The Western Tour

Touring party:

Frogs: A. Carson (Tour Supremo), C. Carson (Tour assistant), R. Lawrence, M. Williams, J. O’Gorman, A. Marshall, R. Chalk, T. Marshall, O. Marshall, R. Shenkman, A. Lawton, C. Lawton, J. Wright, T. Allen, S. Phillips-Williams, A. Sykes, J. McCarthy, N. Trivedi

Tour entourage: A. Marshall, G. Prain, K. Rodger, H. Cawker, Mr and Mrs Lawton

Match results: W:3 D:1 L:0

Day 1

Match Abandoned vs Andover CC

On Day 1 it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained!! The call came early from Andover and was most definitely the right one. We must say thanks to Andover CC for stepping in late on to fulfil this Sunday fixture. We hope to try again in 2019.

With alternative arrangements made, the Frogs touring party met a few miles outside of Andover for a Sunday Roast before checking into the hotel. It was noted in the car park that JOG was not driving the Twingo and instead had a rather fetching pink vehicle in which to ferry himself and McCarthy around. In the place of any cricket, the Frogs enjoyed an afternoon in the Andover drinking establishments. By the time of an evening trip to the local curry house, the rain had just about relented. Some of the younger and more exuberant touring members continued late into the night and although the antics of 2017 were not quite repeated, note the award of Elgar on Day 2!

Day 2

Frogs 226-5 (46 overs) A. Carson 106, A. Sykes 70 drew with Wiltshire Queries 89-9 (47 overs) A. Marshall 4-5

Thankfully, the Frogs were greeted with much better weather on the Bank Holiday Monday. As ever the Tidworth groundsman had done a great job – the ground looking in pristine condition despite the Sunday deluge. Tour Supremo Andy Carson had manufactured an excellent position for himself: having a squad of at least 15 players to select from for each day of tour. This meant that there were opportunities for rest days and no last minute scrabbles to find an XI. JOG had another Monday hangover (the temptation of an Andover night out is just far too much to turn down) and so sat out along with three others.

On winning the toss, skipper Andy Carson elected to run with the wind and batted first. AC opened with Alex ‘Psycho’ Sykes, who was sadly only available for the first two days and thus the game against the Queries was to be his only tour appearance. The Frogs opening pair made slow progress to 34-0 in the opening 10 overs against some tidy Queries bowling from Smith and Surendran. Sykes faced most of the bowling – including runs of 19 and 16 consecutive balls before the 11^th over! From here though the Frogs accelerated. Sykes moved to 40, only to be quickly overtaken by Carson who reached his 50 from 43 balls with a six. Sykes compiled his half-century off 83 balls as the Frogs raced to 124-0 after 23 overs. When Sykes fell plumb LBW for an excellent 70, the Frogs were left 156-1 in the 28^th. At the other end Carson continued on his merry way, taking a liking to the Queries bowling. He reached his 100 from 73 balls, the second fifty in 30 balls, with twelve 4s and three 6s, falling stumped on the stroke of lunch for 106 (77 balls). The Frogs going in at 184-2 from 32.1 overs.

After lunch the Frogs meandered along and lost wickets on the way: Lawrence was bowled for 7(19) and Chalky, who got off the mark first ball, then didn’t score for 30 more until caught at point for 1(32). Then followed a memorable moment for Frogs(and tour)-debutant, Aussie Sean Phillips-Williams, who played all round a straight one first ball. At this stage we thanked Rich profusely for this new Frogs recruit and the innings stood at 200-5 from 43 overs. Three overs of carnage from the Lawton brothers followed as their parents watched on – they even managed a ripple of applause! Andrew 25*(31) and Poshy 6*(6) saw the Frogs add a further 26 and declare on 226-5 from 46 overs.

Tom Marshall and another tour debutant, Neerav ‘Big Trev’ Trivedi, opened the attack for the Frogs and bowled excellently; dismissing the very dangerous Queries top three. Marshall bowled Branwell, before the ever-impressive Tom Grant was caught behind by McCarthy off Trivedi for 11. Coupe followed shortly – castled by Big Trev. This left the Queries 21-3 and in some bother. After Leakey departed for 15, stumped off the bowling of Tom Allen – another tour debutant from Maidenhead and Bray – the Queries appeared to shut up shop. While Tom clearly had a better first day, we must thank Richard Lawrence for recruiting both Tom and Sean and we hope to see them again next year! Jono Wright (6-3-3-0) started with a very rusty loosener but quickly settled in to bowl a tidy spell, while Tom Allen was to finish with 2-26.

The Queries entered the last hour with 5 wickets in hand. At one end, Malc wheeled away for 12-10-5-4, with Sykes and Lawton rotated at the other; but the Frogs couldn’t quite find the breakthroughs they needed – despite rushing through 21 overs. The Frogs resorted to as many men as possible round the bat, with skipper Andrew Carson at silly point and Sean Phillips-Williams there as well. It was in that position that Carson grabbed a catch with three overs to go to leave the Queries nine down, but the last one wicket was not forthcoming. The Queries finished 89-9 from 47 overs.

As always a very enjoyable day at Tidworth! We thank the Queries and Freddie Coupe for their hospitality, and to Tony Reed and Barry Aitken for umpiring, we look forward to visiting again in 2019.

Elgar (see note from 2016 tour reports) was awarded to Robert Shenkman (‘R Kid Robert) for his antics in Andover on Sunday night, which included a Frogs-record three changes of outfit! Sadly none of these were able to fool the (very unimpressed) bouncers of Andover’s premier entertainment venues. 

Day 3

Frogs 231-8 dec (57 overs) C.Carson 59 beat Devon Dumplings 197ao (43.1 overs) J. O’Gorman 8-74 by 34 runs

The Frogs descended on Exeter CC for Day 3 of tour to meet the Devon Dumplings. As at Tidworth the day before, skipper Andrew Carson won the toss and elected to bat. Unfortunately the side were unable to replicate the previous day’s positive start. First ball of the second over, Andrew was trapped in front for 1, bringing Callum Carson to the crease to join Richard Lawrence. Run scoring was slow going for the first hour as the Frogs negotiated some disciplined and accurate Dumplings bowling in reaching 29-1 from 14 overs. Foggerty bowled an excellent opening spell of 8-5-10-1 from the top end. When he was removed from the attack runs started to flow a little more easily, but the Frogs’ progress was still nothing more than steady. The run rate only rose above three an over when Callum took 14 off an over of spin to take the Frogs to 82-1 from 26, Carson 34*(68) and Lawrence plodding along for 24* from 82 balls. Carson continued to take the attack to the bowling and reached a well-compiled fifty with three boundaries in four balls, but was dismissed soon after for 59 from 89; castled when trying to loft another straight drive. This brought Tom Marshall to the crease with three overs before lunch. Unfortunately for the Frogs, Marshall decided that poking at a delivery outside off was the thing to do. He was wrong (as many of Alastair Cook’s potential opening partners have found out in the last 5 years). With Marshall caught behind for 2 the Frogs lunched on 97-3 from 30.1 overs. Thereafter, Lawrence continued to play the tortoise – playing and missing at a number of most deliveries – before unveiling the shot of the day: keeping his balance perfectly to clip the ball through wide mid-on for four.

Andrew Lawton had joined Rich after the lunch and was one of many of the Frogs lower-middle order to chip in. Their partnership was 33 before Rich was dismissed with the score on 130-4 in the 39^th over, nicking behind for a crucial 35 from 102 balls. Lawton was the next man to fall for 22(36) and Marc Williams joined Sean Phillips-Williams at the crease. The pair put on 39, with an enterprising 28 from 20 balls from Williams who hit six boundaries, including a top edge over the keeper for 4, before he was trapped plumb in front at 174-6 from 48 overs. Shenkman entered the fray and also played a useful cameo, hitting the first six of the innings. Sean was dismissed at the other end for 21 and Shenkman fell soon after for 22(20). The finishing touches were put to the innings by JOG 10* (14) and Owen 17* (9), including one of those hideous (but well executed) reverse sweeps for 4 from Owette. The Frogs declared on 231-8 from 57 overs. A tough innings against some good Dumplings bowling – the target set at 232 in 51 overs.

The same opening combination as the previous day, Trivedi and Marshall, toiled hard on a wicket not offering much. They couldn’t find a breakthrough as the Dumplings progressed to 45-0 from 13 overs. Malc and JOG were introduced to the attack either side of tea, though Malc’s spell was a short-lived experiment, and he was replaced rapidly by Shenkman. It was after tea that JOG got to work: trapping Lewis LBW; then taking two in two balls in the next over, bowling Ewen and snaring Neilson LBW too, leaving the Dumplings 54-3. The Dumplings built a small partnership before Wilcox was dismissed for 13, top-edging to keeper Williams after being rushed by a quick ball from the indefatigable Shenkman. JOG, bowling excellently, then took another three quick wickets to leave the Dumplings 97-7 from 28 overs. From here though, an excellent partnership developed for the Dumplings as Malc was reintroduced. Foggerty, who had bowled excellently first up, came out swinging and soon had 21* from 16 while the number five batsman, Syzmur, held the innings together at the other end. The game was swinging back into the balance as Owen Marshall was introduced and Foggerty continued attacking. Their partnership progressed to 73 from 11 overs when Carson dropped a flat-batted slap at midwicket: It was travelling but should have been held by a fielder of Callum’s class. Thankfully the same player holed out the very next ball and was held taken by Andrew Lawton on the long-on boundary. When Stirling was bowled next over by JOG, the Dumplings were 177-9 from 40 overs. Eleven overs left to get 55. The Dumplings put on a further 20 before JOG finished the game by having Jopling caught by Owen at mid-off, and the Frogs were victorious by 34 runs!

As always against the Dumplings we enjoyed an excellent, competitive game of cricket. JOG’s career-best figures of 15.4-0-71-8 ultimately proved the difference between the two sides.

Elgar was awarded for a football-related incident (rightly so, some might say) that occurred during the lunch break. Jono’s touch let him down, resulting in the football leaping up at him, smashing him straight in the schnozz and causing his glasses to cut into his nose! A moment of classic slapstick that was enjoyed by all… except Jono of course.

Day 4

Frogs 175-9 C. Lawton 52, R. Lawrence 31* beat NDCC 146ao (35.4 overs) J. O’Gorman 5-46, T. Allen 4-34 by 29 runs

On Wednesday the touring party made their way from Bampton along the Atlantic Highway to Instow. Stopping off on the way, Tour Supremo and assistant got absolutely drenched popping into the supermarket at Barnstaple. However, as is customary, the rain cleared up and play started on time – thanks as always to the hard-working North Devon CC groundsman. The Frogs did still manage to have time to enjoy their traditional ice cream – but in rather cold and blustery conditions! Andy Carson sat out the game as part of the tour rotation policy, leaving Callum to skipper the side. Shrewdly following the example set by his brother on the previous two days, he won the toss and elected to bat. A pre-game point of note was that the game was to be streamed live on the NDCC website and on the TV in the pavilion, in what is thought to be a Frogs first. Diving into the history of the Frogs for a moment, it was excellent to see the Frogs book on display in the Lord’s Museum this summer as part of their wandering cricket display. President Graham Prain brought a copy along with him, which details the touring history of the Frogs from 1903 to the 1950s, perused with great interest by all attendants. Many were greatly surprised not to find some mention of the more Chalky ancient of the Malc touring party.

Back to the cricket and Owen Marshall and Chalky opened the batting. Owen fell in the 3^rd over, shouldering arms to a ball that pitched middle and smashed into off. With the live feed in the clubhouse approximately two balls behind, the rest of the squad were able to watch the replay of Owen’s moment of madness in style just as he re-entered the pavilion, much to the young man’s chagrin. When Chalky had his off stump uprooted for 4, the Frogs were 38-2 in the 14^th over. In this period Chris “Poshy” Lawton had been doing the majority of the scoring and had progressed nicely to 33, including a delightful clip off the legs enjoyed by all on the big screen. Shenkman joined Posh who progressed to his fifty from 60 balls. He had, till now, played a lone hand in ensuring the Frogs didn’t drop a long way below their desired run rate; though at the half-way drinks break, 65-2 from 20 overs was some way off desirable!

Although the wicket was good and true as always, the strong wind off the Estuary meant that scoring was not the easiest. Posh eventually succumbed to the breeze; caught for 52 trying to hit the spinner over his head into the wind. When Shenkman followed in the same manner soon after, for 17 from 25 balls, the Frogs were 86-4 from 25. Sean Phillips-Williams was joined by Callum Carson and both got starts before Sean was also caught (14 from 15) trying to hit the spinner into the wind – yet more intelligent cricket from the Frogs, and another stick with which to beat the hapless Aussie after his disastrous debut. When Callum pulled a short ball straight to fine leg for a breezy 21(12) the Frogs stood at 131-6 with 7 over remaining. It was left to Richard Lawrence to ensure the Frogs got competitive with an excellent 31* (34). He was joined, and left, by: Trivedi for 0, a flat-footed drive offering an easy chance to the keeper; JOG, who was caught for a run a ball 13; McCarthy, bowled for 0, and Jono 5* (7) which allowed the Frogs to creep up to 175-9 from their allotted 40 overs. A score which would normally be considered around 50 short of par.

After tea the Frogs set about taking some early wickets and Jono found one: NDCC reduced to 13-1 in the third. Some positive batting then saw NDCC race along to 51-1, requiring only a further 125 from 30 overs. At this point the bowling was changed at both ends – the only bowling changes of the afternoon – as Tom Allen was introduced along with JOG. They slowly turned the screw for the Frogs as NDCC fell to 71-4 from 15, with two for JOG and one for Tom. However, by drinks NDCC were back on top at 97-4.

Around the boundary the Frogs’ entourage watched on between games of bowls and a net for Tom Marshall and Supremo, as the Frogs took two poles in two overs post-drinks as the cold wind blew. The Frogs may have thought that they had broken the back of the NDCC batting but the opposition continued to eek out runs. When the scored had progressed to 126-7 with 10 overs left, they were still very much in the game. However in absence of ‘the Wild Thing’ – NDCC’s hero in the 2017 fixture – the hosts fell to 146ao with 4.3 overs remaining, as GT picked up 4-34 bowling with the wind and JOG worked hard to take another “Michelle” 5-46 into the breeze. A good win for the Frogs by 29 runs having been made to work very hard with the bat. This was a day of people ‘chipping in’, but some stand out performances from the two spinners and Poshy compiling an excellent 50.

Elgar: When you leave a ball that pitches on middle that hits the top of off there really is no choice, and so Owen was awarded Elgar!

Day 5

Frogs 186-7 (35 overs) A. Lawton 51, C. Carson 31 beat Somerset Stragglers 175ao (34 overs) by 11 runs

And so, onto the last day of tour. The Frogs were inserted by the Somerset Stragglers in a 35 over game, the Valley of the Rocks once again looking an absolute picture. Tom Allen and Sean Phillips-Williams very kindly played for the opposition, who were a couple short. Callum Carson and Andrew Lawton opened the batting for the Frogs and put on 49 for the first wicket before Callum tried to loft one into the heather, but could only sky it and was caught for 31 from 33. Tom Marshall joined Andrew but played a very ugly hack across the line and found midwicket for just two runs! Poshy then joined his brother at 77-2 but unfortunately their partnership was short-lived. Andrew dabbed the ball toward short third man and Poshy – on his heels at the non-strikers end – was run out by a couple of yards. There were a few angry words as he departed for 1 and his teammates did wonder what the long drive home was like for Andrew!

At this stage the Frogs were 82-3 from 18 overs at drinks, only slightly behind the desired run rate. Shenkman joined the surviving Lawton after drinks and the two set about pushing up the scoring rate. Andrew reached his 50 from 63 balls with 6 boundaries but was dismissed shortly after for 51, stumped off Tom Allen(!) at 97-4. Marc Williams joined Shenkman and was again enterprising in making 26 from 17 balls before he too was stumped. At the other end Shenkman played a steady hand but didn’t get much strike as he was joined by Lawrence. The pair added 46 before Shenkman played an identical shot to Tom Marshall’s: these youngsters really need to start hitting in the ‘V’ – slogging gets you nowhere! Shenk departed for 29 from 35 balls at 173-6 with 3 overs remaining. The injection of last over runs didn’t quite come for the Frogs, Chalky made 7 from 8 before being adjudged LBW and Rich nabbed another red inker with 23* from 32 balls. The innings closed on 186-7 from 35 overs: “A par score”, we mused – but as the Frogs have found in the past, on such a small ground such thoughts can be made to look rather silly!

Callum Carson was given the honour of the opening over (before being swiftly removed) and nearly nabbed a wicket as a Chinese cut raced away for four. The Frogs’ proper new ball bowlers were Shenkman, bustling in, and Trivedi, who took a wicket in his first over. It was in Big Trev’s second over that skipper Carson was embarrassed. The Stragglers captain Hayman, who was evidently a fine player, hit three consecutive boundaries and tried to then hit a big six. The ball went high in the air and Carson, standing on the slope at deep mid-off, lost it in the dark heather background. He did eventually pick it up but didn’t move far enough forwards, he got hands on it but never looked like making the catch – pathetic! Thankfully, next ball big Trev found the edge and Chalky took one touch to pop it up at slip and then calmly collected: the Stragglers were then 36-2 and the Frogs had one very relieved skipper.

Shenkman winkled out another as the Stragglers became 43-3 before the openers were replaced by Jono Wright’s left arm spin (yes, you have read that correctly) and Tom Marshall. Both bowled well, TMars completing another excellent spell; picking up two wickets in his first three overs to rather make up for his batting. Among these was the wicket of Sean Phillips-Williams who didn’t deliver for the Stragglers as he was trapped LBW for 6. Jono also took a wicket, a catch finally held by Tour Supremo (about bloomin’ time!), which saw the score 88-6 from 21 overs.

So the last 14 overs of the tour remained with the Stragglers requiring 99 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Ford and Barret made the job difficult for the Frogs and Callum Carson was reintroduced after Wright’s final over had cost 20 (doubling his runs conceded tally). Carson, who has not bowled more than an over in about three years, still bowls from that low skiddy height and had a tough job on to stem the scoring. At the other end Andrew Lawton was introduced (brother Posh was off the field after selecting himself for rotation, still moaning about his run out!) and bowled an excellent length that the Stragglers could not get away. Finally, the Frogs got their wicket as Barrett was caught at long-off by O’Gorman off Lawton for 24 at 140-7 with 6 overs to go. Callum then had his wicket with a catch behind for Williams and finished with 5-0-38-1 which, in the situation, was a decent effort. At the other end Lawton had been whipped off after 2-0-7-1, which was excellent!

So, with three overs to go the Stragglers needed 25 with two wickets left, with two overs remaining for Shenkman and one for Marshall. Shenkman’s first conceded 13 after Carson had gambled and brought everyone up with 19 required from 13 deliveries, only for the last ball of the over to disappear for six! However the gamble paid off as now, with the weaker batsman on strike, Tom Marshall bowled two dots and then took a wicket, 13 off 9. The batsman crossed and the not out batsman C. Ford (who had reached an excellent fifty with the previous six) took a single with a ball to go. Bringing, you guessed it, Tom Allen to the crease as last man. Tom Marshall bowled and Tom chipped it towards backward point where Lawton didn’t go for the catch… BUT what’s this?!... for some unknown reason Allen starts to charge down the wicket for a single to steal the strike for the final over! Surely this was not the plan!? The dopey muppet was run out by a yard, the Frogs had won an excellent game by 11 runs, Ford left stranded with an unbeaten 50.

And thus the tour drew to a close, the last wicket pair at Tidworth denying the Frogs four wins out of four, but three wins and a draw represented a successful week. A few highlights included Carson’s ton and Syko’s 70 at Tidworth, Callum’s 59 and JOG’s 8-74 at Exeter, an excellent 52 for Poshy at Instow and 5-46 and 4-34 in the second innings respectively for JOG and Tom Allen, followed by 51 at Valley of the Rocks for Andrew Lawton.

As always we thank our B&B hosts (with an especially big shout-out to the Swan at Bampton who, as ever, were very accommodating and kept the bar open for us into the early hours), our hosts, opponents and groundstaff at Tidworth, Exeter, Instow and Valley of the Rocks, we very much look forward to returning next year.

Finally, I would like to thank all the tour entourage including players and spectators, here’s to 2019!