Penn Street vs Jordans Taverners

Penn Street CC 169-9 (J Knox 50) beat Jordans Taverners CC 168-9 (T McIntire 66; J Fryer 3-20) by one wicket.

PSCC arrived at Coleshill, the home of long-time adversaries Jordans Taverners, on the back of a seven-game unbeaten run. Only two things would stand between them and extending that to a full eight games. One was the weather, which threatened to be wetter than the Harry Styles Fan Club. The other, more significant, one was that someone had inexplicably left the Club Secretary in charge.

Jordans are always curiously keen for us to play with their pink balls and indeed this year were promising that they would stay harder and shinier for longer. The pink balls greatly annoy the Secretary, partly because he is a very traditional kind of cricket tragic but largely because he can’t see them as he’s only slightly less colour blind than the average dog. Nonetheless, he started the day well by winning the toss and, having surveyed the team’s batting depth, deciding to bowl first.

This turned out to be a surprisingly good decision. Jamie Fryer and Charlie Partridge bowled really well with the new pink ball and were backed up by some excellent fielding. It helped that one of the Jordans openers only seemed able to play the cut shot. That resulted in the captain setting a Stokesian field of gully, point, backward point and cover point – and the batter obligingly holed out to a leaping Jeremy Knox at backward point.

That brought together Jordans’ two best batters. Ashley Turney in particular has done some nasty things to PSCC bowling figures in the past, but Matt Hewlett winkled him out with a slower ball that took so long to reach him, he had probably dozed off. Chris Russell poached a fine catch tumbling forward.

The PSCC fielding was in fact excellent throughout the innings. Vish Goundar came on to see if the pitch would take spin. It didn’t, but he was rewarded with the wicket of the Jordans number four when Archie White took an amazing one-handed catch at full stretch on the boundary. Goundar then induced an edge behind from number five, who sportingly walked before the umpire could make the wrong decision. Ben Hobbs then produced a bullet throw from mid-off to run out the opposing captain. Could it get any better? Yes, it could.

Jordans’ balls were not staying hard for as long as they predicted. Their number three batter had made a very good 66 when he attempted to play a short ball from Fryer that didn’t bounce as much as he expected, gloving it to Russell for his third catch. Fryer then persuaded a reluctant umpire to give him an LBW decision. Partridge returned and finally got some reward for some excellent bowling to remove the number eight.

At this point things started to get a little dicey. The ninth wicket pair seemed to have luck on their side, with edges tending to fall either short of the fielder, run to the boundary, or both. They were helped by the captain, who at one point set two short covers (including himself) for one batter, then forgot who was on strike and saw the ball land exactly where he should’ve been standing. On another occasion he moved a slip and saw the same thing happen next ball. It was as if there was a spot somewhere in his head that wanted the winning streak to end. The pair dragged the score up to 168 before Partridge pulled off a run-out in the last over.

After a tea which featured some unidentifiable sandwiches but some excellent stilton it was time for PSCC to begin the chase. Throwing his cards straight onto the table the captain decided to open with Russell and Goundar. Russell played out a maiden. Goundar treated the pink ball with the contempt it deserved and hammered it into the next field. Unfortunately it was found and in the next over Russell edged it to the keeper.

Ajith Pillai entered at number three and sensibly played a defensive role as Goundar hit the ball to all corners and one of the opening bowlers out of the attack. Unfortunately, though, he then edged a very good ball and that man Turney took a fine catch at slip.

That left PSCC at 46-2 with both openers gone. The score quickly became 52-4 as Pillai and Hobbs both played around straight deliveries. Kiri Velau, on his PSCC debut, must’ve wondered what kind of club he had joined. He and Hewlett attempted to repair the damage but both departed slightly unluckily, one chopping onto his own stumps and one getting a leading edge that was caught at gully.

By this time the rain had started in earnest, and indeed in Coleshill. Towels were being used to dry the ball with practically every delivery. As the captain said, though, it is very hard to suggest that the game is called off when you’re 84-6 and sliding towards ignominy. Jordans certainly seemed willing to carry on.

Both sides had reckoned without Knox and White. Before the game one had a top score this season of 9, the other a top score of 7. There was no reason for anyone to suspect that they would combine for a half century partnership that would turn the game PSCC’s way.

Both were, in their own ways, magnificent. Knox, as ever, the aggressor. He might not know a defensive shot if he fell over it, but he not only managed to hit some runs along the ground, he dumped the ball into the fields with pleasing regularity. Long before he departed having made his maiden PSCC 50 (off just 30 deliveries) Jordans were complaining that their pink ball was too soggy to play with.

White, meanwhile, had been a study in calmness and concentration. He may only have contributed five by this point, but he also never looked like getting out. When Partridge joined him there were still 35 runs to get and the pair put on 28 of those in an eighth wicket partnership that, again, seemed totally at ease and which was taking PSCC to a surprisingly easy win when Partridge became the latest to edge the ball onto his own stumps. When Fryer somehow did the same three balls later it was definitely time to panic.

Cometh the hour, though, cometh the man. Not the Secretary, though. Batting at 11 after injuring a finger fielding and thus rendering himself even less able to hold a bat than usual, he failed to lay said bat on any of the three balls he faced. Fortunately none of them went anywhere near the stumps. No, it was White’s turn to play the hero as he and that other PSCC stalwart, Extras, chipped away at the deficit with only one scare when he almost ran out his captain. Fittingly, a wide saw PSCC home to the narrowest of victories.

Great bowling, tremendous fielding, resilient and at times breathtaking batting. Was there room for anything else in this game? Well, yes there was. For anyone who saw it, the sight of Ben Hobbs twice climbing over an unlocked gate rather than walk through it will live in the memory for a very long time indeed.

PSCC: Chris Russell (wk), Vishal Goundar, Ajith Pillai, Ben Hobbs, Matt Hewlett, Kiri Velau, Jeremy Knox, Archie White, Charlie Partridge, Jamie Fryer, Richard O’Hagan (c)