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