On another gloriously hot summer afternoon, Grace's drove to Caterham, an idyllic little town just south of Croydon off the A22, but more easily found just north of the M25. Caterham Rugby Club had formed their own cricket team to keep in shape during the lazy summer months, and they appeared to take the game in a fun and light-hearted way, supplying lots of beers and alcoholic beverages to keep their players tuned in.
Grace's won the toss and elected to bat. Ali and Camberwell opened the batting and started with 7 off the first over. On a peculiar dry pitch, the ball seemed to lift substantially only off a particular ridge outside the off stump (so we were told). Ali played defensively in the second over, only to smack the fifth ball to point to find an agile fielder, Rayment. OUT! Mendis came to the crease and played like his usual self, anything short and outside the off stump was sliced away through gully or point for 4 runs, anything short on the leg stump was hit for a single to a well protected leg-side field. Runs flowed at over five an over, and Grace's moved to 55 in the tenth over. With the score on 72, Mendis sliced the ball to point, to be caught by Rayment again, out for 38 impressive runs. Enter Sopp, who sensibly played himself in, bringing the field in to save one and then he hit over the top for four. Sopp finally reached 12 quick-fire runs, bringing the Grace's hundred up in the 18th over before being caught at point again by that annoying fielder Rayment again.
Averaging 87 so far this season, with few opportunities to bat, Shofiq showed his immediate class by dispatching anything too short or loose to the leg-side boundary, scoring 38 runs with 6 fours and a huge six. In eight overs, Shofiq and Camberwell put on 74 runs, with Camberwell bringing up his fifty in the 21st over. Shofiq was finally bowled after missing a full toss (close to a no-ball, but dipping at the last minute). Grace's throttled back to 6 runs an over with Pullens hitting a career-best 28 not out and sharing a partnership of 49 with Camberwell, who struggled to hit anything bowled down the leg side (but not given a wide). Camberwell finally fell to the fourth ball of the last over, advancing three feet down the pitch only to be given out LBW by Mendis who judged the ball "might" have hit leg stump (most unfair decision... guess who is writing this article!). Grace's scored an impressive 223-4 from 35 overs, a good score, which might have reached 250 if a few bigger shots could have been played in the final 5 overs.
Tea was served on the outskirts of the field, with a golden labrador sniffing around the coronation chicken sandwiches. Whilst the opposition tanked themselves up on beer and beverages, Grace's were left a little dry without liquid refreshments. Grace's opened the bowling with Quartermain and Fawaz, both short of match practice, but Quatermain at least making the batsmen play some loose shots just outside the off stump, and taking the first wicket with some impressive bowling. Fawaz on the other hand bowled fast and short without too much varierty, allowing the Caterham batsman Rayment (AGAIN) to smack anything loose to the boundary, bringing up his fifty in the eighth over and the team's 100 in the 12th over. In the field,on a fast wicket, the ball seemed to find the boundary without too much effort.
With the score on 116, Grace's replaced the opening bowlers with Shofiq and Bielby to bring about an immediate breakthrough, Shofiq cleaning up the middle order without too much trouble. Rayment (67) was bowled convincingly by Shofiq who went on to take 4 wickets for an impressive 13 runs. Bielby chipped in with his tight economical bowling to bring a further 2 wickets, and Caterham were now reduced to 152-8. At this point, Grace's might be forgiven for thinking that Caterham were now dead in the water, requiring 7.5 an over from the final 11 overs with two wickets left. The game looked posed for an exciting finish, and with Wingrove and Bielby bowling at the death, the game was balanced. An attacking spirit and a never-say-die attitude were on show from the two Caterham batsmen, who plundered anything loose or short and took 16 runs from Bielby's last over, before Shofiq was brought back on (perhaps a little too late), inducing a run out. With the score now on on 221-9, anything could happen and it did. Caterham won with one over to spare to claim a remarkable victory, with the Number 10 in the Caterham side (P Woods) scoring 41 supremely confident attacking runs at the death to claim his man-of-the-match award, where the opposition choose three people to share and down-in-one three tankards of ale (Camberwell being the chosen Grace's man of the match).
Caterham were cock-a-hoop; Grace's were defeated giving cause for a short and brief reflection. It was not the end of the world, but we could have bowled and fielded much better. Caterham deserved their victory, and an opportunity to play them next year was endorsed all round. Bielby lost his first game of the season, and the first team have now lost two games (Swinburne losing the other against the Foreign & Commonwealth office). Next week we play East Preston and a chance for revenge since they beat us last year.