RNVR Cricket Club

Scorecard

Cuckfield CC v RNVR Cricket Club on Wed 03 Aug 2022 at 11.30am
Match was Drawn RNVR 8 runs short in six less overs

Match report
From Mostyn Saxby, our man in Sussex:

Cuckfield CC v RNVR CC

...and so, to Cuckfield.

The 2022 RNVR CC tour inexorably rolls onto Cuckfield, always a favourite and much-anticipated fixture. Indeed, the anticipation was heightened this year as the RNVR arrive with the chance of achieving the clean sweep of tour fixtures for the first time.

A novelty this year was that the game was live streamed on You Tube as this is apparently a requirement for all Sussex Premiership games and nobody had thought to turn the camera off. It has subsequently been reported that a following of over twenty people developed to follow the denouement; the mind really does boggle at what type of poor soul has nothing better to do than watch village cricket on telly.

The coverage was somewhat redolent of that offered by the BBC in the early days of televised coverage with a fixed camera from one end with the field of view being limited to the square itself, leaving the viewer to guess from the body language of the players or signal from the umpires as to what exactly happened when the ball left the frame; however; being linked to the scorer’s box the full details of the match situation were available as captions at
the bottom of the screen. Somewhat usefully for those at the ground, was the delay of several seconds which effectively afforded those not paying close attention the luxury of an ‘action replay.

With skipper Tex Warnes having lost the toss the RNVR faced a two-hour session in the field before lunch in an all-day game with twenty overs due after 6:00pm.

The Cuckfield openers set off at very different paces, Downey batted very briskly before being bowled by Hylton Phillips for 45 while Longfield was still in single figures. He soon found his range, however, and reached his fifty before misjudging a good ball from Ed Hewens. Number three Middleton then played second fiddle to Ben John who batted through to lunch with a series of boundaries which kept Dr Ford honest in front of the pavilion.

Lunch was a welcome break not least because of the excellent fish pie, obligatory port and generous cheese course. Upon resumption it felt like the temperature had risen by ten degrees and an arduous afternoon was in prospect.

Followers of the action on the live stream were frustrated by the lengthy break; apparently almost ninety minutes of an empty square makes for poor viewing...

The post-lunch session saw wickets for Paul Coppard (Barcombe CC) and James Massey who bowled very well and was rewarded with a brace, a bowled and good stumping from keeper Laurie Cadle of Paige Collins who had hit the ball well and helped to move the score along.

A superb effort from the deep mid-wicket boundary in front of the Pavilion by Coppard resulted in a direct hit, but unfortunately umpire Stevenson (Barnes CC) declined to give it as out. Evidently, he had enjoyed his lunch rather too much as on reviewing the visual evidence from the live stream at the conclusion of the game, it was clear that the batsman was short of his ground, but the suggestion of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was swiftly rejected on the grounds of very poor form...

John went on to complete his hundred and the innings was finally brought to a close at the end of the 51st over with the score at 287/5.

Alex Foulds and Paul Ford opened the innings for the RNVR, but alas the Barcombe Centurion was unable to repeat his heroics of the previous day dismissed for 5, while Dr Ford struggled to get the ball off the square or to avoid finding a fielder. The reason for this became apparent at Tea when a long vertical crack was found on his bat running from the back of the blade parallel to the splice. A relieved Ford was soon using a borrowed bat to good effect, timing the ball and finding the gaps with a series of boundaries. Alas, it did not last, and his new-found enthusiasm saw him caught for 25 to bring Club Captain Charles Crichton (CCCC) to the crease.

Senior partner Cadle followed shortly afterwards, however, just short of a deserved fifty after an innocuous ball on a length leapt to take the shoulder of his bat and present an easy looping catch to the keeper. This saw Tim Hardman amble out to join CCCC and he was rewarded with a leg-side full-toss first up which he very gratefully sent to the boundary. The bowling remained friendly, plenty of balls wide of the wicket on either side and the runs began to flow, however, CCCC soon hit the ball very firmly straight to a fielder and was caught for 20 off as many balls.

All of which served to bring avid runner between the wickets Hewens out to the middle and a new partnership developed. Hewens played circumspectly at first and then made the most of his recent good form to play ever more expansive shots and push singles into twos and twos into threes to bring up his fifty. Hardman followed shortly after with his own first, and long overdue fifty to a very warm response from team and club mates in front of the pavilion. The target was slowly hoving into view with each successive over and after a productive partnership Hewens finally pushed his luck too far and was run out.

Hardman was visibly tired at this point having squeezed a season’s worth of runs into a single innings and it was left to new batsman Paul Coppard to face the final (45th) over with 28 runs required from it. Paul’s talent and experience were to the fore as he hit four, two, six, four, four but with 8 still required from the final ball all he could do was to hole-out to deep long-on in a last valiant effort and the game was drawn.

No tour clean sweep this time then, but the RNVR remained unbeaten on tour which is itself is a very worthwhile achievement. Once more the curtain fell on the Sussex tour for another year but what a tour it has been and plenty of fun was had by all. One remarkable thing to note is that not one golf ball made an appearance all tour…

A tired and emotional Hardman dedicated his milestone to former Captains Paul Ford and Rupert Vaughan and to current batting consultant Laurie Cadle.


Notes:

Tex Warnes Skipper; Laurie Cadle keeper.

RNVR opportunity to do clean sweep in Sussex for the first time.

RNVR bowl 37 overs in two hours before lunch (incl drinks break).

Live stream highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHn99MEllBY

Ben John century means that one of the oppo batsmen has scored a century against us in every game on 2022 tour!

Maiden fifty for Tim Hardman (61 not out).

Cuckfield CC Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
7w 2b 7lb 
for 5 wickets
16
287 (50.5 overs)		     
J Downey b  Phillips 45 51 56 8 1 80.36
S Longfield b  Hewens 56 96 81 11 69.14
A Middleton b  P Coppard 27 63 61 4 44.26
B John Not Out  102 72 85 17 3 120.0
G Galbraith-Gibbons b  J Massey 8 16 15 1 53.33
P Collins st  Cadle bowled J Massey 21 28 27 3 77.78
S Shepherd Not Out  8 13 9 1 88.89
J Wand  
G Baker  
W Broyde  
C Bunning  

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Hylton Phillips12.0357157.004.75
Vinay Kumar15.045800.003.87
Paul Coppard (BCC)6.0027127.004.50
Ed Hewens10.0077177.007.70
James Massey8.5056228.006.34

RNVR Cricket Club RNVR CC Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
10nb 10w 10b 5lb 
for 6 wickets
35
280		        
Alex Foulds b  W Broyde 5 10 8 1 62.50
Laurie Cadle ct  Ward bowled Bunning 47 76 66 9 71.21 1
Paul Ford ct  Baker bowled Bunning 25 61 51 5 49.02
Charlie Crichton ct  John bowled Bunning 20 32 20 3 100
Tim Hardman Not Out  61 63 56 9 108.93
Ed Hewens run out  Downey 72
Paul Coppard (BCC) ct  Middleton bowled Galbraith-Gibbons 20 6 333.33
Tex Warnes  
Hylton Phillips  
Vinay Kumar  
James Massey  

Cuckfield CC Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
W Broyde6.0131131.005.17
S Shepherd6.031500.002.50
G Baker5.021100.002.20
C Bunning11.0076325.336.91
A Middleton6.003300.005.50
G Galbraith-Gibbons6.0056156.009.33
B John5.0043143.008.60