Penn Street vs Winchmore Hill

Penn Street CC 147-3 (J. Tollerfield 51*, J. Sempill 46*) beat Winchmore Hill cc 145 (H. Balakrishnan 66: D. Jones 5-36) by 7 wickets

After the travails of the previous Sunday Penn Street faced local rivals Winchmore Hill in what could have been a tense battle for the Keith Herriott Memorial Trophy. In fact, PSCC showed that they had learned some lessons from the defeat seven days previously (not all of them, mind) and turned in a largely competent performance that in the end led to an easy victory.

It didn’t start out that way, though. After their success with the new ball last week it was no surprise that Captain James Sempill turned to Vishal Goundar and Jamie Fryer to open the bowling. That he did so from the opposite ends to the ones they bowled at previously was, though.

In truth, the switch (which neither bowler objected to) ought to have worked. Goundar in particular drew several edges and mishits, one of which caused such a deviation that Sam Martin behind the stumps was completely wrongfooted and others which shot agonisingly wide of the waiting fielders. Both bowled extremely well against a very good Winchmore Hill opening partnership and Fryer should have had the wicket of Balakrishnan when a looping chance went down off the shoulder of the bat.

Unfortunately for Fryer, that chance looped in the direction of the Secretary at gully, but well short of him. The Secretary essayed a dive which was less ‘leaping salmon’ and much more ‘tripping panda’, and despite being possessed of excessive height and reach (and girth) somehow failed to catch the ball whilst at the same time landing on his own elbow and damaging his ribs.

Fortunately, the incident had little effect upon the game. The openers gamely saw off the bowling and Balakrishnan brought up a half century at more than a run a ball. Desperately needing a breakthrough, Captain Sempill called upon the Wily Welshman, Dave Jones, and was almost immediately rewarded as Balakrishnan chipped the ball back and Jones took an excellent return catch on his knees.

At the Wood End, Chris ‘Stiffler’ Russell, relieved of both captaincy and wicketkeeping duties, was given a rare bowl and turned in an excellent spell of quick bowling that saw his eight overs go for just 11 runs. He induced a skied shot from the WHCC number three and Josh Tollerfield took a great catch running towards the boundary with the ball dropping over his shoulder.

It is hard to know who to credit the next wicket to. Officially, it goes down to the bowler, Jones. In truth Goundar goaded the opposition skipper into sending a catch into his hands at mid-off.

By this point WHCC were in the midst of something of a collapse and their humour was not improved by an unfortunate incident when Martin appealed for a catch that absolutely nobody else heard. When the umpire understandably didn’t give him out, the remaining opener got the impression that his honesty (and possibly parentage) were being called into question. He was still seething at drinks and this probably contributed to him clubbing the ball into Tollerfield’s hands shortly after.

Another wicket ought to have followed shortly after. This time the batter really did edge behind, but the umpire could not tell, even after consultation with his colleague, whether the noise was bat or pad. It made no difference as, next ball, the batter miscued a swipe to leg, the ball shot straight up in the air and Martin, after a short display of his juggling skills, held the catch.

Two more wickets fell in quick succession. Martin took a regulation catch off Russell, the batter kindly deciding not to wait for the umpire to make a decision, and then Tollerfield jumped to take a one handed catch and give Jones his fifth wicket.

Winchmore Hill then did the best thing that you can do to halt a batting collapse. They dug in until the Secretary came on to bowl. It was a brave decision by Captain Sempill as the Secretary’s rib injury meant that the usual delivery of pies was even slower than usual. So much so that his first ball was hit for four by a batter who apparently had never scored a run in organised cricket before, let alone a boundary. This lack of experience was exposed when he wandered past a rare straight ball and Martin completed one of the most leisurely stumpings ever seen at Penn Street.

Two overs of such filth allowed Simon O’Neill to biff the WHCC total up to something respectable before, after a session of doing more nibbling than a bulimic rabbit, Tollerfield was allowed an over and promptly took the ninth wicket. With plenty of overs to go and only one wicket to take the Secretary then made a comeback and had O’Neill well caught by Jones for an undeserved second wicket and to wrap the Winchmore Hill innings up at 145.

After an extended tea break Captain Sempill went out to open with Ben Marlow, who had had such a quiet day in the field that we’ve not mentioned him so far. The pair looked largely untroubled and made sedate progress towards the target, so much so that it was a surprise when Marlow suddenly got out for 18. President Matt Reavey decided to try to up the tempo a little and played a couple of sumptuous shots before falling victim to the opposing captain’s quicker ball, leaving Penn Street two down with eighty to get.

Ed Hulme made a point of saying that he was going to be cautious and make sure he stayed in his ground during his innings, which partly explains why he took 14 balls to make two but not how he came to be dropped at least once in doing so before departing to a fine running catch on the mid-wicket boundary.

Tollerfield then came to the crease, still nibbling like Bugs Bunny on speed. Less than half an hour later the game was over. With Captain Sempill composed and serene at one end, Tollerfield blasted six fours and three sixes as he beat his captain to a half century and see Penn Street home. If he hadn’t wasted so many balls trying to play a reverse sweep we might all have been in the pub sooner, but who really cares when it leads to you winning a trophy?

PSCC: James Sempill (fruit captain), Ben Marlow, Matt Reavey, Ed Hulme, Josh ‘Nibbles’ Tollerfield, Vishal Goundar, Chris ‘Stiffler’ Russell, Dave ‘Hywel’ Jones, Sam Martin (wk), Jamie Fryer, Richard O’Hagan.