Sun Jul 13th Grannies 185 for 7 .Parham 165 for 9 .Match drawn
Players
Match report
On a warm ,sunny July day, the backdrop to our fixture was the Parham Garden Festival which provided the perfect backdrop to countryhouse cricket and opportunity for the supporting Granny families to temporarily divert their attention from watching their ever loving husbands and fathers being transformed from hero to zero and vice versa!
We had 3 members of one Granny family playing in the sveltlike shapes of George Laurence ,his 11 year old son ,Eddie and his antipodean son-in-law ,Cameron Green.As you can imagine the compulsory pre match fielding practice ensued with Eddie proving to be a chip off the old block with his athleticism and bubbly enthusiasm for the lovely game.Watch out for a future Colin Bland!
We lost the toss and were inserted on the pretext that they had a superior bowling side ,which transpired to be broadly true .Rob Cranston and his chum ,Ollie Glas(candidate)got us off to good start before Rob's patience got the better of him, whilst Ollie went on to make a great 41.He wsa followed by a breezy 34 from Martin Emmison's son-in-law, Richard Glover. There was then a clatter of wickets but not before Stanners had clouted their opening bowler straight back over his head for 6 and a ship steadying 39 from skipper "Draff" and stout defense from Fernie.After 41 overs our time was up at 186 for 7 to tuck into a delicious Parham tea.
Parham made a slow start due to some tight bowling from Stanners and Richard Glover whose military medium earnt him a wicket and an excellent catch in the deep.This put Parham behind the clock which enabled us to bring on 4 spinners ( Emmison,Fernie, Wynne and Glass) into the attack with Ollie Glass proving to be the most devastating with 6 for 42 and bringing the Grannies to within a whisker of winning .Unlike last year ,when we won on the last ball,we couldn't quite winkle out their last man ,leaving Praham 20 short of our target after 39 overs.As ever it was a hugely enjoyable and exciting day's countryhouse cricket with everyone participating on and off the field and family picnics gracing the boundary.
Match info
Location
The Parham Estate,
Storrington