KENT v SOM, Guernsey, 26th - 29th September 2003

Another first for this Tractor Driver, a visit to the Channel Islands and an extremely enjoyable one too.

Friday. The afternoon's fast ferry from Poole took me to the sunnier climes of Guernsey for my 3 night stay on the island.

Saturday. A trio of Newton Abbots were present in the same Peninsula Hotel breakfast bar having flown over from Exeter earlier that morning. They were really looking forward to the game tomorrow. Having informed them that the game was actually on today, Saturday, but didn't know at what time, where, nor what format, we were in agreement that it hadn't been that well publicised by the travel company. We eventually found out the game was due to start at 11am at the KGV Playing Fields. Entry to the ground was via a £3 Kleinwort Benson Cricket Challenge Programme. Just a quick flick through the history of this fixture (now in its tenth year), showed the 2000 winners were 'Rest of World' with one J.Cox bowling 3.4 overs, no maidens, taking 3 wickets for 17 runs!

The ground was surrounded by tall trees on three sides, and what appeared to be a mass of greenhouses on the other (at one end of the wicket), so no incentive for any big-hitters there! Apparently there was an un-written rule that players should NOT hit the ball for sixes in this direction; so that was ok then! There was a modern-looking pavilion with one end of its balcony dedicated to a sound system and microphone. It couldn't be could it? I'd travelled all this way for a ... oh no, not a bloomin' twenty-twenty fixture!!! Another quick flick through the programme revealed that it was to be similar to the popular twenty-twenty formats of earlier in the summer, the only difference being that it would be over 2 innings each, just making it bearable! Amusing commentary was given by Bill Frindall, the bearded wonder from TMS. A marquee on the opposite side of the ground housed approx 100 of the blazered-and-tied brigade.

Somerset: Wood, Burns, Dutch, Parsons, Blackwell, Edwards, Durston, Gilder, Turner, Francis, Andrew, with Hildreth as 12th man, although he did seem to be on the pitch a fair bit.
Kent: Pete Trego, Martin Saggers, Matthew Banes, Alex Loudon, Min Patel, Amjad Khan, Alan Wells, Kevin Masters, and at least 3 others (sorry, all a bit hazy now).

Parsy took over the captaincy role for this one, just a bit too late for me to change my 'BURNSEY GUERNSEY TOUR' shirt!

Burns and Wood got us off to a very good start, and Dutch continued with the rapid run rate. Most of the top order contributed some fine, brisk knocks and it looked as though a first innings 200+ was on the cards, with Blackie featuring highly again (although dropped twice), but due to some tight bowling towards the end, Kent restricted us to 182.

Gilder opened our bowling attack with a first ball beamer (I'm sure accidentally), but it didn't affect what was a very good-natured game between 2 sides eager to win this competition - the winning team are to come back next year and play Sussex. Proceeds from the programmes was going to charity, but some of the other proceeds going to the team's beneficiary, Mark Ealham for Kent this year, and so Parsons was keen to win for next year. Kent seemed to set off like a train and were scoring freely, especially young Mr Trego, but a few quick wickets just held them up a bit and their total of 201 was short of what they must have been expecting approx halfway through. That said, a lead of 19 was a sizeable margin even in 20-20.

At this point, the Newton Abbots noticed a bit of a footballing icon was on the ground, all by himself, looking on at the cricket. They managed to talk him into posing for a group photo (see photo gallery), so I thanked him for coming to the ground and supporting Somerset (obviously) - thanks Mr Le Tissier!

Also on a tour around the ground taking time out from the sponsors tent and stopping for a brief friendly chat, was Mr Anderson; common ground for discussion centred around The Atherton & Willis Cricket Reform Group!

By now, the lager (draught & keg bitter, no keg cider, and only cans of Scrumpy Jack were the alternatives) was flowing and the memory ebbing somewhat!

Somerset batted through their second innings, but really suffered against some good bowling, with excellent fielding and fine catching and could only muster a mere 156. Surely 137 was too low a lead to defend?

Kent struggled more than expected in their second innings. Although well on top of the required run rate, they were losing wickets quite rapidly, including 2 in succession from Dutchy (although they avoided the hat-trick). I'm fairly sure that with about 5 overs to go, Kent only required about 25 runs, BUT they were 9 down with retirees Wells and Masters at the crease. It got even closer before Durston suffered at the hands of Wells in the 18th over being hit for 2 sixes. I think it was Wes who bowled the last over, Kent then requiring a mere 4 runs to win, and 1st ball of the 20th over, Wells just cleared the long-on boundary fielder to win the game for Kent by just 1 wicket.

An excellent game, played in good spirit, and Kent will play in Guernsey again next year against Sussex, Kent's beneficiary Min Patel.

We were invited to meet back up with the players at a local hostelry later in the evening. It was great to see that all of them were able to enjoy themselves, and I can honestly say that not one of them downed a single unit of alcohol. So as not to tempt them, I didn't either. They all had a chat, and I'm sure I was told a few truths about some of the rumours going on at present, the snag is I can't remember any of them! Sorry, this starts to sound like Tales of the Riverbank: "... and Hammy explained that there was some truth in the rumours, especially the one about... ... but that's another story!"

Sunday. In bed. Just made downstairs for breakfast. Back to bed. The sound of hoovers outside my room made me put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door. A subsequent knock at the door made me realise I should have put it on the outside of the door! Back to bed. Made it to St.Peter Port for only a few jars - still absolutely hanging. Back to bed.

Monday. Swapped stories with the Newton Abbots as to just what happened Sat night. Still none the wiser. Just glad I didn't have to travel back Sunday. Slow, methodical journey back home, still a bit delicate.

There, that's it. Cricket done for another year. At the end of last year, I said despite the relegation in both formats, I'd thoroughly enjoyed it. This year's the same; sure, we didn't finish where we thought we should, but I've enjoyed it even more, experiencing the highs and lows, and already looking forward to 2004. We do have a great bunch of players, I just hope there aren't too many cast aside, or any disruptive arrivals.

Winter well everyone!