Stragglers of Asia v Royal Artillery, 2 August 2015 at Ascott Park, Wing

Stragglers began their innings cautiously, with (Straggler) Mark Banham bowling an excellent opening spell to return 9-6-8-2, including the wickets of Alex Asher, for a bright 20 with three well-struck boundaries, and candidate Tom Calder.  Then followed the Stragglers’ best partnership of the innings, with Joe Cavanagh and Tony Hooper putting on 71 in 44 minutes, Hooper departing on the stroke of lunch for 30, including one memorable, rasping square cut for 4 to get off the mark.

After lunch wickets fell frequently, with Joe Cavanagh going for 72 from 106 balls, and candidate Duncan Bradshaw (11), Paddy McDuell (21), and Matt Cavanagh (15) each getting a start but not going on.  With only 10 players on the day, Pradeesh Surendam was left high and dry on 4* when the innings closed on 196.

Duncan Bradshaw and Phil McDuell started tightly with the new ball, but pretty quickly the Royal Artillery (and Army) opening batsman Wiseman was into his stride.  McDuell toiled stoicly, taking two wickets, including one to an outstanding catch by Bradshaw running from gully to point.  Stragglers rotated the bowling, with Andy Duff exerting some control and benefiting from a sharp catch by Matt Cavanagh from a stinging drive to mid on to return 6-0-34-1.   Tom Calder with his promising off-spin produced one of the Stragglers’ three maiden overs.  But chances were missed and the Royal Artillery’s vulnerability in the lower middle order and tail could not be exploited.

Phil McDuell’s figures were 7-1-27-2 before a last over of hitting from Wiseman, who had single-handedly taken the game away from Stragglers in striking a very impressive, brutal 147* from 79 balls, with 7 sixes and 19 fours.  [Wiseman went on to represent the Army at the Inter-Services the following week].  Royal Artillery passed Stragglers’ total with 3 wickets down, on the point of 20 overs.

Proceedings concluded with a charming presentation to Bill Kincaid on completion of his last match for the Gunners (first having represented them in 1961), Bill having made his final appearance for The Stragglers in the match against RMA Sandhurst earlier in the season.

Postscript: Shortly after scoring this match, David Lawrence announced that he would be retiring from scoring at the end of the season. David had umpired and latterly scored for the Stragglers since 1993 and his meticulous attention to the details of the games he scored and his dry observations of what he saw will be profoundly missed.