HALVERSTOWN: 106 (30 overs)
Des Drumm 33* S.Rix 25 Barry Ashmore 14 Ryan Hodson 5
K.Hodson 4-0-16-2 Jon Kirby 4-0-12-1 D.Drumm 3-0-15-1 Maruf 5-0-17-0
J.Browne 2-0-7-0 B.Ashmore 3.1-1-11-0 E.O'Connor 2-0-11-0 D.O'Ceallaigh 2-0-14-0
THEATRICAL CAVALIERS: 107 FOR 5 (25 overs)
M.Ford 40 Stott 14 M.O'Regan 10* R.O'Connor 8
Ralli 4-0-11-2 Coury 3-0-18-2 Faye 4-1-4-1 M.O'Regan 2-0-8-1
Delaney 3-0-14-1 Stott 2-0-5-0 Duggan 3-0-5-0 R.O'Connor 3-0-11-0
“Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies”, to quote from Proverbs 31. And just how virtuous can a woman be than to not only allow her husband to play cricket on their ruby wedding anniversary but to come along too. Jeanette also brought along a surprise celebratory cake for everyone to enjoy at the tea. What a way to celebrate our 40th- well done, Jeanette!
Having lost heavily to Cavaliers in recent years- and not fielding a team with strength in depth- we decided to bat first. Barry Ashmore opened steadily, though he lost partner Kevin Hodson fairly quickly. Steve Rix again demonstrated his keen eye with a quick-fire 25 that included 3 boundaries. New recruit Jon Kirby was looking comfortable until an optimistic call by Maruf saw him run out- a fate Maruf himself suffered shortly afterwards. Deaglan O'Ceallaigh was run out by me not long later as our wickets tumbled with frightening rapidity. I managed to bat through the slaughter of the innocents for an unspectacular, but necessary, 33 not out, ably assisted for quite some time by Ryan Hodson. To quote the Cavaliers Blogspot:
“Des' last partner was the 12 year old son of one of their regulars Kevin. Ryan was making his debut and helped his team past the 100 mark, well done that boy.”
Actually not quite his debut: Ryan partnered me at the close of two other innings', batting bravely under pressure. Some firm umpiring by Dad Kevin, who quite rightly turned down stumping appeals by Trevor White (from the opposite end!) helped a little too!
Cavaliers bowled well with Ralli the pick of a uniformly good bunch and Faye's 1 for 4 off 4 overs also impressive. Halverstown's bowling took up where our batting left off and Cavalier's 107 included a quite extraordinary 33 extras, mostly wides though with a fair number of no-balls thrown in. Defeat was not a surprise in the circumstances, though the fact that it took them 25 overs possibly was and that, bar Michael Ford's nicely judged 40 (possibly in tribute to the occasion, though a “not out” would have been a nice touch!), their batsmen also struggled to get into double figures.
Several bowlers did well, with Kevin taking 2 wickets, Maruf bowling economically (and took a good catch from my bowling- thank you Maruf!) with John Browne (until his injury) and Jon Kirby looking very tidy. If you didn't notice, Cavaliers reversed their normal batting order, a nice sporting touch and a wise decision which left Trevor White, normally a cert for a century against us, wandering the outfield disconsolately. As it says in the Book of Job: “No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies”.
At the end of a fun and sporting encounter Jeanette and I slipped away to Pickle in Dublin for what is known in cockney rhyming slang as a “Ruby Murray”*. Thanks to everyone for making it a very special day and also for turning out over the season - and do start practising for next season now!
* A curry to everyone else