Energy Exiles Cricket Club

Match Summary: vs. Barnes Occasionals, Sunday, 20 Aug 2006

Ground: Barn Elms
Captain: Andrew Wingfield
Match type: Timed
Toss: Barnes elected to bat
Weather: Overcast
Opposition: Barnes Occasionals scored: 55 all out (27 overs)
Exiles Score: 199 for 4 from (37 overs)
Result: Won by 144 runs
Man of the match: Simon Gundry 43 no & 4 for 19

A year to the day of one of the most famous victories in Exiles memory, the team returned to Barn Elms Playing fields to take on Barnes Occasionals. The 2005 match and its extraordinary ending have become the stuff of Exiles cricketing legend, and many a veteran of that game has been foaming at the mouth in over excitement when retelling the story to this season's new Exiles recruits of Jeff Hilson's match winning "Six dot dot dot dot Six" batting performance that secured victory in the final over. It seems that it was one of those true "I was there" moments, and no doubt over the forthcoming years, as the story gets passed down the generations the amount of people who will claim they were actually there will mysteriously multiply. For the 2006 encounter, Jeff was not available for selection, perhaps wanting to preserve the sanctity of his match winning achievement, or possibly just to preserve the sanity of the opposition.

However, if the opposition thought that they might be spared such last gasp despair this time around, they clearly hadn't told that to Simon Gundry. In a superb all round display, that while not as dramatic as Jeff's efforts in 2005, was at least as damaging to the opposition. Promoted up the order with the clock ticking, he unleashed a furious onslaught on their bowling that smashed any lingering hope of them keeping the Exiles to a competitive total. Then, coming on 1st change he took 4 wickets, bowling with pace and venom that proved too much for the opposition batsmen. He ended their innings take 2 wickets in successive balls, so will be on a hat trick next time he steams in to bowl. No one on the Exiles side would begrudge him that achievement.

The match started with dark clouds looming, and a pitch that looked as if it would offer help to the bowlers; no danger of the umpires needing to replace the ball here, any movement was absolutely natural. The Exiles captain, fresh from winning a toss last weekend, confidently predicted he would win the toss and put the opposition into bat. With a gleaming smile he strode out to the middle and conducted the toss. A few minutes later he returned with the same sunshine smile and announced that he had lost the toss and been put into bat! With Quentin and Mark falling relatively cheaply, it looked like perhaps it was going to be a difficult pitch to score on, and a low scoring battle was on the cards.

Up stepped Keith to steady the ship, ably supported by Amil. Both struggled at first to get going, but Keith in particular was quick to punish the stray deliveries, and eventually reached a well deserved half century. It also has to be said that they had a charmed life, with chances in the outfield going down with alarming regularity. The old 'catches win matches' adage was never so true, though it could also be said that the cold hands of fate and destiny were coming into play, perhaps aware of the awesome display eventually to be unleashed by Hurricane Gundry. Roberts, with his cricketing brain in full working order, and realising time was running out, started to accelerate the scoring, with his last 32 runs coming from 39 balls and looked set for a well deserved ton when he was smartly taken by the bowler after reaching 78 from 110 balls. The partnership with Amil yielded 89 runs. Their obvious delight was short lived, as it brought Gundry to the crease, with around 30 minutes of the Exiles innings left. His first ball was a dot ball; control it seemed had been restored by the opposition, especially also when Amil fell shortly after for 31, bringing Jasper Searle to the crease, whose efforts so far for the Exiles could be filed under the 'Could do better' when it comes to reviewing the season's efforts. Little did they know what was coming their way.

If Roberts' fine knock was one for the cricketing purists, Gundry's effort was something for the Playstation cricketing purists. It was only a shame that the game was against the clock, as the Exiles ended up facing 37 overs. In the last 10 overs of the Exiles innings, 111 runs were scored; the previous 26 overs had yielded just 88 runs. Who knows what type of carnage he might have caused if the game had been 40 overs? 3 more overs of such sustained hitting would have been too cruel on the opposition. One shot, a mighty 6 lofted over mid off, cleared the scattering Exiles players watching on the sidelines, hit the paving outside the pavilion, then the window, before rolling on seemingly towards the nearby River Thames. It was as good a shot as you're likely to see; not it seems for some of Gundry's team-mates, who in jest, complained he had not hit it hard enough as the pavilion window hadn't been broken. With more time, he might well have had the local glazer working over time fixing the pavilion windows!

After tea and with the skies brightening up over the ground (the dark clouds having moved across South London to gather over the Oval, in more ways than one), the Captain was able to set very aggressive fields from the start, in order to push for victory. At times the fielding positions resembled some of the West Indies set ups from their glory days of the late 70s and 80s, with only Naren out in the deep at fine leg. Otherwise there was a silly mid on and silly mid off, and with everyone else in or close to the slip cordon. It only encouraged the bowlers to ensure that they played to their field, and opening pair Andy and Naren were true to the task. Andy was getting bounce and movement from the pitch, and Naren was his usual wicket to wicket bowling and deceptive variety. The captain resisted the temptation to open the bowling with the batting hero Simon, preferring to keep his rapid fire gun dry for later in the Occasionals innings. It proved to be a wise bit of captaincy.

Andy captured Barnes opening bat through a catch at silly mid off by Jasper. This brought to the crease their number 3 batsman, who amused the fielders with some of his comments, including accusing bowlers of being cruel to old people, of bowling too fast, and exclaiming as another ball whizzed past his flailing willow "Move your feet, git…not you" (as Martin slowly moved in to field the ball)… "me!". This amateur stand up comedy act was brought to an end by Naren, who also quickly accounted for the number 4 batsman leaving the Occasionals reeling at 16 for 4. After this excellent work by the Exiles' opening bowlers, Simon and Martin were brought on. They combined well with Martin taking a smart catch at cover point off Simon's bowling to remove the potentially dangerous number 6. The 20 over countdown was now well under way, but the Exiles did get held up by some staunch resistance by the 6th and 7th wicket partnerships that threatened to give the Occasionals an outside chance of securing an unlikely draw.

Simon and Martin eventually found the way through the defences, bowling the key batsmen, and when the number 8 was very well held by Martin taking a smart return catch from a well struck shot, the victory was in touching distance. Despite the Exiles fielding generally being of a high standard, with Chris Edwards seemingly doing commando rolls when he was called upon to field the ball, a few sharp chances were missed by the keeper and the slip cordon, who at times resembled a synchronized diving team in the very early stages of training when the ball raced off the edge, with the keeper going one way, the slip the other, and the fly slip back the other way. Simon, who was the unfortunate bowler as these nicks went flying by, finally got his reward, with Mark, crouching on his haunches like a frog about to leap from a lily leaf, snaffling a sharp chance in the slips. Simon then clean bowled the last man with the very next ball. The result was the Exiles winning by 144 runs, though only about 7 overs were left.

As a postscript, the team retired to the local public house, where Simon, whose mind was perhaps fogged by the intoxicating feel of being both man of the match and such a convincing victory for the team, was heard to say to a buxom barmaid "What size are your jugs?" Before the future Mrs. Gundry should be too alarmed, this Benny Hill-esque moment was only due to Simon's concern as to how much beer he could fit in a jug to help his team-mates celebrate the win.

Report By: Jasper Searle

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