On a glorious September afternoon, one surely can find no better past time than pootling off to the delightful countryside of Oxfordshire, Henley for a spot of competitive, yet highly entertaining cricket. Rotherfield Peppard it must be said were excellent hosts and although Sateesh couldn’t provide us with his delectable spicy chicken, Cat’s old school chum Fergus, provided an opposition that for once didn’t turn old Bagpuss (Cat’s new name) into a sour puss! This game was the opposition’s final of the season so we accommodated, much to the anticipated disapproval of the tardy Baron, a twist of shot roulette – more on that later!
The power of three seemed to be the theme of the day. Cuddles our esteemed treasurer set this marvellous fixture up three years ago, and celebrated our third return on the weekend of his 40th birthday. Greasy had his contingency of three via he, Bag Puss & Groundskeeper making appearances. Motty, Botty & Cuddles were the three former Hampton 1XI school boys who came and bolstered the ranks with some actual skill albeit if Motty did have to prance around with a broken toe. The three Sticky Bandit rugby players conformed to the theme with Cannon; the intimidating prop, Henners the nimble scrum half & Lav the light footed open field runner. Pobsy and Runky provided a brace of experienced heads to complete the 11.
The first innings itself was attune to the laws of three as one can distinctly break up the Peppard innings into thirds. The first third saw Greasy and Bagpuss open the bowling in perhaps one of the most economical starts the Peckers have seen this season. After the first thirteen overs the opposition had only put 42 on the board with Greasy opening up with two maiden overs & two wickets and Bagpuss claiming his own maiden. The irony of Greasy’s first wicket, once again falls into this bizarre arrangement of threes. Those of you at Tadworth last week will remember the hysteria and value for money you got at watching GK drop Bagpuss three times in the slips, after arrogantly announcing that he was destined for that spot. Well as luck and entertainment would have it Groundskeeper found his hands this week as he managed to juggle, yet hold onto three catches - none of which credited the fierce feline bowling of Bagpuss who, as ever, shook his head with incredulity at the result.
The second third of the first innings saw the opposition up the anti as Harris and Badger dug in and made the jobs of Runk & Lav most difficult indeed as the score soon came to read 131-2 off 29 overs. We were starting to worry and feared the score would soon turn into 200+ which was not helped by Pobsy’s ‘usual insubordination’ towards Baron’s fielding instructions! There were some other words of ‘encouragement’ between extra cover and the wicket, but this all seemed to catalyse the 3rd 1/3 of the innings
The precise moment that occurred was when POBs switched Henners, the H Bomb to uphill in order to accommodate the hungover birthday boy Cuddles being able to steam down the hill. Both bowled brillinatlt and The wickets didn’t stop coming for the H Bomb. GK caught two of his catches, one of which was a last minute left hand grab that nobody, least of all he expected to catch. Henner’s four wickets were polished off with a fine stumping from the tenacious Botty and Bag Puss wrapped up the innings - getting that wicket he was purring after thanks to the redemptive hands of Cannon. The opposition finished on 166-7…only 35 off their last 11 overs.
A special mention and thanks must go to Minnie, who came hoping to support but was instead burdened with looking after three dogs during the first innings. It was her second game as a supporter, although I expect next time she may come as a kennel lady! Lupin the Basset and Hoover the Cocker were the newest edition the mascot team joining Billy and Myrtle in harmony on the boundary.
Lupin -Felix the Cat’s cuddly Basset Hound on debut(1/4 Springer)
Tea, as we now know it was a rather joyous occasion, for some – perhaps - more than others. Bagpus had been putting his paws to good use in producing an array of homemade Scotch Eggs, Empanadas & a Spanish omelette and the Landlord Greasy turned up with some rather palatable Rose that quenched the thirst of many. As we pecked away at various delicacies we had the job of dishing out the shot roulette. For those that aren’t accustomed, shot roulette requires the batting side to play a series of shots or dares, if you will, on their first ball in. You are given a balls grace in order to try and perform your duty and the tasks are handed out by the luck of a hat.
The second innings was soon underway and the Peckers got off to a flying start…after 2 overs the score was 26-0 with Lav on 24.
Cannon shows his admiration for fellow Sticky Bandit Lav who he has described as the ‘greatest open field runner’ he has ever seen
The pair flayed the ball to all parts and the 167 we need to win came quickly into sight. Lav, I must say, batted with true style – playing an array of beautiful shots which was quite frankly a joy to behold. . Alas, the only shot he gave in the air was gobbled up and he finished on a valiant 81. Lav has never not scored 50 for the Peckers! Botty also had a good hit and finished his spell on 53. Their departure triggered a traditional Peckers collapse
I’m not sure what happened to the batters that followed, perhaps Lav & Botty’s stint at the crease left us too much time to polish off the rose and create an arsenal at the bar or perhaps some boundary walks wafted a false air of security into which temptation got the better. Whatever it was, the middle order didn’t have their eye on the ball. Greasy came in third, had to play a Helicopter shot (look it up) and then left 15 minutes later with a total of 6. Once again, the less said about GK’s innings the better other than he was tasked with using a junior bat. H bomb’s 4 wickets had obviously used up his good fortune as his performance with the bat may well have dropped his average below 100.
A highlight of the game, was Pobsy drew the roulette task of going into bat looking a village as possible – something that came naturally to our esteemed leader. When his time came, he marched out onto the wicket in frayed denim shorts, a thigh-pad on the outside, a very old Gray Nicolls power spot bat, his Peckers hat on backwards, a pair of shades and a fag which he proceeded to light after asking for the middle peg. The whole pitch was in hysterics and the captain led the way in the spirit of the game but perhaps not so much in the skill of it as before long he was back at the pavilion as well.
Village Pobs
Thankfully a couple of trusty Peckers could be relied upon to pull the victory home and Cannon hit the winning run putting a flustered Baron at ease.
And that’s how it came to pass, that on the third to last game of the season, the wondering crew that travelled the pitches of the home counties in the summer of ’20, wound up sitting in a row at 6:30 in the evening, sipping ice-cold bohemian style beer. We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulder and felt like free men…. expect for Greasy!
Groundskeeper Willie Woodpeckers 167-6 beat Rotherfield Peppard 166-7 by 4 wickets
Top L-R Botty, Runky, H-Bomb, Cannon, Pobs, Cuddles(40), Otto, Lav, Felix+ Lupin, Greasy+ Hoover, Groundskeeper + Myrtle, Peppard Badger(the man that christened Otto)..Billy slightly obscured