THEATRICAL CAVALIERS: 117 for 6
Batting: L.Duffy 23* M.Ralli 21* J.Delaney 19 M.Ford 13
Bowling: Coury 2-0-5-2 E.Furey 2-1-6-1 Ralli 2-0-13-0 Duggan 2-0-10-1
Mc Guinness 2-0-14-1 R.Swift 2-0-3-0 Cowley 2-0-5-0 R.O’Connor 2-0-6-0
HALVERSTOWN OAKS: 89
Batting: S.Gray 20* R.Green 14* M.Case 14* D.Drumm 10*
Bowling: D.McConaghy 2-0-15-2 D.Drumm 2-0-7-1 S.Gray 2-0-7-1 T.Gayle 2-0-13-1
A.Barber 2-0-5-0 M.Case 2-0-11-0 N.O’Reilly 2-0-12-0 J.Kirby 2-0-14-0
R.Green 2-0-15-0 G.O’Shea 2-0-18-0
Only a couple of days past Midsummer but so cool, grey and gloomy -and ultimately wet -was the evening that it was more “A Winter’s Tale” than “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. We had hoped to recapture the Des and Jeanette Drumm “Anniversary Trophy”, so dramatically lost by 1 run in 2019, but “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was”; more nightmare by the end indeed.
I am sure we would have won the toss and would have elected to bat. But with the Cavaliers arriving late we dreamed that they won it and they batted. With Matt Ralli and Duffy retiring on over 20 they were off to a good start. A run out thanks to good work by Ger O’Shea and Andrew Williamson behind the stumps saw Gillespie run out (“So quick bright things come to confusion”)- the only wicket to fall by the half way mark, by which time Cavaliers had scored 60. It was the 14th over before any more fell, when David McConaghy struck twice, one a good catch by Terry Gayle, the other a smart caught-bowled. Cavaliers kept up the run a ball rate consistently overall. Terry got his first wicket for the club and Andrew showed his prowess behind the stumps with a neat catch off Stephen Gray and a stumping off my bowling. It was a good performance by Oaks in the field and some notably tight bowling from Stephen, myself and Andy Barber and steady stuff from Mark Case, Niall O’Reilly and the injured Terry- but David’s brace made for a memorable evening for him. Richard Green turned his arm for the first time in many years to decent effect too.
118 to win should not have been beyond us we thought, “To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end”. And so it was. Stephen hit an excellent 20* but our run rate was desperately slow and became “the most lamentable comedy”. After 10 overs we had just 43 on the board and it took us until 14 overs to pass out their 60. A spurt at the end by myself, Andrew and especially Mark put a gloss on it but we were never in the running to beat a solid Cavaliers team which batted decently and bowled exceptionally well to hold us to 89. We conceded 21 extras to their 7, which tells its own story. Pretty well every Cavs player bowled tightly but the pick were Simon Coury (2 for 5), Eric Furey (1 for 6), a fine spell by Ronan Swift conceding just 3 as well as Cowley’s 5 and O’Connor’s 6. I could have listed every Cavaliers bowler. Their Man of the match was Matt Ralli who scored 21*, bowled tidily and took a very good catch. Cavaliers gave Man of the match award to Mark, whose bowling skills are shaping up to be every bit as good as his father’s. The ending was wet and “The fold stands empty in the drowned field” and in deep gloom. The trophy lost, it was more “A sad tale’s best for winter” than a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Written by Des Drumm.