Match Report vs Tour 1 Huntley 09th September 2023 @ Huntley (Skipper Alex, report Luvvers (Saturday MUPPET))

Just as my own little disclaimer, I got in to the hotel about 0500hrs and was a little drunk, so if anything of note was missed to my lack of memory/hangover please add them in the comments below.

I suppose this match report starts with the spoofing the night before to select the 11 playing, the usual jokes and nervous comments were being thrown around. Thankfully the hotel reception had a bar and a table the size of a house for the Casuals to fit around. This is the moment where the tour officially begins! We started with 3 coins each, any number from 0 to 45 in play and after about 6 rounds not one person was out. This led to a few whines (obviously Cheese) about too many coins so we reduced the coins to 2 each in the hope it sped the game up a little. This seemed to work as shortly after we had our playing 11, Jack, Goffy and Patrick the three missing out, Alex skipper for the day.

We arrived at the beautiful Huntley pitch, the oppo similar to last year had a mix of adults and kids and seemed delighted that we were touring there again. Although we tend to tour in different places this oppo just understands the spirit and are a great bunch so may be worth thinking about having them as a regular touring game (just my opinion for what it’s worth). The oppo skipper asked Alex what he wanted to do rather than toss the coin and we were batting. The first big decision of the day for Alex was the batting order, does he go in tour mode and mix it up or does he go in competitive mode? Tour mode it is…..

DT and Liam opened, the duck chip with a very good chance of having an early showing, this unbelievably proved not to be the case as DT and Liam defended well and took the singles well when the chance came. Liam the first to go by getting bowled trying to hit a big shot, opening partnership of 15 that was probably 15 more than anyone thought it would be. DT followed an over later getting C&B by the same bowler after taking his runs for the season past double figures (congrats DT!). Rhys and Alex were next in line and trying to get us a total to bowl at, some lovely drives and cuts followed and they steadied the ship and defended well whilst putting away the bad balls, a solid partnership of 40 before Rhys got bowled. Cheese was next but didn’t last long and was triggered out LBW, at his point we were 4 down for 76. Luvvers was next in, needing 39 to take the long held crown from Will for top run scorer for the season, by the end of his innings he still needed 39! A ridiculous shot had him caught at the deep square boundary on only his second ball for 0, and therefore gaining the dreaded duck chip, it must be said that Goffy had yet again made deals with the oppo skipper to trigger Luvvers at any opportunity, that must have played a part in the shot that was played! Alex’s great knock of 50 (he clearly likes this pitch after 90 odd last year) was ended shortly after by being bowled. Rob and Jimmy next in the firing line but this partnership only lasting 3 overs before Jimmy was also bowled. At this point the Casuals were in a spot of bother, 127 for 7 with only 12 overs to go.

It was looking like the prior evenings activities and taken it’s toll on the weary Casuals. Next in to join Rob (Owens) was Robbie (Sayer). This is the moment the game changed, some power hitting from both batsmen took the innings away from Huntley. Garages or cars (or maybe both) were getting hit as this turned into a 121 partnership from just 11 overs including 5 big sixes between them, Rob ending with 73 from 70 balls, Robbie with a brutal 61 from 34 balls. Both were out in the 39th and 40th over leaving Dan and Foxy at the crease, Foxy with a fine 8 not out. We ended the innings on 263 for 9 thanks to a great partnership at the end, tea tasted a little better after posting a competitive score from the position we were in earlier in the innings.

DT (C&B) 4
Liam (Bowled) 11
Rhys (Bowled) 13
Alex (Bowled) 50
Cheese (LBW) 6
Luvvers (Caught) 0
Rob O (Stumped) 73
Jimmy (Bowled) 8
Robbie S (Run Out) 61
Foxy (Not Out) 8
Dan (Not Out) 0

I won’t go into too much detail for the tea as I’m not sure if we’re still doing tea reports? It was spectacular though! Jimmy took pictures so guessing he’s on tea report if there is one?

Over to the bowling innings, the misfield chip got passed around regularly and there were far too many to mention them all, from memory Foxy ran around a ball with his arms in the air that had stopped by his feet, Luvvers dropped a dolly C&B, Pat stopped a ball that was drilled at him and was still given the chip? (is it a misfield if no run was taken?), anyway we were pretty sure as per last year that Huntley would mix up their batting order and have their big guns in the middle order to give their younger members a go with the bat.

This proved to be the case so Dan and Luvvers were first to go. Dan with his usual steady bowling and Luvvers with some very dodgy leg spin, Luvvers got the opener with a beauty that turned about 6 feet into middle stump! That was the highlight as we just won’t talk about the 4 half trackers that bounced 3 times before reaching the batter that he also bowled or the dolly C&B opportunity he dropped. Not much else happened as batters 1 and 3 built steadily and reached 45 for 1 from 10 overs. Foxy and DT were next up, DT not going for many off his 5 overs as the batters weren’t really taking any risks at this stage. Foxy managed to get a wicket from a very sharp stumping taken by Rhys. After 15 overs Huntley were 69 for 2 and setting a good foundation. Liam and Cheese were next up with Cheese in particular looking dangerous, getting good dip on the ball and causing the batters to struggle, he got 2 wickets in his final over getting the opener on 53 C&B and then getting the oppo skipper for 8 with a very dodgy LBW that even in Cheese’s opinion pitched miles outside the line of leg stump. This seemed like a big wicket as he could score quickly as we found out last year.

Liam toiled away with no joy and was punished for any drop in length from the man-mountain that was their number 5. Jimmy also had a couple of overs around this time and managed to bag a big wicket, the man-mountain holing out to deep square where Liam took a stunning catch inches inside the boundary line. At this point Huntley were 153 for 4 from 30 overs and needed a strong finish. Alex and Patrick (on as sub for Foxy) had a couple of overs each, Alex managing to get a wicket bowling their number 7 cheaply. Rhys and Rob were next and this was where the game was killed off with Rob getting a hat-trick, Luvvers taking a catch at mid-on, Rob then bowled their number 10 and the field came in for the hat-trick ball, Patrick taking the catch at short mid -off to seal the hat-trick and the innings. Rob with an MVP performance of 73 with the bat and 3-11 with the ball. Huntley finished with 214 giving the Casuals the victory.

Dan 5 (Overs) 0 (Maidens) 18 (Runs) 0 (Wickets)
Luvvers 6 1 25 1
Foxy 3 0 18 1
DT 5 0 17 0
Liam 5 0 32 0
Cheese 5 0 19 2
Jimmy 2 0 20 1
Alex 2 0 14 1
Patrick 2 0 21 0
Rhys 2 0 10 0
Rob 3 0 11 3

Catches - Cheese, Luvvers, Patrick, Liam
Stumping - Rhys

A well-deserved win thanks to great batting by Alex, Rob and Robbie. With a solid bowling/fielding effort, the dodgy LBW decision going against their skipper felt like the key moment. Hopefully it was good viewing on YouTube with Stevo and Steve B in particular mentioning they were watching. To finish off, MUPPET of the day was decided by the Chairman of the day (Liam), and decided Luvvers for his duck was given the new famed paint stirrer, meaning this match report was the award.

A thoroughly enjoyable day and huge thanks once again to Huntley for their hospitality, their humour and their awesome tea that they didn’t charge us for. Plans were discussed for hosting them for a tour game so definitely one to look forward to in the future.

Apologies again if I’ve missed anything, I was a bit hungover.

Tour pics

back