And so to Bucolic Broxbourne...

Mandarins vs Graces Sunday 5 May. Lost by 49 runs

Toss “arranged” on basis that they had fewer players than us at 1.00 – 9 plays 6

Graces 237 for 7 off 40 overs (Earl 102, Healey 2 for 30, Chadwick 2 for 52)), Mandarins 188 all out off 39.4 (Baxter 52, Wahaj 41, Shumail 4 for 18)

And so to bucolic Broxbourne on an actual sunny day. The New River runs through the village green and very close past the Broxbourne CC ground. Now, there are three things you must know about the New River. First it is not new, and second it is not a river. It is instead an aqueduct built in 1613 to supply water to London. When the project failed King James the First took some time off from being King and stepped in to buy half the equity in return for half the profits, so proving himself a role model for Macquarie and Thames Water (who still own it, it supplying 8% of London’s daily requirement). James I nearly drowned in the river in 1622 when his horse pitched him in head first….

I could digress further, but to return to Sunday 5 May 2024, the THIRD thing you must know about the New River is that it is a voracious devourer of cricket balls…..four in all whisked downstream to the treatment works. It would have been six, but Graces batters managed to clear the river entirely with two of their maximums. Graces won that particular game within a game 5-1, only Tim managing to splash one for the Mandies, although Raki in his turn also hit a towering six in the opposite direction, deep into the gloomy and impenetrable woodland behind the unclimbable fence. Wahaj also hit a six for us but memory fails as to where that one went – if into the river, add one to the scores above.

Given last year’s effort when both teams aggregated 153, and a Broxbourne pitch which was pretty slow and occasionally very very low, the batters did well, not least Earl who had scored 0 in his two previous outings. His 1^st 50 was correct, his second full of risks, but we couldn’t get him and he retired undefeated. At one point Graces were 186 for 2, but Mandarins stuck at it and collected wickets in the later stages. All our bowlers had their moments, debutant Wahaj working up good pace and away movement, Raki unlucky (how often do we write that?), debutant Nikil doing a passable impression of Dan Forman, Sharukh and Healey chipping in, and debutant leggie Sammy Chadwick showing character to keep plugging away at the end in the face of violent swishing and occasional connecting. Ground fielding was good, but we missed two and a half chances (that counts as half off Wahaj and only one repeat one for Raki, with back to the river, the other, for which he reproaches himself, in fact cleared his leap by several feet). But champagne moment belonged to Sammy, who showed us how with virtually his first touch of the ball, direct hit run out from extra cover.

To put the chase in context, Mandarins have never made so many runs to win a game (Plenty of larger scores but highest successful chase remains 225 for 5 vs Kings School in 2016). The first over was frenetic –  9 deliveries, 12 runs, Wilmot done by a jaffa first ball, and McKeon dropped. Chris settled to contribute a punchy 29, but our chances suffered a major setback when Sharukh pushed to the covers and failed to hear Tim whisper “waiting”. Two of our top hopes out for 0, so up against it, but Tim battled away and Wahaj sustained the momentum with a partnership of 71. Graces fielding was energetic, verging on maniacal, although they too dropped their share. We were within reach at 128 for 3 off 26, 110 needed off 14, but the match turned in the 27^th, when the seemingly innocuous Scott got both of them, Tim, visibly tiring, was bowled by a low one, Wahaj aiming for the river once too often failed to clear deep mid-wicket. Healey was still to contribute but he too perished soon, undone by low slow bounce. Although the tail swished gallantly for another 50 or so the rate was unsustainable, and even the token consolation of 200 plus eluded us as Shumail cleaned up.

Nonetheless, thanks to Graces for an excellent “Proper” start to the season at a lovely venue with top notch facilities, and within very easy reach of London by super efficient train. 

Chris Baker