U18s Tour to Cornwall
25th – 29th July 2011
Although the U12s have been on tour twice in the last couple of years, it is
around 30 years since Blackheath ran a full U18s tour.
Led by Harry “Stash” Giles and VC Ben “Podges” Hodges, the squad for this
historic trip included a splendid array of talent, matched only by the
magnificent selection of nicknames. With the trip based just outside Newquay,
there was also ample opportunity for entertainment away from the cricket-pitch
in a packed itinerary …
Having (remarkably) managed to leave more or less on time, we arrived at our
hotel in Porth, about 2 miles out of the centre of Newquay, late on the Monday
afternoon. Worryingly described as “a lovely ‘olde world’ hotel set in a
quiet country lane”, this was actually perfect for us, with relaxed
atmosphere and tolerant staff. It was also just 200 yards from the beach, where
the squad relaxed during the evening with some enthusiastic fielding practice
and beach rugby, rounded off by a BBQ.
With our first match not starting until late afternoon, our first destination of
the week was the Holywell Bay Fun Park, where the go-carting course proved a
major hit, with very hot competition for the title of Most Dangerous Driver.
Following an early bid for glory by Pete “Half Pint” Melhuish, who successfully
lured several of his team-mates into a multiple pile-up, the title was
eventually won by Danny “Oompa” Harrison who managed to achieve a hat-trick of
warnings from the course marshals in successive races. Meanwhile, the almost
equally coveted titles of worst golfer and worst mini-golfer were won by captain
“Stash” and Ronny “Loopma” Harrison respectively.
Our first fixture was a
25 overs a side game at Roche CC, a very nice ground
near Bodmin, against an opposition youth side strengthened by the addition of a
couple of older players, including a visiting overseas pro from another local
club. Roche batted first and made a solid start against some tight bowling from
Ben and Connor “Turk” O’Brien, with Ben picking up a couple of wickets. Although
their overseas pro briefly threatened to cut loose, after he was bowled by Pete
“Slingshot” Leighton, their innings never really got into top gear, with wickets
falling at regular intervals. They were eventually bowled out in the 23rd over
for a relatively modest 118, with the wickets being shared around between Ben,
Pete L, Connor, Danny and Rob “Big Time” Weston. Blackheath suffered a couple of
early set-backs in reply as both Pete M and Ronny fell cheaply, but an imperious
30 (retired) from Harry put us back on track and Martin “Bowser” Peters and
Connor then took us within sight of victory before Jamie “Toy Boy” Whitehouse
administered the coup de grace with a few sweetly struck boundaries.
Wednesday morning was a time for relaxation as the squad took advantage of the
free ten-pin bowling at the hotel, while the coaches took a stroll to take in
the spectacular scenery of Porth Bay. Then it was off to our second match, an
all-afternoon timed match at St Gluvias CC near Falmouth, another fine ground
which plays host to the Cornwall Youth Cricket Festival every August.
Having won the toss and elected to bat, Blackheath sent in the formidable
opening partnership of Connor and Pete M, who against a pretty decent attack
proceeded to bat us out of sight. On and on they went, each of them combining
watchful defence with sharp running between the wickets and beautifully timed
boundaries whenever the bowlers’ line or length strayed. Having cruised past the
century partnership, they looked set for the double hundred before Connor was
unfortunate to be bowled by a short one which kept low and departed for 96 with
the score on 195. Harry fell shortly afterwards to a good catch on the long-off
boundary, but Danny then joined Pete M, who by this time had moved into top
gear, and the two of them proceeded to destroy the St Gluvias bowling, before
the declaration came on 248 for 2 of just 35 overs – Pete finishing on a
magnificent 111 not out.
The St Gluvias reply got off to a steady start against some tight bowling from
Ben and Rob, but facing a tough asking rate the pressure was on from the outset.
With Jamie nursing a strapped hand following an argument with the hotel door, in
the ninth over the openers took a chance on a quick single to him – only to see
the stumps shattered with a direct hit. Then in an inspired if unlikely move,
Harry brought himself on for a spell of rarely-seen off-spin, with surprising
success. With Ronny and Toby “Spiderman” Webb bowling equally well from the
other end and a useful spell from Pete L, the St Gluvias innings was soon in a
tailspin, as wicket after wicket tumbled, eventually subsiding to a very modest
total of just 73 – with 2 wickets for Toby, 3 for Ronny and remarkable figures
for Harry of 6.4 overs, 2 maidens, 4 for 16. Our crushing victory was watched by
Paul and Jan Cope, who (despite having home season tickets) clearly thought the
500 mile round trip well worthwhile!
Thursday morning saw most of the squad up bright and early for a trip just up
the road to Watergate Bay, where we had booked a team surfing lesson
(depressingly for those of us who had tried surfing before with a total lack of
success, every single one of them managed to stand up within just a few
minutes). Then it was on to the county ground at
Truro for our final fixture
against probably Cornwall’s strongest club.
Here again, the Truro youth team had been strengthened with the addition of an
older first team player, James Walton, and this proved a major advantage for the
home side as he opened the Truro batting with an array of powerful shots to all
parts of the ground. A couple of let-offs to uncharacteristic dropped catches
did not help matters either, and though none of the other Truro batsmen got more
than a start, by the time Walton was finally out in the 24th over he had made
116 – about ¾ of their runs at that stage. Thereafter, the Truro innings faded
fast. With the wicket starting to break up, there were increasing signs of
variable bounce and the end came very rapidly, as in a remarkable passage of
play the last 5 batsmen all failed to trouble the scorer – leaving us a tough
but perfectly achievable target of 194 to win. Once again the wickets were
shared around, with Toby and Danny each picking up 3 and Harry collecting
another 4 with a repeat demonstration of his skills as an off-spinner.
Following the loss of Pete M early on to the first of a series of LBW decisions,
Connor and Martin progressed smoothly, taking the score to 53 without further
loss by the 12th over. However, when Connor fell for 27, there followed a
batting collapse of almost Truro-like proportions: 6 wickets fell for just 20
runs, 4 more of them to LBWs as the ball repeatedly kept low. Hope was restored
for a while by a entertaining partnership between Jamie (27) and Pete L (26),
the former hitting a series of boundaries including one enormous 6 far out of
the ground while the latter deployed his cross-court forehand to equally
devastating effect. However when each of them fell attempting one lusty blow too
many, the writing was on the wall, and in the end we were bowled out for 127, so
falling to our only defeat.
Following an end of tour presentation dinner in Newquay, the final evening’s
celebration back at the hotel was by all accounts a merry one – but was
discreetly conducted in the senior players’ rooms at the far end of the hotel,
so enabling the coaches and the rest of the hotel guests to enjoy an undisturbed
and mercifully complaint-free night ...
All in all, the tour was a great success, much enjoyed by all, including Mark
and Nick – who will be more than happy to arrange a similar trip next year!
Nick H
Mark O’B
