Harry Burden Memorial Trophy, Taunton, August 2000

I'm not usually in favour of 20-over slogs, but this Harry Burden Memorial Trophy match deserves praise. The rain just (and only just) held off which was a relief to the scoreboard, who were grateful they didn't have to include any Duckworth Lewis info; the main scoring was testing enough! SCCC put out more of a first team than they did against the Zimbabweans a while ago!

SCCC: Cox, Lathwell, Holloway, Bowler, Parsons, Turner, Blackwell, Rose, Trego (but see below), Jones, and Grove.
All Stars: Cook, Ecclestone, Parsons (Kevin), Burns (George), Harden, Dredge, Breakwell, Marks, Shine (new coach who was actually at the ground!), Sturmey, and Armstrong.

SCCC took to the field first, each player (minus keeper) having 2 overs each.

Bowler showed us that he was ambi.. ambidex..., could bowl (and later bat) either left or right handed!

Trego's place was taken by an old, grey-haired (even portly!), chap. No, not me! It was one P.W. Anderson, an all-rounder if ever I saw one (as the match commentator remarked, he certainly took any pressure of Flintoff)!

Jimmy Cook & Ecclestone opened well, but after a solid start, a few quick wickets saw the arrival of Richard Harden.

Harden batted well during some hostile bowling especially from Bowler! Nice to see Harden complete an innings without breaking a finger!

The All Stars eventually posted a testing total of 195.

Lathwell & Holloway opened and provided a solid base for the SCCC reply. Again a few quick wickets saw Bowler and Blackwell together at the crease.

Bowler hit plenty of fours and sixes on his way to a sizeable innings. At one stage, he did make a very strange signal to the pavilion - looked as though he was asking for a large pillow! Don't know what that was all about but Mr Anderson came in next after Blackwell's departure - a dubious stumping by Burns, but with no 3rd umpire, the benefit of any doubt going to the keeper (umpire Headley perhaps wearing darker glasses than mine)! Blackwell gentlemanly walked after a few punches delivered in Burns' direction!

Anderson had earlier showed some clever footwork in the field, and even managed to take a catch. He hit a couple of fours in his innings, but then fell over! Mr Frost has since posted a lot of 'Ground Under Repair' notices around the spot!

Marks and Breakwell showed they hadn't lost any of their mean bowling skills (well not too much of them anyway).

Dredge was still pitching right on the mark (it's just that the mark has moved a bit over the years!).

Shine managed to get some movement - first his left leg, then his right a bit later!

A lot of the bowlers actually suffered bad spells, but this was just in signing their numerous autographs!

A thoroughly entertaining evening and I hope it raised plenty for the cause. Thoroughly enjoyed it!