Records tumble in cricket-week opener

Old Cranleighans 358 for 5 (Preece 121, Watkinson 83, Copleston 64*) drew with Eton Ramblers 333 for 8 (J Redmayne 121, Jupp 3-30, Hannah 2-28, Henderson 2-85)Click here for match photos

The cricket week got off to a cracking start with a match against Eton Ramblers that saw more than one century-old record broken. Sadly, it also marked the end of the Wimbledon-long heatwave.

The game itself was drawn, but on a pitch which offered nothing for bowlers, almost 700 runs were scored and the match was in the balance for the last two hours, thanks largely to Eton’s decision to chase a seemingly impossible target from the off. We made a record 358 for 5, 11 more than our record score set in 1907, and Eton finished on 333 for 8. The aggregate of 691 runs smashed the previous record of 601, also set in 1907.

The outfield was baked brown and the pitch a road. Eds Copleston won the toss and we got off to an uncertain start, losing three early wickets, the unluckiest being Simon Copleston, leg-before for 1 despite a thick inside edge, and after flying all the way from Abu Dhabi to play. But the left-handed pair of Chris Preece and Henry Watkinson then set about the second-string bowlers, capitalising on a lightning fast outfield in a fourth-wicket stand of 166 at almost seven an over. Preece drove and pulled with assurance, Watkinson, allowed a rare foray up the order, looked the batsman of old, especially off the front foot.

Preece completed a chanceless hundred, his first for the club, and it was only when he had passed three figures that he was dropped - twice in successive balls - as he hit out. Watkinson seemed set for his own century, much to the chagrin of Rick Johnson who was busy counting the cost of getting two names engraved on the new honours boards, when he was well caught in the covers for 83. But so quick had the runs come that Copleston had little choice but to bat on, taking the total to 358 for 5 in only 49 overs.

Eton made a good start before Jumbo Jupp, on as first change, took three wickets to reduce them to 103 for 3 in the 21st over. With an asking rate at that point of almost ten an over, the game seemed destined for a draw. But the Redmayne brothers laid into some generous bowling, Johnny Gates offering the richest pickings, to such good effect that Copleston was forced to recall his frontline attack sooner than intended.

The last 20 started with Eton requiring 184 – while that seems steep, with the Redmaynes in full flow, they were in the box seat, and when a sharp piece of fielding from Preece accounted for T Redmayne, Innes kept the score ticking over. The asking rate was matched for the first ten overs, Henderson and Watkinson struggling gamely to keep a check on the runs. Jamie Redmayne was caught by Preece on the boundary but he was unable to stop himself stepping over the rope.

Sixty-three were needed over six when Jamie Redmayne thumped Watkinson for 21, putting Eton in the driving seat, but in the next nine balls the game turned on its head. Henderson had Redmayne caught for 121 with the last ball of his 13th over, and then Elliott Hannah, called back to replace the tired Watkinson, struck with successive deliveries. With the first ball of his next over, Henderson bowled Duff-Gordon, and Eton had slumped from 321 for 4 to 325 for 8. The pitch was as perfect as ever, however, and the final 17 balls were easily negotiated.

The evening was spent in the curry house where the young recruits indulged in a much-favoured past-time of abusing the chairman. It is reported, but not confirmed as yet, that at one stage Johnson was rendered speechless. If so, it was a truly remarkable day in every respect.