King Edward VI school, Southampton.
The Vikings play their matches in the handsome, generous surroundings of King Edward VI School, with its cricket pitch laid out in front of the school buildings like a parterre in front of a French château. (Alright, maybe a château that had to be rebuilt after the war, but you know what I mean.) On this particular Wednesday evening, the scene was further graced and gilded by a new arrival: at 5.30pm, an exceedingly smart vehicle rolled smoothly through the school gates. It was the new, silver team minibus – driven (kindly) by Jolly and packed with eager Racqueteers.
The Jollybus was parked, the toss won, and the Racqueteerstook to the field. We’d chosen another run chase…
We opened our bowling with a classic combo: the penetrating pace of Rishi (1 for 9) at one end, and the luxuriant legspin of Rupert (1 for 21) at the other. It worked. Unfortunately,clearing the openers quickly also brought in Al quickly – and alongside being one of the best Racqueteers batsmen, he also captains the Vikings. He seemed to have left the horns off his helmet but, alas, he had not lost his bat. He retired after scoring an effervescent 25 off sixteen balls. Leo (27), on loan to the Vikings, performed just as well.
All of which put the Vikings on a strong 89 for 3. The Skipper took the opportunity to give lots of Racqueteers a chance with the ball. Head of Trout (0 for 20), the Skipper himself (0 for 25) and Shaun (0 for 24) didn’t have the luck they deserved. Maybe they had gifted their share of fortune to The Bard (4 for 17), who took four, with two caught-and-bowled. Also successful was Jules (1 for 7), and the reaction to his wicket from his team-mates was a real heart-warmer. OC also deserves special mention for keeping wicket again, effectively and calmly. He let through just one bye, which is quite an achievement.
Hunting down 125 in 20 overs did not seem implausible, especially given the quality of our top-order. Benno (2), Rishi (0) and OC (6) lost their wickets sooner than you might haveexpected, but the Skipper (27 ret) and Paddy (27 ret) did more than just steady the ship: they took us from 29 for 4 to 99 for 5, which meant the chase was back on. Paddy, in particular, scored stylishly and rapidly, reaching the point at which he had to carry his bat off just 16 balls.
Our tail-end, alas, had too much of a mountain to climb. The Bard (9) found himself pinned down again, especially by Flipper, on loan to the opposition, who bowled a crucial maiden over; The Bard was then skittled by The Pope’s smooth left-arm. Flighty (1) was batting for the Racqueteersfor the first time, and looking good; he was unlucky to be caught at mid-wicket – off a powerful shot that nine times out of ten would have gone through the fielder. Rupert (4 not out) made a valiant last effort, but it could not be enough. At 20 overs, we still stood 18 runs short.
It was generous of the opposition skipper – our own Al – to say afterwards that the Vikings’ victory was owed to the loan players from the Racqueteers. It is true that The Pope retired on 27 and struck twice (1 for 4 off 3 overs – an incredible economy of 1.33), and that Flipper also took a wicket (1 for 6 off 2), but the Vikings batted and bowled well as a team, and they were skilfully deployed by their captain, with the right bowler chosen at the right moment.
But then generosity was at the heart of this whole fixture. The Vikings welcomed us warmly, put on a good tea, had their own very capable pair of scorers, and didn’t even charge us for the privilege of playing at their lovely ground. It’s never an unalloyed pleasure to lose, but against the Vikings, somehow, it doesn’t hurt too much.
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 