Old Cranleighans (199) lost to the School (200-9) by one wicket

'Skippy' Hume puts his miserable form of 2001 behind him with a breezy half-century

(June 1 2002) A mature 61 from Sam Langmead guided the School to a last-ball one-wicket win over the Old Cranleighans on Speech Day, the first win by the School in the fixture in a decade. The sun shone throughout, the pavilion was back in use after 14 years annexation, and the game was a cracker.

The School's win was deserved and it was certainly not gifted to them by generousity as has sometimes been the case in the past . Their bowling, not their strength, was persevering and supported by some excellent ground-fielding, and their batting, led by Sam Langmead, Sam Worthy and Ed McGregor, was seasoned.

The OC innings got off to a disastrous start, with Ollie Lodge and Simon Copleston both falling to Lewis in the first over. Lodge could blame ring-rustiness; Copleston, the senior batsman, had no excuse for his third-ball waft outside off stump. A minor recovery followed before another two quick wickets - both caught by wicketkeeper Ewan McGregor off Prince - left the OCs reeling at 34 for 4. But Eds Copleston, displaying admirable restraint, aided first by the peroxided Starling (23) and then the much-improved Richard Hume (50), turned the game around. Copleston batted with ease and gave every sign that he would again be the leading OC batsman. Hume, who endured a miserable 2001, seemed undisturbed by a shocking haircut and after a shaky start scored his maiden half-century.

Eds Copleston acknowledges the crowd after reaching his fifty

A miscalculation by Eds Copleston left the School almost three hours to get the runs (working out half time in a match was never his strong point). McGregor (52) and Gates got the School off to a solid start, aided by two dropped slip catches, before James Bennett struck twice. Then Worthy cut loose with some powerful hitting (3x6, 5x4) to put the School firmly in control before he was well caught by Eds Copleston at short midwicket off Ian Houston. Houston (5-60) bowled intelligent offspin throughout and had fielders held catches, he would have proved a matchwinner.

While Houston gnawed through the tail, Langmead manipulated the strike and was not afraid to punish the bad ball or hit over the top when the field was brought in to prevent the single. With S Wicks he added a vital 32 for the eighth wicket. Eight were needed from three overs when Wicks played on to Houston. Eds Copleston then put down Langmead at midwicket and the next over Chetwode spilt a routine catch at long-off. The final over (Chetwode's 24th) started with four runs needed, two wickets remaining and four result possible. Three came off three balls; then Chetwode clean bowled Lewis. Two dot balls followed, and the last ball came with a draw, a tie and a School win all possible. As it was Prince clipped Chetwode past mid-on to complete a memorable win.

Ollie Lodge bowled second ball of the day

For captain Eds Copleston the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow. His policy of relying heavily on youth, while admirable, meant that he had little experience to call on when things started to get tricky. Clem Williams admitted that while Copleston had been one of the best captains at School, "something has gone a bit wrong since … very sad how such talent can wither".

Old Cranleighans
E Copleston*              b Hill      77       
O Lodge                   b Lewis      0
S Copleston   c McGregor  b Lewis      0
D Groenevedd+ c McGregor  b Prince    11
M Colegate    c McGregor  b Prince     0
G Starling      c Worthy  b Langmead  23
R Hume           c Lewis  b Hill      50
J Bennett       c Worthy  b Jones      8
I Houston        c Gates  b Hill       8
M Chetwode      c Worthy  b Lewis      4
M Williamson         not  out          0
Extras   (lb 8, w 7, nb 3)            18
                                     199

Fall: 1,2,30,34,92,150,182,187,199,199

Lewis         7     0     15     3
Prince        6     1     21     2
Langmead      7     0     23     1
Worthy       10     2     34     0 
Jones         9     0     58     1
Hill          6     1     39     3

School
E McGregor            lbw b Chetwode  52 
J Gates            c Hume b Bennett   14
D Hill       c Groenevedd b Bennett    6
S Worthy    c E Copleston b Houston   48
R Jones      c Williamson b Houston    1
S Langmead            not out         56
H Jupp                lbw b Houston    6
J Finnegan            c & b Houston    6
S Wicks                   b Houston    6
D Lewis                   b Chetwode   0
E Prince              not out          1
Extras   (b 1, lb 1, nb 2)             4
                           (9 wkts)  200

Fall: 35,48,116,126,126,150,160,192,199


Chetwode     24     4     66     1 
Bennett       7     1     28     2
Hume          3     0     10     0
Houston      17     3     60     5
Williamson    2     0     26     0