No fewer than nineteen Rovers played for the team this year during Rovers Week including a healthy number of debutants which is very encouraging for the future of the club. They were, in no particular order: Lewis Franklin, John McCauley, Jeff Kerr-Dineen, James Scade, Cosmo Portman, Barney Hall, Matt Lee, Joe Naughalty (honorary), Ethan Franklin, Oscar Sheffield, Robin Frean, Isaac Abatan, Max Webb, Tom Hall, Rocco Gamblin, Inigo Abbott Barrington, George Welsby, Ben Chaloner and Tom Scade. I won’t bother with nicknames as some might offend!
First up was a new fixture against The Authors IX, a very friendly start to the week, especially when Matt won the toss and decided to bat on a gloriously sunny day at Lancing. Max and Rocco opened up but didn’t have too much success, but Cosmo at three with 29, the skipper with 37 and Tom H with 28 saw us repair the damage in this 40 over affair. Joe for once didn’t really trouble the scorers, well wouldn’t have done if we had one, nor Barney or Ethan who just scraped into double figures. Isaac and Oscar saw out the overs with 22 and 11 not out respectively. So 210-9 off our 40, a solid start to the ‘campaign’.
The mid-innings BBQ nearly didn’t happen as a miscommunication somewhere down the line meant that the caterers dropped off the BBQ but forgot to drop off anyone to actually cook it. So after some delay the Pres and Jamie Chester who had popped in to support, and help empty the esky, took it upon themselves to do the cooking, probably nullifying all insurance policies by doing so, but embarrassment and crisis averted.
Joe and James opened the bowling, a mix of left arm medium-quick, and right arm off-spin, and they kept it very tight, Joe finishing with 1-3 off his 5 overs, James 3-21 off 8, well bowled. These two were backed up by Inigo, who took his maiden Rovers wicket in his fourth over with his leg-spin, finally finishing with a tidy 1-30 off his 8, Rocco a well deserved 2-41 off his allocation, Ethan 1-14, Matt, Max and Cosmo also turned their arms over. The upshot, despite a valiant 46* by their number 8, on one leg too it should be said, was the Authors ran out of overs on 159-8, so a win for the Rovers by 51 runs, a successful start to the tour and one which required a trip to the Bridge to celebrate.
On Wednesday we travelled to Cranleigh in buoyant mood to play the OCs in another 40 over match, on paper the trickiest of our four tour matches, with Ethan making way for Ben Chaloner to make his debut. Matt won the toss yet again and we had a bat on another gloriously sunny day. Cosmo and Oscar opened up, the latter to some surprise as we thought he was an opening bowler, and they then carted the OC’s bowlers to all parts! When Cosmo reached his half-century Oscar was on just 13, but then overtook his opening partner in spectacular fashion, hoisting half a dozen huge sixes out the ground, and got to sixty first. We passed 35 in the 5th over, 50 in the 9th, 70 the 10th and the hundred partnership came up in the 13th over, amazing stuff. Cosmo was first out for 68 and Oscar followed soon after for 77, 167-2 in the 23rd.
A relative collapse then ensued, some might say normal service was resumed, Barney went for 1, Joe 13 after a bit of an altercation with the oppo, nothing to see here, Max went first ball after the drinks break for 2, Tom H 4, Isaac 8, Matt scored 19, John 1, and James’ 17* with Ben’s 11* meant we finished on a healthy 259-9 off 40, a good score, but we really should have reached 300.
Anyways, Oscar and Joe opened the bowling without success but the run rate didn’t get away from us. The same can be said for John and Ben, again they both kept it relatively tidy but couldn’t make the breakthrough. When Matt finally brought James on, the game turned, he got one of the Scriven brothers out caught Oscar for 94, and when he got their number three caught and bowled for just 2 they were 185-2 at drinks after 26.
Cosmo by this stage had had to come off for a concussion check, this involved drinking a can of Fosters, when he let one slip through his wicket keeping gloves and smack him on the bonce! At 222-2 (Richie Benaud) the game looked to be slipping away, but then chaos ensued. Caught Matt bowled Max, 243-3, caught Oscar bowled James, 243-4, bowled James, 246-5, effectively for 6 as the other Scriven brother had retired on 50. Despite the efforts of Isaac, Max (2-24) and Barney we went down by three wickets with 3.2 overs remaining. A valiant effort given three of the OCs quarter final Cricketer Cup team played but can’t help thinking we let that one slip through our fingers, a bit like Cosmo did!
Anyway we repaired the diplomatic damage from earlier in the day and left on good terms, the President enjoying the drive back to Lancing courtesy of Tom H and his Scottish sat nav – at the next roondaboot turn left pal – hilarious.
First back headed to the Crown & Anchor for a debrief where we were joined by Nick Ballamy before we moved to a new pub on me, the Royal Sovereign for some Thai fodder. The kitchen had just shut when we arrived, it had gone 10pm, but when they saw 15 hungry lads come in we were in business. Before the food arrived those of a certain age decided to have a contest to see who could neck a pint the fastest, this never ends well. But a good time was had by all at the end of day two.
So day three arrives, Brighton Brunswick the opposition, and another 40 over bash with BBQ between innings lay ahead, and still the sun shone down on ‘HQ’. After skippering the College 1st XI this year, Max was given the reigns and promptly won the toss, we shall bat first yet again. We welcomed Jeff and Tom S onboard for today’s game, and after some negotiating it was decided that Joe would bat and George would field. So Cosmo and Max opened up, but were both caught for just 4, Tom H and Joe didn’t fare much better scoring 11 and 8 respectively, so it was down to Matt and the now ‘all-rounder’ Oscar to rebuild.
They both decided they weren’t interested in buying jugs that evening so got out for 43 and 47 but repaired the damage. Isaac, according to the score book anyway, is a “melt” for getting a golden duck, and Tom S, 10, brother James, 1, Jeff with a lovely 22* and 8 from John saw us reach a half-decent 181 all out off 37 overs.
Brunswick’s ‘overseas’ was in some sort of a hurry and when he was caught for 82 off George’s bowling he had taken the game away from us, we only bowled 21 overs so he probably got them off about 60 balls if that! George effected a run-out too but despite the best efforts of the bowlers, Matt, Tom S, Oscar, George, James and Ben we were comprehensively trounced by 8 wickets.
No bother, an early finish can only mean one thing, an early ‘start’, so we found ourselves in the Bridge, the Crown & Anchor and then the pinnacle, the Indian Cottage Tandoori where no fewer than 14 of us enjoyed a lavish spread. Nick was back for more and Ryan Maskell also popped in to help us have a good time. Special mention at this point must go to George Holman who extremely generously subsidised the curry from his tax-free haven in the Middle East, an act of kindness that nearly won him the Swordfish Trophy, had it not been for postal charges.
Anyway a great time was had by all, some more than others, and some showed signs of tour fatigue, along with the inability to keep their food down! This may be attributed to the many beverages being downed, including tequila for some reason, a typical curry accompaniment down south, or the bowl of phall sauce that became a challenge, either way we probably kept the curry house afloat for another week or so.
And so to the last day, day four, an all-day game against the Sussex Martlets, on yet, yes you guessed it, another gloriously hot and sunny day on the south coast. Max once again took control, but lost the toss, and for the first time all week we found ourselves fielding first. Lewis and Robin came into the team for their first appearance on tour and a decent outfit took to the field.
Lewis and John opened up, the latter being replaced by the skipper after 4 overs, but it wasn’t until the score reached 40 that things started to happen. Lewis had one of the openers caught by James, then next over Max got the other one, this time caught by Isaac. 40-2 soon became 58-4 as Oscar took a wicket caught & bowled and then caught one off Max’s bowling. Max then got his third when Ethan grabbed one and all of a sudden it was 68-5. Unfortunately, as is often the case, we couldn’t ram home our advantage, and the Martlets skipper Sam scored his annual half-century against us, and alongside their number 6 put on 130 for the 6th wicket. Inigo turned his arm over with no success, as did James, but Robin and Jeff both took a wicket in their five over spells as the Martlets declared on 228-7 off 50 overs.
And so to the last knock of the season, Matt and Lewis were handed the responsibility of seeing off the new ball, the latter leaving it to Inigo when he was run out for 6. But Matt and Inigo put on 62 for the 2nd wicket before Inigo was caught for 22, Matt soon after bowled for 59. Ethan, Max, Jeff and James decided not to trouble the scorers, we actually had one today, but another 34 from Oscar took us to 154 -9 well into the ‘final hour’. It ended up being down to John and Robin at 10 and Jack to see us home for the draw, finishing on 4 and 7 respectively, they did exactly that. Whether it was an honourable one or not depends on which side of the fence you’re sitting on I guess.
It just remained to award the Swordfish Trophy, probably the most fishy trophy in world cricket! Click here for a full report on its recipient and those mentioned in despatches.
And that was that, well almost. We emptied the last few beers from the esky with the oppo, who are always a good bunch, lowered the Rovers flag, then a few of us retired to the Crown & Anchor for one last hurrah. ‘Fortunately’ our Airbnb for Friday night had been cancelled with 24 hours’ notice so nothing big happened and everyone just wandered off into the warm night sky with a warm fuzzy feeling, or maybe that was just me and it was the house white!
So played four won one, draw one and lost two, I’d call that a success. We had 13 Rovers on parade every day, which allowed us to swap and change as we liked, and everyone who wanted one, got a game. I reckon there were no fewer than five tour debutants, Tom H, Tom S, Inigo, Ben and Max, you are all extremely welcome and I sincerely hope you’re all available next year, apologies if I’ve left anyone off.
Special mention to James who played all six matches this season, Cosmo, Isaac and Oscar with five, John and Max with four alongside Matt, who came down from Edinburgh just for the tour, well done lads, great commitment. But thanks to everyone who took part this season, winter well and we go again next year.
As I type this I’m surrounded by all the detritus that comes with running a tour, first aid kit, esky, playing shirts, my kit, Rovers kit, the flag, scorebook, cricket balls, BBQ utensils, all the bottles of ketchup, BBQ sauce etc. that were left over, and trying to summon up the enthusiasm to put most of it back up the loft for another year, but it’s all worth it, #UTR
Top performers
Oscar 170 @ 56.67 HS 78 & 1-84
Matt 158 @ 39.50 HS 59
Cosmo 119 @ 29.75 HS 68
James 6 wkts @ 31.17 including 4-56
Max 5 wkts @ 11.00 including 3-14 & 22*
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Inigo with a wicket on debut and 22
Tom H 43 @ 14.33 including 28 on debut
Ben 11* on debut
Tom S 10 and 0-24 on debut
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Lads the lack of a scorer is a real problem and apologies if some of these numbers are incorrect, I can only go on what's in the book, so if anyone knows anyone who might be able to help out next season please put them in touch.
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Same time same place next year lads.
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Macca
El Presidente