If Saturday’s match had been a high-scoring encounter on the artificial, Sunday’s contest between Gymkhana Cub and British Club as the two teams competed for the Dick Wood Cup saw an even battle between bat and ball on a new grass pitch. Gymkhana Club looked in trouble at five for three after two overs as Nick White claimed the first wicket in the opening over and Choo, brought in to strengthen British Club’s team, dismissed both Tanveer and Burhan without scoring as he started with a double-wicket maiden.
Adrian Ballantyne stood firm with Richard Cowles dropped down the order to number five but neither found batting easy and Afrian was bowled by Haroon for 11 and captain Pete Warner shot great sportsmanship on taking the wicket-keeper’s word that a low catch had just carried.
This left Gymkhana Club in trouble at 36 for 5 and although Adam Green made a positive start to his innings, Richard Cowles just managed to dig out Yod’s first ball only to see the youngster take a good caught and bowled. The score was now 63 for 6 but Hugh Williams is also a useful batsman to be found at number eight and he helped Adam add 56 for seventh wicket.
Even thought Nick White returned to dismiss both of them Adam had made 39 and Hugh 23 and the extras had also been mounting steadily. Tom Salusbury and Martin Papworth each hit a boundary apiece and the total reached the dizzy height of 150 for 8 in 30 overs.
After the traditional Gymkhana Club fayre of sandwiches and chicken legs, British Club began their chase looking to end a run of four wins in succession for their hosts in the Dick Wood Cup. Vaughan McClear is a quality player but he could do nothing about a ball from Adam Green that practically rolled along the ground. Ben did well to survive for 10 overs and the total increased steadily as Nick White built his innings.
Martin Papworth beat Nick’s defensive shot with a ball that cut back sharply and Ben’s valiant stay at the crease was ended by a sharp stumping from Richard Cowles as Adam finished with figures of 2 for 11 in his 6 overs. Martin and Burhan continued to bowl steadily but David Dance and Choo built a good partnership and at 74 for 3 in the 20th over the scoreboard was looking healthy.
The introduction of spin brought an unexpectedly rapid end to the match as Tom Salusbury induced Choo to charge down the wicket and fail to clear short cover, then after being hit for three fours from his first four balls Hamish Weir’s fortunes changed as David Dance skied to the keeper to be out for 37. Tom picked up a second wicket and Hamish three more as he finished with figures of 4 for 19 and British Club were dismissed for 102.
Gymkhana Club had won by 48 runs but the match had been much competitive than that for most of the day and the hosts had only scored 10 more runs from the bat so generous had British Club been in the field as they conceded 46 extras.
Another enjoyable day came to an end with the traditional fines session as many beers and vodka slammers were consumed. The presentations were made with British Club also generous in giving out their touring shirts to David Walker, cricket captain of Gymkhana, and to Locky, as well as caps to Choo and Yod who had made such a good impression over the weekend.