There are some sports that are said to be a game of two halves, but cricket isn’t one of these, writes Ashley Tiffen.
Cricket is a game of little battles and minor skirmishes; some you win and some you lose. The final outcome is not decided by how many battles you win or lose but did you win more of the key battles than your opponent.
And so it was at Keswick’s Fitz Park when the home side took on rivals Cockermouth hoping, no doubt, for revenge for their recent league defeat.
Both sides fielded changed line ups due to Keswick’s captain, Paul Hindmarch and Cockermouth skipper, Matthew Sempill having been called up for the county T20 competition in Cheshire. However, the neutrals felt that one offset the other so neither side had an advantage.
So, on a gloriously sunny day the crowds were out in force with their cold drinks and sunscreen as Keswick won the toss and elected to bat first and it was thanks to the excellent opening attack of professional Shrikant Mundhe and Joshua Brown that the visitors took the spoils in the early skirmishes.
Keswick lost opener Stephen Hindmarch for 9 when he was caught by Brown off Mundhe’s bowling with the score on 16 and he was to be followed to the pavilion 3 balls later by Arran Davies, LBW to Mundhe for 4.
This brought Keswick’s Sri Lankan professional Raveen Yasas and Oscar Link to the middle, both of whom had some recent form, but it was Cockermouth who took the next battle when stand in captain, Alex Grainer brought himself on to bowl and had Yasas out from his first delivery taking a brilliant one handed catch down to his right.
Yasas was clearly stunned by his mis-shot and stared long and hard at the pitch before making the slow walk to the pavilion for 2 with the score on 29.
What this dismissal suggested to the crowd was that was a slow wicket and with the ball coming through slowly, the batsman was through the shot before the ball was there to hit.
This view was reinforced when, with only 7 runs added to the score, Oscar Link was dismissed by Gabriel Drimmie in exactly the same fashion, albeit with an easier catch.
Another battle won by the visitors.
But if the Cockermouth stand in skipper was to have an impact, so was the Keswick skipper, Paul Weightman who, despite rumours that he was carrying a niggle, dug in to try and stop the wickets from falling.
But a batsman can only defend his end and while Weightman went on top score with 38, while he accumulated these runs 3 more Keswick wickets fell, including yet another caught and bowled, this time by Ethan Hardie-Knight.
Then, with the score at 100 for 7, controversy when Weightman was adjudged LBW having taken a long stride down the pitch to his opposite number Grainger. Clearly the umpire was clear it would have hit the stumps if it hadn’t hit the pad first, and he was dispatched.
With the score still on 100, Cockermouth took the 9th wicket, Joe Grisdale, caught Drimmie, bowled Grainger bringing the last pair, Finn Turnball and Dan Gaskell to the centre.
Clearly, Cockermouth were ahead in the battle count but there was to be a sting in the Keswick tail as the last two decided they were going to be a nuisance and hang around to frustrate the Cockermouth attack who were probably thinking “take one wicket, have tea then stroll to victory chasing barely 100’”
But this last battle of the innings was to go to the home side. Turnball who ended on 12 not out and Gaskell, 6 not out, were there when the 45 overs were completed having added 41 leaving the home side with a final total of 141 for 9.
For the visitors, Mundhe took 3 for 29, Skipper Grainger had 3 for 31, Ethan Hardie-Knight had 2 for 28 and Gabriel Drimmie took 1 for 19.
Just one talking point. It appeared to some in the crowd at least, that the final wicket was taken on the last ball when Connor Steadman took a difficult juggling catch, but, for some reason, this was not reflected in the scorecard.
For the second innings, skipper Grainger drew his battle lines to have Reegan Scott join him opening the innings and while the early batting was unlikely to set the crowd alight with excitement, there was 25 on the board when Scott was out, bowled by Yasas, giving the visitors a solid platform on which to build.
And build they did. Grainger was next to leave with the score on 56, caught Arran Davies bringing Cockermouth professional Shrikant Mundhe to the middle to Join Sam Skully who was busy grinding out a score.
And with the score on 84 and with Mundhe looking set, Keswick won the next skirmish when Skully was comprehensively bowled by Ben Sharpe for 25 but not before he rattled the pavilion roof with a mighty 6.
Drinks were taken and three balls later having only added 1 run, Keswick were to get another as Joshua Brown went without scoring, caught by Weightman, bowled Yasas.
This brought Cockermouth stalwart, Gareth White to the crease.
Now, there are times in any match for a batsman to chance their arm and there are times for cool heads and for Cockermouth, it was the latter as they needed someone to block up one end and allow his partner, Mundhe, to take the attack to the bowlers.
Normally, White would open the batting, and he is adept at seeing off the opening attack. In this case he was facing bowlers who had their eye in and a team that could smell the faint whiff of victory.
But with only 15 runs added, Mundhe was to fall for 29 caught Arran Davies from only the second ball of Weightman’s first over. Battle won by Keswick as Cockermouth were 5 down with 42 runs still needed.
While there were still plenty of overs left, Keswick were seeing wickets fall and the sixth one was to fall with the score on 106 as Gabriel Drimmie was LBW to James McGown for 2.
It was now time for White to battle.
Despite losing another wicket, Ethan Hardie-Knight, stumped by Davies off the bowling of Finn Turnbull, White had Connor Steadman (3 not out) to keep him company as he saw the visitors to their target with 9 off the 40th over including a six with the winning single coming from the first ball of 41st. His calm head 29 from 54 balls was, ultimately, the difference between the sides.
On the bowling front, Yasas took 2 for a miserly 14 from his 9 overs with Finn Turnbull getting a brace from a rather more expensive 43 from 8 overs. James McGown took 1 for 18, Ben Sharp 1 for 20 and Glen Weightman, 1 for 21.
A game of many little battles and fascinating skirmishes and one, certainly for the purist. This was not smash, bang, wallop, but a measured if tight win, in the end with White taking the plaudits to see Cockermouth to the Higson Cup Final with a 3-wicket victory.
In the other semi-final, at Cleator the home side won the toss and put Millom into bat. The visitors scored 213 for 5 from their 45 overs and then dismissed the home team for 187 all out in 44.1 overs to give Millom a 26 run victory.
August 3 will see Cockermouth and Millom in the final – venue to be announced.
On a personal note, although I did live briefly in Keswick and played for local village side Braithwaite in the day, alongside the wonderful, generous and funny grandfather of the current Keswick Hindmarches, my roots are with Cockermouth having spent many of my formative cricket years never amounting to very much talent wise but finding an enduring love of the game.
That said, you will be hard pressed to find a club as friendly and welcoming as Keswick and it was great to rekindle some friendships from the distant past. Thank you to everyone who contributed to a lovely cricket day.
