Dorset 2014

Glorious weather, Sandroyd at its beautiful best, Glyn House packed to overflowing and two good wins on the pitch contributed to another fabulous weekend in Dorset. On Saturday the traditional fixture (now 38 years old in its original form) was played under a blazing sun. Refreshers were inserted by Simon Osbourne’s XI   and made the most of it; Michael Edwards scored an assured 70 while Richard Saunders hit his first ever century in an elegant and quick-fire 105*.  Anu and Roach contributed, as did Henry Law and we reached 248 for 3 from our 35 overs. After tea we all bowled well and never let Simon’s XI in – only Riddell reached his twenties and we bowled them out for 85. Joe Cannon took 5 for 11 off 4 overs, generating excellent turn and bounce.

After a long and amusing evening we staggered back to Sandroyd on Sunday to face a youthful team representing Tusk Trust. The sun shone fair as we once again batted first; the revels of the previous evening and a reversal of the batting order meant that we did not get away to the previous day’s flyer but Dumont and Cannon kept the board turning over pending the arrival of Anu who punched a useful 42 batting at number 8 and Saunders who hammered 20 at number 10. Net effect was 147 all out . It should be recorded that Keith Hornby, opening our innings, ran out both his opening partner (Tom Dumont) and himself within the space of a couple of overs.  After another first class lunch (many thanks to the brilliant catering department who starred all weekend) the Tusk team needed only 4 an over to get home. Finch, Saunders, Cannon, Law and Mohindru had other ideas and all bowled well, Cannon adding 4 more wickets to his 5 the day before. In the end, and despite a blistering 39 from Toby Mallinson, Tusk could not quite get there and we bowled them out for 137 in 31 overs. A really enjoyable match and thanks to Mary Jane Attwood for producing such a young and fit team. Man of the weekend had to be shared between Saunders (weekend average 125 and 3 wickets) and Cannon (9 for 45 and a serious deep field catch) whilst Tom Dumont was awarded a Captain’s tie for all round quality, on and off the pitch.  Great fun.

Weekend squad: Cayford*, Cannon, Saunders, Anu, Owen Roach, James Finch, Henry Law, Michael Edwards, Harry Nosworthy, Tom Dumont, Simon Coupe, James Lindsay, Nick Chapman, Keith Hornby, David Alexander.