FOR some time now there has been a player in the league who despite an unshakeable belief in his own abilities has consistently been unable to show any objective evidence that his outlandish claims were nothing more than grandiose delusional rantings.
Well not any more, for last Saturday Richard Gonnatakeafourwickethaulforabsolutelynothingatall actually lived up to his name and did exactly what his name implies he should. He took four wickets without conceding a run.
Yes, Gomy, who may be quoted: ‘The skipper had put a ban on any nocturnal activities on the Friday night so I made sure I was in bed by 12. Unfortunately I had been on a corporate golf do from 2 pm. I didn’t feel that partaking in a few beverages infringed the draconian measures imposed on me though, plus Jonny Gough was there and isn’t there a saying that goes something like what’s good for the Gough is good for the Gomersall?
‘Anyway, I’m not sure the skipper saw it that way and he only bought me onto bowl in the 37th over. And I, having seen the quicker bowlers bowl too short, just bowled straight on a good length and let the pitch do the rest. Experience counts for a lot, you know. I think a younger bowler would have fallen into the pitfalls that the others had.
‘There will be those who will want to crab the performance and point out that I got out their final four batsmen, but I think you will find they were up-and-coming youngsters who were just baffled by a master plying his trade. And you can only get out what’s in front of you.’
Rob Tewkesbury, on the other hand, remembers the last two batsmen as being about 12 years old and looking as if they had never held a bat before.
Dean Morrison, St Ouen’s captain takes up the story: ‘Yeah, mate, we were doing all right and had bowled pretty well. Just wanted to consolidate things for the last few overs so was a bit anxious about handing the stonker over to RB Gomersall after seeing one of Danny Blasco’s grenades end up in the houses. My expectations were not high.
‘The first wicket was a beautiful leg cutter that drifted in and then nipped away, taking off peg. The next victim strode to the middle looking like he should have been playing for the Island’s under 12s, and after playing and missing a couple of outswingers the little genius from Bradford delivered the knock out ball. To be fair, the next two were walking wickets. My mum could have knocked over their castles.’
Things didn’t end there, as Gomersall and Tewkesbury then put on 56 runs in as many balls to win the game as St Ouen chased down Rovers’ total of 145.
Their hero believes that St Ouen can win the competition and will be slight favourites to go through to the semi-finals with Cobo, although they have a difficult match against OVs ahead. He went on to say that Hugo Bishop and Anthony Kay bowled sharply and new boy ‘Badger’ Baignet has played a pretty good standard.
Badger is Richard Baignet, who played for Somerset under-25s and their 2nd XI before playing for Buckinghamshire and for Todmorden in the Lancashire League, where he will have rubbed shoulders with many of the great professionals who play in that league, and scored 60 against my wife’s home town, Rawtenstall, in June 2000.
So all is looking pretty rosy in the St Ouen garden just now – which is more than can be said for Romerils, who once again came up short in the competition, getting beaten in Guernsey by Wanderers. They could struggle to qualify for the knock-out stages now as they have a tricky, must-win match against SCF in a couple of weeks.
SCF put themselves in a strong position after beating Argyll Investments, with Steve Carlyon continuing his good form with 75 runs, and as a result SCF are favourites to go through with Wanderers.
SCF’s Mark Reynolds’ pre-match activities would probably be frowned upon in this day and age, but his rendition of ‘Crash Bang Wallop What a Picture’ at the Moonlight Parade for the St Martin float caught the eye of one observer, who was mighty impressed by the gusto in which he delivered the performance. Even more impressive, my informant tells me, was the way he tackled a drunken reveller who tried to manhandle his pansies.
TO the ICC European Division II tournament in Guernsey, a tournament in which Jersey were runners-up in 2006. The victors of that tournament, Norway, were promoted to Division I, but have struggled against the might of Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Denmark and Italy, and Jersey could soon be joining them, as they have got their quest to go one better than their 2006 effort off to a good start with victories over Croatia, France and Gibraltar, and they play Germany today.
It would be fantastic for Jersey to join the ranks of those mentioned before in Division I and a great fillip for the team prior to the trip to Tanzania in October to compete in the World Cup Division IV tournament, so let’s hope they can beat Guernsey tomorrow.
It’s good to see a couple of the younger players getting their chance to impress, which is just what Anthony Kay has been doing with some fine bowling performances in Guernsey. There is no substitute for raw pace, as Afghanistan showed, and all reports are that Anthony possesses plenty of it, and hopefully will develop into a top-notch quick bowler.
Surely there’s no greater sight in the game … apart from Gomy taking four wickets, that is.