The Chairman’s XI beat the Captain’s XI by two wickets
An entertaining and fun Village Match in which a number of very young players all proved they will be fully-fledged Phoenixers sooner rather than later.
The sun was out, England had just thrashed Panama 6-1 and the bar had been open for more than an hour; the stage was set for the annual 30-over bash between Phoenix stalwarts, youngsters and occasional players.
The Captain’s XI batted first and soon suffered the shock of seeing Ralph caught off a top edge off Alex going for a big hit for just four – his only single-figure innings in the history of this fixture.
Matt then bowled Yogesh first ball before Alex removed Stuart with a sharp deliver that took an edge. Gareth was watching all this from the other end but took advantage of some friendlier bowling to put on a stand with Peter that saw him join the elite list of players to have retired 50 not out.
George hadn’t bowled for a while because of injury but took huge chunks out of the middle order with a short-run up spell that despatched three batsmen, including Adrian.
Young Dillon Bose then chimed in with two more as Ben Swinton replaced Dave behind the stumps – and Dave turned his arm over at the other end.
The result of that was two wickets as Aidan pouched a catch and Matt languidly stuck out an arm to dismiss Gareth when it looked like the returned captain had put another one in the marquee.
The Chairman’s XI’s target was 123 and 180 balls in which to get them.
Damon sent out the Fixtures Secretary and his nephew Jude, who had demonstrated a prodigious throw in the field, to open the reply and they put on a few to get the innings off to a steady if unspectacular start.
Bruce and Ben Swinton did the same before both were dismissed by Sam, Dillon’s dad – and then the middle order collapsed completely.
Alex managed to run himself out in between young Josh Creed dismissing his pal Dillon for a duck – and the Captain for the same non-score!
Fortunately Damon had kept big guns back just in case and Aidan and George soaked up the pressure to put on a left-handed partnership that took them to the brink of victory.
Josh returned to pin Aidan lbw for 43 however but Dave and George saw their side home with eight balls to spare.
Thanks to Colin Greenhalgh for umpiring in the heat and to Nick Pett for manning the pop-up Tree bar.
Captain’s XI
G Everson c Dobson b Garman 55
R Minter c Garman b A West 4
Y Pangam b Dobson 0
S Creed c Garman b A West 1
P Creed c B Swinton b Rolls 27
A Foster lbw Rolls 5
S Bose c Swain b Garman 6
J Creed b Rolls 0
AJ West b D Bose 1
J Swinton c Rainsford b D Bose 1
N Hamid not out 3
Extras 18
Total: 122 all out from 22.4 overs
A West 3-0-14-2
M Dobson 3-1-15-1
A Swain 4-0-30-0
S George 4-0-26-0
G Rolls 3-1-11-3
D Bose 4-0-16-2
D Garman 1.4-0-6-2
Chairman’s XI
J West b Hamid 22
Jude c Everson b Foster 7
B Cairnduff lbw S Bose 17
B Swinton c Foster b S Bose 7
D Bose c Everson b J Creed 0
A West run out 0
D Rainsford b J Creed 0
A Swain lbw J Creed 43
G Rolls not out 14
D Garman not out 4
Extras 12
Total: 126-8 from 28.4 overs
S Creed 5.4-0-25-0
A Foster 4-0-17-1
N Hamid 6-1-19-1
R Minter 6-0-25-0
S Bose 3-0-18-2
J Creed 4-0-18-3
