This article precedes that which appeared in our last issue, as it was delayed in the post.

Although he did not become fully operational until some four years later, this coach took charge of his first schoolboy cricket eleven, as a student teacher fulfilling a practical assignment, in A.D. 1952. Which makes 2001 a golden anniversary of sorts. He will therefore be hoping for some gilt-edged (at least) performances from his players during the course of the year and the portents thus far are fairly promising.

The bowling attack has the makings of strength in depth, with both seam and spin departments well stocked, and although the batting is decidedly 'iffish' at this stage there are signs of increased maturity among several in this area. The mysterious non-return to Lilfordia of Cakana, one of the six Grade 6 boys from the previous season's team, means that this is again a predominantly 'young' side (i.e., five seniors, six beginners), so much attention will have to be devoted to attempting to raise the overall fielding standards to an acceptable level of competence.

Personnel: J Nel (capt), A Buchanan (vice-capt), M Walters, K Taylor, S Moores, D Rouse, T Cantle, C Whitefoot, C Coetzee, K Corken, K Tapson, B Hook.

Overall record to date: Played 4, Won 1, Drawn 2, Lost 1.

20 January, v Ruzawi (Away)

Our hosts began most inhospitably with an opening stand of 111, but reasonably accurate bowling and (more particularly) a slow outfield meant that this tour de force occupied some 40 overs. After which, as there were few signs of urgency or any intention to declare, we were obliged to whittle our way through the entire batting order. With Buchanan presenting problems and Whitefoot and Rouse keeping things tight at the other end, Ruzawi finally succumbed just before luncheon.

Lilfordia were thus required to score at 4.6 runs per over to win when the home side had managed no better than 2.8 in their own familiar conditions. Such a proposition was obviously not `on' so the orders were to take batting practice and play out a draw.

With more than an hour gone, the score standing on 65 for one and Taylor batting fluently, we were ostensibly 'home and dry', but then the No. 1 was run out (attempting to steal a meaningless bye) and some ill-considered shot-making and suicidal running between the wickets had reduced us to 107 for seven with three overs to go by the time Corken arrived upon the scene.

'Corky' is nothing if not an original thinker and his approach to saving this match was to charge and swing. This method then seemed to appeal to Walters, who had been watching the collapse rather helplessly from the non-striker's end, and together these two intrepid gentlemen scattered the fielders and smashed 25 runs from the last 18 balls. One could not help reflecting that had Ruzawi declared on 150-odd after about 56 overs and left us with something like 46 in which to reply, we might have had a magnificent cliff-hanger finish.

RUZAWI 178 (Buchanan 22-2-62-6, Rouse 3/32). LILFORDIA 132/7 (Taylor 37, Buchanan 11, Rouse 16, Walters 28*, Corken 10*). Match drawn.

THE QUADRANGULAR

26 January, v LCPS (Lomagundi College Primary School) (Away)

The gods who preside over cricket matches like nothing better than to make fools of self-esteemed experts who try to get smart. Our captain was instructed to bowl first because there was precipitation in the air and it would be advantageous to have our opponents trying to control a wet ball later in the day rather than ourselves. This theory was sound enough except that the rain came prematurely and after the break it was we who were afflicted by the towels and sawdust scenario.

After last years' emphatic victory LCPS have shed their "Lilfordia complex", which has hitherto handicapped their performances in these confrontations. Their men batted confidently and, aided by poor fielding and catching, posted a respectable score. Due to the time lost to the weather there was no real prospect of a result, but a reshuffled Lilfordia batting order (D Rouse having succumbed to bus sickness) did their best to make things exciting (16 for three) before Buchanan and Nel played out time comfortably enough.

LCPS 85/3 dec (Cantle 6-1-11-1, Buchanan 10.2-3-17-2). LILFORDIA 45/3 (Buchanan 16*). Match drawn.

27 January, v Rydings (Away)

The pre-season prognostication that our batsmanship might prove to be 'iffish' appeared to be a rather optimistic assessment in the light of this exhibition. Lilfordia batsmen came and went in a procession reminiscent of one of those ancient Greek tragedies in which just about all of the characters are killed off with grisly abandon.

The odd ball was misbehaving and the sodden pitch was a great deal slower than the surface on which we had been practicing, but the fact that not one of our players showed any sign of being able to adapt to the conditions was a bit depressing. Rain again intervened and Rydings were eventually left with just 19 overs in which to do the business. Cantle, Rouse and Buchanan bowled well enough to frustrate their ambitions but received little support from their fielders, and the winning hit was duly made from the penultimate ball of the last over.

LILFORDIA 62 (Rouse 11, Buchanan 11, Corken 10). RYDINGS 65/3 (Cantle 1/21, Buchanan 1/25). Lost by seven wickets.

27 January, v Bryden (Away)

With the honourable exception of Taylor, a lack of technique and intelligent application was again manifest amongst our upper echelon and at 41 for five another disaster was looming. Whitefoot, however, then dropped anchor in support of the opener, and when he sacrificed his wicket towards the end in search of quicker runs the irrepressible Corken added the militant flourish that enabled the declaration to be made.

Bryden have often proved to be suspect against leg-spin bowling, and with Buchanan in prime form the outcome became merely a matter of whether the mission could be accomplished before stumps were due to be drawn. A feature of this match was the remarkable fact that our fielders actually managed to hold two catches (their first successful efforts of the whole weekend) and a peculiarity was that, with his side hanging in desperately for a draw, the Bryden No 11 advanced down the pitch to be comprehensively stumped.

LILFORDIA 107/7 dec (Taylor 26, Whitefoot 15, Corken 21*). BRYDEN 41 (Rouse 1/3, Taylor 1/16, Buchanan 10.2-5-12-8). Won by 66 runs.

With Barry Stewart apparently somewhat unfortunate to miss out, Lilfordia had no representative in the National Primary School XI for the second year running, after more than a decade of being ever-present, peaking at no fewer than six 'caps' in 1989. Our contributions to the more senior age-group teams were also sparser than usual, but possibly by way of compensation we had three men (Don Campbell, Neil Ferreira, Brighton Watambwa) on the grown-up Zimbabwe A tour to Sri Lanka, and just recently Zimbabwe's ODI innings were being opened by home-grown products. In fact, in one game the top order read: 1 Alistair Campbell (Lilfordia), 2 Trevor Madondo (Lilfordia), 3 Gavin Rennie (Bryden) – hooray for Mash West!

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