20 June Boyne Hill (Away) Lost by 50 runs

Not exactly the most enjoyable game of the season and, I would imagine, possibly the last one at Boyne Hill for some time. On a personal level I'll say now that I don't mind being beaten provided that the game is played within the spirit of cricket and, sadly, I don't believe that was the case here.

Looking at the score cards above will show that we were beaten fairly soundly with the opposition skipper, Churchill Brown, having an outstanding game with both bat and ball - he was by far the best player on the pitch with a solid batting technique and as fiery an opening spell of bowling as you could wish for in Sunday afternoon friendly cricket.

However the difference between the teams was really summed up at opposing ends of the game. In the 7th over Mr V bowled a great delivery that seamed away from the Boyne Hill opener. As it passed the bat there was a definate noise and the slips appealed for the caught behind and the Boyne Hill umpire gave the batsman out. Mr V and Skippy weren't convinced that the batsman had hit the ball and suggested to the umpire that the had clipped his pad when playing the shot, asked the opener who agreed and it was decided that the decision to give him out would be over-ruled. Towards the tail end of the game with about 7 overs to go, Mr V played and missed a delivery and, again, he clipped his pad playing the shot. It was quite clear that the batsman had not hit the ball (by a good couple of inches) and the noise was clearly not bat on ball but this did not stop the aggressive, theatrical appealing that followed from all corners of the ground (including the Boyne Hill spectators). Fortunately, at 6'6" Stocksie isn't the kind of umpire that can be easily bullied into making a decision and gave Mr V not out.

On the day we were beaten by a better team - they should be as they were made up of mainly league players whereas we are purely a Sunday afternoon village team. From my perspective it was nice to face a quality fast bowler who bowled with aggression and within the spirit of the game (good to see him not resorting to bouncing numbers 10 and 11 at the end of the game). What was not in the spirit of the game was the non-stop verbals, the ludicrous appealing and the general behaviour of some of their team.

Whilst it may sound like an excrutiating cliche normally reserved for Charles "I'm the luggiest bugger in the world to land this job" Colville, the only loser from this game was cricket itself. Over the 12 years I've been playing for the club I've heard opposition players sneering down their noses at our "level" of cricket (i.e. we don't play league matches out of choice, we don't sledge the opposition and we don't practice our appealing at the local drama group every Tuesday night) but we play for the enjoyment and, dare I say it, love of the game. The club motto may as well be "Win or lose, we're on the booze" and, if it rhymed, that motto would finish "....with the opposition".

I believe that on the pitch you should play to win, play hard but play within the spirit of the game but at the end of it you shake hands and have a beer. Unfortunately, more and more teams we face over the years seem intent on winning at all costs using whatever methods neccesary and then pissing off as soon as stumps are drawn. Personally I don't want to play that kind of cricket and if I did I'd play league cricket on a Saturday. I'd rather play against like minded teams and if that means reducing the fixture list then so be it but therein lies the intrinsic problem. By picking your opposition by behavioural patterns rather than cricketing ability you run the risk of having an empty fixture card within a short space of time and, as has been seen far too often over the last few years, the club folds with players disappearing off to new clubs or quitting the game all together.

I'll apologise now for anyone reading this looking for the usual light hearted view of the game but I'm afraid I couldn't really find too many things to laugh about and I think you'll see that Sundays game has struck something of a nerve. I deliberately avoided writing this on Sunday evening as I'd probably have said one or two things that would have meant I had to strike Boyne Hill off my list of places to go after dark but even now, 24 hours after the match, I'm still disappointed that what should have been an enjoyable afternoons cricket was spoilt by the unsporting beahviour of some of their team.

Man of the Match : Doug Vigar (Mr V) - 78 points

Please note - the views expressed above are mine and not those of the club. If anyone from Boyne Hill Cricket Club would like to comment then I'd welcome your views on the game and would be happy to reproduce them in full on this website.