Winter sun
To say this year was a terrible summer would be unfair because I fondly remember a scorching Sunday in June at Epping, where we watched Harry and Naman put on a remarkable partnership. More about that later. Overall though, 2021 was not a summer to ‘write home about’. So, you find me catching some winter sun in Lanzarote and using my dodgy memory and all available online resources to recall our season.

I can’t go another year without tea!
Normal, what is now normal. Well we were almost back to ‘normal’ this season. A full set of fixtures (minus a couple of tours), but no pre-season nets at Lords (due to restrictions still being in place). The biggest miss though remains the absence of the traditional cricket tea. Unfortunately, restrictions/regulations prevented all (but one) of our hosts from providing tea. That ‘one’ though was an excellent tea at Chrishall, let’s hope in 2022 all our hosts are able to return to ‘normal’ service.

April 2021…
Cricket resumed in its traditional month this year and at our now traditional season opener, The V&A, at the picturesque Stonor CC. As with every year, the demand for places in the team was high at the start of the season. A strong looking (on paper) Bushmen line-up took to the field. Whether it was the lack of pre-season, or maybe the strength of the opposition, but a very gettable total of 142 to win proved too much for this Bushmen eleven. 91/3 become 107 all-out and the season started off with a very Bushmenesque collapse.

The availability of players was exceptionally inconsistent this year. Sometimes our excellent Team Secretary, Tom Roles, had two full elevens to  select from. Then the next week it would be the plainful “Do you know anyone who wants a game this Sunday?”.

The Players
As with every year, we welcomed further new faces to the Bushmen ranks; Devam Shah (who is currently studying in London), Balbir Barn (a fellow Maidenhead resident, who played once before in 2019, but we’ll mark 2021 as his debut season), and Andy Willett (a school-friend of mine). Thank you all for making yourselves available to play and joining in the spirit that is The Bushmen.

In last year’s log, I called out Harry Low for missing out on his maiden Bushmen ton at Chrishall. Well this season he put that right, and then some. According to Play-Cricket.com, Harry’s 149 n.o. at Epping, is his highest score in any form of cricket. Harry wasn’t the only centurion that day, Naman Paropkari also hit his season top score of 106 and shared in an astounding second wicket partnership of 215. This was one of five century partnerships this season, which in my time with The Bushmen is some sort of record.

There were two other batters to reach the magical three-figures this season; George Dabby made 100 at Steep and new recruit Devam Shah made 100 at Northwood Town. The latter is a new fixture for us. It was a very enjoyable (if one-sided) game, that unfortunately had to be abandoned due to torrential rain during Town’s run chase. They were way behind the required rate (in a 40 over game) and if we employed Duckworth-Lewis-Stern in our social matches, The Bushmen would have added another victory. However, I have recorded the match as abandoned, as that seems more appropriate for a Sunday social! Northwood Town also meets the criteria of being on a tube line and hence making the match more accessible to our London based squad members. Something that Match Secretary Chris is looking for when adding new fixtures to the calendar. We played at the Northwood Town ground for the first-time last year in our post-lockdown inter-club match and a nearby curry house is now becoming the post-match venue of choice.

Overall, Naman, Harry, George and Devam, dominated the batting stats this season, contributing 1,479 runs between them.

Naman also leads the bowling stats. After a slow start to the season, he took twenty-six wickets at an average of 11.73, including a remarkable 7/37 at Pinkneys Green (to the sounds of the bank holiday weekend visit of Carter’s Steam Fair). Naman’s performance, enabled skipper on the day, Harry Low, to lead the team to the first Bushmen victory at my local venue for many a year. Something that the current club skipper never managed to achieve in four previous attempts. Harry also wrote a fine match report, which if not already available, I will find and publish here. PG wasn’t Naman’s only five-wicket haul, he also recorded figures of 5/6 at Chrishall, enabling victory at another venue where it has been a while coming.

Chris Ancil was the other bowler to record five in a match (5/17). Chris took the first five to fall at Hooke & Powerstock. We had our hosts in all sorts of trouble. However, they recovered to 145 all out, which proved to be way too many for the tourists.

Howard Owens was the other standout bowler of 2021. Fourteen wickets at an average of 10.87, including 4/4 at Thornford, again on the Dorset tour. Howard’s performance, along with Bobby Ancil’s 79 with the bat, enabled us to leave Dorset even-stevens – won one, lost won.

In the field, Gerry Tucker continued to be our keeper of choice, recording fourteen victims during the season. Alongside Howard catching (almost!) everything in sight for his nine outfield victims.

Naman provided a new Most Valuable Player trophy, to replace the one damaged in someone’s kit bag last season. A number of the worthy winners for their performances with bat and ball have already mentioned above. Other notable winners of the MVP award this season include; Akash Rajput, Bill Coales, Jamie Roles, Kishan Changlani and Ravi Bajaj.

The Tours
Which brings me to the tours, or more correctly the tour. You’ve heard about Dorset earlier. Suffolk in turn unfortunately fell victim to having no opponents to play. The end of season overseas tour this year was planned to be to Cricket Club des Ormes near St. Malo. Our hosts play their cricket in the grounds of the historic Chateau des Ormes, surrounded by a resort, with a pool and plenty of varied accommodation. Throughout 2021 the tour went from on, to off, to on, to off again. With the skipper in the end deciding it had become non-viable due to player availability and the general situation with the ongoing pandemic. Let’s hope this trip can happen in a future year.

The Results
Of the sixteen matches that ended in a result, The Bushmen won 8, a very creditable 50% win-rate. The full season results can be found here. But as we know, the result is only one reason why we enjoy Sunday Social cricket. Camaraderie amongst the players, the fabulous venues and a good level of competition make for a special Sunday. Returning to an earlier subject in this log, I really do hope that the traditional cricket tea is able to return in 2022. It plays a vital role in that ‘social’ element. A chance for the teams to sit together and catch up on whatever is topical at the moment, or great memories from fixtures past.

And Finally…
Many thanks to the Bushmen and in particular the key individuals that make it all happen and allow me the privilege to skipper on Sundays; Chris for the fixtures, Andy for his ever presence with the tea-jar and his scoring skills, and Howard for always being prepared to umpire. A special mention to Tom Roles, who is standing down as Team Secretary. I’ve really appreciated Tom’s excellent communication and faultless execution, enabling me to just turn up on a Sunday and enjoy my cricket.

I’m also standing down this year after five highly enjoyable years as skipper. I want to balance other priorities in coming years and cannot continue to commit myself to the role in the way I have since 2017. Thank you for all the support I have received both off and on the field. I wish my successor the best of luck.

John Whitehead
Captain
BBC Bushmen