14th May 2011 – Brockwell 49ers (121/7 31 ovs) beat Calypso CCC (120/8 35 ovs) by three wickets. In his review of the current film Fire in Babylon, the BBC’s Oliver Brett reminds us that the “West Indies were once known as the “calypso cricketers”. It was a slightly patronising description which reflected the fact that while, at their best, they could provide rich entertainment, all too often they went home a beaten side.” Perhaps it’s not too much of a stretch to say the same desc ription applies to our very own Calypso CCC cricketers, on the basis at least of this game. Apart, perhaps, from the bit about providing rich entertainment. Ahead of the first match of the 2011 season, the team gathered in an up-beat mood following the extensive pre-season preparation of half the squad having a net session the previous week. Everyone (well, nearly everyone) turned up remarkably early, especially as the start had been brought forward to 11am because of the threat of rain later in the afternoon and the requirement to get home in time for Eurovision. The chat of optimistic target-setting was punctuated by the enthusiastic knocking in of new bats. However, that optimism was punctured early on as Ellerby’s luck at the toss finally ran out. After a run of five wins in the league last year, for once the decision was out of the skipper’s hands and the first blow of the day had been struck. Goddard and Bugg were shortly padded up. Bugg was off the mark with a four and Calypso were 5/0 by the end of the over. The bright opening was something of a false dawn, however, as the ra te slowed dramatically over the next few overs. After five overs, the score was still 5/0. There were early difficulties for the batsmen on a track which offered the Brockwell openers some characteristic variable bounce and some significant movement in the air. Goddard in particular took some early blows trying to get the ball away. He would go on to collect some more bruises during the Brockwell innings as the pitch gave him a difficult period behind the stumps. He was eventually put out of his misery, LBW to the left-armer Lewy for an 18 ball duck. This brought Wales to the crease, at 8/1 and with the encouragement of the bored scorers to up the run-rate ringing in his ears. After a couple of scampered singles and a straight four, he was out wafting across the line to a full toss, trying to hit it out of the park. Not for the first time. Ebanks come out at four and faced 13 balls for his five, eventually bowled – the first of three wickets for the impressive Elliott. The Calypso innings was in some disarray. With opener Bugg back under the tree with 8 from 39, some stabilisation was definitely required and it came from Rawlings who kept the runs ticking over while the wickets fell at the other end. Aziz attempted to make up for his late arrival by unilaterally promoting himself up the order to 6th. He survived 10 balls before being bowled for one. Not just bowled, but played on off his belly. Luckily Collett picked up where he left off against Brockwell in his last game, keeping the ball off his stumps effectively and rotating the strike his way to 13 from 30. He was eventually run out taking a legitimate chance in an attempt to keep the runs coming. Ellerby came in and struck a quick 11 from 9 before being out caught and some quick late runs followed from Lim (17 from 18). Rawlings fell eventually, caught at third man, for a well compiled 33. A late flurry of extras from the Brockwell part-timers helped push the final total to a somewhat surprising 120. Riches, playing in his first league game following his debut in the Norfolk exhibition match, was not out having not faced a ball and makes a low key debut on the Statistics page. Despite the lack of any support – a first for a Calypso game, there was a decent spread at lunch. Goddard’s continuing provision of Jamaica Ginger Cake making amends for the earlier duck and going some way to justifying his selection. (Only kidding Chris, sometime I’ll write up those two wickets you took in the only over you’ve ever bowled). The brief story of the reply is of some early wickets which offered some hope to Calypso that they could defend their total, followed by consolidation and then a frustrating last stand which saw Brockwell home. It started well, Rawlings getting the reward for his tight line and length that was not truly represented in his figures during the last season. Tonkinson and Smart both fell cheaply before the important dismissal of Taylor, who had made a decent start, caught behind by Goddard for 14. These wickets, one each bowled, LBW and caught, left Rawlings with figures of three for only 14 runs off his six overs. Added to his performance with the bat, he was easily the Calypso Man of the Match. At the other end, Lim had wound himself up to send down his pacy deliveries, with some early wides forgivable in the first game of the season. A tight spell included one maiden and in the end he conceded only six off the bat after four overs. Wales came on and took a wicket in his first over, skipper Cherrington who had been looking to hit everything, being undone by a full pitched ball which hit middle stump – after a couple of early wide sighters. A second wicket followed, again bowled, but although he knew what he had to do, Wales struggled to keep that line straight and went in the end for 24 off six, plus six wides. Bingham’s performance with the ball deserved a wicket and was a reminder of how he’d got five in his last match at the Extension. Bowling with an easy, upright action, he was there or thereabouts for six overs, conceding just 13 and demanding concentration from the middle order Brockwell batters. Ellerby brought himself on for an over and promptly took the wicket of Edwards, caught by Lim (after a little juggle), which opened up the tail with around 30 runs still required. Further encouragement came when Goddard took his second good catch behind the wicket, from the inside edge, off Bugg (1/22 off six). This brought Brichto to the wicket, who had frustrated Calypso in the last game of the 2010 season, by making 28 in his unorthodox style. Once again he set about doing the basics of stoutly defending his wicket but taking the runs when available and offering the odd chance to slip. In tandem with Elliot (who, on the evidence of his bowling and his dapper way with a cricket sweater looks like he knows what he’s doing), Brockwell edged towards the victory target, helped on their way with a few extras. There was one chance of note given when Ellerby dropped a catch which came just in front of him but in the end the winning runs came with four overs to go as Elliot helped himself to the first six of the match over deep mid-wicket. So the season starts with its now customary loss to Brockwell. In the past Calypso have overcome this and gone on to perform better later in the season, although next up are Minshull followed by new boys Sultans of Swing, who beat Brockwell a week after this game by 82 runs. Perhaps a team outing to watch Fire in Babylon is in order to learn a thing or two about proper Calypso Cricket.
