Great win for the 3rds vs Frimley

A wonderful warm and sunny day at the beautiful Stedham ground where Trevor had performed his customary wonders to produce a wicket that was fit for the return of competitive cricket. Having uncomfortably navigated their way through the winding country lanes of West Sussex that were slightly narrower than the big cities of North Hampshire, Frimley won the toss and elected to field. Opening batsmen John Strong and Mick Poore took the sting out of the opening bowlers and patiently went about building an opening partnership. All was going well until Poore edged a delivery which was sharply caught by the Frimley wicket-keeper, Neil Harris. With Ross Seavill departing for a duck soon after, having been cruelly run out by John Strong's desire to get back on strike, Liphook were wobbling at 36/2. After a brief pause for Frank Tickle to do the honours with a turd that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere (rumours that it was one of the fielders terrified of the speed of one of John's well-timed late cuts were uncorroborated). Strong and the new batsman Rich Jarratt then set about building the match defining partnership of 121 runs before Strong went the way of Poore and was caught behind the stumps. Andy Grimes (14) and skipper Al Lewis (10 not out) maintained the momentum to take Liphook and Ripsley to a competitive score of 231/5 in their 40 overs, but all the attention was on Richard Jarratt who took the plaudits for a magnificent 113 from 87 deliveries.

Jarratt additionally won the award for the best cold bag holding his sandwiches with a rather fetching pink flamingo number and before we knew it, it was time to take to the field to see if Liphook could defend their total.

The early signs were rather ominous as Frimley set about their run chase with a degree of vigour and reached the first 50 having scored at six an over, and Liphook were beginning to realise that it was going to take a moment of brilliance to remove the batsmen. And what a moment of brilliance it was when Frank Tickle leapt through the air to remove Harris for 34 with what could well be the catch of the season. It will most certainly be Mr Tickle's catch of the season, but the scorebook will show that it was the bowler, Nick Cansfield, who will get the lion's share of the credit for the rather fine delivery that created the chance. Mas Chaudry continued the attack for Frimley but when the score had reached 82, Mihhas Qamar (5) was spectacularly bowled by Jarratt (2/23), and Chaudry (31) followed quickly after having been deceived by the pace of John Strong's even slower delivery. Strong (5/33) was on fire and Frimley collapsed, losing six wickets for only 30 runs. The Frimley tail wagged with Wasim Raja scoring 37 from 28 balls as they tried to recover. Andy Grimes soon had a choice to make over whether he should catch the edge that was given, or to catch Mick Poore who had dived towards him. He dropped both and needed the magic sponge to help recover from 16 stone of slip fielder jumping on top of him.

By this stage, the damage was done by great work in the slips by Mick Poore with a couple of great catches and a wonderful caught and bowled by Charlie Cuervo Moraga (1/38). It was left to Nick Cansfield (2/22) to remove Raja who, after threatening to smash it out of the park, was given out LBW and Frimley were all out for 164, giving Liphook a 67 run winning margin.

As Frimley left to find their way home, Liphook argued whether the man of the match award should go to Rich Jarratt with a century and two wickets or to John Strong for his 69 and a five-wicket haul. Neither were prepared to beat the bribe offered by Mr Tickle who will go down as the man of the match for his sensational catch.