Captain’s Weekend, Dorset

Heavy skies and muggy conditions greeted the Refreshers arriving at Sandroyd for the first game of the 2016 Captain’s Weekend in Dorset. Some early arrivals had spent Friday evening chez Cayford and no doubt benefitted from a customarily fine breakfast; others arrived after long journeys from London, and breakfast at Fleet Services. Undeterred, and having lost the toss, two of the latter number opened the bowling: Moses (used to such things) and Cannon (not so much). Their contrasting styles proved effective, the Pembrokeshire Express taking 2-10 off his 5 and Cannon taking 1-16 off his (returning later to snare two more to finish with 3-48 off nine). Wickets fell regularly thereafter until Gordon bedded in for a fine 59, an innings eventually brought to an end by Cayford Himself, who finished with 3-16 off his 4.3 overs. The Osborne X1 had managed a total of 150, which looked gettable even in the muggy overhead conditions. Gettable it was, Chapman and Dumont setting a rollicking pace early on, and once Dumont and Cannon had been and gone, it was left to Spurr with a hard-hitting 36 and Chapman unbeaten on 47 to drive the Refreshers to victory. We celebrated, as is customary, with a superb spread at Glyn House, tucked under the lea of the Cranbourne Chase. Gentle warm breezes made the candles flicker and the full moon beamed down upon a long white table covered with lamb tagine and Calon Segur. Tributes to the outgoing President, Hornby, included a paean to his namesake, A.N. Hornby, from a 1920’s book on cricket by Neville Cardus, unearthed by Jerome Silva. The current skipper then gave his usual state of the nation address, reflecting upon the fact that this fixture, or something like it, had now been running for 41 years and that his tenure with the Refreshers had lasted nearly 20. The changing of the guard in 2017 will see Cayford become President and Anu Mohindru take on the role of Club Captain, assisted by Richard Saunders and Joe Cannon (as fixtures sec). The formal part of the evening ended with Moses breaking into song, the lilting notes of Myfanwy floating across the candlelit scene as the Refreshers finished their puddings.

Sunday dawned more sunnily, and the Tusk X1 put together by Jonny Attwood contained an unnerving number of spry youngsters, who performed an energetic warm up before the game which left many Refreshers feeling bilious. Sure enough they scampered twos where singles looked doubtful, and managed a challenging 182 off their 30 overs thanks in large part to an excellent 51 from Middle and some lusty hitting at the end. Cayford and Moses were the pick of the bowlers, at 6-2-15-1 and 6-1-30-2 respectively. When Hornby was bowled by Middle for 1 in the second over, there looked to be much work to do. But then entered Cannon, who had never before scored a century, with strict instructions from the skipper to remedy that lacuna. A team player through and through, Cannon obliged with a faultless, and chanceless, display of aggressive stroke play which left him on 94 with 8 runs to win. Unaware of his personal total, Joe hit the next ball for six, bringing up his century and tears to the eyes of the spectators. He had been kept company by Nosworthy (21) and Spurr (31) as we crossed the line with three overs and six wickets to spare, bringing to a close an unforgettable day. And in fact, an unforgettable week end.

Refreshers X11:

Philip Cayford

Joe Cannon

Tom Dumont

Harry Spurr

Dylan Moses

Simon Coupe

Nick Chapman

Hugh Sutton

David Alexander

Harry Nosworthy

Keith Hornby

Tom Cayford