Heyford's cup glory

Heyford managed to get a break form the  League competition as they looked ahead to the National Village Knock-out Competition. It wasn't felt that we had the quality to get to the final at Lords but we used it as a chance to face a variety of different teams and have some fun in the process.

Round 1

The first round found drawn Heyford away at Burston C.C and it needed the knowledge of umpire Ray Pardon to guide and direct to the small village club in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.

After a slight detour we found the small village which was situated a few miles north of Diss, lunch was enjoyed at the Burston Crown. A  relaxing rest after the long coach journey was necessary for Heyford to revitalise. We boarded the minibus again which took us to ground, we arrived to a somewhat deserted pavilion. After a few minutes of waiting a few players decide to get changed in the open. Even the Diss Express arrived before the opposition, nevertheless we were finally let into the cupboard that was named the away  changing rooms

Heyford v Burston  9th May 1999

Top:  Ray Pardon (Umpire) Chris Andrews  Dave Payne   Graham Cardwell  Chris Peck  Rob Pardon  Pete Rice  Alan Ford (Umpire)

Bottom:  Alex Kirkbride  Phil Cowley  Simon Legge (capt)  Julian Rice  Thomas Whittaker

Heyford lost the toss and were put into bat, the pitch was soft due to recent rain but was drying quickly in the dry conditions. Heyford got off to a slow start, opener Phil Cowley made an early contribution of 18 and his partnership with Simon Legge 23 was worth 37. Heyford seemed to be making reasonable progress at 45 for 2, then a flurry of wickets fell and the slumped to 52 for 8 with four players failing to contribute. Dave Payne slowly began to make further progress and batted excellently in this pressure situation. No. 10 Rob Pardon supported Dave Payne for 13 overs, together they pulled the score up to a more respectable 95 before Rob Pardon was finally, a further three runs were added as Heyford finished 98 all out. Dave Payne top scored and ended up with 36 not out.

Heyford re-grouped between innings, the 9th wicket stand of 43 had given Heyford a defendable score. The captain demanded full commitment in the field and extra effort from the bowlers. Burston started steadily the openers slowly got the score moving, just as Heyford were beginning to lose heart the openers Chris Peck and Alex Kirkbride took wickets in consecutive overs. Chris Peck then took another in his next over, when Chris gets fired up he is a difficult bowler to keep out as the Burston middle order found out. Peck took three wickets in the final two overs of his 9 overs to leave him with figures of 5 for 11. Kirkbride took another wicket to leave Burston struggling at 26 for 7. Rob Pardon was the third bowler to be used and his third over resulted in a wicket, he then took the final two wickets to wrap up the Burston innings for just 32.

Heyford's Graham Cardwell faces the Burston opening bowler, Phil Cowley backs up, and Umpire Ray Pardon watches on.

Heyford were overwhelmed with their victory by a margin of 66 runs which was quite unexpected after a lacklustre batting performance. Celebrations continued down the Burston Crown, the players relaxed and allowed the beer to flow. The journey home was too a joyous one as there were supplies of ale and Graham Cardwell supplying the lead vocals for the entire journey.

Match report found in the Diss Express 14th May 1999

Round 2

After victory in the first round Heyford's next opponents were Barrington C.C. This journey was not as far, Cambridgeshire, yet another minibus outing. Again there was a lunch at the local pub before walking over to the ground. Barrington C.C have a picturesque ground in the centre of the Village on what could be called the Village green, just as Village Cricket was supposed to be. Heyford this time won the toss and elected to field, the most important factor in the match proved to be a particularly short offside boundary.

Heyford took to the field buoyant as ever, Alex Kirkbride and Dave Payne opened the bowling, an early wicket fell but Barrington got on top, Kirkbride, carrying an injury struggled with a pitch not giving him much spin, he bowled his 9 overs for 37 and had no success before having to leave the field with an aggravated knee. Matt Baker replaced Dave Payne an found it tough, as did Rob Pardon who replaced Dave Payne. However, although Pardon managed to improve his line and break the partnership, he took the wickets of Randell 30 and B Douglas 50 to end the the stand well in excess of 80. Pardon continued to take wickets and ended up with 5 for 29 his first senior 5-wicket haul. Mean while Chris Peck began taking wickets at the other end and finished with 3 for 18 and Dave Payne came back to one more wicket. However much of the damage was done as Barrington finished with a total of 147.

Heyford fancied their chances in reply but Barrington had a number of slower bowlers who managed to restrict the Heyford batsmen and slow the run rate down. Only Simon Legge 41 and Nick Inwood 38 not out managed to make progress. Heyford were and finished up 121 for 9 losing by 26 runs.

Nevertheless their was to be much celebration in the evening, after a couple of the drinks the Heyford team found themselves in the local pub singing and talking till late into the evening. Graham Cardwell led the vocals and the dancing of Nick Clarke kept the team amused. It was the antics of Nick Clarke that almost got the whole team dropped off miles from home by the rather annoyed female bus driver.

Despite being knocked out the two matches played in the cup were particularly memorable and were considered as highlights of the 1999 season.

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