🧢 Captain's Log

Sun 05 Sep 1943 🧢 1st XIv EX E.A. XI · HomeformWLLWW

Winning the toss on a fine Sunday at home to E.A. XI, I had no hesitation in taking first knock, and it proved, I think, the right course. Ours was not the tidiest of innings, all out in the end, but there was substance to it. I was fortunate enough to find some form and brought up a fifty-four that gave the innings its backbone, and I had good company in Stan Wratten, whose twenty-five was played with real application, and Gordon Fenner, unbeaten on twenty-two, whose late hitting gave us something worth defending.

E.A. XI replied with spirit and reached 131 all out from 19.4 overs, Mills leading their effort with forty and White following handsomely with thirty-nine, but once we had them we did not let go. From 50 for 2 the innings unravelled to 56 for 5 in short order, and poor Mellows departed without so much as troubling the scorers. Gordon Fenner was again the chief tormentor with three for thirty-one, and he was well backed by Herbert Wratten's three for thirty-three and M. Patey's two for thirty-one.

There was a pleasant footnote to the afternoon, for that innings of mine carried me past Jack Fryer into fifth place among the club's run-getters, which I confess gave quiet satisfaction. We ran out winners by sixteen runs, a fair result fairly earned, and a thoroughly good day for the club.

Sat 21 Aug 1943 🧢 1st XIv CD Civil Defence · HomeformWWLLW

Winning the toss on a fine Saturday against Civil Defence, I had no hesitation in putting us in to bat, and the eleven set about their work in workmanlike fashion. An early stumble to 7 for one threatened to unsettle us, but the innings was rescued in style by Maurice Fenner, who batted handsomely past his fifty to make 53, finding a willing partner in Gordon Fenner, whose 35 was no less valuable. Wickets fell in a flurry from 82 for five to 96 for eight, and it looked for a moment as though the tail might be found wanting, but the ninth-wicket pair put together a most gallant stand of 67 to see us home to 163 all out in 25.2 overs, the extras column swelling matters by a generous 26. I contributed a modest 15 of my own, which I am told carried me past F E Wallis into eighteenth place on the club's all-time list of run-getters, a piece of news that pleased me rather more than it perhaps ought.

In the field we found ourselves in fine heart. Civil Defence subsided from 36 for one to 51 for four, with H Osborne, R Goodwin and Frank Brattle all departing without troubling the scorers, though L Wynn stood firm for a defiant 47 not out. The day belonged to Herbert Rayner, whose figures of 7 for 24 were richly deserved and a joy to watch unfold, well supported by Gordon Fenner's 2 for 28, including two tidy maidens. Sixteen byes told of a testing afternoon behind the stumps for Maurice Fenner, but it mattered little in the end. Civil Defence were all out for 108, and we came away winners by 55 runs, two points thoroughly earned in the best traditions of the club.

Sun 25 Jul 1943 🧢 1st XIv HC Home Guard - D Company · HomeformLWWLL

Home Guard - D Company came to us on a fine Sunday, and we chose to have first use of the ball, a decision that rewarded us handsomely before the day was through. Their innings began wretchedly, the first wicket falling at 5, and though X Miroy played the innings of the match for his unbeaten 37, well supported by Sergeant Smith's 20, our bowlers kept a tight rein throughout. Gordon Fenner was in his finest form, taking four for 24, with Herbert Sunley three for 15 and Herbert Wratten a single wicket for a mere seven runs. Newport, Larking and Luckhurst all departed without troubling the scorers, and the visitors were dismissed for exactly 100 from their 27 overs.

Our reply proved no procession. George Winter made a sound 27, and Jimmy Jameson chipped in with 23, but the middle order fell away sharply between 76 and 77 for the loss of three wickets, and I confess I contributed nothing myself, out for a duck for which the less said the better. Gordon Fenner and D Sells kept me company in that unhappy fraternity, and we were all out for 112 in 28.2 overs — enough, and not an over to spare, to see us home.

It was pleasing, too, to note Herbert Rayner's 15 carrying him past the Reverend F A Leveson-Gower on the club's all-time run list, and Herbert Sunley's three wickets lifting him past W H Fryer among our leading bowlers. A hard-fought contest, honestly won, and a thoroughly sporting afternoon's cricket against agreeable opponents.

Sun 11 Jul 1943 🧢 1st XIv RW Royal Artillery Wing · HomeformLLWWL

Sunday last brought Royal Artillery Wing to our ground, and we took the field first. The visitors made a solid 168 all out in 27.3 overs, Frost leading the way with a well-made seventy-two, ably supported by Bewley's thirty-two. They lost an early wicket with but six on the board, a nervy start, yet a stand of sixty-one for the fourth wicket set matters right before the innings crumbled, 165 for seven becoming all out in short order. Davey, Steel and Delaforce departed without troubling the scorers, while Gordon Fenner ran through the order in fine style, six wickets for thirty, well backed by Stan Wratten's two for fifty-three and J Harrington's one for seventeen.

Our reply never quite found its feet. We lost an early wicket with nothing on the board, and though Jimmy Jameson played a plucky knock of thirty-five to carry the bulk of the scoring, the innings subsided from sixty-three for four to seventy-two for seven in the twinkling of an eye. Wratten, Winter and Bunting could none of them trouble the scorers, and fifteen byes told their own tale of a testing afternoon behind the stumps for Maurice Fenner. We were all out for ninety-six in thirty-two overs, seventy-two runs shy of the visitors.

There was cause for quiet satisfaction amid the defeat. Jameson's thirty-five carried him past Leslie Wilson on the club's all-time run list, and Gordon Fenner's six wickets lifted him past the Reverend Thomas Burra into fifth among our leading wicket-takers, figures that sit well beside my own season's return of two hundred and forty-four runs, third in this year's charts. Not our day, then, but the lads will be back at the nets directly, and Royal Artillery Wing proved worthy opponents in the best traditions of the game.

Sun 23 May 1943 🧢 1st XIv RW Royal Artillery Wing 48 · HomeformWLLWW

On Sunday last, the twenty-third of May, we welcomed Royal Artillery Wing 48 to our ground, and winning the toss I had no hesitation in asking my fellows to take first strike upon a wicket that promised well. Nor were we disappointed, for the openers set about their work with real relish, putting on sixty-three before the first wicket fell, and the innings closed at a handsome 150 for 5 from four-and-thirty overs. E. Humphreys led the way with a fine 40, Jimmy Jameson batted sensibly for 35 not out, and F. Weedon chipped in with 32 of his own. It was not all sunshine, mind, for both K. Symonds and Herbert Sunley were undone without troubling the scorers — the sort of blot that visits every card from time to time.

In the field we found the Artillery men in no mood to surrender tamely. Lawes played a really well-made innings of 73 not out, finding a willing partner in Lamb, whose 39 helped fashion a stand of 83 for the seventh wicket that rather turned the game our way. Sunley bowled with great heart to finish with 3 for 52, and I was pleased enough with my own 2 for 48, while Gordon Fenner chipped in with a useful wicket for 44 runs — one that, I am told, carries him past J.N. Tonge into eighteenth place among the club's wicket-takers. With the bat earlier I had managed 24, enough, so the scorers assure me, to see me past the same J.N. Tonge and into tenth on the club's all-time run list, which I record here with more pride than I shall admit to over tea.

Humphreys continues to head our season's run-getters with 124, and Fenner leads the wickets with ten, so the engine of the side runs sound even in defeat. In the end the Artillery men got home by three wickets, a narrow and honest result that owed more to their last stand than any failing of ours. A hard-fought match, played in the best traditions of the game, and no shame at all in the losing of it. Back to the nets, and better luck next Sunday.