You always size up any new opponent, and when the opposing team has the same name as your own, you size them up especially closely. So when Racqueteers Cricket Club (of Hayling Island) sauntered across the sacred turf at River Park to meet The Racqueteers Cricket Club (of Winchester) for the inaugural International Racqueteers World Championship, there was definitely a spot of mutual scrutiny. It wasn’t quite like looking in the mirror. Neither was it a Mexican stand-off. It was more like, I don’t know, when two ex-boyfriends of the same girl meet at her wedding to another guy. Cheery camaraderie, with competitive underwiring.
The visitors looked like the kind of cricketers who might find the boundary but maybe not so easily the wicket. And so it proved. Theirs was decent but not especially dangerousbowling, and our openers Kiret (50, retired not out) and The Pope (51, retired not out) both carried their bats with classy and well-deserved maiden half centuries. Popey in particular has long deserved reaching that landmark, and Kiret is clearly going to be an invaluable asset. Flighty (27) also made his first serious runs for the club, with some nimble-handed work on the off-side, and the President (11) and the Skipper (10) kept things steady when two younger, faster bowlers emerged in the middle of the innings. The feeling was, though, that we needed at least 200 to feel good about ourselves. ‘Ted’ Talks (24 not out) and the Bard (36 not out) came in and did the necessary work, exploiting a fast outfield to take us to a total of 225 for 3.
And with that, we all repaired to the pavilion for a remarkable tea prepared by The Pope. There had been rumours that a braai was being prepared turned out to be unfounded – the theme was Italy rather than South Africa. There were potato omelettes and a Mediterranean pasta salad and an insalata tricolore in red, white and green in honour of la patria. And I don’t know if Popey had blessed the cakes, but they were heavenly.
Was 225 enough? Maybe. But then we tasted the batting quality we had sniffed at the outset. The visitors’ opener,Charlie, in particular, stepped out and monstered anything on or off a length and on or off the stumps. Their number three wasn’t much more diffident. Head of Trout (0 for 33) and the Bard (1 for 28) struggled to contain them, as did Rupe (3 for 48), at least initially. But this was a game characterised by turning points, and after the seventh over, with the opposition closing in on 50 runs, the wily Skipper created the first of them: he switched Rupe from the Town to the Hornbeam end, and came on himself at the town side.
Now things changed. Rupe instantly found his this-way-that-way mojo, taking two wickets for two runs in his second over. Skip (2 for 26) offered up unimpeachable length and accuracy, and claimed an LBW that had the pleasant thud of authenticity. Both were supported in their efforts by some champagne-standard fielding. Sean and Jules took good catches at mid-off and mid-on respectively, while the President made a frankly astounding grab in the slips, leaping and spinning at speed and emerging with a ball in one hand that had gone over his head and behind his back. A Pol Roger of catches. Sepia also played his part: shifting from umpire to fielder, and still in his Edwardian civvies, he dived to his left to stop a well-drilled cut shot.
The veritable Bollinger moment though was a run-out – the work of Arthur, son of Flighty. It was a lightning-quick pick-up-and-fling that scored a direct hit from an improbable angle. Some start to his career with the Racqueteers. Special mention must also be made of Kiret (0 for 11), who staunched the runs with consistency, pace and plentiful bounce. Tom ‘Ted’ Talks did his first stint behind the stumps. He was unlucky not to be credited with a possible caught-behind. Yes, The Racqueteers’ appeal was loud and long, and yes, two children on the deep, long midwicket boundary shouted sarcastically ‘we could hear the snick from over here’, and yes, as a moment, this was maybe less Dom Pérignon and more Spumante. But the umpire quite rightly stuck to his judgement.
Feelings were undoubtedly heightened by the closeness of the chase, as the clock ticked away and the overs counted down towards the close. With seven overs left to bowl we had just the two wickets to get, while the visitors needed just short of 50 runs. Victory still felt possible. Then Charlie, the opener, came back in. Bardy tremblingly took up the gloves to let Ted Talks (1 for 25) steam in, but even in combination with the probing Pope (1 for 32), bowling from the other end, he could not secure those final two wickets. The final runs were made in the first ball of the last over – a four belted to the boundary. Which rather summed things up.
At the end of the game, we were joined by the esteemed Paul Osman, Hyde’s very own tennis supremo, whose club was the birthplace of The Racqueteers. He presented the inaugural Golden Tennis Racket to the worthy winners. Generous speeches were made on both sides, and our visitors presented us with a classy Racqueteers CC cap, in quartered colours. Even if we didn’t take home the actual trophy, we will have an excellent souvenir of a well-fought game.
And of course we remain The Racqueteers.
The Racqueteers Cricket Club 
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