Browns- One Step Beyond

The first game of the second half of the 2000 season was a trip to Ipswich to take on Browns. I’d always been bewildered by the cricketing landscape in Ipswich where there seemed to be literally dozens of clubs but no obvious hierarchy and certainly no single dominant team. Browns were definitely not the powerhouse of Cricket in Suffolk but we’d always found life against them quite uncomfortable. I recall losing to a Keith Howlett (sounds like he should have been a member of Prodigy) inspired team in 1991, a defeat that stopped our title bid in its tracks and handed Halstead the trophy. I also remember being thoroughly biffed by Richie Robinson in a cup game in 1994 that was reduced to 20 overs a side on a day where we failed to show any T20 qualities. Each time we had played Browns it seemed like we were at a different ground and in 2000 we set foot on another new venue that Dubbers and I arrived at by driving through a hedge having not been able to find the proper entrance (true story). That said we were in good spirits and ready to attempt to extend our winning run which now stood at 7 games. Amongst our 3 changes was the return of Spaggs who reclaimed the captains armband from me after 4 games where I had won the toss and we had prevailed by a total of 300 runs! I’d enjoyed it but was happy to have him back. Spaggs caught the mood and won the toss. However we were at a venue that was new to us and looking at a wicket that appeared suspicious. We thought it would seam around a lot and made the unusual decision to insert the opposition. The first few overs showed that this would be a difficult wicket to score runs on and although we didn’t take any wickets the score was only 11-0 after 5 overs. As much as we got the Browns batsman to play and miss they also were able to get the scoreboard moving and we finally made a breakthrough in the 14th over. Spaggs had bought himself on as first change and he struck immediately with Goz taking the catch behind the stumps. After that it was hard work for both teams. By the 20th over the score had progressed to 77-1 and Browns were beginning to get on top as Trevaskis ended his first spell wicketless. It was hard to keep him out of the game though and it was his run out that gave us our 2nd wicket in the 27th over with the score at 99. It was at this point of the afternoon that Toby Pugh sent down his first over of left arm sliders of the season. He bowled a really tight spell which lasted for the rest of the innings. His figures of 14/3/28/2 were economical but scant reward for some very effective bowling. Browns innings fell away and they ended with 166-8 ofd the 50 overs. Trevaskis worked hard through 19 overs and took 3-70, Elmo returned 1-17 off 7 overs in another economical spell and Spaggs got 1-14 off 4 overs. The innings certainly wasn’t fluent and the 12 scored off the final over was the only time they scored more than 5 off an over in the final 10. That final flourish would prove to be significant a few hours later. We felt that it was probably a par score but definitely a few more than we hoped we would chase when we put them in to bat. Spaggs and Elmo were reunited at the top of the order and began like the proverbial “Express Trains” adding 20 at a run a ball before Elmo was caught with just 6 to his name. We were still scoring quickly when the skipper departed for 22 in the 7th over with the score at 34. Just a few overs later it was 45-3 when our main man, Dubbers, was also caught this time for 16. With no Rubber in our side we had the youngsters Arkle and Rare at the crease facing a fired up Browns attack. It was slow going and when Rare (15) was also caught we had struggled to 69-4 off 20 overs. At this point Archibald the Australian leg spinner entered the attack. The variable bounce made him very difficult to play and at one point he bowled 3 maidens in a row. Eventually Arkle departed, again caught, for 24 which had taken 27 overs. We had added 43 but the score was only 112-5 off 35 overs and finding another 55 runs looked challenging. That statement looked even truer after Trevaskis (1) and Goz (0) both departed in quick succession and our total stood at 123-7 after 40 overs. I was joined by Toby Pugh who was in at number 9, perhaps higher than he would usually find himself. As a left handed he seemed able to negate Archibald more easily and with a few boundaries for myself we inched towards the target. In this period one of the irregular bounces hit the Browns keeper, Bailey, just above the eye and he left the field with a blood injury leaving us to donate a sub-fielder. We reduced the mission from 44 in 10 to 16 from 5 and perhaps became favourites in the process. Just after that I completed my second half century of the season including 8 boundaries and in the process reduced the target to single figures. Then with just 9 to win I got a leading edge which looped agonisingly to a fielder and I became another of our batters to fall caught for 53. We had added 35 valuable runs for the 8th wicket but this left us at 158 with 20 balls remaining but just 2 wickets in hand. The new batsman was Jap but he was out for a duck (bowled Archibald, despite what the scorebook says) with only 2 runs added but 12 balls used up. We now needed 7 off 8 balls with the last pair at the wicket. Number 11 James Ellis saw off the final two balls of the penultimate over to leave Toby on strike with 7 needed to win. He went for it using his long blade to swish the first ball of the final over for 4 over mid on and we now needed 3 to win off 5 balls. Toby, who was a keen gambler, rolled the dice off the very next ball but his attempt to repeat the stroke failed to clear the fielder to leave us all out for 164 and losers by 2 runs. Toby scored 19 and definitely didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. I remember playing in 3 tied games, against Wivenhoe, Clacton and the unfortunately named OC’s, in my career and each time you could find reasons why you should have won. This first defeat of the season hurt not just because our unbeaten run had ended but because we had come so close to winning, even now it’s painful to recall this game! It’s easy to come up with a set of reasons that might have changed the result - should we have batted first - how did we only take 1 wicket in the first 27 overs - what if that final over didn’t go for 12 - how could we have conceded fewer extras (14 v 6)...Browns didn’t bowl a single wide in 49.2 overs...that’s good going or generous umpiring! - how come our highest scoring seven batters were all out caught - if only we had batted the full 50 overs - what if we hadn’t donated a sub-fielder So near but so far! In a way the defeat was a wake up call and let us know that we needed to be better, especially with the bat (only one half century in 3 matches wasn’t enough) in our away games if we were going to win the league for the first time. Next up was a home game against Mistley and we would make 3 changes. In would come Rubber, Legend and Ruddy (who would keep wicket) and out went Rare, Goz and James Ellis. We would need to get back on the winning trail quickly to ensure our title challenge could be sustained.