Stragglers of Asia vs Somerset Stragglers at The Wombats CC, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Friday 15 September 2023.
Result: Stragglers of Asia won by three wickets
The victorious side (pre cider)
Match Report
And so – the much-heralded SoA summer tour to the West Country began with a classic encounter, rolling back the years to 1929-38 (not to forget 2006!) when Stragglers of Somerset clashed mightily with Stragglers of Asia. Wombats CC, living in Bishops Lydeard, provided a superb wicket in a stunning country-house ground location with rolling hills forming the background. Glorious sun completed the picture.
Captain Dawson won the toss and invited the Somerset Stragglers to make first use of the pitch. His faith in his bowlers was quickly rewarded as Jon Parker and Charles Fidler probed the batsmen’s defences. On a true pitch and with short boundaries, obduracy was never going to feature, and Derben punished anything even remotely loose, rattling the score quickly into the twenties. Parker struck back pinning Alexander in front, then drew an edge from Derben into Willy Boulter’s waiting gloves. 21-0 had turned into 28-2. It should have been 36-3 when Everett steered an absolute sitter to Perry at gully off Parker, but the fists of iron and fingers of butter struck yet again. Everett took a few overs to find his rhythm, while Williams at the other end started to strike the ball ominously, until he skied one from Fidler to square cover where guest Ash Peckham (who single-handedly reduced the average age of the SoA side by about 20) took a stunning overhead catch with utter nonchalance. 51-3.
This brought Matravers to the wicket and the duo started to build some momentum. Danny Dawson rang the bowling changes, adapting the field cleverly to prevent the batsmen ever genuinely getting away. The booming shots continued however, and the breakthrough was elusive. Milind Adbol, Phil McDuell and the skipper himself bowled teasing spells, but on such a good surface the ball was coming on and the short boundaries gave the batsmen full reward for their strokes. The Somerset batsmen had added 105 when Matravers lofted one deep to James Melhorn who took a well-judged catch, giving Phil McDuell reward for his nagging late in-swing. Wookey came to the wicket and continued the assault, adding 56 with Everett before the latter fell victim to a superb piece of fielding by Adbol, throwing down the stumps from side-on. Boulter snaffled a second run-out to remove Osborne after a handful of ranging shots from behind the stumps, and the home side closed on 225-5 from 43 overs.
A sumptuous tea followed.
Tom Russell and Phil McDuell began the reply. With 20 overs scheduled from 5PM (to give the tourists time to move on to the hotel after the game), the asking rate was around 6 an over, but the openers focused on building a stable base, keeping wickets in hand to let the batsmen accelerate in the later overs. This worked well with the pair building steadily, taking advantage of loose balls to take the score to 67 by 5PM and the start of the last hour.
With 8 an over required, the last thing that SoA needed was to lose both batsmen when well set.
The Somerset men sportingly kept the fielders close as James Melhorn and Tony Hooper started to rebuild. The pair lifted the score to 106 before Melhorn lost his castle to give Salt his second wicket, at which point 120 was still required from the remaining 14 overs. Perry hacked unconvincingly for a few minutes while Hooper did the important work at the other end. 120 to win from 14 became 100 from 12, then 86 from 10 before Perry finally missed a straight ball and limped off leaving 62 to win from 7 overs. Jon Parker and Charles Fidler played aggressive cameos at close to a boundary a ball, keeping the momentum going brilliantly, and Willy Boulter wisely manipulated the strike to give Hooper every chance to accelerate his side towards the Somerset men’s total. Four sixes and two more fours accelerated away from Hooper’s blade, and his brilliant knock sealed a thrilling and famous victory in the golden sunshine. Skilfully skippered and managed by Danny Dawson, everyone played a part in making it a day to remember.
Team batting first: Somerset Stragglers
| No. | Batsman
|
How out | Bowler | Score |
| 1 | M Derben | Ct Boulter | Parker | 19 |
| 2 | A Alexander | LBW | Parker | 1 |
| 3 | H Everett | Run Out (Adbol) | 86 | |
| 4 | L Williams * | Ct Peckham | Fidler | 15 |
| 5 | P Matravers | Ct Melhorn | McDuell | 45 |
| 6 | C Wookey | Not Out | 30 | |
| 7 | B Osborne | Run Out (Boulter) | 2 | |
| 8 | S Burgess | Did Not Bat | ||
| 9 | O Salt | Did Not Bat | ||
| 10 | J Brigers | Did Not Bat | ||
| 11 | I Tier | Did Not Bat | ||
| Extras | 27 | |||
| TOTAL | 225 for 6 Wickets Declared |
Bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| Parker | 12 | 3 | 53 | 2 |
| Fidler | 9 | 0 | 30 | 1 |
| Adbol | 5 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| Dawson | 8 | 2 | 36 | 0 |
| McDuell | 5 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Peckham | 4 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
Team batting second: Stragglers of Asia
| No | Batsman | How Out | Bowler | Score
|
| 1 | T Russell | Bowled | Salt | 49 |
| 2 | Ph McDuell | LBW | Williams | 25 |
| 3 | J Melhorn | Bowled | Salt | 12 |
| 4 | A Hooper | Not Out | 84 | |
| 5 | I Perry | LBW | Burgess | 21 |
| 6 | J Parker | Bowled | Derben | 16 |
| 7 | C Fidler | Ct Brigers | Burgess | 8 |
| 8 | W Boulter + | Bowled | Burgess | 1 |
| 9 | M Adbol | Not Out | 0 | |
| 10 | D Dawson * | |||
| 11 | A Peckham (G) | |||
| Extras | 12 | |||
| TOTAL | 228 for 7 Wickets |
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| Tier | 9 | 3 | 31 | 0 |
| Brigers | 6 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Williams | 3.1 | 1 | 23 | 1 |
| Salt | 5 | 0 | 23 | 2 |
| Burgess | 8 | 0 | 63 | 3 |
| Everett | 3 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Derben | 2 | 0 | 29 | 1 |