Gunnislake’s travels this week took them to the north coast, for an away fixture against Tintagel. Our last visit to this ground had seen the final appearance in Gunnislake whites of Vice-President Mike Hugo, who damaged his hand talking a magnificent caught and bowled that ruled him out for the rest of the season, and then to his retirement as a player. What might this fixture bring? Which Tintagel would turn up? The one that lost to Launceston III, or the one that beat, but for certain not the one that conceded to St Stephen?
After a morning frantically forking the Hawkmoor outfield (it’s not only women that multi-task) your reporter set off amid the showers for the match, picking up ace bowler Dean Organ on route. By Tintagel the weather was once again sunny and while the pitch was a little damp a full game seemed very much in prospect.
Gunnislake lost the toss and were asked to bat; had Tintagel been studying the St Minver report? Well our batting was little better, as a succession of early wickets fell to a range of dubious shots. The damp pitch did not help and Tintagel’s bowlers, Alex Gibbons and Tom Harris were providing a stern test, but Gunnislake slumped to five wickets down for less than 30 on the board. While Gibbons tied one end down, Harris did the real damage with four wickets. Brian Martin started to rebuild the innings, and received good support from George Jefferis who briefly took the fight to Tintagel. Two majestic straight sixes livened things up, but all good things come to an end, especially when we are referring to Gunnislake batting. Jefferis fell for 26, Martin for 30 and Gunnislake came up two runs short of a third batting point. It should have been rather more, but with a heavy wicket and a slow outfield you never knew……………….
With less than three an over Tintagel were in no hurry with their reply. In some ways the score tracked Gunnislake’s very closely, but the difference was that Tintagel kept all their wickets intact. Harris and Richard Pethick steadily piled on the runs while Kai Murray Dustan and Paul Lees toiled away to no avail. A breakthrough finally came at 63, when Jefferis bowled Harris off his pads for 30. Tintagel barely blinked. A few dark grey clouds scudded south, but as the score mounted Gunnislake were clutching at straws. The slip cordon was packed for Murray-Dustan’s second spell and for a last throw of the dice the captain tossed the ball to Dean Organ. Tintagel’s eye’s lit up, but never underestimate Gunnislake’s partnership breaker. His second ball was missed and Pethick was trudging back to the pavilion, bowled for 37 runs. With only 20 more runs needed Aaron Washer came to the crease and decided it was time to put the visitors out of their misery, Tintagel comnfortyablyreaching thjeir target for no further loss of wickets.
Perhaps it is time to draw a veil over a disappointing performance and defeat. Gunnislake’s yo-yo season continues; a bit more penetration from the bowlers and a bit more consistency when batting would not go amiss. Next week we play host to bottom of the table Boconnoc, so possibly a good match to turn current form around? That will mark the half-way point in the season and a good time for reflection. Will we have turned the corner, or should the section committee be begging Mr Hugo to come out of retirement? How will Nick Beckwith fare on his debut? Don’t miss next week’s exciting episode in the adventures of Gunnislake Cricket Club!