Curdridge v Easton & Martyr Worthy, Round 2, Sunday May 3 2009

Easton 204–8 beat Curdridge 163-9 by 41 runs

Hundreds don’t come around too often in 40-over cricket. Last year there were 33 of them from more than 500 matches in the npower Village Cup. When you come in number five there’s even less of a chance. All of which made Steve Green’s match-winning 98 on Sunday the more frustrating.

Green is captain of Easton and Martyr Worthy, who had made the trip south to Curdridge’s tree-lined ground which lies within a few miles of Southampton. It was round two of the cup’s regional phase on another pretty Hampshire ground with a slope so steep you could call it a hill. One man duly appeared with his dog while a grandfather took a wide-eyed boy slowly around the ground. Those who stood still were soon warming their hands, unless you were the one sleeping under blankets on the bench.

Curdridge’s chirpy New Zealander, Paul Martin, had nipped the ball around on his way to 2-16 from his nine allotted overs to have Easton in trouble at the halfway stage of their innings. Enter Green, who was coming off a 96 the previous day in a friendly match.

Slip cordons aren’t too common in the Village Cup, but had Curdridge employed one they might have had Green well before he took his side to a total above 200. At the other end was Andy Birch, and he was the anchor as the pair added 125 at better than a run a ball.

The onslaught came from Green, whose heavy build brings power to his strokes. Balls pitched up were sent into the small pavilion on the leg side and when the Curdridge bowlers then dropped short Green would swivel on his legs and heave the ball for four. Balls got lost in hedges. He was closing in, and his team-mates knew it.

“They were shouting at me, telling me how many I needed,” said Green. “But I lost count. I thought I might have needed a six.” Clearly he did, for he launched another ball to deep mid-off, where the sort of catch was taken that is often spilled at this level. Green left the field frothing. “I think I haven’t scored a century for five or six years,” he said.

Still, it was more than enough to beat Curdrige, who first played in the Village Cup in 1969 but hadn’t made an appearance for a good few years. Despite an encouraging start the Curdridge batting order was overcome by Matt Bolland, whose height puts batsmen on the back foot and thus susceptible to a full length. Bolland has now taken eight wickets in two cup matches.

Curdridge have never gone beyond the regional phase and are several rungs below Easton in the pyramid structure of clubs. It is difficult to attract young players, according to the captain Mark Emms. “My son played a couple of games last year. Then he got his first BMX and now I can’t tempt him away. It’s very hard to get young players to play. Very few want to commit themselves for a whole day on a Sunday. They tend to play a bit at school and then they drift away. We tried to set up a colts section through our local school but it didn’t happen.”

But if young support is dwindling, there is loyalty elsewhere. Mike Gibson is 68, and has been at Curdridge for thirty years, playing up until three years ago. “Somebody asked me to play for Curdridge and I said as long as I can just bring the bag and just play cricket I will come,” he says. “I’ve done practically everything for the club since, including being chairman at one time. Now I’m just a supporter and a drinker.”

Benj Moorehead

TWC will report on Easton’s next match and follow the winners of that and each subsequent game through to the Lord’s final