Now as the winter of discontent is replaced by the glorious English summer we headed into the first Cornwall League cricket match of the season. But it is a truth universally acknowledged that the weather gods like to play tricks upon us all. As Saturday dawned the ground was bone dry, but grey clouds loured over the ground and the forecast was for rain throughout the day. Nevertheless, our doughty band of cricketers gathered to face the might of Menheniot Looe II, who had been relegated from Division 4, after years of pitting their wits against the Menheniot Looe third team. Such are the dizzy heights Gunnislake have risen to!
The rain held off, enabling a start on schedule, with Gunnislake electing to bowl. Captain Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah led from the front, while Graham Murray was back in action from the Village End, after missing much of the 2025 season with a broken ankle. Menheniot Looe set off at a brisk pace, aided by a fast outfield, but a loose shot by Justin Kidd saw a well taken catch at backward square leg. Menheniot skipper Marc Wright and Reuben Crawford set about repairing the damage and took the score up to 44 at the end of the tenth over. But Gunnislake struck again, Murray pinning Crawford leg before wicket for 20.
From there Wright took on the bowling, with Luke Ripley pinned down at the other end with some accurate bowling from first change Paul Hollow. Trying to break the shackles, Ripley was well caught at mid-on leaving the visitors on 70 for 3. Wright soon followed with a third good catch from a towering slice to backward point. Hopefully the first Gunnislake wicket of many for debutant Danny Davies. Leo Harbour and David Dickens took the score to 94 before the heavens finally opened. As the teams scampered off the pitch the covers were optimistically dragged onto the square.
But a quick check of the scores for other matches around the county showed universal rain and so an early tea was taken. Gunnislake took the opportunity to sell a few raffle tickets to a captive audience, but the rain did not relent, and the match was duly abandoned. The match had been well poised at 94 for 4, but having got through the top order the Gunnislake team had felt they had their noses slightly in front. The records will show ten points to both teams and both will now have to wait for the return fixture on 4th July to see who will win the 2026 bragging rights.
Menheniot Looe II 94 for 4 (M Wright 36, R Crawford 20; P Hollow 1-11, D Davies 1-17, G Murray 1-28, D Thirupuvanarajah 1-37). Match abandoned. Gunnislake 10 points, Menheniot Looe II 10 points.
English Cricket and Rain
There was a long drought in Central Africa. The witch doctor had tried all his rainmaking dances, imprecations, but to no avail. One of the elders observed that rain was never a problem in England, so why not send the witch doctor to London to learn the secret?
Off he went to England, learned the secret, and returned to the tribe. He informed the leaders that these crazy white men had a big paddock of grass. In the middle were two lots of sticks driven into the ground. Two men, each with a club, stood next to these sticks and waited for a lot of other men to spread themselves all over the paddock. Then two more men, wearing black trousers, four sweaters and six hats, came out to keep a close watch on the men with the clubs. Then one man got a red rock and threw it at one of the fellers with a club. AND DOWN CAME THE RAIN!