Sing, Goddess, Harvey's rage,
Black and murderous, that cost the Greeks
Incalculable pain, pitched countless souls
Of heroes into Hades' dark,
And left their bodies to rot as feasts
For dogs and birds, as Zeus' will was done.
Begin with the clash between Philanderers--
The Greek warlord--and godlike Chippenham.
Your bard was dispatched to cover The Philanderers against Chippenham Park with the instruction from, father of gods and men, Harvey that “it could be an interesting game in the absence of so many Gods”. Your bard wondered quite what the family Pearson, (Sir G and Ed that is, Charlie sadly lost to the battles of Cambs junior south division five c west conference with Barley CC) and their combined 4,991 runs, not to mention Sir G’s 153 wickets, would make of such status, but looked forward to reporting back on an ‘interesting game’...
The rosy-fingered dawn gave way to a divine spring day at Chippenham Park to greet our heroes as they sought to continue their unbeaten odyssey. It was decided the strong- greaved Philanderers would bat first and out strode Dillon, son of Nicholas and Cox, with the lion heart, to open up.
Dillon, son of Nicholas, fell early whilst opening partner Cox, with the lion heart, played some deft strokes before he too departed cheaply leaving the strong-greaved Philanderers on a decidedly un-god-like 39-2. Fortunately, the resourceful Sir George, and Ed, with the fair hair, were able to restore the strong-greaved Philanderers innings in partnership with debutant Sachin Kurl. Each of the trio reached fifty, with the resourceful Sir George the star of the show, playing shots all around the ground including a delightful cover drive to reach his milestone. Ed, son of George, also played a fine inning including three ‘Homer’s” and debutant Sachin played some excellent leg side shots. This left the strong-greaved Philanderers on a total of 211-4 declared after 34 overs.
Your bard had heard this epic before - seemingly plenty of overs for the strong-greaved Philanders to bowl out the hosts. Early wickets however would lead to them blocking out for the hour after the clock struck 6.30 and sending our heroes down the M11 as night fell without victory to their name…
…sure enough as the clock struck 6.30 the epic was indeed running to script Chippenham at only 98-5, with little hope of winning the game but plenty of wickets in hand to secure the draw. They however reckoned without Ed, son of George who produced two God-like moments to bring us within one wicket of winning the game. Firstly Ed, with the fair hair, was introduced to the bowling attack and produced a double wicket maiden, including a sharp caught and bowled.
Chippenham’s number 5 however remained and was looking largely untroubled. This was until he swung hands at a drive from the bowling of the sacker of cities Whyte (a second debutant and excellent addition). The ball flew hard and fast past the waiting slip cordon only for Ed, with the fair hair, to somehow fling out a hand behind him and take a quite brilliant catch that deserved to win any game… still though one wicket to get and once more a partnership doggedly developed. Davidson, shepherd of the people, returned - Deus ex machina - from the tennis court end to take the final wicket and complete victory by 61 runs and 8 overs to spare.
Postscript: Once again a lovely day out at the beautiful Chippenham Park - thanks as ever to our hosts for accommodating us and providing an excellent tea- and surely, in this bard’s view, now it’s time for the deification of the resourceful Sir George and Ed, with the fair hair. Thanks also to the great spearman Seb Aguilar for stepping in and completing the XI at the very last minute.
George Dean
Sir George awaiting the next delivery at Chippenham Park
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