“After rain caused Saturday’s game to be cancelled the players were relieved to wake up to sunshine on Sunday and looked forward to a home game with local rivals Slindon. Indeed the weather was almost balmy which was seen as a welcome change to the recent arctic conditions.
The toss was, in true Boxgrove style, taken just outside the pavilion to give the supporters a birds eye view and when Slindon won it (where was our professional tosser Manty when you need him?) they looked around each other and then knowingly with a nudge and a wink put 10 man Boxgrove into bat on a drying pitch. In terms of team news for unbeaten Boxgrove, there were debuts for Eli Abdul (sounds like a spinner but he isn’t!) and Liam Glasspool (sounds like a plumber and he might be for all I know) whilst Guy Partridge returned from the seconds, Pete Courtnage passed a fitness test and new Grandad Jim Reed looked ready and raring to go.
The Slindon bowlers started well and the Arundel opener Temple was finding lots of testing pace and bounce. Jez Abbott scored the first run of the day off but was soon caught behind by Herechuk off of Temple for 1. Guy Partridge soon followed for 2 before James Thorpe and Mark Holl steadied the ship. Both started to get the measure of Temple but when looking set Thorpe hooked a delivery off the other opener straight to Will Banks and was out for 15. Wayne Barrett joined Holl and as the bowlers changed it looked like Boxgrove might build a reasonable total. However Holl was then out caught behind off a thin edge for 15 but when he “walked” it confused the umpire Partridge who ended up looking like an air traffic controller having a fit as he shook is head, said not out and then and waved his arms before then belatedly putting his finger up as the batsman was half way to the pavilion. That brought Langton to the wicket who looked in determined mood (or was it dazed from the previous night’s cider?) and he and Barrett soon got down to work. Indeed, they both took the responsibility for building a good Boxgrove total in their strides and both began to look assured.
The impressive Barrett duly brought up his 200th run for the club and played some nice shots whilst Matt Langton curbed his natural aggression to play a measured innings which was watchful when it needed to be but attacking when the opportunity arose. It was good to watch and the crowd was enjoying it. Barrett passed his highest score for the club but when he was out for 26 Boxgrove were still short of what might be a challenging total for Slindon. That brought Abdul to the wicket and although he stood somewhere near the Anglesey Arms car park for his first ball he saw it off by watching it narrowly miss the stumps. However he didn’t let the occasion get to him as he whacked the bowling of Banks over gully for his first run for the club and if it has been a dull day we would not have needed floodlights as his smile lit up the ground. It wasn’t to last however as he was soon out for 1 and Glasspool followed for 0 after getting a decent ball. All this time Langton continued to build his own score and duly recorded his own Boxgrove best. He was putting on a decent partnership with Jim Reed who was looking like a man on a mission as he duly despatched the young spinner Hornsby for a series of boundaries. Langton was hitting his own series of nice shots but his luck ran out as he was snared for what was an excellent 32. That brought last man Courtnage (1 not out) to the wicket and he hit a nice off drive for a single to get Reed (15 not out) back on strike as Boxgrove reached tea at a very reputable 115-8. The pick of the bowlers for Slindon was Temple but Banks done a Symo and picked up four low order wickets for just 10 runs.
Despite the temptation to bat on after tea (the Slindon skipper Apps looked mightily relieved at not having to chase any more of Jim Reed’s fours) the Boxgrove bowlers set about pulling off what would be an unlikely victory. The opening bowlers had a mixed start with Thorpe and Langton both repeatedly beating the bat but then being hit for a number of fours by the determined Banks who rode his luck being dropped twice. The way that Banks was hitting the ball did not bode well for the home side but Boxgrove soon had their tails up as Langton bowled Hornsby for 3 and then Thorpe knocked the wind out of Banks’ sails by having him caught behind by Holl for 31. Banks didn’t look sure and showed dissent to the Slindon umpire which would surely have cost him his usual match fee of a double brandy and lovage. Boxgrove were fielding well with new signing Glasspool excelling in particular.
Thorpe and Langton continued to bowl well but with little reward although there were plenty of very close calls for Slindon and on numerous occasions it defied logic how the ball didn’t hit the stumps or the edge. However once Temple got into his stride the situation looked ominous and a series of fluent drives brought up his fifty. The Boxgrove skipper turned to the slow bowling of Abbott which proved to be effective as he lured Fuente into being stumped by Holl for just 6 but that was the last action of note for the home side (except for Partridge’s entertaining 0-20 off the final over) as Slindon recorded a 7 wicket win to get revenge for their 10 wicket mauling a year ago.
It was an enjoyable game and Boxgrove can feel rightly proud of the fact that the game was closer than it might have been given the struggles we had getting a team. Matt Langton, Wayne Barrett and Jim Reed deserve a special mention for their batting and it was especially pleasing to see Matt do well given that he also put in a lot of hard work preparing a good pitch despite the previous day’s rain.
Boxgrove 115-8 (Langton 32, Barrett 26, J. Reed 15 not out, Holl 15, Thorpe 15)
Slindon 116-3 (Abbott 1-7, Langton 1-35, Thorpe 1-54)”
