Charterhouse Schoolboys take the honours again..

Alex "Bobby" Less reporting

• v Charterhouse Maniacs
• Charterhouse School
• Maniacs won by 5 wickets

The Maladroits arrived at Charterhouse eager to make up for the drubbing they took the previous year at the hands of the young Maniac side. The omens didn’t look good when an admin oversight by captain Boozer meant that the Maladroits fielded only 10 players. With Glen and Tooves running late and the Maladroits down to 8 players, the Maniacs graciously conceded the toss and allowed the Maladroits to bat first in the wet and miserable conditions. It was due to the Maniacs eagerness that the game went ahead as this reporter feels that if the game was played at Sheen then it would have been called off a long time before the start.

The Maladroits opened up with Ash and Lees, and they provided a solid start with Ash playing the Botham role to Lees’ less flamboyant Boycott. Runs flowed from Ash in a torrent, with rather more a trickle from Lees at the other end. Ash looked in fine touch with the ball coming out of the middle of the bat and set the Maladroits innings off at a fair lick. He got slightly fortunate a couple of times with dropped catches and some big swings and misses, but these were far outweighed by some cracking shots to the boundary ropes.

Ash was finally out agonizingly short of his half century for a well played 46 as he was clean bowled attempting another big hit. Next in was the newly wed Ryder, but I hope he lasted longer on his wedding night as he departed for a first ball 0 after edging behind. Tooves stopped the rot momentarily but was out soon after for 10, and he was soon followed by Lees for 35 and another Maladroit collapse looked on the cards. With Boozer out for a second ball duck, a low score looked a distinct possibility but fortunately Chad and Glen steadied the creaking ship and started a useful partnership.

Both batsmen looked in good nick and dispatched the bad ball to the boundary. Chad was out caught behind for 22 and was soon followed by Dom for a duck. Tricky joined Glen at the crease and hit a couple of boundaries early on to push the score along. Glens dismissal for a well played 27 meant the ever improving Fisher came out as the Maladroits last man. Scouse added to his lifetime average with an assured 1 not out as Tricky was last man out for 14, with the Maladroits making 176 (need to check as didn’t put that in email to me!!). The Maladroits fought back well to reach this score, but it looked slightly below par with the short boundaries and quick outfield.

The rain continued to fall as the Maladroits took the field for the Maniacs innings. The new ball was given to Tricky and Dom, and they opened up strongly with Tricky providing pace down the hill and Mustaq swing at the other end. Tricky was rewarded with 2 early wickets and showed good early season promise. Both wickets came from catches as was to become a theme in the match as the Maladroits took their chances (apart from Boozer and Ryder) in the field. Dom ended up with 3 catches, Glenn 2 and Chad pulled off a nonchalant one handed fine effort. The game moved on at a fast pace as the Maniacs looked to hit boundaries and it was obvious that the match would come to a swift conclusion either way, much to the Maladroits relief in the persistence rain. Ryder and Glenn came on as the change bowlers and tried to stem the flow of runs. In the whole they were successful as Ryder, with his new stock slower ball claimed 2-24 from 4 overs and Glen bowled a lot better than his figures of 1 for 45 from 7 overs suggests.

Wickets did fall, but this bought the Maniacs best batsman to the crease and all the bowlers suffered as he plundered the attack. Lees, Ash and Tooves all tried their luck, with mixed fortunes against well set batsmen, but Tooves did pick up a wicket through Chads great catch. The Maniacs cruised to victory in the end as the Maladroits couldn’t force a break through and it always looked unlikely that they would be able to defend their total. There was some crumbs of comfort for the Maladroits to reflect on with a solid display in the field, good catching, some cracking shot making from Ash at the top of the innings and a fine all round performance from Glenn.