Another day with the absence of live cricket so it is time to look back once again on a day in Calmore Sports history – and that is today, 15th May.
By a quirk of the calendar, the last Saturday action came 10 years ago in 2010 and having narrowly lost to Tichborne Park the previous week, a trip to Bashley (Rydal) 2s could have been something of a daunting one. It didn’t prove that way as we ran out comfortable 108 run winners. Electing to bat first, skipper Darren Vann went early which brought Paul Cass to the crease and he proceeded to add 145 with Mark Archer for the second wicket. When Cass went for 69, James Rose arrived and kept the Sparky company with another good stand of 76 before Rose went for a sparkling 50-ball 54. But Archer carried on and when he was fifth out at 266, he had scored a magnificent 113 – our first SL century for nine years – as we went onto total 295-6. It was way too many for the second string – despite our gift of 42 wides – as they were rolled for 187 with Cass 3-26, Cook 2-34 and Lavelle 2-26 to the fore.
Back at Loperwood, the 2s thrashed Portchester 2s in Regional One South by 7 wickets. Pete Clark with 3-35, Daniel Croft 3-19 and Ben Perry 2-11 at the end removed the visitors for just 141 which was comfortably knocked off with Steve Dunn top scoring with a 47-ball 48 alongside Ben Perry’s swift unbeaten 35 off 33 balls guided us home with over 10 overs to spare. The 3s were at Balmer Lawn in Brockenhurst taking on their 2nd XI and we lost by 3 wickets. Kevin Gardner with 21 led the way but had little support until his son Mark, coming in at 8, scored 29 and skipper Adam Hargreaves hit a rare unbeaten 29 to take us to a challenging 178. Tottonians rugby player Ollie Northover top scored for the hosts with 44 as Allan Provins’ 3-37 in 5 overs and Martin Donovan 2-37 wasn’t enough to prevent them getting home.
After two washouts at home to St Cross Symondians and away at Gosport Borough, we finally got going in SPCL Division 2 in 2004 with a narrow 7-run loss at Burridge. Captain James Hibberd was the pick of the bowlers with 12-3-15-3, including having keeper Ed Brogan dismissed hit wicket, as they reached 191-9 – John Wall 2-35 and Mark Boston 2-60. The Burridge side, containing New Zealand full international Heath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi Davis, kept us in check despite Mark Archer’s 57 and a healthy dose of 54 extras but it wasn’t to be enough as we slid from 120-3 to 184-9 to fall short. The 3s were up against Brockenhurst 1s at the Old Ground and were well beaten by 9 wickets – only Paul Henry making any impression with 25 with the bat and the only wicket to fall with 1-22 as we were bowled out for 56 in 41 overs!
We endured a tough afternoon at Chapel Gate in our first match of the 1999 season, being thrashed by Bournemouth by 9 wickets. Tom Pegler’s 41 and efforts from Rob Budd (22), Martin Kellaway (23) and Nick Holland (20*) edged us to a well below par 166-8 which was never enough against Michael Stonier with 88* and Julian Cassell (56*) as they put on an unbeaten 157 to lead them home.
At Loperwood, the 2s welcomed Salisbury Wanderers and claimed a 73-run win. A stand of 163 between Tim Lumsden (65 off 111 balls) and Clive Surry with an excellent unbeaten 107 took us to 204-4 before Roy Walton (2-25), Sean Eckton (2-35) and Steve Brandes (3-29) reduced them to 131 all out – Billy Sims’ bizarre figures of 3-2-2-2 completing the rout. And the 4s got past Esso Fawley 3s by 7 runs – somehow! Andy Cooper with 52 and Graham Kinchington 44 pushed us up to 157 all out and Esso reached 141-5 before Paul Grinham roared in and took 4-8 in 4.4 overs to skittle them for 150 – rumour has it he cracked a smile but these are unfounded!
It was a Sunday in 1994. The Sunday 2s went to Exbury and won by 31 runs, despite only getting 113. Matt Procter with an unbeaten 36 and Richard Isaacs 21 top scored in our small total but it was to be enough as Grinham’s 4-29 alongside Mike Lockyer 2-17 and Matt Karnecki 2-17 rolled the home side for 82. The 1s were in Cross Solent action at home to Romsey and lost by 56 runs. Romsey hit 171-7 with Mark Boston’s 3-33 the highlight. Gary Stinson top scored with 29 not out in 68 balls as we were bowled out for 115.
Back to Saturday action and it was County One at Loperwood in 1993 against Hartley Wintney which we won by 163 runs which followed on from our 140-run thrashing of Alton the week before. Rob Budd with 83, Tom Pegler 52 and Dominic Newman’s forthright 75 took us to 281-5 in our 48 overs. A very disciplined bowling display from Steve Brandes’ side (who didn’t bowl) sent Hartley to 118 all out as Kevin Marshall 4-29 and Paul Draper 3-32 doing the damage. The 3s were at the Old Ground and beat Ellingham 2s by 110 runs despite slipping to 42-4 before being salvaged by Jimmy Gill’s 86 and Martin Donovan with an unbeaten 90. Ellingham were bowled out for 106 with Dave Morgan returning figures of 4.3-2-4-4 and coupled with two wickets each for Grinham, Tony O’Connor and Nigel Hill.
1982 saw us take a long hike to Hook and Newnham in County One and come home with a six-run success. Billy Sims with 33 and Michael Newman 35 were the main factors in our 155-9 with Voisey taking 7-48. The home side made good progress but a standard five-wicket return for Ray Hurst (5-60 in 21 overs) and three wickets for Sims ensured they fell short at 149-8. Meanwhile, the 2s lost at home to Sundown by 80 runs despite C. Parker’s 3-54. S. Lightfoot with 20 top scored in our chase. But the 3s did win at Ringwood 2s as Graham Cooper hit 41, Graham Love 28 and a volley of 22s from K. Barrett, D. Faulkner and Colin Stuttard. Ringwood had no answer to Pete Wakeford’s devastating 7-10 in 13 overs as they were sent to 95 all out.
Our first league encounter on this day came in 1976 at Fair Oak which we won by just 9 runs. Batting first, we made 135-9 with Jimmy Gill top scoring with 25 and Ray Hurst 24 as H. May took 8-60 for the hosts. As you would expect, Ray Hurst did the damage with the ball as he took 6-33 as Fair Oak were restricted to just 126-8. And the 2s were in South West 2 action at home to Andover Banks and beat their 10-men by 109 runs. Gary Oliver with 54 and Bob Dickinson 37 led us to 162 before D. Snellgrove took 7-19 as they were knocked over for just 53.
