Exning - 10 men went to mow a meadow

Next up for the Dons 1st XI in 2000 was a first ever trip to Exning in a bid to preserve their unbeaten start to the season. We were 3 out of 3 but had to make 4 changes to the team that had won at Sudbury. In came Damian Westwood, Steven Rudd, Tom Hawkridge and Neal Harrington in place of Rob Barber, David Randall, Keith Bannister and James Ellis. However by 12:45 and with several calls to his mobile going unanswered it became obvious that Damian Westwood has chosen not to travel with us. He was never selected to play for us again. It was a sad end as he was a decent keeper and an explosive batsman who we all would have enjoyed seeing destroy opposition attacks. Our options were, to play with 10 or pull in an injured Rob Barber or maybe even to persuade scorer Andy Elliott to pull on some whites. We took a view that Spaggs was our best option but that he would bat at 11, probably for the only time in his career, and would be hidden on the boundary to protect his bruised digit. His bit-part role away from the action meant that I would still take on the captaincy and for the first time this season we won the toss, talk about a coincidence! We elected to bat first on the basis that we had been told it was a good track. We knew this was going to be a tough encounter as Exning had been Division One champions in 1999 (but chose not to apply to the EAPL) and had begun their defence with some solid results. Dubbers was the new opening partner for Elmo but the pair were separated after only 7 overs when the former was adjudged (a word meaning, we disagreed) lbw for 14. It was to be his lowest score of a very productive season. Rubber joined Elmo after a promotion from the lower middle order. I always thought of Rubber as a talented sportsman but it’s hard to put a label on his batting. He was a tall left hander (once a bowler stopped in his delivery stride to exclaim “this bloke looks enormous at the crease”) with lots of patience, like his father, and a long stride that helped his stroke play as well as his running. On the flip side he seemed to struggle against the short ball and also had a unique ability to play and miss, often missing by some margin. These two took the score to 91 before Elmo was dismissed by the leg spin of Russell Catley for an aggressive 47 which included 5 fours and 2 sixes. He was rightly annoyed to get out though as it was only the 21st over and a chance for big ton had gone begging. It was also a turning point in our innings as nobody else could get on top of the Exning bowling . All of the top order made it to double figures but each of us found a way to get out without going past 50. Rubber did some hard yards but holed out for 28. Goz, a confident risk-taker, boosted his season aggregate from 14 but chipped a return catch for 24 and Steven Rudd missed a straight one for 14. This left us at 152-5 with 14 overs remaining. Unfortunately wickets continued to fall with Trevaskis (1), Rare (1) and Legend (0) all departing, although some extras and a few lusty blows from the acting captain saw us to a slightly perilous 180-8. A few scampered 1’s and 2’s got us to 192 before I became the 9th wicket to fall for 41, narrowly failing to complete a 2nd run to retain the strike in the 48th over. This left our wounded hero, Spaggs, with a couple of overs to navigate with Jap, a definite number 11 in most teams. The pair of them did a great job, with Spaggs sneaking one handed singles and Jap using his high front elbow to good effect they nursed the score to 209-9 at the end of the 50 overs. We felt this was probably a par score but we knew we needed to deal with all 3 Catley’s if we could keep the 100% record that we treasured. Exning began the chase in confident fashion and it felt as though we were going to struggle. In the 7th over we made a double break-through as Trevaskis, who was bounding down the slope, firstly drew an edge which flew to me at gully. I managed to grab it, amazingly this was to be my only catch of the campaign, and next ball Trevaskis sent the first Catley packing with a shiny globe having hit off stump with a beauty. We probably said it at the time but “1 makes 2” would have been an entirely appropriate comment from 3rd man or anywhere else. He was to strike again in his next over, removing the second Catley, by winning an lbw shout. At 26-3 after 9 overs we were on top. Trevaskis was a pretty potent threat and as he bustled down the hill he seemed to have gained a yard in pace since the opening day and was learning how to adjust his length in the UK to cause the most trouble for batsman. He was a quick learner and being rewarded for this asset. The next hour was a frustrating one though as Russell Catley dug in. Rubber couldn’t exert the same control that he found at Sudbury and his 6 overs went at almost a run a ball. Elmo helped stem the run rate a little but the 4th wicket stand became worth more than 50 and the game hung in the balance. We then found a turning point. Whilst attempting to sweep Legend, Russell Catley top-edged one into his chin. It split like he’d been glassed by Francis Begbie in Trainspotting and there was claret everywhere. The game was stopped for a good 10 minutes whilst he got some treatment in the middle. It gave us a chance to huddle together and have a rare serious conversation about our predicament. I think 3 or 4 of us spoke and I can’t recall who said what but the gist of the dialogue was..... - we’ve had a long journey, 125 mile round trip - we weren’t beaten yet - Russell Catley might not be as comfortable now - the rest of their batters would much prefer to watch from the pavilion than come out to bat - no one had got a 50 all day - if we could get a breakthrough we should push hard for a collapse We immediately dragged Trevaskis back into the attack, this time he dragged himself up the hill, and it worked. Legend quickly grabbed 2 wickets before Trevaskis dismissed his third Catley (Russell) with the help of Goz for 39. His innings had occupied 34 overs and we managed to limit him to singles after his injury but there’s no doubt that had he stayed at the crease we would have been in for a very tight finish. From there we were always in total control and finally bowled Exning out with 2 balls to spare, the first time we had taken all 10 wickets. We’d won by 32 runs and conceded only 9 extras in the process. Legend had the final figures of 4-46 off 16 overs but easily our man of the match was Trevaskis who claimed 6-33 off nearly 15 overs with 3 cleaned bowled and an lbw as part of his haul which included all 3 of the Catley brothers. It was a great win and now we were 4 out of 4 despite having played 3 away games. At this point we knew we were capable of having a really great season. Next up was a home game with Frinton and Spaggs would miss this one as part of his rehab. We would also be without Goz so Rocket would be our third keeper of the year in only our 5th game. The teamsheet would show 3 changes In = Arkle, James Ellis and Paul Davis Out = Spaggs, Rare and Goz It felt like we would field a different team every week but this wasn’t causing us issues yet!