Did it really happen...?
The Lord’s Taverners were 68-2 and Graeme Hick, the third highest run scorer in the history of cricket, was batting with Mike Gatting, former England cricket captain, at the Steeple Aston cricket ground in front of almost a 1,000 people! Chris Neville bowled yet another rank long hop, this one down the leg side, Hick glances it and Phil Chesser dives like Tom Daley to take the catch. G. Hick caught Chesser bowled Neville 7 – surely this only happened in one of Chris or Phil’s dreams?
It wasn’t a dream...
Chris Tarrant then came out to bat to tumultuous applause, not least because he could still stand after consuming a bottle of Rioja over lunch. After a scratchy 6 runs he sauntered back to the pavilion for another drink and took up the microphone on the PA system, providing much laughter for all, proof if proof were needed of why he is such a fine broadcaster.
Meanwhile Mike Gatting had motored onto 30 and was looking dangerous; he was even running some singles! Greg Renk bowled a slightly wider one and Gatting’s late cut went in the air to backward point...to the Chairman. Time really did stand still - a spinning ball, falling away from me, Mike Gatting England captain, Greg Renk’s finest hour, “the day I dismissed Mike Gatting”, whatever you do don’t drop the ball – all this flashed through my head in a split second and suddenly I was rolling around on the floor with the ball in my hand, a splendid diving catch. M. Gatting caught Higgins bowled Renk 30. Okay, so it was not so much a diving catch, more that I was off balance when I caught it and fell over! The ground erupted,
Phil Reay (the official photographer) missed it, but it is indelibly printed on my memory. The Tav’s 107-5; we might even win?
Looking dangerous...
Neil Smith, son of MJK, another England cricketer, had then hit a beautiful straight drive for four and was looking in great form, when he ambled through for a quick single. He clearly thought Kevin Osborne would not bother to contest the run, but Kevin swooped low and fast like Lionel Messi and hit the stumps with the accuracy of a Jonty Rhodes.
The threat over, the Tavs subsided to 190-9 off their allotted 30 overs. Jon Scotchbrook had switched the attack perfectly and amazingly each Steeple Aston bowler had taken at least one wicket, a true team performance: Tom Maxwell 1-44, Chris Neville 2-33, Pete Higgins 1-32, Greg Renk 2-22, Kevin Osborne 1-17 and Stan Owen 1-28. The fielding too had been of a high standard with Jock Shepherd and Harvey Townson making some great stops in the outfield.
Victory beckons, but first more tea....and wine
The day had started with a marquee lunch masterminded by the brilliant Jane Stewart, who was more than ably supported by David Stewart (general factotum), Cath & Anna Shepherd, Richard, Callie, Harry & Freddy Gibbs, and Jock Shepherd (Bar). You could tell the food was good because Mike Gatting came round for fifth helpings and uttered the immortal line “Well I don’t do quick singles any more!” (Did he ever?). Jock did a great job of filling up the Taverners batsmen with many glasses of wine; sadly he did the umpires too, who never gave an LBW all day; Barry Norman told me when I appealed for LBW against Mike Gatting that he felt sure he would have given him out, if only he could see the other end of the wicket!
It was marvellous to see everyone mingling so happily with the Taverners; Graeme Hick explaining to Chris Neville the finer points of batsmanship and how not to fall over when you deliver your first ball (he failed to listen!). However my most abiding memory is that uttered by all Taverners that it was wonderful to come and play cricket in a “real village environment”. They truly loved the friendship extended by Steeple Aston and Chris Tarrant said as much on the Public Address system...several times.
During a hectic tea break Caroline Owen-Lloyd and her team (Charlotte, Ginny, Sharon, Melanie and Abby) upped the tempo of tea and cake servings and raised an incredible £1,100 during the day. Suitably replenished the teams returned to the field, minus Tarrant who retuned to commentating and generally mixing with the crowd.
SACC needed a great start....
And we got it as Simon Cleobury (26) and Stan Owen (20) hit 40 runs from the first 6 overs. Stan went a bit crazy by hitting Gladstone Small for 3 fours in one over. “Oooh” said Graeme Hick, “You don’t want to make Gladstone angry”. Next ball Stan was back in the pavilion with stumps splayed asunder.
We then had a mini collapse that left us 71-4, but Tom Maxwell (35) and Peter Higgins (16) put on 46 runs for the next wicket and so at 117-5 we needed 74 off the last 7 overs. Cometh the hour, cometh Chris Tarrant. His only contribution in the field was to bowl one over and what an over, as he leaked 19 runs to Mark Mills (34) and Kevin Osborne (29). And so it was that we needed 6 off the last ball to win.
Sadly we could manage only a two, falling 3 runs short at 187-7 ,but what a match and what a marvellous bunch of guys the Lord’s Taverners are: modest, easy to approach, no airs and graces, just a bunch of people having fun and raising a lot of money for charity. We retired to the marquee for restorative drinks and reflected on what might have been, though one sensed the Taverners had just enough class to squeeze through whatever we threw at them.
So how much money did we raise for the Charity?
For those that missed it the match even featured on BBC South on the Monday; Tom Maxwell has 18 copies in case you want one. There just remained speeches and thanks to all and even better a cricket bag with cricket kit worth £500 was presented to the Warriner School by Chris Tarrant, but how much money did we raise? Kate Adams, who was in charge of the raffle, helped generate £3,549; Alan Peckham and his team made £587 selling programmes; Chris Read sold £122 of ice-cream; Mel from the Red Lion sold £360 in beer and the Taverners held a match day collection and raised a further £477. Our original target was £8,000, then £10,000 and finally £15,000, but it looks as though we will just surpass £18,000
A truly amazing performance by all those in the club and village who helped. Both Nick Cleobury and I, who are both members of the Lord’s Taverners, were thrilled with our performance and it is certainly more than any other village side has ever raised in a single event for the Lord’s Taverners. We should all be very proud of what we have achieved.