Club Statistics
Match Summary: vs. Agricola, Sunday, 19 May 2013
Ground: Cottenham Park
Captain: John Tither
Match type: 40 overs
Toss: Exiles elected to bowl
Weather: Cloudy, occasional sun
Opposition: Agricola scored: 235 for 4 (40 overs)
Exiles Score: 235 for 5 (40 overs)
Result: Match Tied
Man of the match: John Tither 140 runs
| Batsmen | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Bradshaw | run out | 67 | 103 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | John Tither (C) | b. | 140 | 119 | 12 | 7 |
| 3 | Will Clephane | b. | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Simon Gundry | ct. | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Andrew Wingfield | b. | 11 | 13 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Marcin Zieleniewski | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Barry Whiteman | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Will Kent | dnb | ||||
| 9 | Chris Plume | dnb | ||||
| 10 | Jonny Aloysius | dnb | ||||
| 11 | Phil Ling | dnb | ||||
| Extra(s) 1nb 7w 2b 5lb | 15 | |||||
| 235 | 241 | |||||
| Bowler | O | M | R | W | Avg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Wingfield | 8.0 | 1 | 39 | 1 | 39 |
| 2 | Marcin Zieleniewski | 6.0 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Simon Gundry | 8.0 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 40 |
| 4 | Phil Ling | 8.0 | 0 | 36 | 2 | 18 |
| 5 | Jonny Aloysius | 7.0 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Chris Plume | 3.0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | Catch | Run Out | Stumping | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Plume | 2 | |||
| Will Kent (W) | 1 |
Exiles tie Agricola thriller
A nail-biting contest ended in dramatic fashion as the game reached a last-gasp tie between the Exiles and visitors Agricola.
At the pleasant environs of Cottenham Park, skipper John Tither won the toss and elected to bowl. The Exiles took to the field initially a man light, with Wil Kent AWOL due to some dodgy directions from the TfL journey planner. Chris Plume donned the gloves (kindly loaned by Agricola) for the first 20 overs.
Exiles bowled well in the first 20 overs largely without reward, apart from a solitary LBW for Simon Gundry. He and Andy Wingfield, bowling with the benefit of the slope, bowled better than their end figures of 1-40 and 1-39 respectively suggest, as did Marcin, who coped manfully with bowling up the hill.
After Justin Lamprecht departed for a typically belligerent fifty off the bowling of Phil Ling (Plume pouching a skier at cow corner), Agricola stepped up several gears, with their middle order duo of Rob and Aidan capitalising on some generous bowling and fielding to hammer over one hundred off the last ten overs, with both batsmen recording half centuries. Ling’s figures were the pick of the bowlers, returning 2-36 from his 8 overs, and Agricola ended with a score of 235 from their 40 overs.
6 an over would, in normal circumstances, constitute a demanding chase for the Exiles but such was the conditions – a decent batting wicket with short straight boundaries at both ends – that, with a platform, 236 was gettable. Tither promoted himself to open alongside Mark Bradshaw, and the pair started diligently, milking the Agricola opening bowlers for 40 off the opening 10 overs. Tither was beginning to feel discomfort from a sore left hip, but it didn’t seem to impede his batting; He then launched a systematic assault on the Agricola change bowlers, which included a number of straight sixes into Cambridge Road. He cruised past fifty, as Agricola heads began to drop, and continued to plunder the bowling, accelerating to a superb hundred (but not before giving everyone on the boundary a heart attack, when, on 98, he chipped to mid-wicket but luckily a straightforward chance was put down), his first for the Exiles and the club’s first century since 2006.
Ably supported by Bradshaw, who intelligently rotated the strike and cut and drove efficiently, their partnership surpassed the club record and then the 200 mark, with Bradshaw bringing up his first half century of the season. When Tither was finally bowled in Aidan’s last over for 140 off 119 balls (12 fours, 7 maximums), another club record was broken, this time for an individual highest score. Bradshaw continued, however wickets then began to fall more quickly, with Bradshaw himself run out by the tightest of margins after hesitating for a second run. The required rate dipped below a run a ball, and yet a combination of tight bowling and some injudicious shots meant number 7 Barry Whiteman came in for the final ball requiring 2 runs for victory. His flick to midwicket was athletically stopped by Simon Roberts, and a scampered single resulted in a tie.
A superb match for the neutrals, that ebbed and flowed throughout, a tie will regardless for most Exiles feel akin to a defeat after the heroics of Tither and Bradshaw. Nonetheless credit must go to the Agricola bowlers for some tight death overs. The re-match in July at Chiswick is already awaited with great anticipation.
Report By: Chris Plume
Captains log: John Tither
On May 19 2013, Captain John Tither scored a club-record 140 runs - off 119 balls - in a tied thriller against Agricola, with his century off 98 balls.
His century - the 5th in club history - usurped the efforts of Jon Taylor who hit 131 against Brixton Casuals on 20 July 2003.
His partnership of 212 with Mark Bradshaw (67) also broke the club record for the highest ever partnership - for any wicket - beating the 171 between Bradshaw (84*) and Keith Roberts (61*) against Haud Magnum on 15 May 2005.
The Exiles website caught up with the clubs' inspirational captain for a few words:
John, very well played, you must've been delighted to finally get your first Exiles century - especially after a couple of dramatic near-misses*?
I was starting to fear I wouldn’t get into 3 figures for the Exiles and the near misses were starting to rack up in an almost comedy fashion. A 6 was converted to a 4 by the umpire 3 overs after the shot was played and also being half congratulated only for the count back to show 2 runs short last season. I was very determined to get at least one more hundred before I get too old and frail. I can honestly say it was worth the wait and doing it against one of Exiles most friendly but also most fiercely competitive rivals was good.
When was your last century? And do you know roughly how many you've scored in your career?
From memory it was 1995 and to show how long ago that was I checked the No1 singles for that summer. Robson & Jerome were number one for 7 weeks with a double a-side including (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover (do itunes do double a-sides?). I even had hair although I know I will have to provide some photographic evidence to convince some. I think I scored 2 centuries the previous summer so this innings is my 4th and by far the highest.
With Exiles chasing such a big target, you really seemed to step up to the plate?
I wasn’t really in any form and aside from a very small hit the week before hadn’t held a bat since last season. But I decided in the field to take responsibility if the opposition got to 200 I would open the batting and try my best to chase down their total, which nearly worked!!!
A few words for Mark Bradshaw, who's innings of 67 seemed to provide the perfect foil for you in your record partnership?
Firstly it is great to have Mark back at the club and equally good that he has come back and started to score runs from the off. Batting with Mark just meant I didn’t have any worries or concerns on what was going on at the other end, I trusted him to get on with his job which he did exceptionally well and I got on trying to do what I wanted to do in chasing down the large total and we were right on track throughout our innings. I have been involved in at least one 200 partnership before but think this was highest. It is also good that some of the club records that have been in existence for some time are being broken which demonstrates Exiles cricket is still vibrant and we are moving forward collectively as a team.
But, despite your record-breaking antics, the must be some disappointment at the teams inability to quite get over the winning line?
I have absolutely no disappointment in the team as a whole. We went for a few runs in the field which was expected bowling at such a strong batting line up. We then chased down almost 6 an over in 40 overs, my disappointment is that I didn’t stay in to finish the job. It is an unfair expectation on the batsmen who have been sat around for 2 hours to come in and immediately score at 6 or 7 an over. I should have finished the job!!
Thoughts for the rest of the season?
We’ve had 3 games and 3 results Win, Loose and tie. Hopefully more of the wins to come with the entertainment factor of the tie, 470 runs on a Sunday isn’t bad.
John, many thanks for your time, and we're looking forward to seeing plenty more runs from you this season!"
* John made 98 against Surbiton Imperials in 2007 and 98no against Old Rutlishians in 2012.
Interviewed By: Exiles Website