Low Bradfield, England, United Kingdom
This tour the WA Masters have a team blazer and very resplendent it is too. One of the team Blazer Etiquette rules as devised by Chopper is that on Match days every player must wear their blazer to breakfast, some members started the day not fully appraised of the rules and will be slightly poorer at the end of the tour.
However, all the players gathered on time and in their blazers for the journey to Low Bradfield where we were to play our first game against the Bradfield Fellowship Cricket Club, a late replacement from our original opponents, Wombwell.
The journey from Leeds was by coach and took over an hour. The sky was grey and the weather forecast was for rain. Sure enough on the way down to Low Bradfield it started to rain. It had rained three days in the previous three months in England and today of all days it was raining again.
Despite the rain the drive, once we were past Sheffield, was delightful, as we drove up into the Peak District to the village of Low Bradfield. It was still drizzling when we arrived, but we were pleased to see large covers over the pitch.
The locals were friendly and we were assured we would get a game in.
The Tour de France passed through Low Bradfield in 2014 and there is a yellow bicycle mounted outside the ground to commemorate the fact.
Sure enough at 12:40 the drizzle stopped, the covers were removed and a quick mow and roll meant the game would start 15 minutes late at 1:15.
We dressed up for the obligatory team photos in our new blazers. Jonathon "Virgin" Hurst was debuting as a WAM tourist and was presented with one of our famous black baggy caps, embroided with his debut number, number 32. Jonno and I first played cricket together when we were 18 for Subiaco-Floreat.
Skipper Larry negotiated the toss and suggested it would be best for us old blokes to bowl first to test out the conditions and the ground, but mainly to enable the first innings to last for 40 overs.
The ground was picturesque, a small pavillion, stone walls and hedges surrounded the field and it was overlooked by the village. The ground and pitch square sloped and there was a quite a rise at one end of the oval.
Wayne "Pigeon" Davies (1/21) opened the bowling up the slope and found a line and length straight-a-way but swing proved elusive. In the third over he induced a drive that flew in the the air to David "Stinky" Steens at cover. Our first wicket on tour!
Frank "Cranky" Collins (0/18) bowled quickly down the hill and extracted bounce from the otherwise benign pitch. A widish ball bowled by Pigeon was promptly dispatched and flew into the stream that ran past long off and a replacement ball was required. The young Bradfield opener looked comfortable against us and gathered runs at a steady pace. Cranky was unlucky and got crankier after getting a few play and misses.
The small ground meant that the scoring was in singles and fours, which suited our fielding skills (lack of), ie we didn't need to chase down balls, but the dark background, slopes and unven surface meant our ball stopping abilities were severely tested and several balls crossed the boundary after sailing through a WAM's legs...
Jonathon "Virgin" Hurst in his debut as a WAM, dropped an early catch but his disappointed response, stomping his feet, made up for it.
Stinky (0/29) could not hold a sharp caught and bowled and lack of wickets saw the runs start to flow. Barry "Cougar" Wilson (2/15) and Robin "Major" Lovegrove (1/16) came on, their slow nagging bowling stemmed the runs and between them they took three wickets.
Brendan "Chopper" Reid, once our first choice, go to fast bowler, became our first choice wicket keeper, a choice made necessary by ageing knees. Standing up to the stumps, Chopper used his big hands and quick reflexes to take two catches and complete a stumping.
Brad "Duke" Forbes (0/22) and myself, "Catto" (0/17) continued the slow nagging bowling but without the wickets. Morrie "Murray" Todd released from keeping duties, threw himself around the ground fielding and collecting mud on his whites. The young Bradfield opener retired after reaching his century and the number six scored 48 before holing out off Skip. Murray (1/31) and Larry "Skip" Davies (2/27) closed out the innings but a flurry of runs off the last 10 overs saw Bradfield reach 210 runs off 40 overs.
All up nine of the twelve WAMs bowled four or five overs each. The Bradfield total was a score that was very reachable for the WAMs.
Afternoon tea was excellent, just as you would imagine an English village cricket afternoon tea would be, complete with scones and cups of tea.
The Duke (32*) and I (36*) opened the innings, with the Duke taking first ball. The opening bowler bowled left arm licorice allsorts with the keeper standing up to him. A very English village cricket set up.
The other opening bowler, was younger, quicker and despite having a few pints between innings, could bowl a line and length. We rollicked along quickly, scoring the required five runs an over easily, mainly due to the keeper, who was excellent at taking balls on the off side but hopeless at stopping any balls going down leg side. Leg side byes and wides were useful. The pitch was interesting, two paced as well as having variable bounce. Driving was a lottery, so the Duke jumped on anything short to cut while I chipped, chopped and slashed at whatever came my way.
Byes and wides meant we got close to a hundred without either opening batsman getting to 30. Skip gave both of us the one over warning; to hit out and retire. I finished on 35 and the Duke with 32.
The Virgin (14) and Murray (8) started well but couldn't maintain the run rate as the Bradfield bowlers straightened up and stopped conceding byes. Both holed out looking for runs, Simon "Pup" Joyner batted well for 14 runs, but after his dismissal we struggled to score quickly enough while we managed to lose wickets all too quickly. No-one from number six to 11 got to double figures, Cranky (9), Chopper (4), and Stinky (6) all came and went. Skip quacked and was out first ball.
The Major (8) and the Pigeon (26) displayed their cricket intelligence in the lower order by scoring off every ball they faced, knowing you can only win by hitting the ball and scoring runs. Cougar with eight singles was last man out, with myself back at the crease as the first retiree.
In the end well fell 20 runs short, bowled out in the last over, close but not close enough.
We showered one at at a time, except the Cougar and the Duke who performed some greco-roman wrestling in the small shower while discussing run rates.
Drinks outside with the opposition with BBQ burgers made for a pleasant finish. Skip presented the "Official Cricket Australia" sandpaper award to the Bradfield skipper, Mick, and the man of the match cap to the century maker. Three times, as he kept getting his name wrong. He also presented a boxing kangaroo pin to the young lad who scored alongside Michelle Reid, unfortunately the boxing kangaroo pin was not in the empty plastic bag, the young lad looked very confused.
My old friend and flatmate from my time in London in the eighties, Dave, came down from county Durham to catch up with Tina and I, which capped off a memorable day for me.
The journey back was made shorter by the Major's debut rendition of the team song he had written especially for the tour. The lack of musical accompaniment and the consumption of several pints of beer did not stop the Major from belting out the words and the team joining in for the chorus of Ooooo-H! Good fun.
Back at the hotel, the Ibis proved its worth as a touring base for sporting teams and stag parties, the hotel bar doesn't close. Well not before 2am!
The majority of the team, including all of the red win cabal, settled around the one high table and discussed the days play and what could have been, had every batsman retired when they scored 35....
Brad
2018-09-10
Well worth the wait as always Catto Great photos from Tina and Dave as well .
Pigeon
2018-09-18
I feel that I should point out that being hit into the creek proved to be a smart tactical move...the replacement ball was much harder than our original and held its seam and shape much better - you're welcome!