Match report

The first game of the 2015 IVCC season saw a strong IVCC team travel to Long Compton CC.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, IVCC skipper, Bill Smith, had visions of retiring to the pavilion for a much needed snooze after overexerting himself the previous evening. The pathetic fallacy of the foreboding grey clouds that accompanied IVCC’s journey north into the prettier echelons of the Cotswolds rang true as the innings got off to a dismal start, with some fine bowling from Long Compton’s opening pair of Adams and Beford resulting in early breakthroughs for the home side. The top three of Cable-Alexander (0), Meier (1) and Ross (1) were all bowled by hooping inswingers from Adams to leave IVCC reeling at 3-4. 'Pathetic' fallacy indeed.

As all good English sides do in a crisis, IVCC turned to a foreigner. The early wickets brought overseas pro, Bjorn ‘The Anaesthetist’ Pedersen, to the crease alongside Gareth ‘Nearly No Rump to Shake’ Ellis. Both applied themselves admirably at such a difficult time and, after a watchful period, played fluently in a partnership of 56 before Ellis was superbly caught by Hayward off his own bowling for 35.

The dismissal of Ellis brought Smith to the crease with the score at 60, and a captain’s innings required. He and Pedersen set about consolidating the recovery job started by Ellis. Whilst Smith played watchfully, busily picking up singles and moving lithely between the wickets in such a way as to belie his considerable girth, the token Australian continued to wow the crowds with some dreamy strokeplay all around the wicket. The pair put on a partnership of 81 before Long Compton’s Thorn, living up to his name and proving to be an irritating prick in IVCC’s side, eventually picked up the wicket of Smith, LBW, for 36 with the score on 141.

Hartley then joined Pedersen for quick-fire partnership of 28 before Pedersen eventually fell for 76, holing out to long on off the bowling of Bedford for 76. Although short of his century, Pedersen’s knock was as good as one, digging IVCC out of the mire magnificently.

The last four wickets of Hartley (14), Tyler (0), Bibb (1) and Taylor (0) fell for 11 runs in four overs as Long Compton brought back the opening pair to great effect. Notwithstanding the late flourish of wickets, IVCC amassed a competitive 180 all out which, after the first 5 overs, looked virtually impossible, with just Watkins remaining stranded on 1 not out – the taileneder with the beard of a shoebomber sadly running out of partners when the stage was set for something truly heroic.

For the writers, one of the highlights of the day was the hospitality of Long Compton during the tea interval where a feast was laid on, for both the stomach and the eyes... Some suggested the delicious lasagne was a way of slowing down IVCC in the outfield in the early part of the Long Compton innings. However, with Cable-Alexander sporting his fetching new pair of high heels, there was no lethargy in sight…!

Hartley and Ross took the new ball for IVCC but encountered solid defence from the Long Compton openers, Badham and Vinum, who got off to a good start. However, the discipline of Hartley paid off as he bowled Badham for 16. Hartley bowled an excellent spell of eight overs, finishing with four maidens in his last five overs and was very unlucky not to rattle the timbers more than the once he did.

Hartley was replaced by Smith who picked up the wicket of Vinum in his first over, the ball nipping back through the gate. Smith quickly picked up his second wicket, that of the powerful Thorn who, having smashed the previous ball into Northamptonshire, feathered an edge through to Meier behind the stumps. Dickie Tyler replaced Ross in the attack and was unfortunate not to take at least one wicket as the batsmen found it difficult scoring with Tyler taking the pace of the ball completely.

Bibb and Ellis marshalled the batsmen well in the middle overs, restricting the batsmen wherever possible in what was clearly going to be a close game. Long Compton’s Marshall, using the same bat Ian Botham used in the 1981 Headingly Test, dealt some lusty blows which gave the home side the upper hand going into the home straight. However, some clever bowling from Ellis saw Marshall pick out Hartley at long-on to bring a brisk 28 to a close.

As things got more tense, the unflappable Long Compton captain, Aussie Rob Pitcher, continued to build his innings by pushing ones and two and putting the bad ball away when it came along. The game changing moment came in the 31st over when Pitcher was put down off Smith’s bowling with Long Compton still requiring 38 runs to win. He took full advantage by dispatching a big six over long on and a neatly driven four before being caught off the bowling of Pedersen for 38, Meier’s cat-like reflexes behind the timbers doing the damage.

Some excellent death bowling by Pedersen restricted Long Compton’s tail but some solid striking from Hayward, Brown and Adams took them to their target of 181 from the last ball of the 38th over to secure a four wicket win, despite a heroic run-out attempt from Taylor (sadly no TV replays available).

So the quest for the first IVCC victory continues although much heart can be taken from this performance. Most notably, the innings of 76 from man-of-the-match Pedersen, the excellent effort from all seven bowlers used and the excellent effort put in by all in the field (including FCA once he had figured out how his new shoes worked). So, (to quote Sir William Shakespeare), black and portentous must this humour prove, unless good counsel may the cause remove: i.e. work to be done!

Final thanks go to Long Compton for being such great hosts and we look forward to next year’s fixture.

AW Smith and AW Meier