The Valley Of Peace Cricket Club Inc.

The Valley was very happy to welcome back our old friends from the Canterbury Club on a lovely sunny Friday. It has been 4 years since our last fixture for various reasons, and it was great to have the Rev. Cameron Pickering on hand to formally welcome everyone – not only is he on the Committee at the Valley of Peace, but he is also a member of the Canterbury Club. Thanks must be given to both Cameron and John Kerrison for hosting this fixture.

Andrew Hopping made a good start to his day winning the toss for the Canterbury Club XI and electing to field, the slightly later 12:30 pm start meaning the pitch was shadow-free and well dried out.

The Valley openers made a watchful start, before Ollie Dugdale (6) and then Tom Music (5) were removed by Jason Middlemiss’s 3rd and 4th overs. He was enjoying the swinging 2-piece Red King it appeared from my vantage point as umpire. Jono Davidson (51) then joined Ben Aveyard (10) at the crease and the number of cricket shots increased in a hurry. Ben was well caught off Rondell’s bowling and we were at 42/3 off the first 11 overs. Things came right at this stage for the Valley as brothers Michael and Jono Davidson started hitting cleanly and a reasonable amount of time was lost to searching for that same 2-piece in the long grass. They put on 70 for that 4th wicket – with their father watching in the sun – which was absolutely needed as the Valley tail really fell away chasing quick runs. Extra’s stood out for us as the next highest scorer (25), while Twiss, Hawkes, Carter all took wickets towards the tail end of the innings. Lunch was taken with the scoreboard reading 190 all out.

Taking the field the Valley Captain wasn’t overwhelmed with bowling options so it was great that Ben Aveyard bowled well early on, striking in his 2nd over to snare Cutts for a duck. Michael Davidson bowled some handy seam up off a short run-up at the other end and only went for 6 runs in his first two overs. Kilday and Tritschler came on to provide the start of what became a 5-prong spin attack (very unusual for NZ conditions). The slower bowling seemed to help, with Kilday claiming Wall (15) and then Tritschler Ede (28) in their first overs – the score now 66/3. Hopps (10) came out and belted a couple of big 6’s, then holed out before Rondel (10) and Carter (43) really steadied the innings putting on 31 for the 5th wicket. Twiss was unlucky to be run out by a direct hit from Frazer Offwood and I suspect Simon Carter will be called on to shout him a drink at the Canterbury Club to apologise at some point soon. Jason Middlemiss (42*) made the most of the slow bowling attack and looked very good all around the ground scoring runs. The Valley Captain was really starting to worry when heads were down and the Club were cruising along and his secret weapon Bert Walker couldn’t make a breakthrough. Wicket keepers were swapped again (we used 3 in the end) and we kept battling away managing to keep Jason off strike as best we could. In the end, the Club went from needing 55 off the last 10 overs to 34 off the last 5 overs, then 25 off the last two – falling just short by 13 runs. A great finish to a great day’s cricket played between two evenly matched sides in an excellent spirit throughout.

The aftermatch went on to become the best in my experience as a club member. During the afternoon the Canterbury Club XI Captain made a call to Cambridge Terrace and delivery was taken of a BBQ along with all the trimmings. At 6:30 pm players were treated to fillet steak, marinated chicken, and a selection of salads, breads, and sides. A huge thank you to Andrew Hopping and the Canterbury Club players for this gesture – it was very much appreciated and went well with Jono Davidson’s donated raffle win prize to finish a great day.

We very much look forward to welcoming the Canterbury Club back in 2022 for another game of cricket.

Jesse Tritschler

VoP Captain for the day

 

Match Summary:

Valley of Peace CC (190/10) beat the Canterbury Club (177/10) by 13 runs

VoP, 190/10 off 38.1 overs

M. Davidson 63

J. Davidson 51

Middlemiss (2-7-4)

Carter (3-24-8)

Twiss (2-11-2.1)

Canterbury Club, 177/10 off 39.5 overs

Carter 43

Middlemiss 42*

Ede 28

M. Davidson (3-30-7.5)

Kilday (2-32-8)

Tritschler (2-30-7)