Brigands v Saints, 6 July 2025

There is a lot that can change in the lead-up to a cricket match. A fixture is arranged in the Winter, confirmed in the Spring, and has players and officials selected in the Summer. And then there are late withdrawals and the match is between a team of 10 from London against a home team starting with 9 men.

The toss was delayed whilst the Saints Captain finished his pint at the pub, and Brigands were put into bat. Brigands opener, Jake Peach, was unable to access his pads and gloves from his locked car boot with the alarm going off, so he had to move down the order.

Rupert Preece (46) is enjoying a purple patch with the bat and he put on 75 elegant runs with Mark Flewitt (30), seizing on anything down the legside and being prepared to hit over the top of the infield.

With the Captain going through his phone contacts to find a tenth player, the Manson family arrived to watch (friends of Steve Blackburn) and, on being introduced to the Captain, Rob Manson uttered the casual phrase "I bowl and bat a bit". His wonderful wife, Jess, gave him permission to play "for an hour or so" and he borrowed some whites, found some old kit and batted at number 3.

Broadhalfpenny Down then witnessed a village cricket scene of an occasional bowler wearing black trainers bowling to an occasional batter who didn't know he was playing until a few minutes before, wearing borrowed kit, even blacker trainers, and wielding a bat that had string but no rubber on the grip.

Village cricket; black trainers to black trainers, a bat with a strong only handle, and byes down the legside

Mason went for 5 off 20 balls, Paul Whittle 7 off 11 and then Liam Shrehorn arrived at the crease. He had earlier put up the safety net as part of the grounds team and was keen to make his first big score for the Brigands. He hit a skier to deep square leg and was dropped, then repeated the shot on the next ball to be caught off a no-ball, and was then bowled the ball after.

Dave Henderson (19) and Jake Peach (55) came together and put on 28 in 5 overs to get the innings going again and get the total beyond 200.

It was probably the best tea of the season so far. Four varieties of sandwiches, homemade sausage rolls, moist and citrusy lemon drizzle cakes with tiny bits of crunchy sugar, a Victoria Sponge fit for a royal banquet, and scones for the ages.

In reply, Saints were positive hitting boundaries in 6 of the first 8 overs. When Sam Sargant pitched the ball up he looked dangerous and, when he didn't, he got hit to the short legside boundary next to the Bat & Ball. He bowled one of the Saints openers and could have had the other caught at short cover had Whittle tried to catch it with his hands rather than his feet.

The Brigands bowling was erratic, wides and no-balls crept in, and Shrehorn went for 19 runs from 4 overs. Pace was taken off the ball with flighty Steve Blackburn conceding just 10 runs from his 3 overs and loopy Henderson picking up a wicket in his 2 overs. Kieran Prior, on debut, had responded to the call for players and picked up a wicket too, and it was anyones game with a run a ball needed off the last 20 overs.

Lee Gray bowled some overs pace, and some overs spin, but didn't match his "best bowler in Hampshire" reputation, as Ed Marsh for the Saints punished anything over-pitched.

It was 40 runs needed from 5 overs with 3 wickets in hand and, in a calculated risk, the field came in to encourage the batters to play shots. The batters did, and the ball eluded fielders as the target became 21 off 3, then 17 off 2, and then 7 from the final over. Saints held their nerve and hit the winning runs with a flick to the legside.

In the Bat & Ball afterwards, there was talk of karaoke songs, Paul Whittle's wagon wheel, the lack of a world-class spin bowler in England's cricket team, and how all close games of cricket are good games.

The victorious Saints

Brigands 201-8 declared lost to Saints 202-8 by 2 wickets in the final over