Nowton Tour 2008

A brief report (adapted) for all of those who did not attend the Nowton tour from our roving reporter John McGirr.  "We did provide a full complement of players with people travelling from far and wide – Trouty appeared down from Sunderland, Hammy Hamilton flew in from God knows where and Luke Marson appeared from Planet Zog … and, unusually, did not spend most of the weekend there.

A successful weekend was had. The Sunderland Cheetahs team won two out of the three games we played and finished runners up in the inaugural Twenty20 competition.  The social side was the usual success, although it was on a larger scale than usual because of the increased number of participants in the new format.  The home team appreciated the massive increase in bar takings so we shall be returning again next year.

On the field we got off to a disappointing start. In our first game we were handicapped by the absence of star batsman Big Dermot Lewis whose arrival at the ground was delayed by his car being run off the road by a tractor. Honest.  Our first opponents, the Nowton Wuffings, smashed 177 in their innings with John McGirr our best bowler and we only managed a disappointing 94-8. 

Andy Nichol's return from retirement saw him 28 not out but no other batsman really got going against some unsportingly good bowling. There was some consolation in the return of the semi-retired Mick Coad who manfully stayed awake behind the stumps and made a couple of stumpings.  Mick then retired again and rested in the bar for the remainder of the weekend.

(Sunderland bowling: McGirr 4-0-23-3, Baker 4-0-43-1, Trow 4-0-32-1, Campbell 4-0-29-1, Howey 4-0-33-1)

However, the fortunes of the weekend turned in our second game. The Nowton Abbots batted first and amassed 178 with wickets for John McGirr, Steve Trow and Dermot Lewis. When it was our turn to bat, useful and positive contributions from Neil Campbell, Geoff Lambton (left) and Tony Jones got us to 78 – 5. However, the innings then exploded as John Howey and Big Derm smashed a century partnership, including 70 in the last 5 overs as we successfully chased down the total in the last over. Derm's unbeaten 74 in eight overs is believed to be the fourth highest individual Sunderland score at Nowton and he was unfortunate to not win the man of the match award – that went to someone on the losing side who scored a ton but was still a loser. Despite the need for diplomacy, from a cricketing point of view Big Derm can justifiably feel aggrieved at the lack of acknowledgement of his match winning effort.

(Sunderland bowling: McGirr 4-0-26-1, Trow 4-0-19-1, Lewis 4-0-25-1, Campbell 4-0-46-0, Howey 4-0-60-0)

In the third game we edged out the Elephants. A good all round bowling and fielding performance reduced the weary Elephants to 83 all out. The wickets were shared around by Neil Campbell, Ben Bradshaw and Steve Trow. Despite some scares we eased home with overs to spare with Tony Jones compiling an unbeaten 43 to take the Man of the Match award.

(Our bowling: McGirr 3-0-5-0, Trow 4-1-29-1, Jones 4-0-20-1, Campbell 3.1-0-18-3, Bradshaw 4-0-21-2)

So, the winners were Nowton Wuffings - we finished the weekend creditable runners-up in the competition and there were several notable contributions thoughout but Dermot Lewis (below left) was unofficially nominated our player of the tournament. Given that we were favourites for the wooden spoon this was an encouraging performance by all who played.  It would, of course, be very helpful to have a wider pool of people to call upon for the weekend so a few bribes may be offered for next year. There really is something for everyone – good quality cricket for those who can play it, poor quality cricket for those who are incapable of playing it, food (curry, burgers, full English, curry, burgers, full English, curry, burgers, lettuce...) and – if you are brave enough – lessons in how to score from the scorer.

Right, who is signing up for next year? The tour takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend - (29th-31st) with each team playing three Twenty/20 matches, one each day, in a round robin tournament. The team at the top of the table at the end of the weekend is the winner. Even when we're not playing, there's lots to do with the other game taking place and the bar open all hours. And as they have done for 27 years now, our hosts take great care of us all weekend."

The Nowton CC website has their own report on the tour and also offers a link to a PowerPoint presentation (at foot of page) which includes our tour averages on Slide 13. Click here to view