This is a tough report to write for so many reasons. Physically, I sit here with a black big toe, a lump the size of a satsuma on my thigh and a sore upper chest and a slight nervous twitch after being dumped on my back by a ‘throat ball’ from a bowler who was, frankly, too quick for me. Having let the adrenaline wear off and sensible thought processes return, I still can’t decide whether to rail against the passing years that dim the eye and slow the reflexes, or to philosophise about Sunday cricket and ‘making a game of it’. However, Crescent cricket isn’t and should never be about one individual, so let’s try to describe the game and some of the difficulties we faced and see what falls out of the story.

Forest Row is a lovely spot, although a football tournament taking place on the pitch beyond third man from the pavilion end left us with some distractions and a very short boundary on one side of the ground. They batted first, and given his heroics here a couple of years ago, it was a no-brainer for skipper Simon Wood to throw the ball to Martin Watts first up. Sod’s law being what it is, Martin’s first over would have made Bertie Bassett proud, but the taller opening batsman – who looked very handy indeed (and more of him later) – elegantly lofted a full-toss into the vacant midwicket area only to stand aghast as youngster Tom Jenkins galloped round from behind square to take a low one-handed catch at full stretch. There was a moment’s silence as we thought “did that really happen?”, and Mr Woodward trudged back to the pavilion. Getting him early might not have been a good thing…

Tom Burgess opened at the other end, and bowled well, getting a wicket in his second over with a cracker. With Martin finding his range and radar and picking up a second wicket to another good catch in the deep (this time by Michael Wood), Forest Row were 58-3 and it was looking like the normal run of events here, with us needing to chase down a score below 150. However, some of the chat between the Forest row players and spectators showed that end of season batting and bowling targets were still being contested and a couple of (presumably) first-teamers appeared in the middle order and started to hit out (the six-hit trophy seemingly being the one to win). Martin (11-0-36-4) and Tom (7-1-38-1) were replaced by our spin options of Simon Wood (4-0-30-0), Richard Beglan (5-1-28-1) and Michael Wood, who bowled very well to finish with 10-1-58-3. Although no-one took major damage overall, one batsman was definitely after the batting trophies and scored a very rapid 49 before getting a good one from Michael. From then Michael and Rich Hall (5-0-21-0) kept it pretty tight, but Forest Row used every last second available to them to end on 216-9.

The Crescent early response was more than promising. The new and shiny opening partnership of Tom Jenkins and Rob Eastwood took full toll of a mixture of youthful and unusual bowling to get us to 60 off the first 5 overs. Tom crashed his first delivery for six and looked a million dollars, while Rob was steady and hit some nice straight lofted drives.

Then it all changed. The afore-mentioned Mr Woodward turned out to be the first team’s highest wicket taker (according to the scorer) and was as quick a bowler as we have seen in a couple of decades. He cleaned up Rob (20) with a quick straight delivery and Nick Hollands soon discovered that the variation delivery was a very straight throat ball that he fended off with some discomfort. Nick then got a tough LBW to the change bowler at the pavilion end, who was also pretty sharp. Clearly the quick start we made was sufficient and it was time to blast us out. Rick joined Tom at the crease and was happy to watch Tom (did I mention he is 16 years old?) take a couple of full-pace overs from Woodward pretty well, but also suffering a blow from the short-pitched delivery.

Rick then found himself facing Woodward, and it’s probably best to draw a veil over the commentary other than the inevitable throat ball (after an edge for 4) which wasn’t played at all well and dumped him on his back after crashing into his chest. After a short rest sat on the pitch, discretion was a sensible call and he retired hurt to cuddle a coldpack that appeared with great haste from the pavilion. There is no criticism of a quick bowler if the bastman isn’t good enough to play him, but the signs were there the short ball as it was being bowled in the conditions was a problem. Rick was replaced by Michael Wood and he and Tom continued to receive the full force but had the reflexes and ability to survive. Tom had played well for his 43 before surprisingly offering a catch from a miss-hit drive. It was a slight concern that Matt Wood then came in, but the bowlers reined themselves in a little and crucially pitched the ball up to Matt. Michael’s season continued the theme of looking great and then falling to a catch (on 29) when looking set for a score. Tom Burgess came and went quickly, annoyed at some chat from behind the stumps.

The scoring rate had plummeted by this time (Woodward finished with 8-1-17-1) with only 20 runs coming off 11 overs after the quick start. Matt had played the quicks as well as anybody, but fell to some slow stuff for 7. By this stage the aim of a win was not an option, and Forest Row had switched to plan B, bowling several 'interesting' variations and Martin Watts (1) and Richard Beglan (5) went in with the difficult aim of not losing but picking up runs if possible. Rick (19*) went back after 8 wickets to join Rich Hall (6*) to see off the remaining 8 overs to earn the draw.

There was much discussion about events and some of the chat and antics in the field towards the end of our innings as it became clear we were stuffed. You can’t criticise players for wanting to exercise their skills in a match, and we have had conversations in the past about only playing our younger and more ambitious players in games against our stronger opponents, rather than dropping the fixture for fear of regular hammerings or unenjoyable games. I suspect we will have that conversation again at the AGM.