Scribe: Spinach
The Arrival
Having recently moved to the nearby East Sheen, I was able to get to the ground in good time to be greeted by the sight of Moleman devouring a Tesco Meal Deal by himself on 1 of the 2 benches on the boundary. He was enjoying the already delightful SW London sun, which bathed this extremely green part of the Common which due to the wet weather had seen the boundary morph into a tsunami of Brambles and stinging nettles (which the fielding sides would get very personal with shortly). For those unaccustomed, Barnes Common opts for the more stripped back and rustic type of pavilion. Although there is a community centre across the train tracks, the village feel of 2 benches and a tree for shade is what greets the visiting team.
In recent times, due to Henner’s kind(ly) sponsorship of Barnes Common CC, there were a few new sights. New kit from Nike, reinforced fences at the Railway end, a well looked sfter Square and the 2 benches themselves with a plaque proudly displaying their tooooooors to Barbados, Portugal and most recently Italy. Henner’s affiliation with the London side meant on this occasion, he was worryingly playing for Barnes Common, rather than the Peckers.
Snax revealing his favourite dogging spots
The various Peckers arrived from all angles of the Common, Macca having climbed 2 fences and Snacks recounting stories of the amount of dogging which goes on in the vicinity. After that charming thought, we turned our attention to the game.
POB & Macca arrive from the Railway End
Moleman had kindly convinced his good mates Plant and Princess to play again, the latest additions to his line, after a taste of Sunday cricket against Ham & Petersham where the former scored a half century to set us up for a convincing victory. Chef had most kindly brought an eski full of beers and Cat also brought some delicious picnic bites from M&S.
The match was to be 35 overs a side with Barnes winning the toss and electing to bat. The deck itself would easily blend into an outer court at Wimbledon. Green as you like, perfect perhaps for a seam bowler of either side if they could bowl the right areas.Spinach and Cat opened the bowling which according to POB was one of the worst starts to a bowling attack in Peckers match he could remember for a while (cue Italics…).
Admittedly, receiving a warning on the 4th ball of the match for repeated beamers was not the start I intended. A chorus of ‘let’s use the facilities now’ echoed from the slip cordon as the shortened run up allowed me to do so.
At the other end, Cat’s 1st ball to 2nd slip, reminiscent of Harmison in the Ashes down under, did not help matters with his 1st over going for 9. Safe to say, Barnes Common were off to a solid start - 30 runs off 6 overs.
Once I reacquainted myself with the green top surface, Hassan was caught behind by Moleman with a regulation line and length delivery which only Cat had been able to produce up to this stage. Cat (0-46-0-7) toiled at the other end with a shortened medium pace run up and was unlucky to not get his paws on a wicket.
A change of bowling bought Snacks AKA Kingpin to the fray with instant success. The yoga and medicinal means have seen a rejuvenated Snacks this season which led to a wicket in the 3rd ball dismissing Sanbay for 26 runs. This left Barnes Common at 48 for 2 after 11 overs.
Moleman produced a brilliant run out to dismiss Sidd who top scored for Barnes with 57. This brought to the crease their energetic wicket keeper (Oscar) who was seemingly trying to hit it to Putney, with a Happy Gilmore approach to batting. Lavers had his man after a 46.W .
Henners, as expected, batting in fluent style. On 47*,with the score getting quite large for such a bowling friendly wicket, he committed a very generous act of sportsmanship by purposely leaving a straight one off POB’s bowling, skipper then clean bowling the opposition skipper and Henners best mate Johnny Ludlow
As balls flew to all parts of the Common (Thank god they were Orange), the Peckers fielding also didn’t help matters as they spent a increasing time hacking back mutant brambles in search of another boundary. A series of missed opportunities saw the Jester hat move to all corners of the field; a sitter at midwicket by yours truly, 2 more difficult chances for POB and possibly one for Cat as well. With that said, the mannequin aka Cheffrey took a solid catch in the deep.
Spirits were raised when LP assisted by Gav came to watch the action unfold. It was lovely to see LP out and about despite such a poor performance by those in the middle…
POB, LP & Gav watch from the sidelines
Despite the motivation to put on a show for LP and the selfless act by Henners, this only partially stemmed the flow of runs as Barnes Common continued to a large score of 244-6 from the 35 overs. After being part baked for a few hours, the Peckers trudged off, finding solace in Chef’s never ending supply of beer.
Lav scoring as Cheffrey seeks to hide from Media attention
Tea
Having personally not played at Barnes Common for a couple of seasons, the food was acceptable with the highlight being the quantity of sandwiches and bone China for the Tea.
Cheffrey, Pirate, Spinach, Lavers, LP, POB, Macca & Plant tuck into the mountain of sandwiches
Woodpeckers’ Innings
The Pirate / Cat opening pairing got us off to a steady start, nurdling around until Cat opened up to hit a couple of boundaries before being caught behind. Pirate would also fall in the next over leaving the Peckers 33-2 off 11.
Enter Princess, who was outdone by Plant at Ham & Petersham, despite being the known batsmen of the two. He had a point to prove and looked solid from the outset. Despite the loss of Moleman (Duck - bowled) and Plant (5 - Caught), he soon built a solid partnership with Lavers. Lavers (21), was also seeing it well and was unlucky to be caught in the deep as he sort to up the run rate. This left us 88-6 off 22 overs and needing a minor miracle.
Spinach, Snax and Moleman enjoying being off the field but soon to join the action…
Princess started steadily but not knowing his connections to both clubs, hit Henners for 3 massive 6s off his first over which was glorious.Bomber turned to me umpiring…’who’s this guy'?’ Despite a fabulous attempt, the run chase was effectively over after Princess departed for a fluent 57, being stumped off Huzeya.
Pob kindly arranged a runner for the hobbling Macca but then did his hammy going for a quick single with runner Snax. He contemplated a 2nd runner but decided(perhaps wisely’ that would be pure chaos, he decided to retire on 5 with the game lost anyway.
The last 5 batsmen provided value for comedy but sadly not runs.No. 7 to 11 contributed the grand total of 15 runs between them.
Peckers all out for 128 off 29 overs.
Peckers Up!
The Coach and Horses, Barnes
A long day in the field and another loss, meant that downing our sorrows was the only way to recover the day. The post match activities were held in the Coach and Horse beer garden, where no pint glasses were smashed (Greasy…) and we were even joined by Twinkles who had been out for lunch. The only sore point was another jug avoidance from Moleman’s mate Princess who was clearly to keen to get away to his rendezvous later that evening. Despite protest, Princess had chosen which Jug(s) he wanted to prioritise...
Twinkles and POB continued on to grab a pizza after the session ended as the rest of the Peckers descended into the night.
TAAAXI!
Cat providing a door to door service to the Coach & Horses for the casualties of the match POB & Macca
Full team in the Coach and Horses 2 hours after stumps -Top After-Party, Barnes Common jealous of our cameraderie
Macca hobble off to Macarena
Twinkles and POB continued on to grab a pizza after the session ended as the rest of the Peckers descended into the night.
Princess got his hands on the Jug(s) he wanted…