Another week of glorious weather. OK, it rained a bit on Thursday, but we'd take that every year. We used a record 28 different players over the eight games, and there were six debutants.
Gorran again served us up great hospitality, with pasties on Saturday followed by more food on Sunday and a really exciting game. We made an intimidating 253 in our 40 overs, with Sid's 65* the top score and forties for each of the Chaves. The home side kept losing wickets, but we never managed to reach any sort of tail. It seemed as if every new batter strode out and hit their first ball for a confident and competent four. In the end, Gorran squeezed home by two wickets with an over or two to spare. Perfect. The evening game at Pencarrow was a strange one. After we'd bowled them out for 29 in the tenth over, Mat Ogley let Pencarrow bat on, and they ended up on 134 for 11 or 12 in 18 or 19 overs (it wasn't a day for accurate scoring). We comfortably passed the 29, but only just made it past the revised target thanks to a battling 41* from Fraser and a Leach-like 4* from Sean.
At Deer Park, there were fifties for Anuj and debutant David Shackleton and more runs for Sid. We finished on 230, which proved too many for Boconnoc, despite valiant efforts from their lower order. In a 20-over game at Ladock, we compiled a weighty 154 on the back of scores from Matt Cook, both Borleys and Fraser. The home team chased it down in the last over for the loss of only two wickets. At Wenmouth Cross, we restricted Saint Neot to 177 in a declaration game. Our reply had lots of starts (the highest score was Harry Forman's 31, four others got into double figures) but not really any middles or ends. Numbers ten and eleven, Dan Forman and Ernie, held on for a draw with us 13 shy of the target: an exciting finish to a good old-fashioned game.
We turned the tables on Saint Stephen, scoring big runs thanks to fifties for a pair of Harrys (Everett and Forman) and Matt Borley (off 18 balls), and then taking regular wickets as their good players found ways to get out cheaply. The Erratics retained the Chairman's Cup after chasing down what had felt like a big total. Rik Lindsay made 147 for them, and a relatively strong Mystics bowling attack was unable to find a way to take wickets with any regularity. The next day, with good bowling pretty much throughout, and some unusually competent end-of-tour catching, we restricted Broadclyst to 163. In response, we were cruising at 73 for none. And then Yogesh came on and ripped out four wickets in four overs. In the end, Graham Sharland helped Chris Cook to drag the Mystics over the line.
The Joshi-Hartleys were supporter and player of the tour: Bel for scoring, taking part in everything and generally being fab; Tom mostly for grabbing the only stumping of the tour. Oh, and for wickets (joint most with Dan), runs, catches and magical mysticism.