Fixtures & Results

A story in which there were a flurry of boundaries, forlorn underpants flying at half mast, how the Fantasians got in touch with their feminine side, and O’Reilly finds, after 53 years, his proper role in cricket

From knocking off the winning runs at Lord’s to Cattistock came our opening bat, Nico MacD. Followed by a panoply of young Fantasians with T20 cricket in their blood they racked up 145 runs in a revised 16 overs. Showing the disdain of the true Fantasians for sweaty singles, 108 runs came from boundaries. Special mention goes to Ed Lyle, Mike and Dan Salmon and a late burst from Marcus Williams. All this against a pink ball which was easier to see, and easier to find after Ed had hit it. Jules, being a gent, was not so easily persuaded to give a girly ball a smack and made do with more singles than boundaries.

Palmers came out to bat against a daunting total and were pinned back by the wily Younger and quicker Tom Salmon, ably supported by zest in the field they kept the openers down but it was Banger that made the breakthrough. The change bowlers brought more wickets with two catches caught off Henry Scott’s bowling and two more missed. Tim Evans bought himself a wicket and it was great to finish with Dan Salmon’s leg spin bringing Nico MacDonagh a stumping and a third catch for Ed Lyle. The muddiest trousers belonged to James Kelway Bamber being the zest in the field.

In a remarkable moment of symbolism and serendipity a pair of rain sodden underpants was flying at half mast on the club flagpole as we arrived. Originally I had no clue as to the portend until I saw a batsmen embarrassingly caught halfway down the wicket hanging there like said under garments. It was Cleeves stranded halfway down the track as the throw came in. I felt almost as sorry for him as the ‘in’ batsman who, being out moments later, followed Cleeves in to the dressing room to meet his employer.

Palmers mustered 109 in reply with only 50 scored in boundaries being the difference. Their runs were scored from 48 of the 96 bowled versus the 47 balls from which we scored 145. Could Fantasian fielding have really been the difference? O tempora o mores

Which only goes to prove that I am suited to being non playing Captain. A cricketing pimp introducing younger and more capable performers on the field is a more appropriate activity for a middle aged man. Just as proud, half as sweaty, un injured and un humiliated. I was fit enough after a jovial evening at the the Fox and Hounds to beat Cleeves on the last hole by 08.30 the following morning

Special mention to Peter Salmon for scoring and fathering three of the team, Nick and Max, the two umpires who much increased the jollity and sociability of the evening and for Simon and Lesley MacDonagh for their unstinting support.

Charles O’Reilly

On 4th July, the Fantasians travelled to Tusmore Park in Oxfordshire for the inaugural fixture against a side run by a Fantasian. After a warm up in the Muddy Duck, we kicked off a 40 over game at 1:30 having put ourselves in to bat. The opening partnership of 90 made by Roly Ingleby Mackenzie and George Ledger 40 and 50 (retired) respectively got us off to a good start. Other notable performances came from Alexander Ledger who had not played for 2 years (50 retired) and Simon Marsh (50 retired). We finished our overs having hit 264 and all players got to bat.

After a sumptuous tea, Nick Charlier and George Petrie opened the bowling. Alex ledger cameoed with the ball for one over and took a wicket and gracefully retired to the boundary where he dropped a pair. Tom Ledger, George Ledger, Guy VN all bowled well with George Ledger taking 4 catches. Wickets started to gently fall however the run rate did begin to sneak up due to a few of the Tusmore bats digging in. John Bullock joined the fray to throw down some hard to hit “military medium” in an attempt to keep the run rate down. Simon Marsh being a sporting chap was bowling at half pace due to a few young in the team but helped keep the run rate down. Mark Bradburn was injured to stood fast in the slips and we enjoyed much of his “banter” if you can call it that.

Despite our best efforts, the Tusmore Captain, Roger Yates came in at 10 and took the game away from us with an excellent knock. However cricket was the real winner – an excellent and most sporting day which will hopefully be repeated next year and in many years to come.

Fixture cards are available from the secretary

Fixture cards are available from the secretary

Thank you to 11 Fantasian heroes. In beating Palmers Brewery on Wednesday 17th July you gave me eight hours bragging rights against Cleeves Palmer at Lord’s the following day.

North Perrott is a glorious ground which we are lucky to enjoy. Although the batsmen gave us seven less runs than the 160 requested by the skipper there were some fine knocks from Jules Hill, Marcus Williams, and Banger. But it was in the field that we really excelled.

Rory McDonagh, Mike Chattey, and Mike Simon all contributed four overs for less than 18 runs apiece . Wickets were taken at regular intervals. Banger even spurning easy catches to claim the more lavish opportunities. Special mention must be made of Nico Macdonagh who kept wicket beautifully, stumping one off our opening bowler, his brother, and conceding perhaps one bye.

Palmers fought with brawn and keen eye to bring the match back into balance whenever we threatened to dominate. In a gripping last over we prevailed by a run to balance the series 3 all.

It was quite the best Fantasian team I have seen assembled. Congratulations to all and please give consideration to renewing this fixture at North Perrott next year.

Jules Hill, George Wissett-Warner, Mike Salmon, Andrew Younger, Marcus Williams, Rory Macdonagh, Nico Macdonagh, Charles O’Reilly, Peter Salmon, Tim Evans, Mike Chattey.

Fixture cards are available from the secretary

On officially the first “proper” day of summer, a youthful Fantasians side faced the Royal Armoured Core at Iwerne Minster. After some waiting (all Fants players were on time), the match began and we were put into bat. With some luck we had a team of specialist batsmen throughout the order. George Wissett-Warner and George Ledger opened the batting and did well to start the scoreboard off. George WW exhibited some masterful stroke play before retiring on 105 and Ollie Lintott did well on a sprained ankle to hit 45. There were surely some nerves in the RAC camp when looking at the scoreboard to see that we were 170-1 (rather better than the England score I might add). The middle order wore through the quick bowlers overs extremely well with the Wilson brothers and Stephen Blake batting well.

Towards the end of the innings, the RAC rather ran out of bowlers and after a change of wicket keeper for the last few overs, the obligatory “donkey droppers” came on to bowl allowing messrs Vere-Nicoll and Hope (who seem to be rather a regular pairing) to add 47 runs in the last 2 and a half overs. The Fantasians batted extremely well to finish the innings on 274 – 9.

Having assembled a strong batting line up, I was rather hoping that some could also bowl and I was not disappointed! Roly Ingleby-Mackenzie opened the bowling up the hill, unleashing some daemon late swingers in that “corridor of uncertainty”. Guy Vere-Nicoll opened also and due to his fitness issues was forced to bowl downhill…. to great effect I might add. Their opening batsmen were under pressure from the off, with chances in the air and some close LBW calls. After some missed chances, ball started going to hand, and staying in it and wickets began to fall. The Ledger brothers bowled extremely well taking wickets from either end and since it seemed like his day, George Wissett-Warner took a couple bowling some well flighted spin from the far end. Having not been so impressed with his keeping, Jamie Hope had a few overs and made up for his many wides by removing a middle stump and luckily took a 2nd through a Jonty Rhodes esque catch by Stephen Blake at mid on.

After a fantastic day at Iwerne Minster, the Fantasians took the final wicket with the RAC requiring 155 runs to win – so a great victory and a big thank you to everybody that played. Also a big thank you to Mary Ledger, Lesley Wright and Lucy Lintott for a delicious tea.

Team Sheet: George Wissett-Warner, George Ledger, Ollie Lintott, Archie Wilson, Stephen Blake, Henry Wilson, Tom Ledger, Guy Vere Nicoll, Roly Ingleby-Mackenzie, Jamie Hope

Once again we had another great day at our fixture at the Hampshire Hogs and we miraculously managed to squeeze a full days cricket into what has been an unfortunately wet summer up until that point.

A last minute injury meant at the start of play the Fantasians were put into bat with only 10 men on the team sheet. An early wicket meant that Andrew Broderick was was joined at the crease early on by Mo Verjee. The two batsmen put a sturdy partnership before A. Broderick was bowled for 26. M. Verjee then carried his bat with what can only be deemed as fairly intermittent support from the rest of the Fantasians battling line up, with everyone playing cameos around what was a fine knock of 65.

A special mentioned must go to David Reid who on arriving just after lunch on a spectators ticket promptly found himself donning some whites and making up our eleventh man. His 3 minutes at the crease and score of 1 does not give justice to his enthusiasm to help the Fantstians in their moment of need.

The Hogs bowled tightly and although we fought hard we were eventually all bowled out for a not insurmountable 155.

The Fantasians were not however dead in the water and came out to bowl determined to make a game of it. James Allen opened the bowling and came steaming down the hill for what turned out to be a very productive spell. By the 7th over J. Allen had taken 3 wickets for 14 runs and we had the Hogs reeling at 33-3 at tea. Our early wicket taker was ably supported by the very accurate and elusive off spin on a Fantasians first timer, Charlie Yerburgh (cousin of the now, Mrs Broderick). He finished on excellent figures of 9 overs, 29 runs and 1 wicket, which went some way to defending what was as expected, a very reachable total.

Unfortunately with another 50 runs on the board we could have applied a little more pressure on their subsequent batsmen. But for all our efforts our total was not great enough. Always lively and attentive in the field the Fantasians were unable to take any more wickets. The Hogs won the game by 6 wickets.

Thanks for everyone who played and we look forward to an improved performance next year.

Team sheet: A. Broderick, C. Wilders, M. Verjee, C.Yerburgh, A. Bell, J. Allen, D. Merrifield, O. Leach, D. Mackay, A. Josephides, D. Reid

Andrew Bell