Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

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Whitchurch v Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Sunday XI on Sun 01 Sep 2013 at 1:00
Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Lost by 2 wickets

Match report Sunday Crows Fairytale Fightback Cursed by the appearance of the Evil Whitchurch troll.



The Sunday Crows faced a trip over the County Borders from Berkshire to Oxfordshire to re-new acquaintances with the overtly friendly folk of Whitchurch.

Passports were packed and tales of the last visit to these parts had been exchanged and a slightly hungover cavalcade rolled towards the parish of Whitchurch-on-Thames. They crossed the rickety bridge and paid the t(r)oll. Unharmed, they entered the village , Oxfordshire's very own twilight zone, many of them still sounding a little gruff from the championship celebrations the night before.

The start was delayed as a plague of pixies was cleared from the pitch, but the game eventually started with Crows losing the toss and batting first. The pitch looked “grassy” and despite the heavy roller being applied, looked like a bit of a minefield. A severely hungover left-armer was telling anyone who would listen to his impressive bowling performance on his previous visit to the ground.

The Avrili twins (s)trolled to the crease, neither were outwardly showing the ill-effects of the previous night’s excesses. W. Avrili aka the “Yateley Pint-downer” was in good nick, hitting a flurry of fours, whilst A. Avrili was just happy to get off the dreaded duck with a classic off-drive.

When A. Avrili’s innings was ended abruptly, cross-batting one to square leg after a string of play and misses trying to play straight, Dave Shaw entered the fray. Shaw and W Avrili set about the bowling and added 82 for the 2nd wicket before Shaw perished agonisingly short of a deserved half-century.

W Avrili was out for 55 and this sparked a mini-collapse as Ingram registered a big fat duck and more surprisingly perhaps, Ant Cluett followed suit by propelling himself to the top echelon of the Duck Leaderboard with his 3rd of the season.

Skipper Hester and Partridge steadied the ship for a few overs before the woefully out-of-form Partridge suffered from over confidence and hangover in equal measure and tried to repeat his feat of hitting the spinner for 6 with an attempt to do the same to Hill, the quicker bowler and promptly lost his middle pole.

Hester dug in and found a useful ally in Luke Jouanides whose batting has encountered something of an renaissance/awakening after years of oppression and enstiflement [a new word for the dictionary] in the lower reaches of the 1st XI batting order. The Duke lost his skipper but was joined by the parochial figure of MacKenzie who had one eye on the imminent tea and accompanying serving MILFS. The Frenz came and went without a lot of fanfare except the fielders fondly remembering his Umpiring display from last year.

The Crows ended up with 196 all out with a couple of overs unused. A mediogre score having passed the 100 mark in about 12 overs but by now the near-famished revellers were really feeling the effects of the exuberance the night before and had formed an almost orderly queue for the Impromptu Al Fresco Feast!

A. Cluett quickly secured more crisps than runs for the day and the rest of the team made light work of the spread on offer. Murmurings of Mini-Kiev’s disguised as Savoury eggs transcended around the huddle as MacKenzie filled an oversized plate (had he bought this from home??) After a couple of helpings of the medieval banquet standard feast ,the Crows somewhat reluctantly took the field in an attempt to defend their total.

New Ball duties were entrusted to the ever reliable Monty from the Pavilion End and a slightly leftfield choice of MacKenzie from the Woods/Rolling Hills End. Miller probed away in usual fashion, swinging both ways. Whilst MacKenzie bowled some tempting flighted deliveries that bore fruit in the shape of a gloved catch down the legside to the almost comatose skipper who snaffled a difficult chance.

The new ball experiment of B-Mac soon revealed it’s horrible fragility as his 4th over offered up a series of legside full tosses that the Whitchurch batsmen decided to despatch into the Gymkhana arena in the adjoining field. MacKenzie was replaced by a fired up A-Clu, still smarting for his duck earlier in the day. Long gone was his cunning off-spin. Cluett turned up the tension a notch or two with a spell of quick bowling that stung the hands of the skipper as each delivery whistled through to thud into the gloves.


With the game seemingly running away from Crowthorne, the wily Ingram was bought into the action to bring a hint of decorum to the proceedings. His first over yielded the scalp of the aptly named Deadfield, who was undone by a ball that just didn’t bounce and bowled. Skipper Shanahan steadied the ship for a wobbling Whitchurch with a well-crafted 50 before he was dismissed by a world class slip catch by that man Ingram who was rightly mobbed by his teammates.

At this point , the actual play on the pitch had begun to be distracted by the appearance of a mythical figure who emerged from his woodland home in the woods. “The Whitchurch Troll” or “The Troll” call him what you will, was about to take over everyone’s interest. The Troll was inspecting the netting on the goalposts of the adjoining football pitch – to the growing amusement of the players.



With a modest total left to chase Whitchurch were still favourites with all the bookmakers at this point. The in-play markets would still be heavily skewed in favour of a home win.

Hester had 2 more aces up his sleeve at this point though. Slow bowling pairing of Partridge and A. Avrili were the only trick left in the book for the Crows. Partridge got the ball rolling by getting the opener to whack the ball a million miles into the air and Hester ran a full 10 yards to take the catch. This tipped the contest in the favour of the visitors. Ant Cluett then joined the party with a superb run-out to firmly tip the balance in the Crows favour.

TROLL-WATCH Mackenzie decided to get a closer look at the Troll and started fielding a mere few feet away from The Troll. Skipper Hester decided to move him even closer as teammates and opponents alike began sniggering uncontrollably.

With the tail enders rapidly padding up and some even having to get their kit from the car having assumed the contest was long since over., Crows sniffed victory. Avrili cleaned up Williams Jnr after seeing Mackenzie spill the easiest catch in the entire history of Cricket to leave Whitchurch 7 down and in major panic mode.

TROLL-WATCH – by this time The Troll was sat on the ride on lawn-mower by the pavilion. Minding his own business in fairness.

Partridge continued to ply his trade from the Car Park End and removed left handed Leech with a ball that turned back through the gate to take the off stump. A mixture of Crows players pumped up with hangovers and a desire to win and the hilarity caused by the Troll meant the climax was a gripping as it could be. Batsmen 9 and 10 weren’t to be shifted easily though and the Crows were crowding the bat looking for a chance or half-chance to grab the last 2 wickets.

TROLL-WATCH – The Troll had magically disappeared by this point. Probably slipped off into the darkening night, back to the simple surroundings of his woodland abode.

No more wickets were to fall as Avrili and Partridge were unable to claim the final 2 wickets and Whitchurch crept home with a couple of overs to spare.

With some trepidation (based on the last visit and the appearance of the Troll), the Crows accepted their hosts offer of a trip to the pub where tales of the day’s events were told and retold until the early autumn evening closed in and cold weather forced everyone to call it a day.

It had been a bizarre day with a mix of hangvoers, fine alfresco dining, awful dropped catches and the appearance of an absurdly funny wretch of a man/troll that will cause fits of giggles for years to come.






Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Sunday XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 9w 12b 3lb 
for 10 wickets
25
196		        
Will Avrili ct wk b Hill 55 13
Ant Avrili ct sq leg b Shanahan 9 2
David Shaw b Leason 45 10
Colin Ingram ct ? b Hill 0 1
Richard Hester b Williams 10 1 2
Anthony Cluett b Leason 0 1
Tom Huelin ct ? b Leason 2
Dan Partridge b Hill 16 1 1
Luke Jouanides ct ? b Chapman 27 5
Brendon MacKenzie ct & b Leech 6 1
Marshall Miller Not Out  2

Whitchurch Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shanahan8.0146146.005.75
Mutepha6.014800.008.00
Hill8.022538.333.12
Leason4.02933.002.25
Williams6.0024124.004.00
Leech0.0030130.000.00
Chapman1.20313.002.25

Whitchurch Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 7w 4b 2lb 
for 8 wickets
16
198 (35.5 overs)		     
Neeson ct R Hester b B Mackenzie 11
Mutepha ct R Hester b D Partridge 69
Hill b M Miller 39
Deadfield b C Ingram 0
Shanahan ct C Ingram b L Jouanides 53
Chapman run out A Cluett 1
Williams b A Avrili 0
Leech b D Partridge 1
Steward Not Out  8
Chaudhary Not Out  2
Chapman  

Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Sunday XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Marshall Miller8.0149149.006.12
Brendon MacKenzie4.0129129.007.25
Anthony Cluett6.003500.005.83
Colin Ingram5.0034134.006.80
Luke Jouanides4.0025125.006.25
Dan Partridge5.00723.501.40
Ant Avrili3.5119119.004.96
 
Photos and video of Whitchurch v Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club Crowthorne Sunday XI on Sun 01 Sep 2013 at 1:00

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Sunday Team 2013