Busy Week in Bourne End

Thank you to everyone who attended the Family Fun Cricket Day last Sunday. We were blessed with perfect weather which, in turn, brought out the crowds, including our MP David Gauke, who took much needed time out from politics and bowled an alarmingly good over to open the second innings. Please enjoy Dave Hill's match report below and photos of the day.

Tomorrow evening, Thursday 5th September, is Village Night in the Anchor. Come along and meet your BEVA reps and relax with friends and neighbours.

Then on Sunday 8th, it is the Annual Village Show. All details have been distributed to every household. See the flyer below.

MATCH REPORT

BOURNE END CC v THE VILLAGE

Thoughts from the Long Room – Cricket or Quidditch?

There are times when cricket captains make wrong assumptions and Sunday was no exception.

Thanks to the enthusiasm and drive of Jane, Charlie and the B.E.V.A Committee wonderful afternoon was had at the sunny village cricket ground. Apart from hoovering the pavilion every aspect of the day was organised by the Bourne End Village Association.

Play was late in commencing. Hugo Manson had assembled his Village XIII while the Cricket Club had 6. Eventually numbers had swelled to allow the game to start- 20 overs a side and batsmen to retire at 25.

First misjudgement of the day was the home team being “spooked” by the Gulf Garage Quartet. The six looked on as the garage boys warmed up – they looked far too good for us oldies. So the arrangement was for the Cricket Club to bat first. The captain rejigged his batting order to counter the very obvious talent the village had assembled. A left hand/right hand combination was sent in to try and upset the bowlers and it truth it worked too well as both openers soon reached the retirement limit and 97 were scored from the first 10 overs. Before too long 3 more of the first six batsmen had retired and things were going horribly wrong as 165 was posted as a final score.

Between the innings took rather longer than it ought as players and spectators tucked into the Manson  chunky burgers and Pritchard’s fine ale.

Local MP David Gauke had completed his interviews with Sky and others in the media to come down and view proceedings. He was invited to bowl a symbolic first over at the Village team. This proving to be the next misjudgement by the acting captain. So we had to ascertain the Right Honourable Gentleman’s bowling action to inform the incoming batsmen. “Left arm round coming between the umpire and stumps.” OMG what have we got here? He had obviously played a bit before getting embroiled in Brexit! Mr Gauke then proceeded to send down an excellent over from which the Village never really recovered. Although most of the batsmen “got in” they struggled to meet the required scoring rate.

As we know we can quickly go off our MP’s and one was saddened that in further interviews in the media and a late night appearance on “Newsnight” with Emily Maitlis he failed to even mention the cricket!

Now Adam, aka Harry due to his resemblance to a certain wizard had hit a lovely 4 when batting but as the game progressed became more reluctant to bowl. Obviously his time at Hogwarts had stunted his cricketing development. But eventually he agreed to bowl the final over when the village needed 40 to win “Don’t worry Adam” the captain assured him, “the game is won” and he went on to bowl a pretty tidy first five balls costing very little in terms of runs. The final ball was the killer taking the top of middle and off stumps. As the celebrations erupted the question was “What’s your favourite sport now Harry?”

Many, many thanks to B.E.V.A., without them a super event would not have taken place. The principle aims of the day were to provide a social event in the village and raise the profile of the Cricket Club. Hopefully next year we can arrange a few low profile friendly Sunday cricket matches and involve some of the residents of our lovely village. As the population of the village is set to rise in the near future it would be terrific to get more use out of the ground for children and the community as a whole.

It was super to see so many people down at the ground on Sunday and I need to thank everyone for coming to the game and indeed all the players who entered into the spirit of the event and producing some excellent cricket. Let’s do it again next year! We’ll stick to cricket because we are not allowed to play quidditch so close to the A41.

Dave Hill

Bourne End Cricket Club