Templars First Match of the Season

12 May 2016

The weekend showed that winter is finally over and with it another season of Templars cricket got underway. And indeed the match away to the Hampshire Hogs had all those sounds from which we have come accustomed, the shrill of the match manager's phone as he travels to the ground informing him that one of his player's is crying off late and the slap of leather on Templars' hard hands followed by an inevitable chorus of sighs as yet another catch is shelled. 
 
However, this tale of initial misery and woe has a happy ending thanks predominantly to an unbeaten brutal innings of 166 from captain Charlie Morris as the Templars chased down the target of 318 to win by 8 wickets with 10 overs still to spare. 
 
The initial augurs didn't bode well with the Templars forced to field with ten as an unnamed Stoic lived up to his reputation as being flakier than Mary Berry's finest offerings. 57 overs later on a pitch offering about as much life to the bowlers as Highgate Cemetery, the Hogs brought a halt to their innings on 317 for the loss of just four wickets. It has to be said that their total was boosted by at least seven catches being dropped as well as a truly inept bit of fielding from your correspondent who somehow failed to hit the stumps from the bowling crease, having fielded a straight drive with the non-striker stranded meters out of his ground. This was capped off by yours truly removing all three stumps in a momentary fit of pique... my finest hour it wasn't. Nonetheless, none of these fielding lapses should detract from a composed hundred from the Hogs' opener who only gave chances when looking to accelerate having brought up three figures. The only blot on his copybook was running out his teammate, much to his disgust as demonstrated by a couple of bat throws as he slumped off. Bowling-wise there was little to report although Harry Wolrige-Gordon and Will Scholfield deserve mention for posing more threats and looking more consistent than the rest of the attack. 
 
At the half-way point the feeling among the camp was that the total was not beyond the Templars' means, particularly on a lightning-fast outfield, but would require a steady start with wickets in hand to have a thrash with 20 overs to go. Openers Scholfield and ringer Rakteem Katakey repelled the initial threat of the new ball with both fluently despatching the ball to the boundary whenever the chance presented itself. So comfortable did the duo look that it was a surprise to see Scholfield dismissed, sharply caught at second slip by the oldest player on either side after edging one that moved away a fraction. This brought Morris to the crease, giving himself a rare chance up the order with a recently fractured wrist forcing him to keep rather than bowl. He was quickly into his stride racing into the 20s with a series of powerful drives straight and through the covers. With Katakey also looking positive from the other end, the pair ensured Templars reached tea with 63 runs on the board for the loss of a solitary wicket. A rough estimate suggested that the target had been reduced to about a run a ball.
 
After tea, the wheels began to fall off the Hogs fielding effort as Morris and Katakey took the attack to the two legspinners that replaced the opening seamers, ensuring neither were allowed to settle into any kind of rhythm. If the Templars had shelled a few catches, none of which were sitters it must be said, they had at least maintained a good level with their ground fielding. Something that was an imperative as anything that beat the infield raced away for four. The same couldn't be said for the Hogs as the heat and the aggressive intent of the Templars batsmen started to induce some laughable efforts. So poor was deep square leg's attempts to make routine stops on the fence that he was switched to backward point as the captain sought to get him out of the firing line. Now I have seen people banished from the cordon but deep square leg!!! A particularly ham-fisted effort from that Hog. 
 
Morris continued to deal heavily in boundaries but this was interspersed with a series of quick singles as he began to run the Hogs ragged. He was the first to reach the landmark of fifty with Katakey raising his bat shortly afterwards. Morris was reprieved on 70 when a top-edged swipe went high in the air but a back-pedalling cover only succeeded in collecting mild concussion rather than the ball as he slammed into the ground. 
 
Katakey's sparkling innings was brought to a halt on 78 when he picked out midwicket with a legside heave. This brought Olly Tett to the crease, Stowe's captain of cricket in 2009, but claiming to have barely played since. However after a shook of any rust with a quick single to mid-off to get off the mark, he served as the perfect foil to Morris who continued in the same aggressive vein to bring up his first Templars hundred off just 79 balls. But his appetite showed no signs of abating at this particular Hog roast with the landmark merely proving a brief pause on his way to the greater goal of sealing victory. Tett was by now also starting to find the boundary and as the winning line became ever quicker into sight, he had the chance for a fifty of his own. Ruthless Morris nipped any hopes he had of this by knocking of the required 13 runs of a single over to leave Tett stranded on 44. Nonetheless, Tett walked off in the knowledge that he had played a major role in securing a famous win with the Templars only having chased down a score in excess of 300 just a handful of times in recent memory.
 
So the season has started in spectacular style and now the gauntlet has been laid for the Templars to carry this momentum into this Sunday's game against the Flashmen, arguably the toughest team on the Jazz hat network.

Rupert Rowling (Cobham 05)