Holton & Wheatley vs Great Milton

Sunday 19 June 2011

 

Original Report by John Simpson

Holton make it three in a row against Great Milton

Holton and Wheatley have been playing Great Milton for many years. The first recorded clash is reported in the Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 14 September 1872:

Cricket. – Great Milton Club v. Holton. – A match was played at Holton on Monday last, and was decided in favour of the former by the first innings. Score: –

Great Milton – W. Casemore, 6 and 5; Harris, 0 and 14; C. Sheppard, Esq., 1 and 15; G. Gale, 16 and 0; J. Saywell, 6 and 7; J. Turrill, 5 and 11; T. Nutt, 3 and (not out) 15; J. Lawrence, 2 and 3; Rev. H. G. Bird (not out) 6 and 5; W. White, 5 and 2; E. Sturges, 0 and 2; byes, &c., 8 and 3; total, 57 and 82.

Holton – Slay maker, 1; Hall, 2 and (not out) 16; Thorn, 0; W. Tyndale, Esq., 1; Lamoure, 0 and (not out) 1; E. Tyndale, Esq., 11 and 10; C. Cox, 0; Messenger, 10; Morris, 1; F. Slay maker, 0; Phillips (not out), 0; bys, &c., 4; total, 30 and 27.

Since 1992 the two teams have contested the Audrey-Miller trophy, and before today’s game Great Milton had the lead – eleven wins to eight – but with Holton and Wheatley on a two-game winning streak in 2009 and 2010.

So everything was to play for as Holton & Wheatley went out to bat this Sunday, on a day on which the rain was holding off, but might decide to change its mind. Graham Nichols and Hugh Kitchin opened, against some tight bowling from Great Milton, with Hugh tumbling (bowled) for 4 with the score on 13, followed soon after by Graham, caught for 9 with the score by now on 18.

We’d made a fairly leisurely start, careless that the overs had risen to nine. Consolidation was the order, and Simon Switala and Binoy Master started to consolidate. With 20 overs come and gone we were up to 66 without further loss, and Simon and Binoy were moving up a gear. Binoy was the first to go, on 30, with the total score one short of a hundred.

By now Simon had been joined by Alan Banyard for another twenty runs before Simon himself was bowled for a very valuable 43. Captain Guy Burford was bowled for a duck, bringing Kiran Nair to the crease, eager to blast a hole in the sky.

Several minutes later that is exactly what happened, as he deposited a crashing six over mid-wicket, and with Alan put on a quickfire 42 before being caught out. But Kiran’s 29 and Alan’s 27 not out had brought the Holton score up to a total which (on a good day) might be defended (163 for 6 off 40 overs). We’d have to see what happened in the field.

We’d experienced a certain amount of variable bounce on the pitch at both ends, and four of the six Holton wickets to fall had been clean-bowled – and events relate that seven of the ten Milton wickets were bowled too.

But that is to get ahead of the story.

After Hugh’s tea, Holton scrambled back on to the pitch with high hopes jostling with a sense of foreboding. There were some solid batsmen in the Great Milton squad. The first over was taken by fiery Kiran Nair, who proceeded to send the ball down at an alarming rate. John Kelly was plying his trade from the other end, with deceptively slow and accurate deliveries which have bamboozled many a batsman in the past. As indeed was the case now with the score on 9, and then again on 24, and then again on 36: all ‘bowled Kelly’.

Holton had by now wrestled some of the initiative from Great Milton, but perhaps not enough. Kiran and John Kelly were replaced by Mahesh and John Simpson, and wickets continued to tumble, with John picking up three and Mahesh one. We held our catches: Graham Nichols and Binoy Master both pocketing tricky skiers. As over number 20 rolled past, Milton were on 64 for 7, and the ship needed steadying. Fortunately that is what happened, with the Milton Captain still there as an opener, and No 9 joining him in a partnership of 23. But the writing was on the wall. The 100 was reached for eight wickets, when another wicket fell, and the final Great Milton wicket succumbed to the scorching pace of Kiran with the total on 102.

All over for another year, with Holton picking up the Audley-Miller trophy for the third year on the trot and Kiran Nair being awarded Man of the Match for his rapid 29 runs and rapid 6 overs of bowling.

NB future opposition please note that this report a) exaggerates the pace of Kiran for reasons of dramatic effect, and b) does not mention the five runs scored as Hugh raced to recover an enormous slog to mid-wicket during the Great Milton innings.

 

 

2010 Winning captain (Guy Burford)