Camden I v St & Warboys II (home)
SOUNDLY BEATEN
Senseless sledging mars latest loss
Camden (4pts) 149-6 lost to St Ives & Warboys II (20pts) 150-3 by 7 wickets
As they had on the opening day of the season when these two sides last met, the Thirds would have to make do with ten men. Queens’ – for the last home game of the year – wasn’t as bleak as Warboys in May had been, but the damp autumnal conditions made for an end of season vibe. Summer had been and gone. So too the Ashes. Could the same be said of Camden’s hopes [fears?] of avoiding relegation?
Captain Redders lost the toss, and passed the invitation to bat first over to Sutton and – in the absence of Vish – Robinson. Both found the boundary in the first two overs, but soon found the going heavy. And noisy. Both were dropped, but the same couldn’t be said of the volume. Nothing offensive, it should be noted, but the incessant inanity made for an unwelcome soundtrack. It all seemed so unnecessary. After all, Camden could have crawled to 18 from eight overs in silence. And Robinson (10) might have missed a straight one without being sledged. The wicket of the ex-former-ex-all-rounder brought Redders to the crease. The previous week’s fixture against Ely had been rained off, so the beleaguered skipper hadn’t scored a run for a month. Taking six balls to get off the mark, he looked in rare determined mood. Sutton was his customary dogged self, and the pair added 31 for the second wicket before Redders (18) also missed a straight one. Pratyush (9) and Krishna (5) were both caught in the covers, before Ritish’s run-a-ball 19 took the score into three figures. Hodsdon continued the good work, contributing 24 to a sixth-wicket stand of 37 – the highest of the innings. Farid (6*) smacked a ferocious four, and the Thirds finished on the curious score of 149-6. Sutton ended unbeaten on a stat-padding 51 from 107 balls, ears ringing, hamstring on the verge of pinging, and aware that seeing it through to the end of the innings would have been more useful in the reverse fixture.
Despite wickets for Farid (1-31) and Baker, the Thirds’ best chance of avoiding defeat came in the form of a heavy downpour. But it blew through quickly enough, and the visitors – despite Baker (2-22) bagging a caught and bowled – resumed to canter home in the twenty-ninth over. An otherwise forgettable display in the field was enlivened by Oliver Hodsdon’s enthusiasm. His dad took a fine swirling catch, and the youngster put his elders to shame with an instinctive stop at backward square leg. Fresh off the delayed plane from Sardinia, Nick Harrison showed a similar level of commitment – turning up in time for the final knockings of a soggy procession.
Defeat next week at Sutton will condemn Camden to relegation from Junior 1 North, and this latest seven-wicket loss – a sixth in seven at home – did little to suggest that the Thirds deserve to avoid the drop for a third consecutive year. There is nothing much more to say. Something that the St Ives and Warboys wicket-keeper might want to consider.
Man of the Match: Will Sutton