Scorecard

Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI v Buckhorn Weston on Sun 24 Jun 2012 at 2pm
Mere Cricket Club Won by 3 wickets

Match report Mere Become Buckhorn’s Bogey

Adam Beetham the Buckhorn skipper called heads and Weir and Beetham watched the coin roll agonisingly along the artificial wicket on its side before showing Her Majestie’s profile and unsurprising Buckhorn chose to bat. For the stattos amongst you (you know who you are …Nick) that’s 4 out of 5 tosses lost for skipper Weir this season….useless tosser!

Pace Ace Dave Rutherford opened up from the Burton Path End (Dog Sh*t Alley) capturing the opening batsman Wayman leg before in the first over. As the Mere players celebrated the early breakthrough Wayman stood his ground protesting his innocence and refused to leave the field of play. Umpire Mike Gladding felt obliged to overturn his decision. A position he should never have been put in. Whether the decision was correct or not is irrelevant.

Skipper Weir thought of how many more runs he could have scored in the last two seasons if he refused to leave the field of play every time his team mates keep giving him out LBW or the time his Dad gave him out caught behind by the rhododendron at first slip in the garden on 99 (definitely a half volley). We’ve all had stinkers in our time. You just have to man up and take it on the chin.

The ill feeling was only channelled into an excellent bowling and fielding display. Pace Ace Dave Rutherford continued his good spell yorking Simon Beetham and finishing with figures of 8 overs 16 runs and 1 wicket. Magnificent opening spell against some of the best batsman the 3 Counties League has to offer.

Meanwhile at the other end, The Don had two overs of Buffet Bowling – please do help yourself, before being whipped off the attack and replaced with Charlie White who bowls a proverbial heavy ball well suited to an artificial wicket. He soon claimed Wayman caught at point by Mike Ryan’s university belly. Two years ago that would have bounced off his six pack. Fortunately this time Wayman decided he would leave the field of play on the second time of asking.

The partnership of Elwood and Adam Beetham was slow but steady and was proving difficult to crack. Charlie White continued his barrage of shortish heavy deliveries with great affect and The Don junior Lawrence Corleone bowled a very tight spell. In complete contrast to his father whose spell was looser than a pair of Jordan’s knickers, Lawrence’s spell was tighter than a pair of Mike Ryan’s ill fitting pre university underpants leaking just 8 runs from his five overs.

A cricket captain not only thinks of where he should be fielding, he is constantly fielding for all 9 outfield players, knowing exactly who and where they all are every ball of the game, what shots the batsmen are playing, who is bowling, who should be next, when they should come on and will always know every bowling option available to them. Skipper Weir could see ginger ninja Mike Ryan starting to well up at square leg. At first Weir just put it down to Mike being over eager for tea but it was confirmed by good friend Becky Yeo that he thought the skipper had forgotten all about him. He need not have worried, you can spot a porky student from three fields away. Weir had just been holding him back to bowl at the end of the innings. Had it not been for a few tears Lawrence Corleone probably would have had another over or two but the Buckhorn partnership needed breaking and 2012 wicket machine Whitmore (4 wickets) and Ryan (2 wickets) made the perfect closing partnership restricting Buckhorn to 138-8. Catches win matches and bucket hands Charlie White x2, The Don, Whitmore and Pitts all took their chances.

A healthy tea of tuna (omega 3), Melon, tomatoes and other summer fruits was prepared by Welfare Officer Nicki Whitmore and many thanks to her for taking on the responsibility of reducing cholesterol levels and eliminating the possibility of scurvy among Mere CC players. Tottenham Turner Sean Harkin had already pulled out that morning, the doctor prescribing him Cans of Stella to be taken 8 times daily. The last thing Mere needed was a dose of scurvy.

The Don and the Skipper opened up for Mere with the aim of seeing off the openers giving a platform for the later batsman to enjoy batting with a bit more freedom. The Don’s stumps were clattered in the 3rd over and Weir was given LBW …again not long after. So mission complete failure as far as the openers were concerned. In between Pitts had been hit with what can only be described as the perfect bouncer following him to leg. Pitts was taking too long to duck and the crack as the ball hit his skull could be heard from the Tony Traves stand. As his face swelled he started to resemble Rocky Dennis off the 1985 film classic Mask. It’s a wonder he managed to get a helmet on. He didn’t have to wear it for long, dizzy and dazed he was bowled for a duck soon after and disappeared early for some TLC. He was of course duly fined for his duck and not returning to the pub after the game. Concussion, severe swelling and slight shock are not acceptable excuses for a no show at the Walnut Tree.

Bucket hands Charlie White clearly had an evening dinner function to attend as he batted to a very quick 22 and was caught on the boundary going for a second six despite the team reminding him it was only the 15th over. Meanwhile at the other end Lawrence continued his good form with the bat scoring an entertaining 63 off 60 balls with another array of mesmerising shots.

The wickets kept falling though. Ryan fell for 2 and no sooner had Whitmore gone to the crease than he was walking back through the Whitmore gate for just 2 and a return to his still hot cup of tea. 7 wickets down it was left to Becky Yeo and Dave Rutherford to see Mere home. A boundary from Rutherford was welcomed with a huge cheer from the Tony Traves stand in front of the pavilion but that was where the celebrating finished as both teams were left to watch England get knocked out of the Euros and mull over the days more unsavoury events.

Two wins from two versus Buckhorn is a good record for the underdogs Mere. Another bowling and fielding display like that should see a few more victories in the league this season.


Buckhorn Weston Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 17w 4b 3lb 
for 8 wickets
25
138 (40.0 overs)		     
S Beetham b  Rutherford 20
G Wayman ct  Ryan, b White 23
G Elwood ct  White, b Whitmore 25
A Beetham ct  Pitts, b Ryan 17
C Taylor ct  Yeo R, b Ryan 4
H Chinnock ct  White, b Whitmore 8
G Beetham lbw  Whitmore 7
G Ovendon Not Out  7
S Dodds ct  & bowled Whitmore 1
D Taylor  
   

Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Dave Rutherford8.0216116.002.00
Bryan Yeo2.001800.009.00
Charlie White8.0029129.003.63
Lawrence Yeo5.03800.001.60
Rebecca Yeo2.00700.003.50
Kevin Whitmore8.012446.003.00
Mike Ryan7.0129214.504.14

Mere Cricket Club Mere CC 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
4nb 13w 1b 1lb 
for 7 wickets
19
141		        
Duncan Weir lbw  S Beetham 12 26 46.15
Bryan Yeo b  S Beetham 2 9 22.22
Matt Pitts b  S Beetham 0 8 0 1
Lawrence Yeo b  G Elwood 63 60 105.00
Charlie White ct  Ovendon, b A Beetham 22 22 100 2
Mike Ryan ct  Taylor, b Dodds 2 17 11.76 1
Kevin Whitmore b  Dodds 2 6 33.33 1
Dave Rutherford Not Out  12 22 54.55
Rebecca Yeo Not Out  7 12 58.33 1
Mark Cassidy  
Sam Harrison  

Buckhorn Weston Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
S Beetham6.412337.673.45
S Dodds6.0035217.505.83
G Ovendon8.003200.004.00
A Beetham4.0126126.006.50
G Wayman3.001200.004.00
G Ellwood2.0011111.005.50