Extraordinary Clapp attack at Barnes

Barnes 266-4

Jesters CC 267-7 (Clapp 145, L Harris 38)

Jesters won by 3 wkts

After heavy rain on Saturday afternoon, the game's fate rested on a Sunday morning pitch inspection. The Jesters waited nervously by their phones fearing that the uncovered pitch could have succumbed. The message arrived, the game was on. The pitch was soft to the touch with a rough patch on a length on off stump, so all the talk before the game (for those arriving before the start time) was speculating when would be the least treacherous time to bat. The Jesters chose to bowl first, the opposition were satisfied to bat and there was no toss. It would be 35 overs per side.

As Barnes Common raced to 50/0 after 4 overs, thoughts about the pitch seemed a distant memory. Sanjay Beri scored runs off each of his first 15 balls, including 7 boundaries. Each of the Jesters bowlers bowled with consistency but were hit for boundaries when marginally too full, short or wide. Each also suffered from dropped catches as numerous chances went to ground.

Shorbo Nag made the breakthrough in the 16th over in a controlled and effective spell, breaking an opening partnership of 126 of which the dismissed batsman had contributed 17. Shorbo was well supported by Jonny Bridcut at the other end proving that bowling in the garden to primary school children can keep the cobwebs away. The scoring rate was kept within check but there was no further breakthrough until Rowan Clapp was introduced for the final three overs from the railway line end. Rowan bowled some brilliant off spin to take two wickets for 13 and ridicule his relatively late introduction. But Rowan had been picked as a batsman.

Barnes Common finished on 266 for 4. Sanjay hit 157 off 99 balls with some clean striking and benefitting from Jesters generosity in the field (seven of the estimated nine dropped catches coming off his bat). The Jesters target of 267 was being described as "gettable" as we took tea, but at over 7.5 per over, we knew that something special would be needed from the Jesters top 6.

The Jesters top 3 of Sam Sud, Rob Harrison and Shorbo Nag set the foundation and saw off the accurate and wily opening bowlers. But when the third wicket fell with the score on 60 at the beginning of the 16th over, the required rate had crept above 10 rpo and even the most optimistic Jesters supporter might have thought we were playing for pride.

Everything changed when Louis Harris and Rowan Clapp came together at the crease. There was a sense of urgency in the partnership with sharp and determined running coupled with some lovely shots. Rowan in particular got off to a quick start hitting 3 of his first 7 balls to the fence. Momentum was building until Louis was caught off a full toss with the score at 111. After some deliberation between the umpires it was called a no ball and the partnership could continue. So Rowan continued his astonishing ball striking and Louis went through the gears nicely before falling trying to go straight from 4th to 6th, making 38 vital runs off 33. It was only 5 overs after the no ball incident, but in that period they'd picked up 80 runs! And the required rate was back where it started at just under 8 per over.

That brought debutant Neil to the crease. Neil rotated the strike nicely to play his role as an extra in the Rowan Clapp show. Rowan reached his hundred off 39 balls, and celebrated by hitting three successive sixes way over the Jesters dugout. In total seven of the eight balls following his ton went to the boundary. Rowan fell for a sensational 145 off 53 balls (including 10 sixes and 15 fours), leaving the Jesters 7 to win off 20 balls. A very different equation to when Rowan had walked to the crease an hour or so earlier but far from a foregone conclusion. Bridcut, Williams and Griffiths kept cool heads and brought us to the target with 2 overs and 3 wickets to spare.

 Thanks to Barnes Common CC for a fantastic match and for their efforts on the morning of the game to ensure it went ahead and on a surprisingly good wicket.