Squeaky Bum Time

This was a fixture of huge significance in the 2000 campaign. We were top but a defeat would allow Wivenhoe to overtake us and give them the momentum entering the home straight of the final 4 fixtures. It’s also fair to say that we weren’t the form team having lost 2 of our last 3 league games after our long unbeaten run. It was actually 3 out of 4 if you count our rain affected cup replay at Braintree! Wivenhoe was a pretty ground with invitingly short boundaries. At this time of year it was dry with a quick outfield but a track that was expected to spin. That clearly suited the home team and their ex-Essex and Suffolk left arm orthodox spinner, Andrew Golding. He’d always been a pain for us and I recall him bowling 4 dot balls in a row at the end of a tied game as Mick Brown swished at thin air in a vain attempt to win us the match! The team news was that we made 3 changes to the side defeated by Jon Kent’s Century and Five-fer. Out went Jap, Steve Goz and James Ellis whilst we welcomed back both Toby and Arkle. Making up the XI was debutant and the 22nd player to represent us that season, 15 year old Katan Patel. He was a wiry lad who bustled to the crease with his medium pace seamers. I’d only really seen him bowling in the nets and was curious to see how he would perform in such an important arena. One other absentee was our faithful scorer, Andy Elliott, so our book doesn’t recount the story in its usual extensive fashion! What I can tell you is that Wivenhoe added to their home advantage when winning the toss and electing to bat first. This thrust our debutant Katan into the spotlight immediately as he was asked to open the bowling with Trevaskis. Even before Katan could get the ball in his hand Trevaskis had struck! He removed the Wivenhoe opener, Lucking, by getting him to nick one into Ruddy’s gloves and reduce the hosts to 0-1. We were fired up and the batsman was ushered on his way with some suggestions as to how he could improve his technique Katan started nicely and was also in the action quickly. He cleaned up Tom Allison, a potential match winner, to reduce them to 11-2. Wivenhoe tried to re-build but simply couldn’t put a partnership of any substance together. It became 31-3 when Trevaskis grabbed his second of the afternoon with Dubbers taking a tumbling catch (Some observers felt he might not have needed to dirty his whites to take the catch). We took the 4th wicket at 50 and the 5th at 73 as Toby Pugh came to the party, showing that left arm slow could prove effective. In amongst the carnage we had another first for the season when Dubbers had a bowl for the first time! He was only granted 2 overs before being replaced by Legend after a maiden over was followed by one costing 7. He was banished from the attack for the rest of the league season. We continued to make in-roads as it became 89-6 and 103-7 courtesy of another wicket for Toby and a run out where I threw a return to the bowlers end for Legend to apply the finishing touches. The last 3 wickets added 15, 16 and 12 meaning that the highest of the innings was just 23. Trevaskis, Pugh and Legend shared those last 3 as the innings was wrapped up for 146 in 49.2 overs. Toby bowled a marathon 18.2 over spell which included 8 maidens and ended with 4-30 (including a stumping for Ruddy) whilst Trevaskis had 3-44 off 15, Katan had 1-15 off the 5 overs he was allowed at his age and Legend 1-36 off 11. We regarded that as very gettable and felt like we had done the hard part. It didn’t turn out like that at all. Our openers, Barber and Rubber, managed to get to 30 without any alarms but at 34 we lost Rubber (13) as he became the first victim of Golding’s. It was higher than any of 10 partnerships that Wivenhoe had managed but 34-1 quickly became 54-5 as our top order collapsed for the first time that season. Barber (20) also fell to Golding this time to an lbw decision, Arkle (1) fell to Greene, Rare (8) was stumped off Tomlinson and I was run out for just 2 by a direct hit from the fine leg boundary. It was my first single figure score of the season and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. I remember slowly taking my pads off and dragging myself outside to sit on a chair with the rest of the guys to watch the rest of the game. I was thinking about all the good Cricket we had played and how we deserved to win the league.... Through my melancholy thoughts the gloom started to lift. Dubbers, who else, kept grafting and was finding support from Trevaskis. Over by over they inched us forward and with the trickle becoming a flow they took us to 100. When we reached 104 the fifty stand came up but it was also the total when Trevaskis was out for 23. Golding was again the wicket taker. We were well ahead of the run rate and needed just another 39 runs when Ruddy joined Dubbers at the crease. Our fate really rested with these guys as our tail included Pugh, Legend and the debutant Patel. It was nail biting stuff as Golding bowled unchanged. Dubbers played the steering role but Ruddy also hit a few boundaries that helped to swing the game in our favour. Even with the finishing line in sight we were all sitting nervously, even when applauding Dubbers 50. Finally, and with 8 overs to spare, Dubbers and Ruddy got us into the winners enclosure. Their unbroken stand of 43 was priceless. It was Dubbers, who had passed 50 for the 6th time of the season, who led the raucous singing of our victory song in the changing room after the game. The small wooden structure shook as we banged our bats in anticipation of the opening words of the song! It was a great end to a tense day! Next up was a home game with Exning. The team news was that out went Patel and Rare whilst in came Jap (when we thought his season had ended) and Goz. Around this time Katan moved from the area having prematurely lost his father, Kish, who was a genial individual often to be found in the company of a crowd enjoying Becks Beer! It was a loss to the club in more than one way.