Tour Recovery

Park returned to home soil after an eye opening tour of the hotspots and bottom of pint glasses of Blandford, Dorset. The pre-match preparations started as usual with Al 'Wonk' Whaleys ritual handing out of post tour stats and milestones. The dressing room was awash with anticipation to find out what we were doing for the next to and a half hours, and just as if we had never been away the vice-skipper Dave 'Ming-the-merciless' Partridge lost the toss and we were asked to bat.As usual Al Horton and Dave 'the confident' Hearn adopted their regular positions in the line up of one and two. The opening bowlers kept it tight and kept Hearn and Horton on their toes until Al pulled up with a groin strain. (Ooh, matron!) With the score at 54-0 and Al Horton retiring hurt after 19.3 overs who better to accelerate the scoring than Christian O'Mahoney. After edging his first ball through gully for 2 he played all around a straight one and was bowled which brought Jim to the crease. This then remarkably coincided with running between the wickets to accelerate the scoring, until a dubious decision by Bill 'Jocky' Partridge that led to Jim returning to the sidelines for 5. Then due to an exceptional tour with the bat, (not before time!) Craig 'Whipper-snapper' Partridge was due in. Hearn after seeing off the openers and having got Craig at the other end then took it upon himself to get on with the job of despatching the bowling to the boundary. After a couple of close calls, a couple of drops and almost beheading his batting partner with a well-hit flat four; Hearny reached a very well deserved fifty. Unfortunately his luck ran out and he was eventually out for a well made 69. Wonk continued the onslaught with a well made 14 in a 47 run stand with Craig who by this time was looking as if he could well be on for his second fifty in as many visits to the crease. However none of the lower order could stay around long enough. John Ling (0), Skip Dave Partridge (1) and Bill Partridge (1 not out). Craig ended up with 38 not out, Park finishing on 178 for 6 in 39 overs.

After tea Park took the field with Dave P and Billy boy P opening the bowling and the unusual and ugly sight of the Rev Si Ewin with the pads and gloves on behind the stumps! It wasn't long before Dave added to his wicket tally with the scalp of Ken Hedges (the groundsman) taking his wicket tally to 43 for the season. This then kicked Billy Boy into life just needing 3 wickets to take him to the big 150. After bowling 3 extremely tight overs Billy Boy then took the wicket he deserved to get the Park bandwagon rolling. After 12 overs Erith were rocking at 34 for 3 after Rev and Craig combined for a runout with an assist from the young Partridge's 'Whaley knee'. After 6 average overs Dave pulled himself off (ooh, matron, again!) and brought on Terry 'Sharon Warne' Shannon. After a couple of line and length searching overs, he quickly added to the days wicket tally with a leg break which would have given his name sake a run for his money. Then came the rain. After the break Terry then got his 2nd wicket with another good ball which left the batsmen with no where to go and left him plumb LBW. As if things couldn't get any better Christian ran out the top scorer for Erith with a direct hit (and the bats name wasn't even Brupbacher!) Billy Boy then took his second with an unplayable full toss, and right on cue the rain came again! After the 2nd break Bill bowled a couple more overs until John Ling was given his chance. After a maiden he got a good wicket with a dubious LBW decision. Then just as we were on course for a well-earned victory the rain stopped play for the 3rd and final time. The match ended up as yet another draw thanks to the typical British Summer weather!

Close call, good performances all round by the Park, Dave Hearn however deserved it for a well made 69 against one of the tightest opening spells of bowling we've faced all season. (He was also optimistic for a couple of minutes as well! Let's hope he's the same with Charlton this season!)