This report has a dark red colour, with a seductive rich perfume of ripe plums and cherries. On the palate, complex, with a good structure and a long lingering finish. Brought to you by Lamby.
~
The early season trip to Hampshire Hogs is always a highly anticipated fixture, with Peckers travelling far and wide to experience the thwack of leather on willow a mere stone’s throw from the Cradle of Cricket and on a beautifully maintained wicket and outfield. Yet it seems fitting that the Peckers get to experience it every year in a haze of drizzle.
And we would need both.
We were missing the majority of our young guns, but arrived with what felt to be a decent lineup, with the likes of Lav, Kamikaze, Borgav, Spinach and Kwakka all champing at the bit to get going. Tiddles even blessed us with his presence on the final day of his 40s. However, when Pob won the toss and asked the opposition to bat first, the Peckers reluctantly trudged out into the drizzle (naturally), safe in the knowledge that the home side had hit over 300 runs on the same wicket the previous weekend.
The Peckers got off to a good start, with Pob testing the early season fitness of Spinach (2-36) and Motty (1-27) with a 10 over opening spell for each of them. With 5 maidens between them they kept it tight and reduced the home side to 45-3 and, with the drizzle set in nicely at this point, it felt like the Peckers were well positioned to capitalise on this early dominance.
Up until this point, the Peckers had faced stubborn resistance from the Hogs opener, Parkinson, who grafted his way to a very respectable 54 from 114 balls having survived a dubious LBW appeal on 20, but the game was turned on it’s head with the arrival of George Allom (“The Gun”, 117 from 99), the Hogs number 5.
The long awaited back of Mr Allom. Stay a week longer next time, George!
Fresh from a summer of cricket Down Under, travelling back via Gary Kirsten’s training camp in South Africa where he received coaching from the likes of Faf Du Plessis, he promptly hit 3 boundaries from the first over he faced from Spinach.
Pob then introduced Lamby (0-28) as first change, who got taken to the cleaners by Allom, who tucked into some juicy half trackers for 3 overs before Lamby was hooked from the attack in favour of a change of pace in the form of Lav. He did give a couple of sharp chances off Lav which might have made a big difference.
With heavy drizzle setting in, an early lunch was called where Peckers tucked into a beautiful cheese board courtesy of Motty and Kwakka, which was washed down with a glass of the magnificent Six Grapes, bringing back memories of a very successful tour in Porto.
‘Woodpeckers’ or ‘Six Grapes’? Six Grapes Reserve is one of Graham’s original Port blends. The distinctive depiction of grapes on the label has always been used on the barrels to identify the “Six Grapes” blend. Only grapes from first-class vineyards are used for this mark. Six Grapes is a true expression of Graham’s house style with great richness and complexity. Six Grapes is a big hearted wine. It is fruity and robust and of superb quality. It is blended to be as similar as possible to a young Vintage Port. It has often been referred to as “the cricket lovers cricket team”.
Lav (2-43), Tiddles (0-37) and Chef (0-34) did well after lunch, especially considering that they were bowling to a very strong batsman. Borgav finally put the gun back in his holster but the Hogs ultimately reached a total of 225-6 off 46 overs which looked to be a challenging total for the Peckers to face down.
After a delicious tea and a particularly good lemon drizzle, Kami and Lamby headed out to open the batting for the Peckers.
With Kami looking rock solid at one end, Lamby completed the “Silence of the Lambs” and was out bowled for 1 poking down the wrong line to one that he swears “did all sorts”, capping off a bleak day just before Lambing season.
One of five rain delays, taken with typical good humour of men being reunited with their pints.
In an innings disrupted by rain delays and against a strong bowling attack, Kamikaze effortlessly stroked his way to an excellent 77 from 70 balls, but with wickets falling at regular intervals at the other end, the Peckers never really looked to threaten the home side’s total. He looked like he was playing a different game to the rest of the lineup. After his match-winning 50 last year, Kami really shows his class on a great batting wicket(made some rude remarks about Turnip patches).
Extras was the second highest scorer for the Peckers and there was some resistance from the likes of Lav (13) Spinach (7) and Motty (9), with Pob(stranded) also playing a knock for the average of 3*.
There are some people on the pitch…Last Orders for Chef
However, with the weather settling in and the light failing, the Peckers were ultimately well beaten by the better side as they were all out for 142 from 33.2 overs.
Thank you to all who made the trip, the umpires, the scorers and of course the magnificent Hogs for hosting us at their beautiful ground. It’s fair to say that we’re all looking forward to next year’s fixture, hopefully without the drizzle.
A smiling descent of Woodpeckers under a sky so leaden it would have made John Constable blush.
Lovely report Lamby! We’re all off to be stored horizontally in a dark place with constant temperature, ideally between 12ºC and 15ºC. Gentilmente.