VI-Kings thumped as Nutley seamers reduced them to 10-6

By Chris Hudson

Ever year the 6th team condescend to play a match on a Sunday, not just to give the Cavs skipper a taste of competitive selection but also to ensure that we promote the fortunes of other Reigate teams. Perhaps this spirit of charity went a little too far on this occasion.

With normal skipper Hudson deputising for the shorthanded oppo, Geoff ‘Caveman’ Chay was asked to lead the side. In fine tradition he lost the toss and the VI-Kings were asked to field. The opening bowlers were Manish ‘Missile’ Chauhan and Charlie ‘CC’ Chovil and they did a fantastic job of containing the Nutley batsmen in the first spell. After 10 overs the score had scarcely reached 17 and only one shot had got off the square.

First change brought Joseph ‘Killer’ Kerven and young Charlie Harris and while they were slightly less economical, the first wicket fell (lbw for Harris). At drinks, Nutley Hall were 69-1 and they seemed strangely satisfied with this progress. Not long after resumption, as is so often the case, more wickets fell. This was largely due to the heroic efforts of Supathi ‘Super-T’ Panchal who found that the track was very well suited to his revolutionary (geddit) off-spin. His well-aimed run out at the non-strikers end (from backward point) was also a welcome change from the normal standards of VI-Kings cricket. He would finish the match with figures of 4-19 and be the man of the match from a Reigate perspective.

Sadly, the 6s are all about inclusive cricket and so a number of other bowlers had a go as well, not all them without cost. Geoff, behind the sticks, managed to burgle a run out off a wide delivery that the umpire had to take several seconds to make a decision about (being somewhat distracted by a conversation with the square leg fielder). Fortunately the batsman was still a couple of paces outside the crease looking on in disbelief and this tipped the balance of probabilities. The remaining wickets were collected by Ned Littlemore, CC Chovil and chris dahl with no real partnerships being allowed to develop. Highly likely that extras was top scorer with several deliveries escaping the attention of the keeper to get to the rope. The final total of 144 was seen as a ‘decent score to chase’ by the deputy skipper who didn’t seem too concerned about matters.

As it happens, it was far too much for Reigate who were in trouble early and often. Killer Kerven and Sam ‘Potent’ Parker struggled against the full length swing of the Nutley bowlers and were able to compare notes with each other in the dressing room in quick sequence. Tom Harris, Richard Boon, Ned Littlemore and chris dahl followed soon after as Reigate were made to look very ordinary on a seamer’s track- 10-6 by this stage. Chay was overheard asking Hudson what the lowest ever score had been for the 6s (28 vs Merstham for those of you that keep track of such things).

The setting sun had managed to position itself just above the western sightscreen which made it very difficult for the batsmen to track the flight of any lofted balls. However, Caveman was able to provide some kind of respectability through partnerships with Panchal and then Chauhan (he hits a hard shot) before playing on. In the tail, Chovil and Charlie Harris did their best to stave off the inevitable but were only able to eke out the score to 75 before the last wicket fell. Heroic salvage but not nearly enough on this occasion. The run of poor results continues for the VI-Kings with a fourth loss in a row. Tea was nice though.

Ultra posse nemo obligatur