Penn Street vs Sky CC

Penn Street CC                  135 ao (P. Jupp 62)

lost to

Elite CC                               151 ao (C. Macken 3-37, R O'Hagan 3-33)

by 16 runs

The first Saturday of May started out bright and sunny, became increasingly gloomier and ended up bitter and disappointing. And that was just the cricket. The weather was worse.

PSCC skipper Alistair Cossins lost the toss. Surprisingly, visitors Sky CC decided to bat despite knowing that the wicket had not been rolled, Dave Lander having taken the killswitch for the roller to its first ever football match.

As is traditional, Dave Adams opened the bowling from the Pub End and was his usual threatening self, conceding only two runs from his first three overs. The Sky openers were rattled, whilst Pete Jupp, who was continuing his audition to be the new Sam Martin behind the stumps (needed, as we seem to have lost 50% of the old one), was in danger of having blistered palms before the game even reached the half hour mark.

With Rocco Jupp still nursing the injury picked up the previous weekend, the honour of opening from the Wood End went to Caitlin Macken. She was a little wayward at first, but the ten ball opening over seemed to allow her to find her radar and then there were fireworks. Opener Dora’s exploring was curtailed by a vicious inswinger. Two balls later Stella was on the long walk to the pub after scooping a low full toss to Adams at fine leg. And two overs after that Dhillon became CMAC’s final rabbit when he lopped a lazy drive towards the captain at mid-on, the catch creakily pouched around his ankles.

Sky were in trouble at 25-3 and things got worse for them when Adams castled Kanat with the final ball of his spell. Even a change of bowling didn’t make life easier for them, with Simon Hennell coming on to mow his magic from the Pub End and Chris Lovewell being monkishly parsimonious in partnership with him.

Unfortunately, the Lovewell radar then developed a fault. This wasn’t so much to the detriment of PSCC, or indeed the benefit of Sky. The problem was that the Jupp hands were clearly now in so much pain that he decided that the best way to intercept one wayward delivery was with his own middle stump. Clearly someone forgot to tell him that this wasn’t part of the audition to be the new Sam.

Sky then began to slowly nudge the score upwards, so the captain decided that it was time for action. Drastic action. He called on the Secretary for a rare bowl from the Wood End, always a risk this early in the season when there are few spare balls available to replace those that end up in the wood.

The change made little difference, either in terms of taking wickets or in terms of someone not bowling a shedload of wides. In fact, it took a moment of brilliance to bring the game back towards Penn Street. Sky opener Koka had made a largely untroubled 35 and seized upon a generous Secretarial offering to move four closer to fifty. Fortunately for PSCC his drive flew inches above the turf rather than along it. At cover Tom Peacock threw himself to his right and pulled off a stunning one-handed catch, his body parallel with the ground as he grasped the ball. Who said Peacocks can’t fly?

This then led to a mini revival from Penn Street. Hennell finally got some reward from his efforts when Jupp Senior, having used up pretty much every body part to stop the ball, went back to his hands and snaffled the newest batter. Even more wondrously, there was also the rare sight of the Secretary deliberately taking a wicket (or so he claimed) as he bowled the obdurate Tyrone with a quicker ball (the margins here are fine, it’s like saying some snails are quicker than others).

And then, out of nowhere, came controversy. New batter Subba slogged across the line. The ball skied upwards and scarcely forwards. James Sempill, bravely fielding at short leg, moved towards the ball. The non-striking batter ran towards him and impeded him. Someone else shouted something that sounded like ‘drop it’. The Secretary, cursed by knowing the Law on obstructing the field, fumed.

Meanwhile, at the Pub End, Hennell had trimmed his way to the end of a masterly eight over spell and was replaced by Peacock. At this point, PSCC history was made. Never before has someone had both of their first two balls for the club hit for six. It didn’t matter, though, as he quickly produced a toe-crusher of a ball to dismiss Subba. Next ball, the new batter was smartly run out by Adams when, after surviving his own LBW appeal, he inexplicably set off for a run and then slipped to his knees.

This left just enough time for one more display of Penn Street athleticism. The Secretary had spent at least fifteen minutes trying to persuade CMAC to replace him, an invitation which she very graciously declined, and so he was forced to bowl the final over of his eight. With the very last delivery the batter again scooped the ball high in the air. This time Sempill, who by now was stationed at short cover, made sure no-one stopped him getting to it and flung himself across the pitch to pluck a fabulous one-handed catch just before the ball hit the ground.

Having bowled Sky out for 151 it is fair to say that PSCC were confident. We are not going to say too much about what happened next. Sempill and Steve Smith started well against some nippy bowling, both using the pace on the ball to pick up easy boundaries. And then it all went a bit wrong. Sempill fell to a fine caught and bowled and Smith edged behind. Captain Cossins was castled by a low in-ducker. Jupp Jnr, distracted by a very chatty fielding side, wandered across his stumps and was LBW.

Enter Jupp Snr. Still walking a bit like a cartoon sailor (or possibly a man who’d just been hit in the plums by a cricket ball), he was a picture of determined defiance. Solid defensive shots were combined with elegant attacking ones and he began dragging Penn Street back into the game. He took 18 from one over, which at least meant that his now freezing teammates could keep their hands warm by applauding him.

The problem for PSCC was that you need two batters out there, and for a while no-one wanted to be. At 77-7 the prospect of defeat loomed large. Hennell then chugged his way out to the middle and provided excellent support, doggedly blocking and picking up quick runs when needed. For a while the PSCC supporters had hope. Sadly it was not to last. Pete fell to the third great catch of the day, a flying leap from Dhillon to grab the ball one-handed behind the stumps. Simon went trying to up the run rate in the penultimate over. And there was then just time for the Secretary, distracted by Dhillon’s admiring comments about his calves (yes, really) to play the final execrable shot of the day and secure defeat by 16 runs.

In all, it was a day when the weather got worse and the cricket got worse, but it all provided for an exciting game against tough but friendly opponents. Make a note in your diaries for the second game between the two this summer. It is on 31 May at 1pm. Let’s hope that the sun shines.

PSCC: James Sempill; Steve Smith; Rocco Jupp; Alistair Cossins (Captain), Pete Jupp, Tom Peacock, Dave Adams, Chris Lovewell; Simon Hennell, Caitlin Macken, Richard O’Hagan. Scorer: Cally Sutherland