On a sunny but occasionally cloudy day, Boxgrove played Lynchmere away. A major achievement occurred before a ball had even been bowled, the whole team had found the ground!!! (except Steve ‘Hogan’ Tremell who ended up in Harting??!!). Ben won the toss and elected to field, the wicket looked firm and Ben thought it would take seam. Simon ‘Sodly’ Hall opened the proceedings and quickly found an inside edge, dropped even more quickly by Rew ‘Rewby’ Reed who was keeping. Paul ‘Fruit’ Mant started from the other end and was getting some good swing and also did a bit with the ball too!! Simon kept plugging away and it wasn’t long before another inside edge was found, this time Rew pulled out a stunning one handed diving catch to his left (though the smile to camera was a little ott!!) and the opener was on his way.
Good fielding from Aiden ‘Nipper’ Mant and Damien ‘Max Factor’ Langton helped to stifle the Lynchmere runs. Paul continued to bowl fine line and length and should have been rewarded with a catch at slip, however Ben spilled it and the batsmen called for a single, what they hadn’t seen was Simon calmly picking the ball up and a missile accurate throw saw a direct hit on the stumps at the bowlers end with both batsmen stood in limbo.
Ninja ‘soon to be Papa’ Williams took over from Simon and instantly found his line, he had the batsmen in trouble from the off and got his reward when Lewis ‘Jason’ Donavan took a smart catch at mid-off. Steve dropped a rocket (that’s not a euphemism!!)at point, and Rew dropped another low edge behind. With another super ball uprooting the stumps, Nin finished with figures of 11 overs 2 for 12.
A quick spell from Robbie ‘Quickstep’ Fowler, saw the Lynchmere total accelerate and the horse in the adjacent field take cover!! Simon fielded another lost cause and his super throw over the stumps saw another run out.
Ben ‘Skippy’ Gottesman joined the party and with a very effective bowling spell took 2 wickets off 5 overs for 9 runs.
Lewis relieved a tired Ninja and off just one over managed to bag 2 wickets!! (Thanks mainly to two batsmen kicking onto their stumps!!) Lewis ended on 1 over 2 for 5.
With all batsmen dismissed, tea was taken early and Lynchmere ended on 112 all out.
Opening with Rew and Ben, Boxgrove started the hunt for runs. Excellent bowling from Gibson and Cain, limited the openers to singles and the odd rare boundary. Ben was the first to submit to the probing, as he drove a full pitched ball straight back to a welcome bowlers hands. Scoring a handy 30 Boxgrove were in a good position. Steve strode to the wicket looking like a lion on the prowl (this was mainly due to his hair resembling a slightly moth eaten lions mane and the strawberry jam down his shirt looking like blood!!) and with much swishing he survived his first over, his second however was not so lucky and he fell LBW without troubling the scorers.
Donavan came to the crease and stayed with Rew for some time, when he fell Tom ‘Vinny’ Vinnicombe came in and a mix up had Rew diving for the line to stay in. A good ball (and poor shot across the line!!) saw Rew’s innings come to an end on 33.
Simon carried on with Tom and with some fine shots saw Boxgrove cross the finish line with over’s to spare. Tom ending on 17 n/o and Simon 21 n/o.
Pick of the Lynchmere batting:
I Senior 27 n/o
T Cain 21
Charman 23
Pick of Boxgrove bowling:
B Gottesman 5 – 2 – 9
L Donavan 1 – 2 – 5
N Williams 1 - 2 – 12
Pick of Lynchmere bowling:
Gibson 13 – 1 – 25
S Cain 13 – 1 – 28
Pick of Boxgrove batting:
R Reed 33
B Gottesman 30
S Hall 21 n/o
T Vinnicombe 17 n/o
S Tremmel 0
