Mandarins Vs Treasury - Goosegate T20

Feathery shot from Kishen. Bird was fielding at third gander.

Just did enough to take some pace off the ball and gaggle it in. 

Didn’t have much of an arm so a treasury teammate had to come over and go-sling it back in. 

A lesser, awardless, writer might describe it as fowl play as there were now 12 a playing. But I wouldn’t go there.

Redemption Songs

Sometimes the score book doesn’t tell the whole story of a game. A casual glance at the numbers here would suggest that we got a bit of a battering; in reality, it wasn’t quite that close. But a good Mandarins fixture has more to offer than a mere result.

So I won’t allow this match report to focus for too long on the match. That would be narrow, reductive, and unresponsive to the way truth is mediated by linguistic structures and desire. Also, we got battered. Initially, by batters - Peper Harow had a string of players with good technique and the ability to hit a verrry long ball. We actually did pretty well to peg them back to under 200 from the 35 after a flying start (101-2 from 15), but ultimately, they were too good for us, and wound up scoring more runs in boundaries than we did in total.

But still, I reckon almost all the Mandarin side went home with something good to remember from the game. Here are some of those stories.

Gary Plahe, whose bowling has been extremely valuable in previous Peper fixtures, was very short of practice (ie none) and confidence (ditto), and responded to being given the new ball with a slightly horrified “ARE YOU SURE THAT’S A GOOD IDEA??”.  His insecurity proved entirely justified alas, but redemption came later with the bat when he hit one of the three Mandarin shots of the day, a perfect straight swing depositing the ball over the bowlers head for four and holding the pose with superb confidence.

The other two shots of the day for us were gorgeous pick ups over mid on. One was by Ollie Chadwick, whose bowling had also, like Gary’s, not gone to plan, a mid-over attack of the yips requiring some deep breathing and holding of nerve. The other was by Gary’s stepson Aaron Harris. Aaron had actually bowled a very good little spell already, but must have been gutted that two of the three wickets he should have taken were spilled by Mandarin fielders (Sam Brand’s see-it-late drop-it-early routine was a particularly entertaining mix of doomed fielding attempt & last minute self protection). Aaron’s sweetly timed pick up off the bowling of Arras was a thing of beauty and our only six of the day.

(By the way my own role in this game was just to stand in the field directing traffic, last week’s innings at Dulwich having wildly aggravated some pre-existing conditions of tennis elbow, golfers elbow, and RSI. This is all mildly perplexing as I don’t play tennis or golf. The RSI… we’ll pass over I think.)

As well as later batting stylishly at no. 7, Sam Chadwick was (with Martin Hurst) the pick of the bowling. He too had to battle through a tough period though, his trough of despair coming after a startling first three overs had disappeared for 37 runs. (I’m hoping that sentence will wind up on an EFL course.) Redemption came from cannily flattening the flight a little, the next 4 overs producing a fine 4-19 to reward the captain’s confidence in him and keep us in the game. Well bowled young man.

To return to the match narrative for a moment: our batting could not cope with Peper Harrow’s bowling attack either. David Williams blobbed (but hopefully left smiling about the very nice stumping he had effected earlier); Sam Brand was pressured into a swish; by the time the Chadwick brothers and Gary/Aaron joined them in the hutch we were 69 for 6. At this point we were dead and buried - it may have been Easter Sunday, but we weren’t coming back from here.

Fortunately however, more Mandarins found some late pleasure to take from the game. Jon Porter had gone wicketless but by scoring an unbeaten 32 topped his daughter’s recent excellent debut for Glamorgan. (He made three more runs than Gemma; I imagine there was a phone call later in the evening with a red-faced clenched teethed Jon channelling Ray Winstone in Scum: “WHO’S THE DADDY?!”). Rob Eastaway - also wicketless despite a very good spell - joined Jon after a carefree Heard vignette, and facing an ask of 108 from 8 overs wisely opted to have fun instead, carving it away through point for a fine 28 runs of solid red ink.

It could not change the game alas. We were going to the inevitable, like Larkin. But most clouds have a bronze lining (hey I’m a realist too). While we thank Peper Harow for the game and congratulate them on a fully deserved victory, there were still plenty of happy memories to take back up the A3 with us. We hope our newer players took a few with them.

Chris Healey

Normal Service Resumes

Sunday dawned bright and warm. What a spring it has been. Memories of playing in the snow at Peper Harrow were long forgotten. Several players were seen reaching for the sunscreen. Was this to be the year when everything changed for the better? No early season wash-out. Tim wouldn't be involved in any more unnecessary runouts. We'd take our catches. Harry wouldn't get out straight after hitting a monstrous 6. Jonathan would turn up on time. We'd wean ourselves of our reliance on the batting rock that has been Chris Healey for as long as anyone can remember.

Well, the short answer is "no". 10 Mandarins had arrived in good time. Jonathan had headed for the wrong ground and got caught in traffic. The opposition, St Anne's Allstars, also had several laggards so on winning the toss chose to bat. Tim bravely took the gloves. Our sharp opening pair of Harry and Wahaj both bowled with speed and accuracy, testing out both Tim and the St Anne's openers. Unfortunately, one of those openers was seriously classy and started to get into a good rhythm. Of course, we missed chances to get him out. I dropped him off the sort of missile I might catch once in a Mandarin career. Raki dropped the sort of chance he'll miss once in a Mandarin career. The other batsmen were a much more mixed lot and with three quick wickets from Dan we were certainly still in it at 95-5 at just over halfway. Then things rather deteriorated. Stan tested out the umpires' knowledge of all the different signals for wide, no ball, boundary etc and all in his first over. And then the rain came. Gentle at first but driving later. The St Anne's opener had now been joined by the capable ("I played a couple of times for Sussex Seconds") Dindyal . The pace picked up until an incredible catch by Tim (nothing new there...) running in from the boundary and diving forward did for the opener for 113. The innings ended rather tetchily as the rain got worse and with the ball now like a bar of soap, the new batsman was hit by a Wahaj beamer. Wahaj apologised. The injured batsman calmed down. Dindyal didn't and as we left the field for tea/a rain break he was heard loudly promising to come in off his long run up to our tailenders and we could borrow his helmet as we would need it.... Happily, his teammates (a nice Mandarin-esque bunch) calmed him down.

The rain happily relented and St Anne's declared on 213 off 38 overs. Tim and Sam started our reply. Unfortunately, Sam went early followed by Jonathan, caught sharply by Dindyal. But Harry arrived and upped the pace. Even the opposition applauded a stunning leg side 6 off one of their better bowlers. But then Harry "Kiri" played on next ball. This brought Chris H to the crease and he and Tim put on an excellent 63 with Tim's new pads surviving just the one clear LBW appeal. We were up with the rate before Tim was (inevitably?) involved in mix up in the middle and was run out by Dindyal. Stan carried on where Tim had left off and at 171-5 needing 6 an over, we were well placed. However, Chris jarred his problematic elbow and was forced to retire for a superb 70. With Stan and Wahaj also falling to Dindyal who had belatedly begun a 9 over spell of quality seam and the rate creeping up to 10 an over, playing out for the draw was now the instruction. As the gloom deepened Dindyal went to his long run up but was beginning to run out of energy and Nikhil and I saw out the last few overs for the draw (despite one rush of blood from Nikhil who managed to hit the ball straight up in the air a yard in front of himself attempting a big swipe - 6 fielders trying to take the catch converged in a confused huddle inches away from where the ball landed a foot in front of Nik). 

184 for 7 off our 34 overs - a respectable enough start to the season. The odds of snow at Peper Harrow next Sunday?

John Hawkins

Full Career Digest, 1978 - 2024

This digest is based on seasons from 1978 till 2024, plus a few earlier games. Alas, our records are incomplete, and this will be the best we can unless scorebooks or other data are discovered. Bar seven games, no records exist before 1978. And there are no scorebooks for 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997 (except vs Reading). Some records are missing from 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004.

In the following tables, * indicates a player active in 2024, with power to add.

More Than 100 Appearances

Chris Baker*	506		Nick Davidson	177
Paul McIntyre	473		David Williams*	172
Rob Eastaway*	424		Bob Tivey*	164
Chris Healey*	327		Graeme Tunbridge*	162
Mike O’Shea	292		John Hawkins*	151
Peter Lewy	289		Jeremy Crump	151
Andy Heard*	288		Steven Wood	140
Andy McKeon	286		Tony Gray	126
Martin Hurst*	275		Gus O’Donnell	126
Jonathan Wilmot*	253		Dan Forman*	126
Mike Pattison	251		J C Gray	122
Graham Hadley	235		Paul Mills*	122
Tim Baxter*	221		Olly Gardiner	118
Mike Richardson	220		Chris Roberts	118
Tony Hawkhead*	212		Chris McKeon*	113
Barrie Temple	196		Luke Mayhew	112
Jon Porter*	193		Malcolm Field	104
Jeremy Jarvis	178		Arvind Manian*	104

 

1000 Runs

Chris Healey*	10208		Robin Pharoah*	1716
Peter Lewy	5851		Tony Hawkhead*	1560
Jonathan Wilmot	5598		Martin Hurst*	1553
Chris Baker	5479		Jon Porter*	1544
Luke Mayhew	5227		Tony Gray	1498
Graham Hadley	5011		Denis Parsons	1497
Mike Richardson	4966		Andy Heard*	1472
Andy McKeon	4850		Stephen Dunmore	1381
Barrie Temple	4494		Roger Holmes	1329
Tim Baxter*	4334		Paul McIntyre	1317
David Williams*	3115		Stephen Wood	1193
Graeme Tunbridge*	2737		Arvind Manian*	1190
Sam Brand	1153		John Hawkins*	1123
Rob Eastaway*	2607		Rob Foot	1079
Paul Mills*	2188		Drew Somerville*	1068
Nick Davidson	2137		Gavyn Davies	1053
Bob Tivey	2113		Mike Pattison	1029
Jeremy Jarvis*	2024		Gus O’Donnell	1008
Marc Thomas	1853

 

500 in a season

Season	Player	Runs
2009	Chris Healey	518
2003	Barrie Temple	569
1994	Rob Foot	822
	Chris Healey	554
	Tim Baxter	517
1991	Chris Healey	753
1990	Chris Healey	563
	Luke Mayhew	557
1987	Luke Mayhew	522
1986	Luke Mayhew	631
	Graham Hadley	509
1984	Peter Lewy	534
1983	Graham Hadley	606
	Jonathan Wilmot	513
1981	Mike Richardson	589
	Peter Lewy	522
1978	Graham Hadley	608

 

Seasons Reaching 300 Runs

Players	Seasons of 300
Chris Healey	17
Peter Lewy	10
Graham Hadley	8
Luke Mayhew	8
Mike Richardson	7
Barrie Temple	6
Tim Baxter	5
Jonathan Wilmot	5
Chris Baker	3
Andy McKeon	2
Parsons	2
Mark Roberts	1
Sam Cook	1
Bob Tivey	1
Zac Stancombe	1

 

Hundreds and Fifties (qualification: 20)

Players	100s	50s	Total
Healey	10	60	72
Mayhew	10	42	52
Wilmot	4	27	31
Hadley	0	30	30
Lewy	1	27	28
Richardson	1	26	27
Temple	0	26	26
Baxter	1	25	26
A. McKeon	1	20	21

 

Conversion Rate to 50

Mayhew	46.4 %
Mark Thomas	45.0 %
Healey	24.4 %
Wilmot	14.1 %
Temple	13.5 %

 

Catches/ Stumpings (min: 50)

Player	Catches	Stumpings	Total	Per Match	Note
Peter Lewy	141	40	181	0.63
Chris Healey	140	7	147	0.45
Jon Wilmot	99	36	135	0.55
Bob Tivey	89	26	115	0.71
Chris Baker	99	5	104	0.21
Paul McIntyre	101		101	0.22	(a)
Tim Baxter	80	17	97	0.43
Mike Richardson	78		78	0.37	(b)
Luke Mayhew	49		49	0.44	(c)
Graham Hadley	64		64	0.27
Mike Pattison	61		61	0.24
David Williams	49	11	60	0.38	(d)
Jeremy Jarvis	56		56	0.33
Gus O’Donnell	41	9	50	0.40

 

(a)      Highest number of catches by a pure outfielder

(b)     Highest of 13 in one season by outfielder

(c)      Highest ratio for an outfielder

(d)     TBC – total maybe 72?

 

50 PARTNERSHIPS

 

Between 1978 and September 2024 Mandarins have scored 610 partnerships of 50, of which 69 were converted to centuries. For each wicket the numbers are:

Wicket	50s	100s	Notable Performances
1st	117	20	current record 188, 29/6/91 vs Royal Oak Taverners (Healey/Williams)
2nd	126	21	193, 13/7/89 vs Reading UASCC (Healey/Wilmot)
3rd	105	13	169, 15/8/14 vs Framlingham College (Thomas/Patterson)
4th	79	9	c150 20/6/00 vs Jesus? 135 24/7/14 vs Benenden (A McKeon/Wilmot). 166 vs St Annes Allstars (Wilmot/Sajjan/Vijay/H Forman-Wilshaw)
5th	52	6	138, 9/9/1984 vs Chaldon (Lewy/A McKeon)
6th	25	3	149*, 21/05/09 vs Lords and Commons (Healey/Martin)
7th	17	0	97, 5/8/18 vs Mickleham (Baker/Eastaway) (see note)
8th	8	0	95*, 11/8/19 vs Streatham and Marlborough (Manian/H Forman)
9th	5	0	79*, 8/05/22 vs Millfields (Stancombe/Eastaway)
10th	3	0	56 21/5/23 vs Brill (Keayes/Heather)

 

Note: extensive anecdotal evidence suggests a partnership of c 110 between Hawkhead and O’Donnell for 7^th wicket vs Sixpenny Handley c. 2001. To be confirmed?

Most 50 partnerships (qualification 7 plus)

Healey	87
Wilmot	66
Lewy	58
Hadley	57
Mayhew	55
Richardson	52
Baxter	47
A McKeon	44
Temple	41
Baker	34
Williams	31
Tunbridge	26
Tivey	22
Mills	22
Jarvis	19
Dunmore	18
Thomas	17
Davidson	17
Brand	17
Parsons	15
Pharoah	14
Hawkhead	14
Wood	12
R Eastaway	12
Hawkins	12
Jono Maher	11
Somerville	10
Manian	10
Lowen	10
T Gray	9
McCarthy	8
Madzarevic	8
J Porter	8
Holmes	7
Hannah	7
Day	7
Crosse	7

 

1000 Overs

Player	Total Overs
Eastaway	3446.1
Hurst	3200.3
McIntyre	3031.3
O’Shea	2970.2
Richardson	1810.1
Heard	1664.0
Pattison	1375.5
Healey	1285.2
Baker	1255.0
Crump	1227.2
Gardiner	1045.0

 

100 WICKETS

Player	Total Wickets	Strike Rate
Eastaway	677	30.29
O’Shea	640	27.76
McIntyre	567	31.93
Richardson	427	25.17
Hurst*	385	34.70
Pattison	318	25.86
Baker*	309	24.66
Healey	302	24.68
Heard*	298	32.99
Crump	227	32.25
A McKeon	176	31.97
D Forman	173	24.20
Gardiner	172	36.92
Hadley	147	30.28
Ramani	142	Tbc
Murphy	140	33.85
JC Gray	139	33.56
Tony Gray	131	35.79
Wynn-Owen	101	32.19

 

50 wickets in a season:  O’Shea 3 times (and 49 twice); R Eastaway once.

5 wickets in an innings

O’Shea	28
Richardson	18
R Eastaway	17
Ramani	7
Pattison	6
Crump	5
Baker	5
Hurst	5
McIntyre	4
Murphy	4
Healey	3
A McKeon	3
D Forman	3
Julian West	2
Wynn-Owen	2
Paul Eastaway	2

 

Chris Baker, Archivist
November 2024