B.O.C.C.

Score Card    Match Report

Score card:

Match Report:

Editor's Disclaimer:  These are Ollie's personal recollections and views, not those of the Club - any complaints, corrections, or abuse should be addressed to him !!

Barnes Occasionals finally came through in a battle against nearly all the elements, to win their last match on home soil in 2001.           First there was the wind which blustered early on and aided the swing and seam of both Flower and Oliver Hogg.        Then came the water that twice had the players off the pitch, watching the rain fall and waiting for the groundsman to remove the covers.               There was the earth or rather mud, that slowed the bowlers down and made turning quickly and running a hazardous business for batsman and fielder alike.                             Sadly there was precious little sign of fire, except at the end of Flower and Price’s strangely lengthy cigarettes.

Barnes twelfth victory of the season owed itself in no small way to the efforts of the captain, who took three wickets in an innings for the first time since 1994 and scored his fourth half century of 2001.

So, on a brisk Sunday afternoon toward the arse end of September, Adam Hogg strode back from the middle with Ray Beckman of Grimsdyke and gestured to Bob Lilliman to pad up.              Hogg had lost the toss and had decided to play his joker, opening the batting with the trusty ‘keeper.

Actually not…, Ray Beckman had decided to bat on a beautiful looking strip   Barnes took to the field, with Flower and Oliver Hogg (2-34) opening up the attack.           After four tight overs which culminated in the removal of Suleman snr., bowled for 3 by Hogg (aiming a biggish off drive at a ball which swung in quite prodigiously) Ray Beckman came to the crease.   Dobinson struck a couple of big fours off Flower and as Beckman began to settle in the enormity of the task ahead began to dawn on several Barnes players.

At the beginning of the eighth over Dobinson was gone - bowled for 9 (aiming a biggish off drive at a ball which swung in quite prodigiously) and Grimsdyke were 31 for 2.

That was about as good as it got for some time.          

Rupinder Singh joined Beckman in the middle, he acclimatised himself by clouting a full toss from Hogg over long on for four and then hugely pulling Flower over the deep mid-wicket boundary for six.         A very big hit indeed!

The skipper’s advice to one of the openers was: “don’t over-pitch, don’t drop short.”

In the middle of Flower’s next over he had a good shout for “lbw” turned down against Singh who was then 14. Two overs later a sharp pick up and throw from Adam Hogg was tidied up by Flower at the bowlers stumps resulting in an extremely arguable not out decision against Beckman then 20.      

One ball later, the first heavy shower had the players beckoned from the field by the groundsman who quickly had the covers on.                       Twenty minutes were lost but Grimsdyke resumed at 59 for 2 and Beckman and Singh continued on their merry way.

Seed replaced Flower from the Scoreboard end, and was swiftly smashed out of the attack by Singh who took three fours off his third over.         Flower had replaced Hogg from the Road end, and was maintaining good pace now that the wind had dropped.                            

It was Nigel Saperia (1-8) who made the crucial breakthrough, the first ball he bowled at Singh, kept a bit low and didn’t spin.    Singh (42) played right across it and was palpably leg before, 102-3.

Karim Suleman (23) joined his captain at the crease, he started slowly and not without alarm, being dropped off a leg-break which went in and out of Mundy’s hands at slip and twice at short backward square by Oliver Hogg, who first time got one hand (the wrong one - not that there is a right one) to a pretty well hit help round the corner - saving two runs!, and second time failed in his dramatic dive to bring down the ball which had been struck very well off some leg side bollocks from Seed - that one went for four.

Adam Hogg (3-17) presumed to bring himself into the attack - clearly a shrewd move.     Bowling his “Berty Bassetts” he proceeded to run through the Grimsdyke middle order, bowling first Suleman at 153, then taking out Marks off stump and having Beckman finally caught at cover by Roger Price for 67.

Mundy was finally called on for a little light relief and Grimsdyke closed at tea on 174 for six.

At 4.27pm Barnes set off for what seemed a slightly unreasonable ask in cold rainy weather and it wasn’t long before the next interruption.   Price (7) had just got out - caught at mid off by Dobinson running underneath his skier from a top edged pull.

Adam Hogg was 8, and Webster 0, when after six overs and two balls the covers were pulled across once more.           This time 35 minutes were lost.      Calculations were made in the dressing rooms. Figures between 105 and 128 were bandied about, and at the beginning of the last twenty overs sixteen balls after the restart, Beckman and Hogg agreed on a target of 121.

Barnes needed 105 from twenty overs, with nine wickets in hand.          And suddenly they were away, Mike Webster freed from the shackles of drawdom was off, cutting and cutting and dabbing and cutting.

Hogg began to move his feet and drove Singh behind and in front of point for four.

Sharp running, anxious fielding, a collision and a few arses over tips.    Webster (17) and Hogg put on 56 in 44 minutes and the game was almost up.

Saperia joined in the abandon, his powerful striking through the off side giving Beckman more problems in the field as Grimsdyke’s resolve began to slip away.           A fantastic caught and bowled by Singh dispensed with the Saperia (13) problem, and in came Steve Flower to continue the theme.

Dobinson replaced Pollard from the Road end but his spin was just exactly what the Barnes doctor would have ordered.           Hogg and Flower (10) took full toll and there was little Singh who had bowled unchanged throughout could do from the other end.

Hogg was treating Singh with disdain anyway and when he drove Singh though the covers for four he had reached a very good fifty.                         Two overs later Hogg (61) drove Singh through extra cover for another four and the match was won.            Twelve balls to spare and seven batsmen left.

A good victory in the end, and though Grimsdyke appeared to score too many, the right sort of total in the light of a couple of interesting umpiring decisions was achieved with minimal fuss.

Now to Cabris.     Eight victories in a row is a club record.

But nine would be greedy.

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