Harberton versus Martin Beasley XI on 1^st August 2010

• Played at Stonehills Harberton
• Toss won by Harberton
• Martin Beasley XI 133 for 9 (40 overs)
• Harberton 103 all out (32 overs)
• Harberton lost by 30 runs

This was a match to erase from the Harberton memory banks except, perhaps, if your name was Mark Harvey. At a little past half seven and for only the second time in a decade, the side came unstuck against the touring Martin Beasley XI. The sun shone weakly over the distant moors at this point but Harberton's batting performance had resembled the Stygian gloom which had shrouded Stonehills for the majority of the game. Acting skipper Ben Pyke also had reason to regret his participation in this fixture; a difficult dropped return catch equated to a broken finger, a visit to hospital and no doubt an absence from the field for 4-6 weeks.

With dark skies, steady drizzle and a damp wicket to boot, Pyke had made the obvious choice in electing to field. Few sides would wish to face Ember Lagdon (2 for 25) or Glyn Oakey (1 for 22) at the best of times, but in these conditions Lagdon bowled particularly impressively, generating pace, carry and swing, and it was a beauty that knocked opener R Meswani's leg stump out of the ground.

It was not a pitch or an outfield for fast scoring. Tight bowling from Wilkes (2 for 17) in his first game of the season, Culf (1 for 22), N Tobias (1 for 16) and Cook (2 for 29) kept the Beasley XI in check. Wakeling (35) did his best to provide the necessary glue to the middle order, playing several impressive forcing strokes through the offside, but at 97 for 7 Harberton were hoping to wrap the Beasley innings up quickly. The late order runs added by Stratford (30 not out) and P Cundy (12) were pivotal as the Beasley XI reached a semi-competitive tally of 133 from their 40 overs. Worse still, Pyke, a key batsman, had now been forced from the field with a broken finger. He eventually left for hospital, just after he had bravely managed to overcome the pain barrier sufficiently to consume his tea, and Cook took over the captaincy reins.

Harberton were confident of chasing down the score, especially with master batsman Mark Harvey striding to the wicket. All that was required was steady support, the casual nudging of ones and twos, but regrettably the Harberton scorecard read like an extract from the telephone directory – 3, 3, 7, 0, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0 – as they subsided to 103 all out in just 32 overs. Who got the 7? Tobias T is the answer and only he showed the stickability necessary for this occasion in a 48 run partnership with Harvey. The 'ducks' in the middle order – Oakey G and Cook – were particularly culpable; the former swiping crazily and missing a full toss, the latter setting off for a suicidal second run and paying the price.

Harvey must have wondered what he had to do. Eleven emphatic boundaries and one spiralling six over mid-wicket led to a total of 73 runs. It was the innings of the match by some margin, despite a very lucky let off on 49, yet the rest of the side plus the ever gleeful Mr Extras managed only 30 runs between them. Let this not take away from an excellent performance from the Beasley XI – accurate bowling, particularly from Beasley (4 for 15) himself, was backed up by a clutch of superb catches. They retired in buoyant mood to slake their thirsts in the Church House Inn. Harberton were left, literally and metaphorically, to lick their wounds and focus on giving an improved batting performance next time around.