East Meon v Shirrell Heath on Sunday 6 June 2021 (Match Drawn)
Man Of The Match: Jimmy – another ton!
Champagne Moment: Jimmy – amazing catch
Teddy Bear Moment: Tim C and Willy – couple of plonkers
On Sunday we welcomed our old friends from along the valley in Shirell Heath to the Village (Shirrell Heath, the artist formerly known as IBM)
The Meon batting spearheaded by your author and Mr Davis. The conditions were grey and muggy, rain was in the forecast. From the bottom end they opened with a young lad who, with the afore mentioned climactic advantageous conditions, was getting the ball to swing a mile. Too much it proved for your author who shouldered arms to one that started way outside the line but took the top of off, back to the hutch without adding to the score. Mark survived a wee bit longer before offering up some catching practice to the slips, out for 12.
If we ignore Frensham, Jimmy has been in a rich vein of form with the willow and so it proved again. Others came and went, Captaincy and batting do not seem to mix for our Willy, bowled by a full bunger for 7. Tim Clay looked solid briefly, departed for 5. Ian didn’t trouble the scoring. Adam spooned a few up to the fielders and was lucky to make it to 3 before getting bowled. Henry went for 3, Tim Lawrence 5 and finally Sticko came in and bludgeoned a fine 12. Meanwhile at the other end Jimmy nonchalantly went about his usual business, racking up 113 runs for only one half chance, a performance that inevitably won him man of the match.
Meon finished on 187.
Knowing the oppo batted deep we knew it would take a monumental effort to get them all out. We set about that task with Henry down the hill and Josh coming up. Josh was rewarded with a wicket maiden in his opening over but Mr Smith went after them both. Eventually Josh won the battle when Mr Smith spooned one up to your author in the covers, Josh eventually taking three of their top order. It was not looking like it would be Henry’s day until eventually he got the edge and Jimmy took an amazing diving catch down low at first slip, for which he was awarded the Champagne Moment. Willy and Tim Clay (behind the stumps) collaborated in a special teddy bear moment when the ball was spooned up for the easiest of catches for ONE of them, inevitably TWO of them went for it and no catch was taken. Mark came on and bowled a lovely line from the bottom end and was rewarded with a wicket, Willy went for just 3 off four overs but couldn’t prise a wicket and it was lovely to see Adam take his first
wicket for the village. By now we were well into the 20 overs and a draw was looking the most likely outcome. Sticko and Tim Lawrence had a go and bowled tidy overs but to no avail. Jimmy came on and bowled three maidens but still no wickets. Eventually we turned back to Henry and were rewarded when he got a couple of LBWs. A few overs left and a few wickets still required, could the Meon do it? Well the answer was no. But a fine contest and a lovely way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon, that rain never materialised.Willy remains an unbeaten Skipper for the village, although, and he’ll probably hate me for writing this, he is rather in debt to his darling brother for that one. But as you know they are one big happy Atko family, no competitiveness at all in that relationship (winky face emoji).
May Apollo, Helios, Freyr and Ra continue to shine on our beloved part of the world and may Millichamp, Hall, Gunn, Moore, Gray and Nicolls continue to bless us with their sporting prowess (not that your author has much experience of that this season (grumpy face emoji)).
Onwards and upwards, next stop CYPOS.
A Close Run Thing – East Meon v Twelvth Men
Moisture, rain, precipitation and drizzle. The past week we recorded a whopping 10ml of rain after a drought lasting 56 days. This had put a small smile back on the farmers faces but also changed the pitch somewhat at the Rec.
Oliver and Andrew took to the square, eager eyes on what this pitch would do. They had some useful bowlers, notably Gurshant who made the pitch talk with a bit of pace and balls whistling through. The 2 openers survived a couple of dolly drops early on and we looked good with 30 on the board before Andrew went after one, edging for 14. Oliver then followed after what would turn out to be an important 28. Unfortunately the top order isn’t yet firing on all cylinders and both Hollis and I went with little to add to the board. Father Atkinson also didn’t trouble the runs section and all of a sudden at 56-5 EMCC were in trouble.
With under performances in the top order brings opportunities to the lower order and everyone really dug in. For a captain, it was a pleasure to see the score slowly climb to our new target of 120 to ‘give us a chance’. Mooro played another sensible innings, Ian, Nick and Henry all contributed with teens and left Rupert and Bunny to excel our score beyond our target with 136 to finish. Although a pleasure to watch, it was somewhat tense when the running between the wickets was quite like it was. Maybe a quick tutorial of “yes” and “No” is needed.
At tea we felt like we had a chance. A good bowling attack and a pitch doing something although drying out quickly. Rupert enjoyed the pitch with some good climb and didn’t take long to take his first wicket. The start was so important, we had them 2-2. A partnership did develop but with tight bowling and some committed fielding including a good scoop from Andrew meant they weren’t getting away from us. Gurshant came in wearing his golf visor, carted the first ball back over Henry’s head for 4. He didn’t hang about in accelerating the total. Any chance to free his arms it went to the boundary but we held our nerve and eventually rewarded for the effort. We thought now with still 80 runs to get and 4 wickets down we were back in contention. The new man in had an old fashioned Gray Nicolls Scoop with an extended handle and extra heavy in weight. It looked normal on him being about 6ft 5 and 18 stone of muscle I suspect. He batted as was expected, touching the ball over the boundary rope with ease. His batting partner quietly went about his business rotating the strike, the score was climbing and as drinks came, EMCC needed to break the partnership and their opposition had plenty of time to knock off the remains 50 runs. After the break I bowled at the big fella, one over I got tonked 4, 4, 6, but I felt unrewarded as Andrew dropped an edge at slip. I’m still yet to work out who to field at first slip! The breakthrough was made with a low full bunger which was top edged and well held at fine leg from Henry, thank you! Was this too late, they needed only 30. Bunny took a bit of tap, pace off seemed easy for the big guy. It was time to play my joker. Oliver who isn’t quite sure what he bowls anymore, it seems either a grenade style moon ball or a pretty pacy straight one. It does seem to be doing the trick and was rewarded for his efforts. Henry came back on but with the big man still in, the end was in sight. Henry said no, no, no. Not today my friend. He scuttled in and clean bowled him. Now the tables turned, an excitement around the camp. Go for the jugular, pull off a win that was never meant to be. Henry bowled with continued pace and found the edge, caught by Moor diving to his right, a couple of inches off the ground in the webbing of his glove. With only 20 to get, if it had gone for 4 we were in trouble. Now we needed 2 wickets and Henry found another straight one. Now only one wicket and Henry on 4 wickets, 1 away from a well deserved Baggy Green. He had 2 balls to do it. Agonisingly they were blocked and it was left to Oliver. Knowing the team comes first before personal achievements he took no time to bowl the last batsman. Just like that, the game was won and EMCC had pulled off the great escape.
Special mentions to the lower order who made the crucial runs and to everyone in the field who stuck at it. Hell of a game.
William Atkinson, The Captain, East Meon Cricket Club
East Meon Thrash Clanfield by 100+ runs 25th April
Man Of The Match: James Atkinson – sublime innings
Champagne Moment: Lakh Jemmet – bowling
Teddy Bear Moment: Ali Hales – fielding
Full Match Report: For me the best thing about Christmas is the anticipation. When I was younger it was thinking about the presents under the tree, now it’s more about knowing you’ve a few days off work, with licence to eat and drink ones fill. The presents don’t matter so much, other than the pleasure you get from seeing your own childhood excitement now reflected in the faces of your own children. In fact, Christmas Day itself is generally pretty rubbish. The pressure on everyone to relax and enjoy it becomes too much and generally something gives, mostly tempers. Arguments abound over what to watch, frustrations are felt at another sock/tie combo, someone drinks too much, the food gets forgotten at the critical moment, and the joyful day descends in to one of petty recriminations and a longing for Boxing Day to hurry the flip up. So it was on Sunday. My first game since September, a mammoth seven month wait, with just one rusty net in-between. I was up at 5am, desperate to squeeze
the presents under the tree. I shouldn’t have bothered.We lost the toss and Jimmy, standing in for Will, having persuaded Clanfield to play a Time game for once, gracefully accepted the offer to bat first. Boomer Stokes Hales and Mark Stella Davis took to the crease. Boomer’s stay was surprisingly short, as was Timmy’s, who edged to slip first ball. Merry Christmas, Timmy. Fair to say that Timbo was not full of seasonal good cheer when he returned to the hutch. Never mind, with Jimmy in at four he and Mark moved the score gracefully along. However, although it was Jimmy who did the lion’s share of the scoring, the focus for us watching was on Mark who scored thirteen consecutive singles to get himself up and running. It was gripping stuff.
It couldn’t last, of course, and he departed for a decent twenty something to be replaced by Jeff, who alas, gave catching practice to the keeper. In went I. Block. Block. LBW shout. Block. Down the leg-side. Out. Happy Christmas to me too. Stupid game. In went Lakh, who I thought looked rather good, before he didn’t, and then in went Sticko. Jimmy continued to hold everything together, batting beautifully and sensibly. He bought up us his ton, and, when Sticko was out we had reached 200-8 and Jimmy decided enough was enough and declared, giving us an extra ten minutes to bowl at Clanfield. The joy of a time game.
Rupert and Slatman opened the bowling both found excellent rhythm, and, to be honest, Clanfield were never in it. Jimmy took a nice catch to dismiss one opener off Rupe, their number three lasted as long as Timmy had, and Henry got reward as well, a late Christmas present to Timbo behind the stumps to make his day. Three down for not much. Sticko and Josh replaced Henry and Rupe. Both looked good, Josh in particular, who bowled two and had another caught behind by Timmy. Clanfield were six down for spit. We were looking a strong team, a marked improvement on last week, save for the contribution of Boomer Hales, who needs to invest in some Velcro boots.
Anyway, my Christmas lunch had been a disappointment, but now it was time for presents. On I came to bowl. Bradders took a particular liking to the gifts I had brought and drove me relentlessly through the covers for four. It was so bad I resorted to the Christmas cracker joke that is my spunk ball. Surprisingly it almost worked, twice. Once when Sticko showed tremendous cowardice at mid-on and refused to risk his teeth by diving forward, but mostly when the spunk ball drew a loopy cut shot to Mark at point. It’s on a par with Jeff’s drop at Queen Camel. I’ll leave it there. My spell finished wicketless and I joined the Bob Marley club.
However, for Lako the story was different as all his Christmasses came at once. A magnificent spell that saw him claim the last four Clanfield wickets for not much, the best being one that drew Bradders down the pitch, only to dip wonderfully under his bat and bowl him. With Bradders departure it was only a matter of time before the win was wrapped up the win, duly delivered by Lako an over or so later, a stumping to Tim.
Roll on New Years.
SM
Administration, East Meon Cricket Club
First Match 2020!
East Meon v Petersfield on Sunday 18 April 2021 (Match Drawn)
Result: Match Drawn
Man Of The Match: Jimmy – top batting
Champagne Moment: Tim Lawrence batting at the end
Teddy Bear Moment: Jimmy’s impression of a croquet hoop at slip
Full Match Report: The first game of the season. The sun shone, the ground was hard, the outfield looked ready for some outdoor billiards and eleven of us looked forwards to kicking off the summer and shrugging the winter gloom and dark away. And whilst we wandered around the outfield before the match, each of us secretly dreaming of great feats and deeds of derring do our new captain advanced to the middle lost the toss and we found ourselves in the field.
On paper we looked a stronger batting side than bowling side, and certainly while Petersfield batted there was nothing to contradict that view.
Sticko and Warren opened the bowling, whilst they didn’t always look like taking a wicket, for a first bowl of the season things were kept reasonably tidy with only the odd loose ball. Petersfield’s openers looked pretty solid and composed, and soon had 50 on the board within 9 overs, Warren finding the edge on one occasion which trickled to the boundary for four and having a big shout for caught behind (including some excitement from behind the stumps from C Moor who is not always that forthright in the support he gives his bowlers) turned down.
Having given his openers 5 overs each it was time for a double change, with the skipper bringing himself on with immediate success, a full fast straight ball rattling the stumps (followed by a disgraceful celebration that were he not the captain would probably have had him up in front of the committee facing charges of bring the club into disrepute). From the other end, his elder brother, perhaps unaccustomed to bowling at batsman one and three, did not look particularly threatening and it was left to the skipper in his second over to bowl the other opener for a well struck 45, 61-2.
Will rotated his bowlers with limited effect. Dave Rees came on and bowled tidily without really threatening, Hollis came on, and in his first over immediately had the batsman in two minds, unsure as he was whether to hit him for six or four (in the end he chose two of one and one of the other); and with the 50 partnership coming up it was going to take something ‘special’ to find a break through. And so it came to pass. Rees bowled a long hop, their batsman pulled it violently through mid-wicket, where James failed to take a blinding catch, but did enough to allow the ball to trickle out to Oli on the boundary whose quick throw was fired back to Chris Moor behind the stumps to complete a simple run out with the batsman failing to make his second run by yards. Not quite Roy and Buttler in 2019 but not far off.
A Wheeler replaced Hollis and charged in searching for the glory of days of yore but managed only to ‘do his groin’ on the penultimate ball of his third over, at which point he announced he’d finish his over before walking to the wicket, bowling a ball so straight and slow you’d have been forgiven for thinking Bash was playing and having their number 5 plumb in front. It was to be Ali’s last contribution to the match and he was replaced by our 12th Man Tim Lawrence, who jumped at the chance to have a field and impress us in his skinny jeans.
More runs were scored. More wickets fell, more bowlers had a go, Oli Atkinson picked up a wicket with his fast straight ball, but could have had success with his two moon balls, both of which were heaved without much success into spaces in the field, Bunny picked up his first wicket of the summer and their captain decided he’d had enough and retired on 76. Will came back for a final spell and watched his older brother at slip impersonate a croquet hoop as the ball flew through his legs at a nice catching height for four runs.
225-8 at tea. An OK performance by the Meon – no one bowled terribly, the skipper bowled well, the fielding was OK and we looked at the scoreboard, thought it was quite a lot of runs, but as had been discussed we looked a stronger batting unit than bowling, so all things being equal things were pretty evenly matched.
Hmmm.
Oli and AdeL opened the batting; with a new ball in hand, their opening attack seemed to have a yard (or two) of pace on our bowlers and found plenty of swing where we had not. Batting was not easy, it was Einstein who said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result; and had Will read the match report from 2019 when he captained us against Petersfield and found us at 2-4 the batting order may have looked a little different; however, that was in the past, and this was the future and although the score may not have read 2-4 it did soon read about 50-5 as first Oli departed bowled playing across the line for 9, T Clay bowled for 9 less, AdeL bowled for 13, the skipper dragging on 98 short of what would surely have been a splendid hundred and Hollis bowled through the gate for 6.
Suddenly 225 looked a long way away and a different strategy was going to be needed. C Moor isn’t the first person you’d choose to bat sensibly and sell his wicket dearly – but bat sensibly he did, blunting their attack for nine overs or so until he was finally prized out LBW for 14, James Atkinson meanwhile seemed to be wondering what all the fuss was about as he batted beautifully, rock solid in defence and powerful in attack.
But with the wicket of Moor falling with 14 overs still to see out there was still work to do. Two wickets fell in the next over, Stickland and Rees deciding they didn’t see the point in a draw and both departing for well-earned bobs, and with the score at about 100-8 there was still much to do to secure the draw. But Tim Lawrence, who thankfully had gone home to get some whites, batted solidly and sensibly with Jimmy to see out the draw, looking very solid in his defence, although perhaps less so in his running, and so it was the East Meon ended on 141-8 with James a very solid 84 not out.
A draw, a losing draw even, but the unexpected draw is often the sweetest especially when it seemed losing was a certainty. They were a strong side, who bowled and fielded well and hard all afternoon – I think our ‘batsman’ will feel they could have sold their wickets a little more dearly – but overall a fair result and one that could have easily been much worse. And very much proof, if proof is needed, why a timed game is so much more fun than limited overs.
A great start to the season, an excellent pitch, 9 of the 18 wickets may have been bowled, but the pitch was faultless in them all so well done Bunny. Plenty of sunshine, a brand new scoreboard and a lovely start to the season.
Administration, East Meon Cricket Club
2020 Report – and Meon Matters first blog!
Dear Villagers
Sadly we couldn’t all get together this year for a proper discussion and dissection of the season just passed.
However, James and I met up “virtually” and had a little chat, with a little help from some friends, and put this together.
Hopefully you’ll be able to download and enjoy our ramblings.
https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-exrtr-f3dc72
We will send the full results and averages out in a couple of days. In the meantime, winter well, everyone.
Thanks!
Sam Meyer, The Hon Secretary, East Meon Cricket Club
The Club
Cricket in East Meon is almost as old as the game itself. There is reference to a match in 1796 between a combined East Meon and Petersfield side and a combined Hambledon and Portsmouth side.
Where cricket was played in the village in the 18th and 19th centuries, and how enduring it was, is not known, but it was clearly thriving at the end of the 19th century when in 1894 the Charity Commission approved a scheme for the exchange of a fuel and field garden allotment on Oxenbourn Down for the present cricket ground on land then known as Pill Meadow.
The scheme laid down some quite demanding rules, including: “(7) Persons of known profligate character, intoxicated persons, and beggars shall be excluded from the Ground.” Whether this proved unduly inhibiting to the raising of a side, or whether other considerations came into play, is not known, but in 1958 a new scheme made the Parish Council trustees of the ground under byelaws that were rather less stringent.
This is the arrangement that prevails today. The cricket played on the ground today is traditional village cricket — not league, not limited overs (except for evening games) — against other villages and visiting sides of various sorts.
The playing membership is almost entirely from the village — quite unusually these days. The standard of cricket is remarkably high, and this has been encouraged by a pitch that has been transformed in recent years from a rough and rustic track to a sound playing surface.
This has been achieved through a huge commitment of time and effort by those involved (principally Richard Dampney). There is — infusing everything that is done before, during and after games — a great sense of fun and camaraderie. The club is supported by an array of Vice-Presidents. It is an institution of which East Meon can be proud.
The Izaak Lions are a pub cricket team belonging to the Izaak Walton Pub. They use East Meon pitch for their home matches.
The Cricket Club is an English village affair, with its teams rooted firmly in East Meon.
Its ground is attractively located at the South East of the village.
Needle matches are those against nearby villages, particularly Steep and West Meon. Social events include games against the President’s XI, captained by Bill Tyrwhitt-Drake, the Court House XI, with George and Clare Bartlett entertaining both teams to supper at the Court House after the match, and regular visitors Captain Scott’s XI.
Teas are provided by the players.
Players repair to the Izaak after games for refreshments.
Nets are every Wednesday from 6.00pm to 8.30pm during the summer season.