WHOever said the game of cricket was boring?
Picture the scene. Grainville, the home of Jersey Cricket, Saturday. Grey, murky clouds over head, the ball nipping around, Jersey chasing a tricky total and it has boiled down to the final over of the match.
Bowlers have run in and given their all, batsmen have chipped away, some with scores, some missing out.
Days like these need a hero – and sometimes it is not the person you would expect.
With fear of the weather gods throughout the morning of the Men’s 50-Over cricket Inter-Insular, Jersey captain Chuggy Perchard saw the coin toss fall his way and with little hesitation, decided to send Guernsey into bat.
The Sarnians had had a frustrating morning of delayed travel, which is never easy in these fixtures.
Anyone with an iota of cricketing nuance would have looked at conditions and come to the same conclusion as the Jersey skipper.
Still, someone has to bat first and Guernsey openers Josh Butler and Ben Fitchet strode out to an excellent crowd at Grainville to face the music.
Facing fast bowling is intimidating, no two ways about it. It takes a top player to have the bravery and skill to even survive, let alone thrive against pace bowling.
Having the returning Julius Sumerauer in the Jersey line up is a massive bonus at any time for Perchard, especially when he is bowling like the wind at the moment.
Partnered with Scott Simpson, making his 50-over Inter-Insular bow, the pair had the ball on a string early and used the conditions to their advantage.
Fitchet was the more aggressive of the two openers, striking three early, if not slightly streaky, boundaries.
It took until the sixth over for the home side to get the first breakthrough, and it was the debutant to provide it.
Simpson, pushing the ball across Butler, forced a poor shot off the back foot, catching the outside edge of his blade and swallowed gratefully by Harrison Carlyon at first slip.
Just one over later, it was 25-2 when Sumerauer’s searing yorker demolished Fitchet’s stumps.
Both openers were now back in the hutch and a rebuild was required by new pair Luke Bichard ad Matthew Stokes. The duo looked to dig in and re-build, dealing with a short break for rain in the meantime.
The score had rolled along to 43 with skipper Perchard now bowling in tandem with the talented left-arm spinner Toby Britton and keeping Guernsey under control.
Bichard, too, found himself walking back for just seven, Perchard’s clever variations proving challenging on this surface and forcing a chipped catch back to him in his follow through.
The hard-hitting Tom Nightingale was next in, but he too could not stick around long enough to support Stokes, as he was dismissed by Britton for nine.
You could almost feel Guernsey captain Ollie Nightingale’s thoughts as he walked out to bat at 75-4; “Right, I’ll do it myself then.”
In serious need of a re-build, Nightingale and Stokes batted beautifully for the best part of 20 overs, notching an excellent partnership of 103 to steer their side back on track.
Nightingale would fall in frustrating manner, chipping an easy catch to Zak Tribe off Perchard again to fall just one run short of his half-century.
With the innings reduced to 42 overs aside after the rain break, Guernsey managed a further 26 runs from the final four overs, the superb Matthew Stokes falling off the final ball of the innings from Perchard for an innings saving 85 off 95 balls, including eight boundaries.
Wickets were shared around for the reigning champions, with one each for Sumerauer, Simpson, Britton and brilliant figures of 4-45 from Perchard.
The Sarnians may have felt they had done a decent job halfway through, as conditions continued to look gloomy and knowing they had a brand new ball to try do some early damage with.
One could have been fooled for thinking, though, that groundsman Peter Gough had changed the wicket at the innings break.
On the resumption, Jersey openers Harrison Carlyon and another debutant, Stan Norman, made their way to the crease and proceeded to make light work of the Guernsey attack.
When chasing any score, the opening partnership is always crucial for the rest of the team’s confidence. Carlyon and Norman were outstanding, notching up a 115-run opening partnership in just 25 overs.
Norman was the slightly faster scoring of the two, bringing up a maiden half-century in Jersey senior colours off just 54 balls.
Carlyon would reach his 50 also, his coming off 69 deliveries.
The Sarnians looked to have no answers as the game rapidly slipped away from them. However, as is so often the case in this beautiful game, momentum can be a funny thing.
Norman was the first man to go, cleaned up by Bichard for an excellent debut innings of 58 from 68 balls, with four boundaries and a six to his name.
What’s the old phrase? “One brings two here, boys!”
Just three overs later, all of a sudden Guernsey were back in the game, Josh Lawrenson the second man dismissed caught behind superbly by Zak Damarell standing up to the medium pace of Dane Mullen.
Jersey fans knew, however, that while Carlyon was still there, the game was under their control.
However, Carlyon opted to take on Mullen and tried to clear the man on the long-on boundary, falling short and producing a fine catch diving forward from Josh Butler to throw the game wide open as he strode back for a man of the match worthy 73.
Zak Tribe was joined by domestic run-machine this season, Patrick Gouge, who looked full of beans as he started his innings, racing to 17 off just 12 deliveries before he too was bowled, this time by spinner Adam Martel.
Tribe too was dismissed shortly after for 18, impressive young seamer Charlie Forshaw sneaking one through his defences.
With the score now 180-5 and still requiring 25 runs to win from just six overs, Jersey fans were just starting to feel uncomfortable in their seats.
This turned into definite nerves just three balls later when Jersey wicketkeeper Jake Dunford was caught and bowled by Forshaw again for a duck, throwing the game wide open.
Sumerauer is no mug with the bat, and he and Charlie Brennan looked to nudge the ball around and take as many off the target as possible.
But when the tall paceman was dismissed for just seven in the 40th over, followed shortly after by skipper Perchard for just three, fingernails were definitely being bitten in the crowd.
Last over of the match, five runs to win, out strides Simpson to meet his Old Victorians teammate in the middle.
It was quite a moment. Brennan, still just 18 years of age, feels like he’s been playing for Jersey his whole life, while the 32 year old debutant Simpson would have been hoping his teenage partner did the job for him. Stokes had the ball in hand and all watching held their breath.
A single, good, one run closer, Simo can bat, we’re all good.
Another single, this is easy! Guernsey have their field spread and Brennan is back on strike, we’ll walk this.
Another single, okay nice, just two to win now, we surely have this in the bag?
Queue the change in field, several boundary riders coming in to try save the single and force the big shot from Simpson.
A dot ball… okay, we still have time, well bowled Stokesy.
As the crowd held it’s breath, the winning moment came in a blaze of emotion.
Stokes hurled one down on Simpson’s pads and the newly dubbed all-rounder whipped the ball away, scorching the turf as it raced to the boundary and the man himself jumped and punched the air in delight.
Jersey had won by the skin of their teeth, after almost snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
