Entrecasteaux CC vs Demijohns CC, Sunday 8th July 1918, at Entrecasteaux

Match report:A young man comes of age

It is quite a long time since the Demijohns CC last came to Entrecasteaux. The Demijohns are all alumni of St Johns College at Oxford University, they enjoy their cricket and, one assumes from their name, their ale. So it was with great pleasure that we welcomed our visitors on what could only be described as a bisteringly hot day.

Entrecasteaux were invited to bat, which may have been the first suggestion that the Demijohns had a joker in their pack and in this 35 over game only 7 wickets fell over the course of the two innings. There was not much on offer to help the wretched bowlers in the sweltering heat.

It was a slow start with Glen Burrell (41) opening with Yannick Perera (63) and after 12 overs when the first drinks break was taken Entrecasteaux’s score had reached a meagre 32 runs. What Ann Mitchem had slipped into our batsmens tonic will remain her secret, but it worked! On resumption young Yannick Perera took the bull by the horns and smashed the next over for 16 runs. It was infectious as Burrell, likewise affected, gaily took 12 off his next over and suddently the score had exponentially risen to 60.

It didn’t stop there, boundary after boundary, 8 for Perera, including two sixes which  had the old men on the boundary muttering about ‘like a chip off the old block’ and another ‘ nay lad, tis the aud block himself’.  But it wasn’t, it was Yannick. He was finally bowled by Adams (7-0-59-2), a glorious innings and so, so good to see. Burrell was caught behind with a fine tally to his name and Chaminda Perera (52 retired) had entered the fray with a quick fire 8 boundaries before leaving the field for his brother in law Shalana Karunarathnage (24) and Tony Bloom (7 n.o.).

A fine total of 207, with not much to say about the bowling other than that one R.A. Haines (7-1-25-0) had bowled his overs in two spells, the first of which saw the wicket keeper standing up, the second of which saw the same keeper standing half way to the boundary – odd, another indication of a joker?

So it was; Heaton (4) was caught off the bowling of Gregory (7-1-19-2), who also claimed the wicket of Bachelor (7) in similar fashion. Darling (34) was caught off the bowling of Burrell (4-0-36-1), Begg (11) fell to the bowling of Hewa (6-0-42-1) and Adams (10 n.o) and thats about it.

Hang on a minute, that definitely doesn’t add up tp 208, even with the reliable 27 extras. Aha, the joker, we cannot forget the joker, and guess what?……….yes you’ve got it, another bloomin Kiwi, but this time he was playing for the opposition and his name is R.A. Haines. Today he made 115, carried his bat, hit the boundary rope 17 times including 3 maximums and it was all so unfussy. He played exquisitely, which if you look it up means he played ‘in an extremely beautiful and delicate manner’. It was a pleasure to witness – on further research I found one R.A. Haines playing in the 50:50 Varsity match at Lords, had gone into bat at number 9 in the 31st over, with another 95 required for the dark blues to win, he duly obliged with an unbeaten 61. So he’s no slouch. It has yours truly praying that our very own Kiwi will return to duty PDQ.

So the Demijohns won by 6 wickets, an excellent and delicious lunch from Ann Mitchem, you are a star, thank you so much. The umpires Maurice Mitchem and Mike Lomax were unperturbed, some decent batting from Haines, some good bowling from Gregory but for yours truly the day belongs to Yannick Perera, today we witnessed a young man come of age – well done.

Entrecasteaux XI : Chaminda Perera, Yannick Perera, Glen Burrell, Shalana Karunarathnage, Tony Bloom, Sahan Hewa, Ed Harland, Clifford Gregory,Max Harland, Sam Grepne, JJ Bloom

Umpires: Maurice Mitchem, Mike Lomax

24 août 2018Permalink