Waters and spin sink Haileybury

Old Cranleighans 187 for 1 (Waters 103*, M Crump 35, T Crump 31*) beat Haileybury Hermits 186 (walker 93, Watkinson 4-58, Webb 2-30) by nine wickets with 23.5 overs to spare
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A excellent 107 not out from Seren Waters helped us to an easy nine-wicket win over Haileybury Hermits in the first round of the Cricketer Cup, setting up a challenging second-round tie at Tonbridge in a fortnight.

The setting could not have been better, with the sun shining and hundreds of Old Cranleighans and their families lining the Jubilee boundary. The Red Arrows flew over shortly before the start of the game, and when Eds Copleston won the toss it seemed it was going to be our day all the way.

We started shakily,however, Henry Watkinson and Ed Henderson conceding 17 off the first two overs, but the pair stuck to their guns and reined the openers, and by the tenth over each had taken a wicket and Haileybury were struggling on 43 for 2.

Then came a stand that appeared to be setting them on their way to a formidable total as Nick Walker and Stewart put on 108 for the third wicket. We knew that Walker, whose first-class career with Derbyshire and Leicestershire ended in 2008, would be the danger man, and he set out his stall by smacking Watkinson for two sixes in his first ten balls.

Copleston then set the three-prong spin attack of Phil Roper, Graham Webb and Waters into operation. Initially it seemed as if Walker would continue to dominate, hitting Roper for four fours in eight deliveries, but the next 15 overs produced only two more boundaries. Walker was adept at milking the singles, but Stewart struggled to keep the strike rate up. He managed only one run in the first 38 balls he faced, and 22 of his 24 runs, made from 98 deliveries, were singles.

Roper was unlucky as twice Webb spilt catches off well-hit reverse sweeps, but in the end the pressure told. Copleston switched Webb to the bottom end and with his second ball he had Stewart stumped. Three overs later Waters bowled another Stewart, and then within two balls the innings completely came unstuck.

Gaur was well run-out trying to give the strike to Walker, and next ball Walker himself, limited to singles by tight bowling and good field-placing, was cleaned up by Webb. At 151 for 2 with 18 overs remaining and the pitch playing well, most spectators were talking of a target of 270 plus; nine overs later Haileybury were 171 for 6 and all at sea.

That set the scene for Watkinson, whose pace is a distant memory but who has become a canny death bowler, taking on the mantle which Mike Chetwode used to fulfil so skilfully. By relying on line and length, with the occasional slow full toss into the mix, he polished off the innings with three wickets in five deliveries.

Haileybury had lost their last eight wickets for 35 runs, and defending 186 needed a to hit the ground running. Perhaps the hour-long lunch break, during which former housemaster Roger Knight formally opened the pavilion, did for the visitors.

The opening attack was wayward – there were ten wides in as many overs – and Waters, in good form after a mediocre start to the summer, was savage on anything wide of the off stump, cutting and driving with elegance and power. Matt Crump was by no means going to play second fiddle, and he was as always strong off his legs.

As the hundred approached, both batsmen started taking more chances. Waters was inexplicably dropped at mid-on when in his forties, Crump not as fortunate soon after.

The arrival of Tom Crump only accelerated the finish, cracking four fours in nine balls. Waters, whose fifty came in 61 minutes off 64 deliveries, laid into the weary attack, racing to his second hundred, his second fifty taking only another 32 balls and 34 minutes. His was innings which oozed class, and it was a fitting end to a weekend which had started with his father being awarded the MBE for services to Kenyan cricket.

Cricketer Cup quarter-final side named

The following have been selected for the Cricketer Cup quarter-final match at Cheltenham College.

Seren Waters, Stuart Meaker, Alan Cope, Matt Crump, Abeed Janmohamed, Will Howard (wk) ,Tom Crump, Eds Copleston, Henry Watkinson (capt), Jumbo Jupp, Mike Chetwode.

Seren Waters, who left Cranleigh last week after scoring almost 900 runs in the season, makes his cup debut. Graham Webb has failed to shake off a calf strain.

Crump steers us into Cup quarter-finals

Old Cranleighans 238 for 2 (M Crump 107*, Cope 41, Howard 38, Janmohamed 36*) beat Old Cliftonians 235 for 9 (Houcke 100, Chetwode 3-38, Cope 3-47) by eight wickets
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A super hundred from Matt Crump guided us to an eight-wicket win over Old Cliftonians on the Lowers and book us a Cricketer Cup quarter-final trip to Cheltenham College. In two Cup matches this year we have only lost four wickets and the bulk of our runs have been scored by players under 22. The future really is bright.

On a sunny but windy day, Clifton won the toss. The pitch had little bounce and the ball didn’t come onto the bat, but it was a true surface. The first and crucial wicket, that of former England A and Gloucestershire batsman Matt Windows, owed nothing to the pitch, a Henry Watkinson full toss scooped back to the bowler. He struck again two overs later to leave Clifton 22 for 2.

Houcke and Meadows took the score to 74, struggling to get after Graham Webb who bowled through his ten overs for 28. Michael Chetwode’s first spell produced the breakthrough and a second catch for Abeed Janmohamed, and apart from one wayward over, he was typically parsimonious.

There then followed Clifton’s main stand, Houcke and Swetman adding 90 in 18 overs. Our fielding wobbled and we split four hard chances, and for a time there was a danger the game was going to get away from us. Chetwode finally lured Swetman into a weak drive, and from then on we regained control. The last 14 overs yielded 71 runs for six wickets.

Houcke continued to plough a lonely furrow, falling to a sharp stumping the ball after reaching his hundred. Morrison ruined Alex Craven’s figures with some good late hitting, but Alan Cope kept the damage within limits with an excellent late burst.

Our innings started shakily, Will Howard surviving the first of two drops in the opening over. His luck ran out when he had made 38 but by then he and Crump had got us off to a good start. Cope came in and looked in good touch, relishing a brief clash with Windows until trying for one hit too many.

At 121 for 2 we were still in the driving seats but quick wickets and we might have struggled. Abeed Jamohamed was not in the best of form but he dug in, rotated the strike and thumped the bad balls. Crump, happy to play second fiddle to Cope, upped a gear on his dismissal and drove in the V ruthlessly, especially on the leg side. Clifton wilted under the onslaught, their fielding became ragged and they split more catches. Crump reached his hundred with a pull through midwicket and an over later completed an emphatic win with a similar stroke.

Without exaggerating, this was probably the best day in the club’s history. Aside from this result, we also fielded an Under-21 side on Jubilee which would have beaten most opposition. With several players returning from the School match for the next round, for the first time the selectors face a real quandary over the team to take to Cheltenham.

Lancing Rovers blown away

OCs 186 for 2 (33.5 overs; Meaker 72, T Crump 65*, Janmohamed 26*) beat Lancing Rovers 183 (48.3 overs; Spink 46, Webb 3-21, Chetwode 2-23, Crump 2-35, Watkinson 2-61) by eight wickets

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For the second year running we recorded a home win in the first round of the Cricketer Cup, but whereas last year’s game went to the last ball, this time we saw off Lancing Rovers with few alarms. The margin – eight wickets and almost 17 overs in hand – underlined the fact we outplayed them in every department. Our reward is a home tie against Clifton on June 29.

It was a real generation game of a performance. Our batting was dominated by two teenagers - Tom Crump and Stuart Meaker – and our bowling by two forty-somethings old enough to be their fathers - Michael Chetwode and Graham Webb. The old timers were supported by some excellent fielding, and the only glitch in an otherwise polished display was that we allowed Lancing to recover when almost down and out.

We suffered two blows on the eve of the match as Alan Cope (exams) and Rob Jones (bruised hand) called off. Briefly, things were so serious that there was talk of Rick Johnson getting a call-up. Briefly.

On a warm day under a watery sun, Henry Watkinson put Lancing in and shared the new ball with Matt Crump. Both bowled well, removing an opener each within six overs, Crump taking the important wicket of former Surrey batsman Johnny Robinson courtesy of a sharp catch by Eds Copleston at short mid-on. Wakeford briefly looked dangerous, thumping Watkinson for 14 from three balls when he dropped short, but Graham Webb removed him in his first over to leave Lancing 41 for 3.

Webb was joined by Chetwode, replacing Crump at the top end. Their combined age might be 92 but they whirled through their overs, tight and unrelenting. Webb, despite being increasingly troubled by a calf strain, bowled through, finishing with 10-1-21-3. Chetwode was equally parsimonious (10-3-23-2) and the two utterly strangled the middle order. By the time drinks came after 24.3 overs, Lancing were in shreds on 74 for 7.

Immediately after the resumption, Spink appeared to have been caught by a tumbling Sam Langmead at silly point but the umpire was unconvinced. For the next hour or so we slumbered while Lancing battled back. Watkinson juggled the bowling but the seamers lacked the penetration of the old guard. Crump returned to remove Shinners for 28, but Spink continued to push ones and twos.

As the innings drew to a close Spink and Johnston cut loose, Watkinson coming in for some heavy punishment. With his last ball he dismissed Johnston courtesy of a remarkable boundary catch from a leaping Chetwode at long-on, sticking out a hand as he jumped and holding the ball high to his right after it had passed. Even he realised this was special and set off on a heavyweight Panesaresque victory charge.

A target of 185 was double what had seemed likely two hours earlier, and we opened with Tom Crump and Meaker after a debate between captain and chairman. The captain won and his choice proved spot on. Meaker was savage on anything short, and there was plenty on offer, while Crump played a superb anchor role, cautious for the first 20 or so overs and then picking off the tiring bowling.

Three times Meaker pulled high over midwicket, and then when a man was placed on the rope, he repeated the shot but 20 yards straighter. As the field dispersed he contented himself with singles and some sublime drives, the pick a rasping drive off the back foot that fizzed back past the bowler.

After 10 overs we had 55, after 20 we had 115. Meaker’s luck ran out when he was cruelly adjudged caught behind after a miscued reverse sweep looped up off his forearm – there was a lingering feeling that he paid for the impetuosity of the stroke more than anything. But his 76-ball 72 had already broken Lancing.

Matt joined younger brother Tom, but fell almost immediately to a sharp slip catch by Robinson, and momentarily Lancing’s body language picked up. Abeed Janmohamed, who had kept very neatly, put the visitors back in their box with a six off his third ball, and that galvanised the younger Crump into playing three superb drives, one through extra cover and two straighter, the third sealing a comprehensive win in front of a veritable who’s who of OC cricket gathered in front of the pavilion.

The victory aside, it was the manner of it that really pleased, particularly the combination of the old and the young. Cranleigh cricket has never been so strong and that was reflected in the side. As an aside, Jubilee has rarely looked more lovely, and the outfield was almost perfect. The school has, after 143 years, even invested in a rope…

When I first played for the OCs in 1980, Lancing were the side we aspired to compete with. At the end of my first cricket week we were bowled out by them for 42 and, as we sat in the pavilion, several of the senior players reflected we would probably never be able to match them. In 1984 we beat them for the first time in 21 years. Now, another 24 years on, we are a far superior cricketing school – that is not meant to be gloating but it is a sign of how far we have come. The school is aiming higher all the time.

Perhaps a more substantial sign of how times change came with Chetwode’s admission that rising petrol prices had led to him buying a bicycle and, reportedly, he had started driving at a fuel-efficient 60mph on motorways. While Cranleigh and Old Cranleighan cricket will continue getting stronger, few are betting that either of Chetwode’s mid-life crises last much beyond the second round.

OC XI Stuart Meaker, Tom Crump, Matt Crump, Abeed Janmohamed (wkt), Eds Copleston, Max Barson, Sam Langmead, Henry Watkinson, Alex Craven, Michael Chetwode, Graham Webb.

One change for Cricketer Cup second round

We make one change to the side that beat Harrow for the second round of the Cricketer Cup against Old Cholmelians on Sunday, June 24, Ed McGregor coming in for Johnny Gates.

Squad Michael Chetwode, Alan Cope, Eds Copleston, Alex Craven, Matt Crump, Will Howard (wk), Abeed Janmohamed, Rick Johnson, Rob Jones, Henry Watkinson (capt), Graham Webb.

The match takes place at Highgate School (click here for directions) and starts at 11.30am. Although, like us, they have their own old boys' sports club, Cricketer Cup rules state matches must be played at the school. The OCs are Highgate School old boys - the name, for the inquisitive, comes from School’s founder Sir Roger Cholmeley.

For the statistically minded, we have played the Old Cholmelians six times before, between 1921 and 1927, winning one, drawing one and losing the other six.

Cope steers us to dramatic last-ball win

Old Cranleighans 200 for 8 (50 overs: Cope 61, Howard 59, Morrison 3-34) beat Harrow Wanderers 197 (50 overs: Engelen 67*, Harmsworth 32, Norris 28, Watkinson 3-35, Chetwode 2-20, Craven 2-30, Webb 2-37)
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The OCs first foray in the Cricketer Cup ended with a thrilling last-ball, two-wicket win of Harrow Wanderers in a match which ebbed and flowed from the off. The closing overs in front of a large OC Day crowd on a sun-drenched Jubilee were about as dramatic as you can get.

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Watkinson leads us into Cricketer Cup

The following have been picked to play for the club in our first Cricketer Cup match, against Harrow Wanderers on Jubilee on Sunday, June 10. The game starts at 11.00am.
As it is also OC Day, so everyone is welcome. Bring a picnic!

Michael Chetwode, Alan Cope, Eds Copleston, Alex Craven, Matt Crump, Will Howard (wk), Abeed Janmohamed, Rick Johnson, Rob Jones, Henry Watkinson (capt), Graham Webb.

Graham Webb makes his first cup appearance since we lost to Reigate in the semi-final of the Cricket World Trophy back in July 1990. At 46, he is the oldest person to take part in a cup tie for the club, robbing Mike Chetwode, a youthful 44, of that honour. Rob Jones, Alex Craven, Matt Crump and Alan Cope were not born when they left Cranleigh. Cope and Crump are also younger than Chetwode’s daughter!