Well batted Chucky.

W.H.C.C. Beat Knowle by 71 runs. At last, some nice weather to play cricket. Our first visit to Knowle Village since the 2012 season proved to be a memorable game for a certain I.J.Chuck. Batting first on a nice deck, it was Chuck who soon re-discovered the form we have seen over the last few seasons. No more of this across the line rubbish, it was all straight in the V, with several sweetly timed drives through mid off and mid on. The back to basics approach paid dividends, with Chucky compiling a score of 129 not out, out of a total of 210-2. With sixteen 4’s and two 6’s. His 8th century for the club, (a new record) and his own highest score. At one point, Stu Pollitt’s club record score of 144 not out, looked in grave danger. However, it was a pretty hot day, with not much air, so the tiring Chuck’s run rate did slow down a bit towards the end of his innings. Just to bat the full 40 overs in those conditions was an achievement. Well batted Chucky.

Time for tea, and the first mid game shower of the season, taken by an exhausted Chuck, followed by ten pints of water. Meanwhile, brother Leo decided to choose the lager option…Village. With everyone fully rehydrated, we began our defence of 210. Fielding can be overlooked sometimes, but for the first 15 overs, the whole team were exceptional. After Dave Stephens made the first breakthrough, bowling Shough for nought, some sensational catches were taken. The two words sensational and catches seem to marry well together when you mention the name Greg Philpott. Fielding at mid on, Greg took another screamer to get rid of Tamplin for 2. If you want to know exactly what it was like then You tube….Jonty Rhodes catch v England, World Cup 1999. It was on a par with this. Another superb catch to add to the Philpott portfolio. Leo Chuck and David Preece joined the party, with two nice grabs either side of the wicket. Followed by the dependable hands of Rob Hewlitt, diving full stretch forward, just before the ball was about to kiss the turf to take his 51st catch, to begin the second half of his quest for 100 catches. Combine all these top efforts together, and Knowle found themselves gone at 37-5. Effectively ending the game as a contest. It could easily have been a different story, because after checking up on Knowle’s Play Cricket site, their top five batsmen were certainly no mugs with the bat according to their stats. We did tire a little in the conditions, apart from the returning David Preece, who still has that cheetah like speed across the ground, and laser like arm. A big compliment must go to the Knowle No3, 12 years of age, scoring a really nice 73. But wickets still came at regular intervals, including one for “The Icon” John Nicholls. Followed by another brilliant catch at long off, this time, thanks to the works of Leo Chuck, capping a fine day for everyone in the field. So it was left to Dave Stephens to wrap things up, taking the last two wickets in successive balls to leave DS on a Hat-trick….Can it really happen again? Lets hope so, as Dave has been in such good form with the ball this year, picking up his second 4-for of the season.

Ben Stokes update….I couldn’t not mention the man who provided the whole country with one of the all time great sporting moments. Those final few overs of the Test Match ran alongside Chuck’s quest for Stu Pollitt’s record. I’ll leave you to figure out which got more attention.

Multi Tasking update…This has to go to Rob Hewlitt, who showed tremendous skills to score for the full 40 overs, work the electronic scoreboard, and follow the action at Headingley. Not an easy mission, but thanks again to Rob for dropping himself down the order to score.

Merv Hughes update….We seem to have an imposter in the team. Anybody who wasn’t there might just see an encore on Sunday.

Sad Postscript….A sad piece of news to end the report. Mickey Evans of Highwood Park CC passed away this week. Mick played against us many times over the years. He was one of those old school cricketers, good bloke, a very good bowler…. one of those “hard to get away” type bowlers. Mick absolutely loved his cricket, like all of us, and was a loyal servant to HPCC. So from all of us, RIP Mick.

Chris Hall