Harspden vs Effigies - 9th September

Harspden in devastating form

Harspden entertained one of traditionally their toughest opponents, the Effigies, a team of Private Bankers from London. Having been beaten by the Effigies last year in a very high scoring game, Harpsden were keen on revenge – and on a bright sunny day, revenge they got. Scheduled as a 40 over a side match, it never looked likely to go the distance as a truly destructive spell of bowling from Tom Hancock, aided by some probing support from Tom Sampson, ripped the heart out of the Effigies batting line up. Evidence of Hancock’s accuracy was that all his 4 wickets were either bowled or leg before and he finished with the well-deserved figures of 4 for 14 off his eight overs. With obvious relief the visitors eventually saw off the opening bowlers but were entranced by the leg-spin duo of Matt Hayward and Mike Farmar. Both bowlers showed great control as Hayward finished with 1 for 4 off his 3 overs whilst Farmar ended up with the impressive figures of 3 for 5 off 1.3 overs after 2 clean bowleds in his first 2 balls! Sam Imlay and Mos Afzal batted valiantly for the visitors, with the latter running out of partners in the 19th over.

Harspden’s target of 49 to win could either be achieved by careful accumulation or pure aggression. With Grayling, the Effigies spearhead, bowling faster than anything seen at Harpsden in many a year, the experienced Miles Hodgkiss and the impressive Horatio Cary had only one thought in their mind. Hodgkiss carved and smacked his way to a truly impressive 23 whilst Cary cut and hooked himself to a cultured 19. After 4.2 overs Harspden needed just 4 to win – Grayling steamed in from near to the sightscreen, Hodgkiss gave himself some room and then launched the ball back faster than it had arrived at him, straight back over the bowlers head and into the graveyard over the road – a shot WG himself would have been proud of!


Effigies

S. Imlay ct. R. Birkett b. Sampson 16
N. Johnson b. T. Hancock 4
M. Rhodes run out 0
J. Grayling b. T. Hancock 4
J. Kaye b. T. Hancock 0
M. Afzal not out 8
G. Wolfe LBW b. T. Hancock 2
A. Kapour b. Farmar 1
J. Vaughan b. Farmar 0
R. Ahyja b. Hayward 5
T. Claridge st. R. Birkett b. Farmar 0

Extras 8

TOTAL 48

Best bowling; T. Hancock 4 for 14, Farmar 3 for 5


Harpsden

M. Hodgkiss not out 23
H. Cary not out 19

Extras 9

TOTAL (for 0 wickets) 51