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Result - Lord Carnarvon's XI

Sun Jun 19th Grannies win by 4 wkts!

Match report

EoC 111 All Out
E Brennan 3/8
J Staniforth 2/14
A Hill 2/21

Grannies 113-6
T Sykes 34
S Baldey 33
E Brennan 14*
J Brierley 12*

On an overcast mid-summers day the Grannies arrived in drips and drabs in various states of dishevelment after the 60th Celebrations the night before.
When we took to the field with 9 hopes of containing a youthful Earl of Carnarvon�s X1 seemed distant and chasing anything below 250 would have seemed a respectable outcome. At 29 for no wicket and the batsmen starting a pace even this outcome seemed unlikely. Stanners had started nicely although when a half volley was sent back whistling past his ears the scorers had likely already recorded the boundary. However the captain with glazed eyes stood at mid off suddenly alerted to impending danger flung out a hand to bag a decent catch. This action seemed to clear a few hangovers and galvanize the team. Shiv Haria-Shah making his Grannies debut(I believe) bowled with good pace and accuracy from the other end steming the flow of EoC runs. This pressure was continued when Hillers entered the attack and as a result wickets fell at regular intervals. Through such consistency from A Hill and E Brennan were many chances created and by lunch the EoC were ninety odd for six with the Earl walking to the crease.
After lunch the EoC tail was wrapped up with little difficulty although not without event. As we all know there is never 2 to an electric Scottie in the outfield and another wonderful piece of fielding had their number 9 wishing he had never turned for the second run. In stark contrast to the brilliance witnessed only minutes earlier Scottie was again involved in batting indecision. In he whistled again to prevent the single and with a one handed pick up decided run down the stumps rather than throw. What he had not bargained was that Mike F like a newly selected Tight End from the NFL draft had other ideas and managed to take Scotty out before reaching the stumps � cue hysteria among all players. We finally picked up the final wicket in the following over and barring the comical end this was the best bowling/fielding display I had witnessed by the Grannies � the EoC reduced to 111 all out in 43.2 overs.
In reply the Grannies started quickly with S Baldey crashing the first ball off the innings to the boundary. This theme continued as Baldey and Sykes made easy work of the EoC attack. So much so that at 65 for no wicket the Grannies number 7 on was already showered and changed and all were looking forward to the legendary EoC tea. When tea finally arrived circumstances had changed dramatically with Grannies putting on a further 20 runs for the loss of 6 wickets!(86-6!) At this point the drizzle started come down and Brierley and Brennan were left wondering where the final 25 runs would come from. Such was the tension that neither managed to enjoy the tea and survived with a glass of water and cigarette.
Should we have worried in good old grannies fashion� of course not as Ed played some beautiful shots and the runs were knocked off with remarkable ease. A good victory against a strong EoC team. Thanks to all who played and I look forward to this great fixture next year.

Match info



Location
Highclere Castle,
Newbury,
RG20 9RN