Bravely the delegation from Ivanhoe proceeded to the outskirts of Amersham to take on Haddenham, in a fixture that is new to the rota – but will surely become a regular fixture.

Sometimes a game of cricket can be determined by a moment of luck, outrageous skill or the weather…this game certainly had all of these elements! Luck (bad for Ives) in losing the toss and being put into bat on a brown and damp pitch, outrageous skill in Rich receiving another candidate for ball of the season to be bowled comprehensively…and weather in the pitch improving remarkably over the course of the day.

Bob and Phil K opened up, striding determinably to the crease…several boundaries behind square from Bob had the watchers relaxing and worries over the pitch subsiding. What folly such thoughts proved to be as Phil was bowled of an under edge from a ball that didn’t come up, Bob following suit shortly afterwards and panic setting in. Rich was beaten all ends up by one that angled in a long way before swinging away late – an excellent delivery under any circumstances! Scoring became very slow, with a semi-repair job performed by Phillip Parnell and Hansi who scored slowly but were relatively untroubled. Then the pitch’s demons reared their ugly head once again…but not from conventional lengths and lines – almost the worse the ball, the more it did (sadly when bowling, Ivanhoe did not adopt the tactic of bowing badly to cause consternation, maybe a lesson to learn for the future!). Some last minute thrashing from the lower order (John deserves mention for his hitherto for highest score) took the total to something approaching respectability before being all out.

With the ball, Prasad continued his role as miser-in-chief conceding very few from his opening and second spells, Andrew taking 4 wickets and good fielding all around left Haddenham in a spot of bother. Hopes were raised as run-scoring was at a premium, accurate bowling and the pitch looming large in everyone’s heads and a spark charged Ivanhoe. Sadly this was extinguished by some classy batting from the 6th wicket partnership that carried Haddenham home.

A classic game of two halves, that rested on a few key moments but played in the utmost spirit and friendship ended under clear skies with warm handshakes all round.

Author: Hansi B

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