Report by Cam Petrie:
At the very tail end of the 2021 season we had a sobering reality check about the pitfalls of "trying to play evening cricket in September" when our first ever match against Linton was ruined by lack of light. For our second fixture against the Linton midweek team for this year we only just managed to complete a game of 12x8-ball overs due to overcast skies and failing light. This season we were playing our second fixture against the Linton midweek team in mid-August, so light should have been less of a problem, but the weather played a crucial hand.
The last week had seen temperatures topping 35 degrees, including for the Geoff Hales Memorial Cricket Day at Fenner's, and we had managed 15x8s for both matches the week before. Today we had a heavy rain shower for the first time in months and leaden skies had set in by out nominal start time of 17:45.
Linton were being helmed by Remnant Simon Godsill, but their side included a solid block of young first teamers eager to bat first, score piles of runs and then bowl fast to win, which was enabled when Linton opted to bat on winning the toss. The negotiation on formats went from 20x6s to 15x8s, which was movement in the right direction; but delays due to a missing Remnant meant it was close to 18:00 when we bowled the first ball.
Remnants had a dream start with Ben Stone (1/22 off 3 overs) arcing a few away from the right hand opener before he then brought one in for the first ball against the left hand opener and had him bowled off his pads. We then entered a rough patch where Rob Macfarlane (0/20 off 2 overs), Ben and Paul Jordan (0/27 off 2 overs) came in for some stick, but Marcus Baker (1/18 off 3 overs) was brought on to deliver some of his leg-spinning hand grenades and managed to produce more plays than misses. Overall our catching was not great, and we shelled at least three chances, but our bowling in the latter overs was excellent. Marcus beat the opening batter's edge consistently and finally managed to get a stumping from Cam Petrie when the number 3 eventually got to face a ball. John Moore (2/32 off 2 overs) and James Robinson (3/20 off 3 overs) then came on in tandem and while John opted for maximum hang-time, James delivered a set of lethal cutters that scythed through the Linton middle order, all bowled. Linton's Alex Cowdrey came out to bat wielding one of those massive Mongoose bats, but John managed to draw him into an unbalanced sweep that only drew a meaty and looping edge through to Cam behind the stumps. John then managed to bowl a disbelieving Linton batter around his legs before both Ben and James were both nudged around to close the Linton innings on an imposing 142/7.
Some unhelpful (and entirely unnecessary) fussing about the Remnants batting order from the captain produced more delay before Tom Serby (8 off 20 balls) and Cam (3 off 8 balls) went out to bat in the now very dim light. It was extremely difficult to see anything much at this stage, and although both nudged the ball around, first Cam and then Tom were out to mis-hits or misses from slower balls were hard to pick up. Even though visibility was terrible and there was chuntering from some Linton players that we should be calling it off, others were keen to continue, and one of Linton's faster bowlers was brought on.
Helpfully/unhelpfully the new Linton bowlers soon struggled for control, and despite discussion and requests, they weren't all happy to drop their pace, so the latter parts of the Remnants innings were a little farcical and verging on outright dangerous. James (9 off 15 balls), and Marcus (9 off 11 balls) nobly struggled on, and various Linton fielders remained immobile as the ball sped past them to the boundary, as the overs ticked by. The only Remnant who seemed to thrive was Andy Bell (20* off 16 balls), who not only seemed to be seeing the ball fine but was also scoring at the required run-rate. With Marcus's dismissal, there was much muttering about what to do, but it was very clear that five more 8 ball overs were impossible, so we abandonned the game.
Mid-August games are certainly a staple, but we should probably have agreed to 12x8s from the off. Clearer decisions on formats based on pitch conditions remain the lesson of the day (oh and making sure that young speedsters who can't see a problem bowling fast and short in the low light are not allowed to continue bowling at anyone - even those wearing a helmet).