Armadillos at Sheffield Park

Refreshers v Armadillos, 6 September 2015

Match report from Michael Edwards

“Not the most competitive match, but a very enjoyable game on a lovely ground. We were down to 10 men after Finch handed in another one of his sick notes – he fell down the stairs at 5am and twisted his ankle (alcohol played no role I’m told).

We lost the toss and were put into bat on a slightly damp pitch, which looked like it would seam around.

Faulks and Burrett laid a good foundation against some very effective medium pace bowling. Faulks was then given out to a borderline lbw for 7. Enter Leo Buscombe – up from his navy duties off the Cornish coast. Buscombe and Burrett – two of the classiest batsman in the club – then built a partnership with some excellent shots and running between the wickets not often seen in these fixtures.

The score was ticking along nicely until Leo hit a backward defensive a little too well straight into the hands of mid-on, out for 20. JCQC (8) and Henry Law (30) both gave Burrett good support and we came in for lunch at 120-3 off 30. It was very much the Sam Burrett show after lunch – he tucked into the bowling much like some of their bowlers tucked into the salmon and roast beef. He took apart the bowling with some beautiful shots, including 25 off an over, and ended up on 114 out of a total of 197 – a good effort on a difficult track against some good bowling.

Their innings started well and they never looked back, hitting our bowlers to all parts of the ground. Leo bowled tidily (6 overs, 0-31), but their MCC/England Universities opening batsman had all the shots and both passed 50. A return of the yips for Nosworthy helped them along (1 over, 0-26) and we spent the rest of the afternoon collecting the ball from the far side of the boundary. Burrett and Faulks took a wicket each and Oliver Wise went for a creditable 9 of his over. They were in truth too good and passed our score in 26 overs.

We retired for another round of food in the early afternoon sunshine – scones and sandwiches this time.

Looking forward to the game next year.

Michael”