- The Twenty Minuters vs Becks Invitational XI
- Harrow
- 29th August 2004
- Toss: The Twenty Minuters
- Result: Lost by 6 wickets
- Man of the Match: Leon
Photos from the Match
| The Twenty Minuters innings |
|---|
| H Lloyd Baker | caught | b Rhodes | 4 |
| M Maxwell-Scott | bowled | b Rhodes | 14 |
| +E Clark | c Beck | b Godson | 4 |
| J Greayer | c & b | b Godson | 1 |
| L Willis | bowled | b Rhodes | 63 |
| *R T C Groom | c & b | b Godson | 4 |
| J Nethercot | caught | b McGarry | 3 |
| P Cannon | caught | b Banwell | 11 |
| C Stevens | c & b | b Plummer | 20 |
| A Curtis | bowled | b Plummer | 0 |
| A Tyers | not out | 0 |
| Extras | (b 8, w 19, nb 9) | 36 |
| Total (all out, after 40 overs) | 162 |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | |
|---|
| J Plummer | 6 | 1 | 20 | 2 | (2 w, 4 nb) |
| Banwell | 4 | 0 | 18 | 1 | (6 w, 2 nb) |
| Rhodes | 6.4 | 0 | 28 | 3 | (1 w, 2 nb) |
| Godson | 7 | 0 | 25 | 3 | (1 w, 2 nb) |
| J Beck | 7 | 0 | 30 | 0 | (2 w) |
| C McGarry | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | (6 w, 1 nb) |
| M Daniels | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | (1 w) |
| J Gibbon | 3 | 0 | 24 | 0 | (3 w, 2 nb) |
| Becks Invitational XI |
|---|
| Banwell | stumped | b Willis | 35 |
| J Todman | c Clark | b Willis | 42 |
| Nicholson | c Tyers | b Curtis | 17 |
| Rhodes | not out | 31 |
| Rogerson | c & b | b Clark | 8 |
| J Plummer | not out | | 13 |
| DNB: Godson, Gibbon, C McGarry, J Beck, M Daniels |
| Extras | (b 8, lb 2, w 7) | 17 |
| Total (for 4, after 31.5 overs) | 211 |
| FoW: 1-73, 2-88, 3-104, 4-139 |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | |
|---|
| P Cannon | 8 | 1 | 29 | 0 | (4 w) |
| A Curtis | 8 | 1 | 33 | 1 | (3 w) |
| A Tyers | 3 | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
| L Willis | 8 | 1 | 35 | 2 | |
| C Stevens | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | |
| E Clark | 3 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
Match Summary
On an overcast Bank Holiday weekend in August, the 20minuters were in the unlikely position of playing for an undefeated season. Heady days. The team was understrength, particularly the bowling attack with the absence of C Cohen and W Scott, but the fixture promised to be a sociable, relaxed affair against drinking acquaintances from West London. The 20minuters were confident, perhaps recklessly so, as the Skipper won the toss and elected to bat for the first time in recorded history. The innings began in typical, gloriously sedate fashion. Baker was watchful, taking 13 balls to get off the mark, but then elegantly pushed the ball for a well-run single. Unfortunately, the circumspection and admirable patience of the openers failed to earn their reward on this occasion. But their approach was proven to be the correct one, as the more 'showy' Clark and Greayer were quickly back in the pavilion. 23-4. An exuberant half-ton from Willis bagged the man-of-the-match award early doors, but loose shots did for the Skipper and Nethercot, on debut. Cannon, rather than take advantage of a spell of dreadful bowling, instead took it as a personal insult and slashed a very, very wide one to mid-wicket. His stream of blue language back at the pav rather ruined the atmos for some minutes. The total looked distinctly vulnerable.
The 20minuters appeared to get the early breakthrough needed with the very first ball, as a perfect line-and-length ball from Cannon passed the edge with the appropriate sound. But a polite, restrained appeal failed to move the umpire, who was quite possibly deaf and blind anyway. As the opening partnership began to build, the 20minuters nose-dived into a strop of adolescent proportions. Dropped catches, which in bygone days had provoked mirth, pity or indifference, were now greeted by incredulity and angry muttering. Add to this a puerile sense of outrage that the opposition had brought along some players who could actually play, rather than the promised collection of inept boozing buddies, and the mood rapidly soured. Brief cause for hope was offered when debut twirly-man A Tyers appeared to have both batsmen befuddled, but he was brutally found out in his third over, which went for 19. The seam attack was bowling with unprecedented control, but the lack of wild variation perhaps contributed to its lack of teeth. Only L Willis's slow-turning leggies offered hope. (Or perhaps also, unknowably, a generous spectator who offered his services alongside some rather frank criticisms). Only lots of quick, cheap, ugly wickets could save the undefeated season now, and Willis dismissed both openers and produced a host of chances. Stonedrifting fieldsmen, a woeful lack of hand-eye co-ordination and some desperately reactive field-placements contrived to deny him further, deserved wickets. Clark's bowling offered some promise for the future, but his knack of being hit for one big six each over was depressing. After the inevitable conclusion, the 20minuters retired to a local public house to indulge in bitter recrimination, gaze admiringly at L Willis, and rue lost opportunities.
