Charterhouse ease home as Crump goes AWOL

Chaterhouse Friars 119 for 5 beat Old Cranleighans 118 (Crump T 62, Vickers 29) by five wickets

After two days of lousy weather, the rain finally relented for our visit to Charterhouse. However, the pitch was still very wet and that meant the toss was crucial. We lost it, were stuck in, and from the moment Alan Cope was struck twice by lifting deliveries before being dismissed for 0 in the opening over, we were up against it.

As per the teamsheet, it was a Crump who captained the OCs. However, it wasn’t Matt, the match manager, but younger brother Tom. Matt had withdrawn the night before claiming he had tickets for the second day at Cardiff. Eds Copleston’s splenetic reaction was repeated 18 hours later when he found out that Matt had not only missed the match but also failed to secure the promised ticket for the Test. “It’s very disappointing for the club,” Copleston muttered. “It could take many years for Crumpy to rebuild the trust of his team-mates after this debacle.”

Back to the match. With the ball popping from every length, batting was a hit or miss affair. Jock Vickers’ natural game – swing and smash – worked for a while as he bludgeoned 29, aided by four dropped catches, while Tom Crump salvaged some family pride with a superb 62. Sadly, the rest of the side offered little and we were bowled out for 118.

With conditions improving and our opening bowler in hiding from Eds, we were short of seamers to exploit the pitch. The Harman brothers both bowled well, Phil Roper was as tight as ever, and even Vickers managed a wicket. But we were 50 runs shy of making Charterhouse sweat and they eased to a five-wicket win before the scheduled team interval.