St Lucia - Record defeat as batsmen again fail

OCCC 87 (Cope 22, Charlery 4-18) lost to Southern Zone XI 220 for 8 (Alexander 100, Crump T 2-28, Harman 2-49, Crump M 2-55) by 133 runs
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With the Gros Islet ground deemed unfit, we returned to the Beauchamp Cricket Ground, albeit without most of those who had played the day before who decided the stomach-churning drive could not be worse than the fines they would face for non attendance. The jury is out over their choice as they were hit with a seawater-whisky cocktail. The sight of hardman Cope hiding on the floor of the minibus as the driver attempted another ambitious blind-corner overtake will live long in the memory, as will Howard’s increasingly desperate pleas to “slow down, drives”.

We lost the toss and so faced another day in the field, but this time we made a strong start. A sharp piece of thinking from Howard (yes, seriously) and a direct-hit at the bowler’s end accounted for one opener and the next over Paddy Harman removed the other. At 5 for 2 Howard loudly suggested Tom Merry put in a call to the minibus company to get the transport back as the match would end early. It proved misguided as the next wicket did not fall until the score was 125.

St Lucia Under-19 batsman Junior Henry (46) and former U-19 captain Audy Alexander (100) put the bowlers under the cosh with only Michael Chetwode (7-0-17-0) escaping the battering. Tom Crump proved the unlikely partnership breaker when he removed Henry, and he took a second, courtesy of a catch by Harman at long-on, at the end of an over which cost 25, while Matt Crump again weighed in with late wickets.

Set a stiff 205 to win – all the more daunting given our performance the day before – we lost Sam Langmead early but, aided by a proliferation of wides, we eased to 38 for 1 before the rot set in. Cope (21) was well set and looking in good form when he swept a full toss behind square where the charismatic Prince took a brilliant one-handed diving catch, and then Simon Copleston (12) was bowled. But it was Alexander who ended any chance we had by removing Damian Hill and Tom Merry, both for ducks, within three deliveries.

The remainder of the batsmen offered little, although there was amusement when Prince had Tom Crump dropped twice within four deliveries, and in between watched as Crump, kicked the ball into his stumps as he tried to prevent it trickling onto his wicket and the bails did not come off. Our final score of 87 was almost double the first effort, but it hardly did us justice.