HARPSDEN tee up against Henley Golf Club 29 July

As part of the ongoing centenary celebrations the 'cricket section' of Henley Golf Club took on their close neighbours Harpsden CC in a keenly contested friendly match on Sunday.Fielding a side consisting of youthful talent and timeless experience,forged on the anvil of missed putts and shanked wedges,the golf club were put into bat.Ed Birkett and Christian Whittaker,poachers turned gamekeepers,both being youthful stalwarts of Harpsden's usual Sunday side,opened the batting and put on 21 for the first wicket before Christian fell to a sharp catch by Chris Ham off the bowling of Tom Ham- a case of family 'ham and egging it',to borrow a well known golfing term.Rod Birkett then joined son Ed and moved the score swiftly on to 46 before he fell to a catch at the wicket by Richard Moyle off Tom Hancock for 22.This heralded the arrival at the wicket of European challenge tour professional Joe Templer who,should his putting stroke desert him,could have a promising career as a Harpsden middle order batsman as he crashed his way to 22 before having his middle stump removed by the evergreen Hodgkiss.At 103 for 2 the veteran Ian Thomas arrived at the crease in his usual understated and quiet way and expectations of fireworks were naturally high.Unfortunately he succumbed,without scoring,to the guiles of Boubala's off spin.All the while Ed Birkett had been accumulating runs as the backbone of the golf club's innings and on reaching his maiden 50 on the Harpsden ground he accelerated rapidly to 70,including 2 monstrous sixes,before being run out enabling the club to set Harpsden a total of 156 to win.Harpsden had generously used eight bowlers during the innings,the pick of whom were Hodgkiss with 2 for 24,Boubala 2 and 15 and Ben Hancock,whilst wicketless,with 0 for 27 off 7 overs.
After a splendid tea,the highlights being Sylvia Heath's egg sandwiches and Jane Burtt's chocolate brownies,Harpsden lost Horatio Cary early on off the bowling of Yonjan and Tom Hancock fell to a sharp catch behind the wicket by Rod Birkett off the graceless leg spin of Ian Whittaker for 12.Tight bowling by Simon Lovelock,10 overs 1 for 20 and Christian Whittaker,6 overs 1 for 10,ensured that Harpsden would find it difficult to chase down the total required however with Will Stevens going steadily along the match remained poised.Marcus Lovelock,captaining the club,kept the fielding side on their toes and Ian Thomas's cat like ability at short mid micket in swallowing a hard hit ball in his midrift exemplified this.Yonjan continued to perplex the home side a nd finsihed his spell with 3 for 24.
At 80 for 5 and with Will Stevens still at the crease Harpsden needed 76 to win from the remaining 15 overs and with the dangerous Miles Hodgkiss and Alfred Cary to come hopes were high.At this point Marcus Lovelock entered the fray with his loopy seam up bowling and Hodgkiss sweeping the ball to square leg was superbly caught by an outstretched Ed Birkett for 2.Despite a text book 7 from Alfred Cary and an unbeaten 58 not out from Will Stevens the loss of Hodgkiss effectively ended the chance of a Harpsden victory and notwithstanding some generously flighted bowling from Ian Thomas,rolloing back the years once more,the Golf Club were unable to take the last remaining wickets as Harpsden stoically ensured that the match would end in a draw as their innings closed at 113 for 7.