Snatched from the jaws of defeat

A visit to play the Grasshoppers at Grub Street for the Llama U21’s tier 1 Trust League fixture against Oxted & Limpsfield U21’s who included in their ranks players with plenty of experience. Captain Jac Cleaver plays in the Middlesex Premier league for Crouch End and there were 4 Oxted 1st teamers and 4 Oxted 2nd teamers who play in Div 2 of their respective divisions in the Surrey Championship; with the remaining 2 players from the Oxted 3rd team.
This fixture would therefore be a stern test for the younger and less experienced Llamas; but pitting themselves against (on paper) stronger opposition is exactly the kind of preparation required to transition from youth to senior cricket.
Captain Will Timmons won the toss & chose to bat. Seth McDowall was soon into his stride with 3 boundaries from Rafferty Pearce’s 1st over. Opening partner Tommy Bates joined in with a 4 hit into the Limpsfield equivalent of a rain forest where the ball still remains; 3rd over and calls for a new ball (it is the start of Wimbledon).
Seth (15) was out lbw to Rafferty Pearce in the 4th over (24-1) and Tommy (13) was out 2 overs later choosing to hit a very wide ball straight into Bertie Heaver’s hands at cover for 39-2 after 6 overs. Thomas Harvey-James and Sam Clark both got themselves in and were scoring at over a run a ball and reached 72 when Sam (17) was caught at extra cover by Alfie Cutmore off Matt Thomas (3-0-18-1) for 72-3 after 11 overs. After being denied a long & loud appeal for caught behind Harvey Cutmore had Thomas Harvey-James (17) caught by Rupert Emmins and the Llamas were 87-4 in the 14th over.
Captain Will Timmons & Will Jones started to rebuild, putting the Oxted fielders under pressure with some quick running, & the pair took the Llamas to 141 when the Llamas lost their 5th wicket when Will Timmons (26) was caught at deep mid wicket by Bertie Heaver to give Harvey Cutmore his 2nd wicket (8-2-23-2).
Jack Sadler & Will Jones continued at a steady rate and the Llamas progressed to 185 when Jack (24) was bowled to become Rafferty Pearce’s 3rd wicket (8-0-55-3) and the Llamas were 185-6 by the 31st over. Standing out of his ground after a free hit (can’t be stumped) George survived a run out appeal when on consultation with the Oxted umpire it was decided George was not attempting a run. Will Jones reached his 50 and this provided the backbone of the Llama innings although all the batsmen, with their various contributions, made starts which over time they will want (& need) to turn into bigger scores.
Will (54) was finally out in the 33rd over bowled by returning fast bowling Alfie Cutmore and the Llamas lost their 7th wicket with the score now 219. Alfie was bowling with more sense in his 2nd spell having flexed his muscles with too high bouncers (11 wides) in his 1st spell. Alfie’s reward came when he got 2 wickets in the 37th over when George McLoughlin (13) skied one to be caught by Rupert Emmins for 220-8 followed by bowling Ed Russ (6) for 220-9 to finish on (8-0-46-3).Ned Littlemore (5) & TJ Cossey (1) were the not out batsmen as the Llamas ended their 40 overs on (about a run a ball) 238-9.
Oxted 1st team openers Ben Barney and Bertie Heaver set about reaching the target in double quick time as they both took advantage of pace on the hard new ball on a fast track to confidently play through the line as they plundered the Llama attack (George McLoughlin, Ed Russ and TJ) with each playing many fine shots for boundaries and after 9 overs were already on 79-0.
Will Timmons brought on Tommy Bates and his left arm pace off had an immediate effect as Tommy had Ben Barney (43 from 36 balls with 36 in boundaries) stumped by Thomas Harvey-James as the 1st wicket fell in the 10th over with the score on 80. A repeat dismissal in Tommy’s next over saw Sam Hartley (2) stumped to have Oxted 89-2 in the 12th over. Tommy was bowling the Llamas back into the game as he got a wicket in his 3rd consecutive over getting Harvey Cutmore (3) playing on as Oxted had a slight stutter to 97-3 in the 14th over.
Ben Heaver was joined by his captain Jac Cleaver but Jac (11) was bowled to become the 4th wicket for Tommy Bates (8-0-27-4) and the Llamas had Oxted on 123-4 in the 18th over which was just in front of the Llamas who were 122-4 after 19 overs. Ben Heaver continued to score freely with some glorious drives and at 180-4 in the 27th over only needed another 59 from the remaining 13 overs. But the game change came when Ben (73 from 73 balls with 44 in boundaries) was run out by a direct hit from Will Jones and at 180-5 the Llamas had the lower order and tail in their sights.
Next ball came 5 penalty runs when the ball got through to hit the helmet; this could have been worse as the ball then went for 4 byes but was a dead ball once it had hit the helmet. Jack Sadler tried an over of spin but was much more successful when he reverted to seam and had Rupert Emmins caught behind by Thomas Harvey-James and then got Alfie Cutmore to sky one to Will Jones and finished his mixed spell (3-0-21-2, with 10 wides) as Oxted went from 191-6 & 191-7 after 29 overs.
Next over (30th) Ned Littlemore (6-0-35-1) had Matt Thomas caught behind to give Thomas Harvey-James his 4th victim and Oxted were 196-8 needing 43 from 10 overs with the Llamas needing 2 more wickets. William Heaver and Joss Heaver then began to take the game away from the Llamas as, with the fielders too far back, they ran plenty of singles and took the score to 237 after 36 overs.
The youngest Llama, U15 George McLoughlin, was given the responsibility to salvage something as a further run came to bring the scores level; but the Llamas were unexpectedly given a bonus when a suicidal run was attempted by the Heaver lads which George took full advantage of with a direct hit to run out Will Heaver (18). Last man in was Rafferty Pearce but a full ball from George (7-0-40-1) hit him low on the pad to be out lbw to end the game on a tie which probably felt like a victory being snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Neither side will be happy with their wide count with Oxted bowling 30 and Reigate bowling 26 but this would perhaps be too critical on a day where players and spectators enjoyed a very competitive game of cricket that ended with honours even.
There were plenty of individual contributions e.g. Will Jones 54 runs + a catch + a (game changing) run out; 4 victims for keeper Thomas Harvey-James with 2 catches and 2 stumpings, Tommy Bates with 4-27 and a nerveless last over from the team’s youngest player (U15) George McLoughlin with an lbw to tie the game. However this was very much a result belonging to the whole team who managed to drag themselves back into a game that for many periods looked a lost cause. Their behaviour and respect for the game was impeccable and the future Llamas senior sides will soon have some worthy recruits.