1000 up for Singh as CYPOS? hold out for a draw

Submitted by Staff Reporter

Having had a watchful for eye on the weather forecast all week Raggy Singh was a happy man to wake up to see a sunny morning and the guarantee of full afternoons play and, thus, the chance to complete 1000 runs for Nuthurst in a season.

The Skipper completed the formalities of losing the toss and accepted the invitation to bat. There was plenty of sideways movement, as the CYPOS? bowling attack of Tila and Fraser Montgomery had the upper hand over openers Guy Ekins and Raggy Singh. It took a few overs before Sir Guy worked out the lie of the land, and started to execute his shots, his blade crisply dispatching the ball to all parts. There were two excellent sixes as Ekins raced to 40, before being caught in the deep; the score was 51, Raggy had mustered six, with a couple of close calls on the pads and between the wickets. It was clear that the pressure of scoring 1000 runs in a season was weighing heavy on the young man’s shoulders. Out of character, Singh was constructing an innings more reminiscent of Aido, Boycott, or for those of you of an older generation Trevor Bailey at their defensive best. The tension was palpable.

On hearing Nuthurst were batting Club Secretary and Historian Dave Boorman, between engagements, had rushed to the common to witness the great event. At first standing casually by the pavilion waiting for the 1000 run to be scored, then sitting, with a cup of tea then sitting reading the paper with the occasional look up to see if Raggy’s score had advanced any.

Finally Raggy reached the magic figure cutting Bobby Oldfield to boundary for 4 in the 30th over. In the next 10 overs, before he was caught behind, Raggy added a further 26 runs with some well timed shots through the covers and midwicket. Nuthurst looked set for a total around 140, until late replacement, Stuart Catterall hit Oldfield for 4,6,6 off the first 3 balls he faced and completing an excellent cameo of 21 in 8 deliveries. Earlier, the big man Mc Kenna – greatly missed over the last 3 games- lit up the crease as only he can, with some mighty air swings before blasting his first scoring shot into the trees at the Mike Spence end for 6. Mike Neilson (taking a break from learning the lines for his theatre job in the morning) and Graham Prior took the score to 161 for 7 at tea.

CYPOS? opening pair were Jonathan Gunasekera and Celestine-Pillai. Nuthurst were live wires in the field backing up excellent bowling from Prior and Jonty Greenwood. They needed to be as Gunasekera is a very dangerous batsmen. Pressure told, Gunasekra driving a return catch to Prior only for him to drop the chance; next ball went one bounce to the boundary. In the next over he launched Greenwood over the road for a huge six. Things did n’t look too good; but then Mc Kenna took a brilliant catch above his head at point to a ball that had popped catching the shoulder of Gunasekeras bat; Game on! Prior continued to bowl unchanged and proved difficult to get away, jagging the ball back to keep the batmen quiet. The game was not without controversy with Prior claiming a catch at slip, off the outside edge of Celestine-Pilliai’s bat, the batsman looking a little non-plussed, the umpire unsure and the fielders indigent.

First change Jez James also managed to get movement and bounce with his slow medium. Darren Williams took a brilliant catch as the obdurate Celestine-Pillai slashed Prior to point. 101 for 5, the game was evenly balanced, about 4 an over would see Cypos home. Then James took 2 wickets in two balls to reduce the Cypos to 103-7. A few overs later, Rob Keen bowled Azarain for 0, with an excellent yorker that the batsman didn’t see. Not out bat Charlie Willis had watched the wickets tumble and decided with his new partner Montgomery to dig in. The pair batted well and the overs went by, until the returning Greenwood extracted extra bounce to defeat Montgomery caught off the edge. This bought Tila to the wicket with a three overs to go. Willis is an old hand and was very aware of Tila’s batting capabilities and did well to shield him from the strike until the start of the last over. Tila dug out the first two deliveries from Greenwood and managed to scamper a single, leaving Willis to bat out the over and save the game for CYPOS?.

Both teams enjoyed a pleasant post match drink in the Dun Horse, reliving a great game and an excellent season that saw the Nutters record 24 played, 14 won 5 drawn 6 lost.

There was many a toast to the true star of the show, Raggy Singh who batted excellently throughout the season to be the first Nutter to score 1027 runs in a season and beating Ken Jeanes batting aggregate of 922 which had stood since 1957.