Match Report - Bures vs. Twinstead 14/05/05

Bures 213 for 9 (40 overs)

Twinstead 87 all out (30 overs)

Bures won by 146 runs

A most impressive performance from the Bures batters, effectively putting the game out of reach for and out-of-form Twinstead, in a game which nearly did not happen. With the Bures wicket better than ever, the outfield fast and short and the ground looking the most pretty of pretty pictures, we should be enjoying halcyon days in terms of player numbers. But no. Never have player numbers been so low. A traumatic week for Bures on the selection front culminated in a desperate effort to assemble eleven players, so that the fixture could be fulfilled. On the evening prior to the game, with only seven players available, it looked inevitable that Bures would have to cancel (a suggestion which was not well received in the Twinstead camp, and who can blame them?). On the morning of the match, we still had just eight players willing to commit themselves to an afternoon's cricket, when eagle-eyed captain McKenna espied a pair of Craces practicing in the Bures net. Onto his feet and out of the door in a flash, father Chris and nine-year-old son Jack were recruited before Dad even had a chance to put his can of Strongbow down. We now had ten! And finally, at the eleventh hour and fifty ninth minute, the services of a further nine-year-old Ollie Bocking were offered; the two boys proudly taking the field with their senior colleagues on their adult cricket debut. Eleven! We have eleven!

On the field, Bures put bat to ball with some panache. Newly-elected secretary James Allen and Alan Cropper were tonking it around as if they had never been away, with Alan particularly rolling back the years and making light of his recent ill-health. Wickets fell, but the run feast continued with Cropper finally falling (quite literally ....) for 73. Cameos from Chris Crace and Chris Chambers continued the good work. Finally, with tea imminent, it was the turn of the two youngsters, Ollie and Jack to put bat to ball, a senior debut neither will ever forget. Bures closed on 213 for 9 and enjoyed a fine tea, prepared with skill and panache by celebrity tea lady Ros Brogan.

The Twinstead reply began uncertainly with McKenna quickly amongst the wickets. The Twinstead innings quickly capitulated with the two youngsters bowling at the end. The two teams repaired to the Bures Swan for refreshment, the jug of beer from Alan Cropper being much appreciated by all who helped themselves to it without his knowledge.

So, despite the trauma of cajoling eleven players into making up the team, a lovely afternoon's cricket was had by all. However, the captains and officers are having to spend hours of their time every week in contacting players and persuading them to play. It is becoming a thankless task for them and unless matters improve there will have to be fundamental changes in the number of games played. A Doomsday scenario is that the future of cricket at Bures might be in jeopardy in years to come if the decline in player commitment continues. It's not a subject we like to consider, but increasingly, one which we may have to.

Bures C C XI - Patrick McKenna (Capt.), Christopher Chambers, Lee Norton, Tom Cropper, Alan Cropper, James Allen, Mark Harries, Chris Crace, Jack Crace, Ollie Bocking, Joe Dutton.

Scorer - Charles Revell

Nine-year-old Ollie Bocking bowls to the Twinstead batsman while school friend Jack Crace looks on, from fine leg

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