Tresco cricket 2012…
....this year we will be mostly concentrating on the taking part. Tresco & Bryher Cricket Club have not had the most outstanding of seasons in terms of victories (it took us until August to win our first match) but it has certainly been a very enjoyable summer.
The general air of bonhomie was on display recently in two inter-Tresco games. This week saw Tresco’s Old Gentlemen’s XI play the Young Gentlemen’s XI. The contest was the idea of gardener David Hamilton, whose two sons, Hamish and Luke, are key members of the Tresco & Bryher XI.
To qualify for the Old Gentlemen, players had to be over the age of 40 and possess at least one fully-functioning limb. Some of Tresco’s finest came out of retirement to grace the field, most notably wicket-keeping legend, Bill Pritchard.
The Old Gentlemen batted first, with an excellent performance from opener Steve Parkes, battling cameos from Dean Whillis and Neil Barbary and a splendid 38 not out from skipper David Hamilton. The OG’s total after 20 overs was 126 for 5. Some fine boundaries were struck by the OG but the loudest cheers were for the odd occasions when their batsmen managed to complete two runs off a single ball.
The stand-out bowler for the Young Gentlemen was Luke Hamilton who took three wickets for 14 runs. Luke also took the catch of the season to dismiss Dean Whillis.
The Young Gentlemen started steadily in reply but began to rack up some serious runs once Jon Taylor came to the crease. He scored a quick-fire 30 before being bowled by Dean Whillis’ first ball, much to the delight of the Timeshare Manager. After Jon’s dismissal, the YG began to struggle with the run rate, not least due to some fine bowling from Dean, who ended the match with 4 wickets for 5 runs from his 4 overs. The other highlight was a father/son tussle which ended with Parkes Snr clean bowling Parkes Jr. The YG’s last batsman was bowled out in the final over, with the team’s total at 88. (As can be seen from the photos, the teams were in fact IX rather than XI but aided and abetted by visitor Ben Dudgeon – thanks Ben! - we made it to X…is that clear?)
We all then repaired to the New Inn for the presentation of the cup and the awards for Men of the Match. The OG’s Man of the Match was Dean Whillis and for the YG’s it was Luke Hamilton.
Everybody agreed that the match should become an annual fixture, more drinks were ordered and things got a bit blurry. Despite the beer, it was a very memorable occasion…not least because the Timeshare Manager won’t stop reminding us all that he was OG Man of the Match.
A week or two earlier saw the annual Islanders vs. Timesharers match. The Timesharers batted first and scored 94, the result of a superb innings by opener Hugo Sells who scored 44 before being bowled by Simon Sandison. A good opening partnership for the Islanders and another quick-fire blast from John Taylor saw them make the total in the 18th over. Once again we all retired to the New Inn for beer, the awarding of the Wilson Trophy and general merriment.
