Michael Chetwode celebrates his 400th wicket

The Cricket Club reports in recent years have tended to read like a curriculum vitae for Michael Chetwode, listing his feats with a mixture of awe and despondency. In 1997 the Club had another successful season, several of the younger players began to show just what they were capable of.....and Chetwode broke more records.

The season started earlier than ever thanks to the Club embarking on the first major overseas tour by an Old Cranleighan constituent club (a full report on the trip can be found at the end of this article).

As a result, the season proper was eagerly anticipated by the players and morale in the team was superb. The traditional curtain-raiser against the School provided one of the most exciting contests of the summer. With the exception of Simon Copleston (44) the OCs were unable to score with any ease and the target of 136 seemed well within the School’s range. Tight bowling from Watkinson (4-21), however, appeared to have ended the hosts’ challenge before a mature, gutsy innings from Porter (31*) took the School to the brink of victory. With 6 needed Chetwode bowled the last man and the OCs had got out of jail.

Of the next five scheduled games only one took place; an inaugural match at Blackheath was cancelled as the opposition were still in the village knockout (they reached the quarter-finals), The Lancing game fell foul of the abysmal June weather and two Cricket World Trophy games were the victims of poor communication on the part of the organisers. The one game which did take place, Headley, resulted in a comfortable win for the OCs who were far too strong for an ageing opposition. Henry Watkinson (71), Rick Johnson (53) and Scott Nye (40) scored with ease (the latter apparently unhindered by a mass of facial ironwork which left the worldly-wise Peter Shelley dumbstruck), whilst Will Stephens (4-32) returned his best figures for the Club.

And so to the fortieth consecutive cricket week. The demands of league cricket led to the cancellation of the two Saturday games, and the eleventh hour cry-off by new opposition Jack Frost, meant that only six matches took place. The week opened at Merrow where, again, the opposition were not good enough to stretch a powerful OC side. Henry Watkinson, who is building a reputation amongst his peers for scoring cheap hundreds, made 106 enabling Chetwode to declare at 230-5. With few of their league side on display, Merrow struggled to make runs and that they reached 163 was due to some generous bowling by the captain. The Butterflies, traditionally better opponents, fared little better. Nick Dunnet showed that he had no long term scars from the West Indies with a spirited 63, and the Copleston brothers each made forties out of 250-6. Three rapid wickets from Chetwode ripped out the visitors’ top order and they never recovered, slumping to 112 all out.

Tuesday saw the return after a nine year break of the Cranleigh Village match. In an afternoon game the OCs did well to restrict the Village to 164 (Chetwode 4-30) but were let down by their batting and lost by 28 runs. The Old Georgians game yet again turned out to be an exciting, low scoring contest. For the second successive day the OC batting was poor, and although the wicket was far from good it did not excuse going into lunch at 93-9. Several batsmen played woeful shots and only one, Tom Hufton (30), scored more than 14. Chetwode struck in the third over before a run was on the board, notable because it was his 400th wicket for the Club. From 42-1 the Georgians slumped to 89-7, 16 short of the target with the pitch rapidly deteriorating; dropped catches swung the balance and the OGs won by three wickets.

Graham Brown - 27 wickets Fettes-Lorettonians fielded their weakest side since this fixture was first played and the OC batsmen scored with ease. Mike Chase blasted 110 in his usual unassuming manner and his innings formed the basis of an OC total of 207-5. Isaac (4-32) removed the front line batsmen and it was all that the touring side could do to hold on for a draw with eight wickets down. The evening was notable for an impressive barbecue by Cranleigh’s answer to Mr. Creosote, Rick Johnson.

With the Friday cry-off, the last game was the Sunday match against the Eton Ramblers. It was obvious from the outset that Eton’s intention was to chase whatever target they were set; their attack was never likely to bowl out the OCs and their defensive fielding positions were hardly conducive to wicket taking. Simon Copleston (110) made his third hundred for the Club, and Richard Radbourne marked a welcome return with a typically whirlwind 60. Eton made the most of a tame wicket and a weak bowling attack to pass the OC’s 269-5 with four balls to spare and four wickets in hand. Graham Brown bowled superbly to take 4-86 off 23 overs.

The Old Hurstjohnians were always second best chasing 240-7 and they lost by 87 runs with over ten overs remaining. The fixture with Old Wellingtonians yielded almost six hundred runs and with two balls remaining any one of four results were still possible. Batting first, the OWs raced to 50-0 off four overs before a semblance of normality took over. Chetwode persevered manfully in extreme heat for 4-77 off 24 overs but the home side reached 298-6 with some ease. An aggressive 80 by former One North day boy Gary O’Driscoll got the OCs on their way and Read (40) and Bailey (41) set up a thrilling finale. An asking rate of seven an over was maintained throughout the last hour and the final over started with eleven runs required and three wickets in hand; six were needed off the last ball with the last pair at the wicket, but with the field spread far and wide common sense took over and the match was drawn.

An extra game, a charity match against an E. Copleston XI, is best forgotten as the OCs crumbled against some far from penetrative bowling and were beaten before tea. The season ended at Esher with another exciting contest. The Surrey Championship side cruised to 154-2 before inexplicably self-destructing, six wickets falling in four overs. Chetwode’s 6-40 saw him pass his own record of 36 wickets in a season. Set 191 to win, the OCs built upon an impressive 75 from Simon Copleston but seemed always to be just behind the asking rate. With Graham Brown (36*) keeping one end moving, Michael Chetwode struck two huge boundaries to finish the season with a two wicket win.

Once again, Michael Chetwode led by example on the field and with diminishing maturity off it. Not only did he set new records for the number of appearances (189), wickets in a career (417) and wickets in a season (38), but he also ensured that all games were played in the right spirit and that everyone felt part of the side. He remains by far the best bowler in the Club, even if he rarely steams in off his full run and has turned into the biggest rabbit hunter since Elmer J Thudd. He also is possibly the first cricketer in the history of the game whose wife has refused to let him retire as captain of a club. 1998 will be his seventh, and penultimate, season in charge.

In the kindergarten Simon Copleston batted with maturity and patience, scoring over 400 runs for the first time and he continues to quietly improve. Rick Johnson had a disappointing year, mainly because he appears to have acquired a lemming like tendency to get run out, a means of dismissal which accounted for his demise on no fewer than four occasions. Graham Brown at last came good with both bat and ball (his 27 wickets is the highest by a slow bowler since 1985 and there can be few bowlers who spin the ball as much as ‘Shorts’). Will Stephens was burdened by the thankless task of captaining a poor league side, and it affected his personal form quite markedly. Ed Copleston, too, failed to recapture the form of 1996 but he has sufficient class to ensure that the downturn is temporary.

Of the new recruits, Tom Hufton is a no nonsense batsman who will score runs if he can reduce the number of overseas holidays he takes; Richard Little looked good in bursts although his astounding hair colour changes did not; Scott Nye, Luke Moorby, Mark Colgate and Jahmohammad all showed promise.

Behind the scenes Simon Copleston struggled manfully with the far from straight-forward job of Fixtures Secretary, Martin Williamson continued to make investments which rendered the Hon. Auditor speechless, and John McDermott tolerated considerable abuse with good humour. Peter Woodhead coped with poor weather and a crowded fixture list to produce superb pitches and finally, the biggest thank you must go to Tim McConnell-Wood of Cranleigh Enterprise and the Headmaster and Bursar of the School for allowing us to use the facilities.

Plans for the 1999 tour of Sri Lanka are already advanced and the future is looking bright. Any person who would like to play for the Club please contact either the captain or the Hon. Secretary.

	M	I	NO	HS	R	AV	50	100
Chase M	4	4	1	110*	173	57.67		1
Copleston S	13	13	1	110	439	36.58	1	1
Watkinson H	9	9	0	106	259	28.78	1	1
Brown G	13	11	2	46	191	21.22
Johnson R	14	13	1	53	199	16.58	1
Copleston E	12	12	1	41	182	16.55
Bailey S	10	10	3	41	115	16.43
Dunnett N	9	9	1	63	119	14.88	1
Chetwode M	16	11	3	30	114	14.25