many times, as Bob Dylan almost wrote, must a man go down before you can call him an asset to the Racqueteers?
And so the run chase was on. The target of 81 off 16 overs looked achievable, and especially so once the Skipper and Leo began their stroke-play. Both played some confident, stylish and judicious cricket – perhaps almost too judicious, given the length of the Milburys’ outfield! After all that rain, boundaries were never going to be easy to come by, or not without risk. Both comfortably reached their 25-run limit, however, Leo finishing with a beautifully timed six. He ended on 30 (retired), which under our limited-overs rules may be a record that will prove rather hard to beat. The batten was then passed to Dave F, who sensibly got his eye in with a straight six and,having made that statement of intent, rapidly cleared up the remaining runs.
This was a fairly comfortable but nonetheless well-deserved ten-wicket victory. The Racqueteers then repaired to a nearby hostelry, the nicely renovated Milbury pub, for curry from the fancy curry-van. It was an excellent start to the season, and we look forward to seeing more of our new cricketers as the summer goes on.
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 