🧢 Captain's Log

Sat 28 Aug 1948 🧢 1st XIv BC Bowaters CC · HomeformLLLLW

On the Saturday of the 28th, with the sun doing its level best over Linton Park and Bowaters CC our guests, I won the toss and, in a fit of optimism I may live to regret less often than usual, sent us in.

It was not, in truth, a vintage batting display. We shuffled our way to 130 all out from 46.2 overs, rescued from something rather more embarrassing by P Clark's unbeaten 39 and useful support from Peter Weedon with 25. L Young, bless him, contributed nothing at all to the cause bar a golden duck — these things happen to the best of us, and frequently do.

With the ball, however, the lads were a different proposition entirely. Herbert Rayner was magnificent, prising out three for 23, with Don Hartridge (whose four maidens suggested Bowaters' batsmen would do better asking him for the time than a run) and Basil Sears chipping in a wicket apiece. Henry Martin and Stephen Argent both departed for ducks at our hands, and only Roy Melhuish's 24 and Roy Beach's unbeaten 20 kept the visitors afloat, their innings closing on 102 for 7 from 42 overs.

One footnote for the scorebook: Bert Buckoke's 16 runs eased him past Guy Bracher into 25th on the club's all-time run-scorers list — quiet history made while nobody was really looking.

A draw, then, honours shared, and on this evidence entirely fair — we batted like men in a hurry to get to tea, and bowled like men determined not to let anyone else have any.

Sun 25 Jul 1948 🧢 1st XIv West Farleigh CC · HomeformWLLLL

Sunday last brought West Farleigh CC to our ground, and for once the coin obliged me, so I had no hesitation in sending us in to bat. It was not a chanceless afternoon, and both Richard Harris and C Newman departed for ducks, but the middle order stiffened matters nicely: Frank Sutton made a tidy 31 and John Thirkell chipped in with 25. I confess to rather enjoying myself with 55 of my own, and between us we dragged the total up to a respectable 182 all out in 45.2 overs.

With the ball, the lads were in no mood to be generous. Herbert Rayner bowled with real venom for 4-36, I found some rhythm myself for 3-32 with six maidens thrown in for good measure, and J Fermor's miserly 2-4 finished the job in style. G Page and George Reffell both fell for ducks at our hands, and West Farleigh were bundled out for 88 in 35 overs, Harry Webb's defiant 36 the only real resistance. Poor Frank Sutton had a torrid time behind the stumps, mind you — 14 byes is not a figure he will frame for the mantelpiece.

A thoroughly satisfying win by 94 runs, and two points banked without much argument. John Thirkell now heads our season's run charts and Herbert Rayner our wicket charts — proof, if any were needed, that this side has more strings to its bow than its captain likes to admit.

Sat 15 May 1948 🧢 1st XIv HC Herne Bay CC · HomeformDWLLL

From the captain's chair — Saturday 15th May 1948, and a visit from Herne Bay CC on a day that would test both our bowling and our nerve.

We lost the toss, so a Saturday in the field it was, and no complaints from these old bones. Bert Buckoke was in irrepressible form, snaring four for the afternoon, with Herbert Rayner matching him wicket for wicket and John Hartridge chipping in with two more. D Wicks gave us the most trouble, top-scoring with a stubborn 49, while J Gadsden and S H Williams departed without troubling the scorers — two ducks to warm the slip cordon's hearts, even if the rest of the innings gave us plenty to think about.

Our reply never quite found its rhythm. John Thirkell led the way with a tidy 30, well supported by L Breedon's 27, but wickets fell around them and a blot appeared on the card as our number added a duck to proceedings. We came up 28 runs short in the end — a result that flatters neither our batting nor our pretensions to Saturday glory.

There was, at least, some cheer for the history books: Herbert Rayner's 7 runs eased him past H G Smith into third on the club's all-time run charts, and Bert Buckoke's four wickets lifted him past E C Streatfield into fourteenth among our wicket-takers — both, fittingly, also lead our 1948 season charts. Not our day, all told, but heads up and back to the nets we go.