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2011: Tales of Innocence and Experience

Hapless in Harpendon: slow start on a slow wicket

The desire for novelty led the Collective to abandon Oxford this year in favour of a short visit to Harpendon, where we circulated in leisurely fashion between an anonymous corporate hotel, some decent pubs, and the distinctly sluggish cricket pitch in the midst of Rothamsted Park.

The opening fixture proved chastening, as an alarmingly generous bowling attack contrived, with the aid of some decidedly creaky fielding, to hand Harpendon VIths a preposterous 266-6 in 37 all-action overs.  At least, we were able to reflect smugly, Harpendon skipper S Hewlett (for it was he) hadn't made a stack of runs, or we would never have heard the end of it.  We made a decent start in pursuit of this total, with sprightly opening pair Biggs and Harry putting on a brisk 64 before Peter fell for 26.  At this point fate, in the well-rounded shape of the home captain, stepped in.  In an all-too-brief five-over spell, Steve ambled in to send down his non-spinning spinners, and as an incredulous batting side watched through their fingers,  Phil, Jon (for a good 44), Dave, Joe and Chris found themselves taking the long walk back to the pavilion in quick succession.  With not the slightest hint of self-satisfaction, Steve then retired from the attack, leaving his support act to clean up the tail with us 104 runs short of parity.  Aside from the openers, the only batsman to reach double figures was Arthur Harry, who threw the bat for a quick 22, effortlessly cementing his place as RedBat's highest scoring Frenchman.

The next day we were back on the same ground to face the curiously named Manland Dads XI.  Led by serial captain Hewlett we batted first and made a decent 153-4 from 35 overs, with an undefeated 51 from Dave, well supported by Phil's 39.  In reply, Manland lost both openers cheaply, and the Collective had a tantalising glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.  As so often, this turned out to be (all together now) the light of an oncoming train, as the middle order first consolidated, and then took charge to knock off the runs for four wickets with time to spare.

Lincs - it's déjà vu all over again

With the unspoken hope that lightning might strike again, RedBat returned to the big skies of Lincolnshire for a third visit.  Sadly last year's victims Witham-on-the-Hill were unable to find a slot in their fixture list this year, and Pinchbeck CC stepped into the breach.  First things first though, and the Collective's latest visit to take on Tolethorpe at Little Casterton found Matt and Jon in good form in an opening partnership of 57.  Robin (23) and Peter (43) built on this good foundation, and ringer Guy Gasper made an unbeaten 15 before running out of partners with just one ball left of the 40 overs.  181 all out looked more than respectable, and we were able to take the field for the second innings with genuine hopes of victory.  When PoC broke the opening stand at 21 the balance might have tipped our way.  Sadly by the time Danny took the second wicket the score had moved on to 116 and we were looking down the barrel, and Tolethorpe duly completed a comfortable win by 6 wickets with four overs in hand.

Sunday found us in the altogether less picturesque surroundings of Spalding, taking on Pinchbeck CC at the Grammar School.  Before various Biggses took charge of matters, Jon and Lloyd compiled the third half-century opening stand of the season before both falling within minutes of each other.  From 58-2, Robin and Matt took the score to 106 before Robin was out, top scoring with 33.  Matt immediately followed, and we found ourselves on a slippery slope to 146 all out.  With the wicket offering the bowlers some help though, this wasn't a disaster.  The Pinchbeck openers started well, before losing their first wicket to an astonishing catch by Robin, who somehow clung on to a cleanly struck drive at silly mid off, from Peter's bowling.  The youngest Biggs now stepped up to the plate.  In a hugely impressive spell of controlled medium pace, Joe ripped through the middle order with 3-19 from 7 overs,  apparently putting RedBat firmly in control.  Pinchbeck's no 7, Langford, had other ideas though.  With wickets tumbling and overs running out, he moved onto the attack in a big way.  Hitting the ball with great power, finding gaps in the field, and occasionally riding his luck, he raced to a half-century and won the game with three balls to spare.  Your correspondent is still haunted by the memory of an inswinger which went between bat and pad before rising two inches above the leg bail.  To say nothing of an inside edge onto the pad, which refused to stay in the air long enough for anyone to get close enough to catch it.

Cirencester: RedBat join the Cotswolds set

Everything seemed to be going so well for tour organiser emeritus PoC.  Three fixtures and accommodation sorted months in advance, the whole tour happening on his doorstep, and plenty of opportunity for scouting trips into the Gloucestershire countryside to find a set of pubs to meet the exacting standards of the Collective.  Something had to give, and it turned out to be the opening fixture.  In lieu of a team to play against, Kempsford CC were kind enough to allow us the use of their very pleasant ground for an afternoon of internecine strife.  Remarkably, 27 years on,  eight members of the RBCC team which played against Wylam on 26 August 1984 were present.  The addition of Molly Muir, Jamie O'Connor and a valedictory Big Andy Lee made up the Wylam Survivors XI, to take on a generously-defined Youth XI.  The surly hoodie-wearing contingent batted first, and it was carnage.  Jon (44) and Mike R (22) made double figures, numbers 3 to 6 made 0 between them, and the total only staggered to 100 all out with the aid of 10 wides.  Bowling honours were shared between the Unplayable Molly Muir (3.2-0-10-2) and the Unstoppable Phil Jones (3-2-3-3), with two addle-brained runouts constituting contributory negligence, and one wicket falling to a big-boned chap who bowled leg breaks a bit like Dave Lloyd.

When the Survivors reply began, it became clear that he didn't bat like Dave Lloyd.  A quickfire 20 from 14 balls, including a huge six struck with withering power, got the innings off to a flying start, before the lookalike scythed a wide one miles up in the air to be caught by Jon at first slip, with opening partner Lloyd Peters still scoreless.  After this onslaught it was left to Lloyd and Phil to take their team to within a stone's throw of victory, and the Survivors XI ran out easy winners by four wickets.

Sunday found a nicely balanced RBCC XI dragging themselves unwillingly away from a very fine pub in Chalford to the rather bleak recreation ground at the highest point of the village to take on Chalford CC.  Good bowling from Billy (3-11) and Keith (3-32) kept the hosts in check, and with wickets also falling to Steve and Arthur Muir, Chalford ran out of steam for a gettable 146 all out in slightly less than thirty overs.

The chase started promisingly, as Matt, Jon and Phil all reached double figures, but nobody could put together the substantial partnership which we needed to take control of the match. Billy played well for his 18, but was left stranded as the second half of the batting order dissolved in the face of some steady bowling.

So the final day of the season saw us making a short journey to confront Birdlip and Brimpsfield CC at their very well-appointed ground with everyone having played themselves comprehensively out of form.  We fielded first, and Billy immediately made inroads into the batting, winning lbw appeals against both openers. Trouble arrived with the fall of the first wicket in the shape of Birdlip's no 3, Moore.  Looking assured as soon as he came to the crease, he was soon picking out gaps in the field with shots all round the wicket.  PoC chipped in with three good wickets to keep us holding on by our fingertips, but with runs flowing from Moore's bat the match was rapidly slipping away.  With all of the bowlers' figures suffering, skipper Harry handed the ball to George Miller.  As last throws of the dice go, this was a good one.  George took some stick, but from the final ball of his second over, Moore thrashed a short one low and very hard to midwicket.  A split second later, PoC was in a heap on the floor, the ball miraculously lodged in his hands.  A second wicket for George  and then one for Steve wrapped up the innings for 174 with four of the 35 overs still unused.  A testing target - we have only won chasing more than this twice - but not the hopeless task which looked on the cards minutes before.

With an end-of-season cold wind blowing across the ground, Matt and Steve went out after tea to get our innings under way.  Steve was soon out cheaply, bringing in Arthur to join Matt.  These two took the score up to 53 before Matt was caught, and then the RBCC Youth Policy really started to pay off, as Arthur and Billy calmly got on top of the bowling and added 52 for the third wicket.  When Arthur fell for 39, Jon and Dave stayed with Billy to take the score to 160-4 after 31 overs.  24 balls to score 15 sounded easy enough, but there was still time for one or two alarms, as Billy was dismissed for a fine half-century, before Chris and George came together to see us home, George scoring the winning boundary with five balls to spare.

Most of the touring party stayed on to enjoy the hosts' hospitality (and the well-stocked bar), and more or less decided to do it all again next year.

Stats and Stattobility

A few minor milestones this year, with a good deal to look forward to next season.

• Arthur Muir and Billy Lange-Hewlett both moved rapidly past the 100-run mark during 2011.
• PoC now needs just two wickets to become the founder member of the 400 club.  Furthermore, another 12 runs will take him to 1500.
• Dave Muir is just 68 runs away from 2000.
• Jon Harry's next visit to the crease will be his 100th innings for RedBat, and he needs 150 runs for the 2500.
• Keith needs to bat 3 times to reach his century of innings.
• An exceptional season's batting could get Peter the 198 runs he needs for 2500.
• In the exciting race for red ink, PoC failed to add to his 42 not-outs in 2011, so Phil Solomon still retains a share of first place.  Bruce is coming up on the rails with 39.
• Matt's golden arm has now brought him 42 wickets, with the half-century within reach.

The season by numbers

·         P 6, W 1, L 5

·         Highest total: 181 all out (RBCC v Tolethorpe)

·         Most runs: J Harry, 120

·         Highest innings: D Muir, 51 (RBCC v Manland Dads XI)

·         Most wickets: W Lange-Hewlett, 7

·         Best bowling: W Lange-Hewlett, 3-11 (RBCC v Chalford CC)

·         Best partnership: D Muir & P Jones, 79 (RBCC v Manland Dads XI)

·         Runs scored: 919 for 49 wickets

·         Runs conceded: 1072 for 39 wickets

·         2011 averages

·         Cumulative career averages

2011 fixture list