Played

Chris Territt⁺, Chris Berry, Ollie Bartlett, Rich Cresswell⁺, Damien Kelly, Nick Hughes, Andrew 'Bod' Evans, Paul Rushforth, Adrian Lightly*, Mark Summers, Ian Rushforth,

Report

by Adrian Lightly

So finally, after two rained-off fixtures in two years, Gentleman's Relish made it out to the delightful village of Burnham, near Slough (but only geographically) to take on the might and experience of the BBC Mishits. With some extremely last-minute amendments to the team sheet (hello, Mr Leitch!) we managed to juggle the transport around and everyone arrived to a sunny and picturesque village cricket pitch in fine spirits, looking forward to taking on another new opponent.

As the opposition drifted in, there was a definite sense that they had the march on us in terms of years and although we apparently had youth on our side, there were a number of Saturday night hangovers which probably evened things out. Still, having won the toss, we put them in (still the GRACC way, for the moment) and set about seeing what we could do with the ball.

Nick and Chris B opened up the bowling and it was soon clear that the pitch was not going to offer much. Anything even slightly short of a length sat up and said "whack me!" and so they did. Full and 'slingy' was the order of the day and whilst their openers were duly respectful of anything around middle & off, there wasn't enough of it to stop them cantering to well over 50 without loss. A tiring Hughes was replaced by Damien who kept it tight and was rewarded with the wicket of their opener #1 for 18, bowled trying to nip one to the leg side. However, their other opener was well set by now and a characteristically elegant stroke brought up his half century. Their left-handed #3 came in and despite a fairly quick 20, he never looked comfortable, departing to one that kept a little low from the skipper and hammered into middle & leg about two inches off the ground.

This may also be the moment to mention the over in which two edges went straight through the slips for four as well as the dropped skied catch and beating the edge of their centurion twice, but that might appear somewhat self-absorbed, so I probably shouldn't. Oh.

Anyway, rotating the bowling as ever, Rich and Paul had a go, but both batsmen had their eye in by now and punished anything vaguely loose with a succession of lofted fours (and the odd huge six into the trees). Chances did come but our catching was, to be brutally honest, woeful and opener #2 quickly moved on to his century, eventually perishing for 125 when he went chasing one from Paul that turned on him, giving Rich (standing in for Chris, standing in for Jason) a rare chance behind the stumps which he clung onto rather well, if truth be told.

The beefy South African #4 at the other end was also making hay and rapidly waltzed past 50 before he too fell to a good catch on 76, Paul clinging on at short extra cover to a firmly struck drive off the bowling of Chris T. There was still time for a few more dropped catches and a bit of comedy running between the wickets before the innings came to a close, the Mishits amassing a very impressive 286 for 4 from their 40 overs.

After a jolly nice tea and a bit of debate about England's declaration in the First Test, it was back to the job in hand and in an astute tactical move, the left-hand/right-hand pairing of Chris T (7) and Chris B (10) went in to open the GRACC account. The opposition bowling was certainly not as assured as their batting and although we lost the opening pair fairly early, Ollie (19) and Rich (39) got their heads down and a stand of nearly 60 took us up into the 80s, before they both fell in consecutive overs.

This brought Damien to the crease in a determined mood and after some early watchfulness, he was soon into his swing with some mighty blows over the infield, although the astoundingly large boundaries meant a lot of run 3s (never advisable after tea & cake). Hughes stuck around before chipping one to a very entertaining chap called Henry at mid-on, Bod joined the Primary Club (*applause*) and Paul flashed the bat a few times before missing a straight one and losing his bails. In came the skipper, but by now we were well behind the run-rate and needed 10 an over off the last 17. Still, he and Damien added a further 36 off just 5 overs before the mini scotch eggs took their toll and Damien was run out for 43 after a smart piece of work by the bowler.

At this stage, we were up past 150 but with 137 more required to win, it was always going to be a big ask. Still, all we could do was keep pushing it into the gaps and running hard and although Adrian tamely holed out to long on for 13, we still had our secret weapons - Ian and Mark. With the natural understanding that comes from being flatmates as well as the element of surprise (they didn't even know they were playing until 20 minutes before Katie picked them up) they just needed to score 2 off every ball of the last 11 overs for a resounding victory.

Easy.

Alas, the gods of fate were not smiling upon us and Ian was comprehensively castled, bringing the innings to an abrupt end with the Relishers some way short on 157 all out off 29.1 overs. Still, a lovely day's cricket in a very scenic part of the country and hopefully we will have the chance for a return match down in our neck of the woods in 2009. Huge thanks to the BBC Mishits for making us so welcome and the well-earned jugs of beer in the sunshine afterwards; hope to see them at our place next year.

Result

BBC Mishits: 286 for 4 (40.0 overs)

GRACC: 157 all out (29.1 overs)

BBC Mishits won by 129 runs

Man of the match: Damien's 1-17 off 5 overs (in the face of some very accomplished batting) along with the top score of 43 in our innings means he clinches it this week (but a Highly Commended to Rich for his 39 runs and tidy catch behind the stumps)

Champagne Moment: Paul's catch - it was hit like a bullet and he took it somewhere near his right ear, possibly with his eyes shut :)

Comedy Moment: Sorry Bod, golden ducks take the cake every time *quack*