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Result - Royal Household

Sun Sep 5th Royal Household win by plenty.

Match report

As we set off for Frogmore, somehow it seemed we might not have it all our own way as we had the last time we were there, in '19; avenging a significant defeat might just be in their thinking. And so it turned out - though it was not nearly as bad as the bare figures suggest (a phrase I have taken from earlier Grannies match reports...).
The RH having won the toss batted, opening up with a South African pro (recently the coach for the Welsh Fire ladies) and an equally competent partner. Our opening attack, of Ed Gross and Tom Gibbs, was accurate and demanding, and aided by excellent fielding kept it tight, a state of affairs which persisted when Ben Hope took over from TG, and after 16 overs they had only 74 on the board. From there, though, in scorching heat they stepped up the tempo, and despite a fine spell by Adam Hill, of 7-0-37-0, when they were kicking on, their score climbed to 231 in the 40th over, the only wicket of the innings falling to EG, in a second spell which his highly skilled 'charging in' had demanded, off the final ball of the innings, before tea and the declaration. Special mention should be made of the figures of... EG - 10-0-44-1; TG 5-0-22-0 (probably should have had a second spell too, though his relentless running around in the field, and diving, unusually feet first, might have tested his stamina); and BH 6-0-25-0. Churlish too not to acclaim the very capable opening bats who finished on 106 and 107* respectively.
The feeling then was that 232 was gettable, though it might just depend on how good their bowlers were. Well the fact of the matter was that they were more than handy, particularly an opening quickie and a leggie who came on first change.
That said, our start was comparable with theirs, Hector Don (7 off 40) and Ben Hope (15 off 45) calmly seeing the shine off and Sam Northcote-Green (28 off 36) stepping up the pace, and in the 18th over we were 54 for 1 and apparently 'on our way'. Unhappily that was as good as it got, and within a trice we were all out for 73, two celebrated Grannies batters both having perished for 0.
As ever the Household's famed hospitality was hugely enjoyed both by the players and travelling support (as numerous as ever) alike, and we feel hugely privileged to be regulars on their fixture card.

Match info



Location
Frogmore,
Windsor Castle