Fri Jul 23rd Bluemantles win by 5 wickets
Photo gallery
Players
Match report
How does a Granny bat for lunch?
On a beautiful day for cricket at the Nevill county ground in Tunbridge Wells the Grannies put out a strong side of experience, youth and commitment ready to beat the Bluemantles. Particular note goes to the Chairman who led from the front on commitment admirably flying into Gatwick from Delhi at 7am to be fuelled by a Warner family breakfast at 9.30am, to take the cricket field by 11am.
The toss won, the Grannies went into bat and made a solid start racing to 102 for 2 with some glorious shot making from James Caldwell who brought up his half century (53) coupled with the unorthodox �stoke play� of Tom Hamblin (25). With 15 minutes to go before lunch the plan was to knuckle down before the break and begin to hit out after the interval with wickets and time in hand. Unfortunately this message did not appear to reach the middle and the Grannies slipped from 102 for 2 to 118 for 7 involving 5 ducks and a Bluemantles hat trick (as part of a 6 fer from young Granny, James Sibree - tsk) before lunch was eventually called.
Lunch was particularly uncomfortable as conversations around the �minefield� of a track rarely occur in the Nevill pavilion, instead the stands seated spectators reminiscing about double hundreds, 400 run chases and the �77 Mouton Rothschild. Grannies heads were kept low as everyone including the skipper rued the missed opportunity to score any runs.
However, all was not lost and in true Grannies style the team regrouped after lunch and having called for the sensible head and straight bat of Nigel Draffan and the 15 yr old Toby Marriott (drafted in from Eastbourne that morning) the Grannies reached 157 all out.
The Grannies took to the field knowing that only the best bowling was required to beat the Bluemantles. Unfortunately this did not materialise early on however with the steady arms of Charlie Walford and James Caldwell wickets did start to tumble with some excellent catches being taken in the field, two in particular from Tom Hamblin and one from a very steady Ben Yeates.
Five Bluemantles wickets restored some pride for the Grannies but the result never really looked in doubt as the Bluemantles secured their victory by five wickets.
The Grannies will be back next year bigger, better and more focused on reaching lunch...
Match info
Widely acknowledged as one of the most picturesque grounds in the country, the Nevill is a marvellous place to play cricket.
The Grannies side of 2010 will be looking to repeat the heroics of the 2008 win. The cricket will be strong, the weather fine, the pitch immaculate - a wonderful excuse to take a day off work.
Come and join a fun Grannies day
Location
The Nevill Cricket Ground,
Nevill Gate,
Warwick Park,
Tunbridge Wells,
TN2 5ES