Another day with the sun beating down. A home game with Whiteparish in the Border League to look forward to tonight. Yet still we wait for the green light to start playing again. June 2nd today – let’s see what happened “On This Day” instead!
First up, we head back just two years to 2018 and two stand out performances with the bat and a typical Calmore response with the ball. It is a home game with Sarisbury Athletic in SPCL Division One and the reigning champions were firmly back on course after the opening day Ventnor defeat with back-to-back wins. Sarisbury won the toss and put us into bat and just two batsmen made double figures but they shared in a crucial 67 run partnership for the fifth wicket. Opener Matt Hardy stuck around for 149 balls for his outstanding 79 and he was joined by Matt Taylor who hit 29 from 42 balls. However, the end came quickly as we went from 120-4 to 147 all out. As is the Calmore way, it’s spin to win and so it proved. Steve Wright bowled six overs up front (1-18) and Mike West six overs later but the other 30 were all spin. Mark Lavelle opened the bowling and took 1-15 in his 10 but the main damage was left to James Rose and Jimmy Manning. Rose claimed his third first XI five-wicket haul taking 5-44 and Manning with a wily 3-18 sent the visitors from 62-0 to 122 all out. Three wins in a row for the 1s.
In fact, it was a good day all round as we celebrated long and hard into the night with four wins across the club – although it was a bit of a wait for the 2s as they returned from Shanklin, somewhat quicker than they had previously! If you could ever have the perfect team performance, this was probably it as all 11 contributed something. The home side batted first and were bundled out for 132 as Allan Hurst took 3-41, two wickets each for Storm Anning (2-22) and Paul Henry (2-19) and one from Liam Newton (1-25) but the pick of the bowlers was Jono Maton who bowled his nine overs, 2-11. The chase saw the seven batsmen used all reach double figures, Callum Stanton top scoring with 26 as we won with 12 and a half overs to spare by 5 wickets.
Meanwhile, Sam Vidler’s 3s were crushing Bashley (Rydal) 4s at the Sports Centre in double quick time! The visitors were skittled for just 69 by an inspired bowling display from Ryan Lomax who took 5-25 and Vidler 2-15. Michael Donovan wasted no time, smashing 42 not out as we won in 11 overs by 7 wickets. And the 4s were sending Cadnam 3s to a heavy loss at Minstead as one of their former players came back to haunt them. Paul Jewer’s superb opening stand with Max Bailey of 156 was the perfect foundation to our 203-7 – Jewer making 71 and Bailey 68 as the home side had little answer to them. And then Max claimed 2-9 along with Calum Bailey’s 2-24 and Finn Blay’s 2-28 sent them packing for only 91.
It was SPCL Division Three action in 2012 and a trip to a former venue Hampshire played at for many years – sadly, not at all now and extremely unlikely to be so given its drop in quality more recently. But, a visit to the United Services Ground in Portsmouth was still a draw for clubs – although we suffered a Carson inspired five-wicket defeat. Put into bat, Pierre Kriel with 57 off 61 balls in typical belligerent fashion – so much so that he shared in a stand of 65 with Ben Perry of which Ben contributed 6. At 124-7, fears were for a quick ending but Paul Proudley’s 54-ball 60 along with 21 from Tom Pegler and 15* from Luke Johnson at least got us up to 233-9 in our 50 overs. It wasn’t to be enough as the Carson brothers – Damien (67) and Dominic (85) set about our bowlers – only Paul Proudley’s 2-40 anything to talk about.
The 2s lost to Bishop’s Waltham at home but the 3s and 4s were enjoying much better days. The 3s were getting past Camelot in Regional 3 South-West by 25 runs with Mark Hardy’s 66 and Kevin Gardner (65) putting on 122 for the second wicket on our way to 216-3 (Dave Rose 31*). Tom Houlder’s 2-15 shut down their troublesome opening partnership before Allan Provins ran through the middle order with 4-28. And the 4s came back from Pylewell Park 2s with a comprehensive 63 run win after Gavin Hopgood’s 31 and Martin Donovan with 32 gave us a good start before Craig Kinchington (68* off 60) and Paul Bowring (64 off 67) crashed a stand of 115 to take us up to 233-4. The home side were looking good at 123-4 but they hadn’t banked on Calum Bailey’s outstanding spell of 5-30 which sent them tumbling to 170-9.
In 2007, we were back in County One and welcomed Waterlooville to Loperwood Park. The visitors batted first and were bowled out for 135 as Keith Woodhall (3-30), James Rose (3-14) and Mark Boston (3-16) put them through their paces. A sensible and steady 66 not out from Australian import Gordon Pritchard along with 24 from Mark Lavelle brought the five-wicket win.
Our game at home to Bournemouth in SPCL Division One in 2001 was one that had a few nervy moments – what would a Calmore game be without a collapse? Chris Park with 90 not out and Geoff Warrington with 57 set Bournemouth’s total of 201-4 with a couple of wickets for Mark Boston. However, Paul Draper (50) and skipper Tom Pegler (65) opened with a 102-run partnership. Pegler and Jeremy Goode (22) put the score up by another 41 before – here it comes! At 143-1, we were firmly in the driving seat. At 148-6, we weren’t! Thankfully a rearguard from James Hibberd (20) and Paul Cass (26*) made sure of the win, although we took it all the way to the final ball!!
Seaclose Park in Newport on the Isle of Wight. The home of the Isle of Wight Festival since 2002 has seen some huge stars appear on the grounds – from The Rolling Stones to Amy Winehouse to Queen (and Adam Lambert) to Madness and Paloma Faith to name but a few. But, back in 1991, the arrival of the Calmore Sports Sunday Second XI to face Medina CC would surpass anything the Festival has ever produced in terms of superstar quality and unbridled entertainment! It was a wet Sunday morning when Paul Bowring’s side embarked on the ferry but, arriving at the ground, it was fine and we won the toss and put them in. Iain Bowring took 2-11 and there were one wicket each for Barry Smith, Roy and Terry Walton and Chris Hutchings but the pick of the bowlers was Paul Draper, who snared 4-14. At 72-2 in reply, it was safely in the bag, surely especially with Mark Boston going well on 51. But bowlers Black and Cheek set about our batsmen. Even at 110-8 with scores level, needing one to win with two wickets in hand, we can’t not win this. Smith, who played for us but was from the Island, was bowled which left Terry Walton in with number 11 Ronnie Eckton. We just need one, that’s all. Black completed his figures of 5-22 by taking Ron caught and bowled. Match tied! And 11 full moons passed the Royal Yacht Club on the way back ……. lads on tour!
1990 was our first year in the Southern League and after beating Alton on match day one, we were on a run of three defeats in a row when we received South Wilts to Loperwood – 30 years ago today. Skipper Rob Budd, leading the side for the first time in the Southern League in Steve Brandes absence (captained 4, lost 4 by the way Steve!) won the toss and put South Wilts in and then watched 45-year-old Wiltshire and SWCC legend Brian White carry his bat through the 48 overs for 102, helping his side to 220-4. When Gary Stinson (39) and Dave Parsons (74) put together 115 for the first wicket in reply, there was an air of a surprise coming through. When both went quickly, Kevin Emery scored 16, Graham Cooper 19 and Bob Wilcocks 18* but we finished 10 runs short at 210-8. South Wilts would go on to win the league that year by 0.12 of an average point … could have been very different!
From 30 years ago – to 60 years ago. It was the Southampton Evening Knock Out First Round when we played against a team called Greenford down at the King George V Ground in 1960. A brilliant 89 from Vic Sevier, containing 13 fours and a six drove our score to 154-6 in the 23 overs allowance. The visitors never recovered from being 16-3 as Malcolm Piper, Harry Williams, Roy Matthews and Trevor Lawrence all grabbed a couple of wickets each to restrict them to just 115.
CALMORE SPORTS BIRTHDAYS:
1969 – Dominic Newman
1972 – Jeremy (Jez) Goode
