Mells 2006; Strollers Edge out Mells in "the greatest match" 
The previous year had been a harrowing experience for those present, and as arguably the greatest ever Strollers XI travelled down to Somerset this time, all the talk was on how that bitter defeat could be avenged.
Unfortunately the weekend had not got off to the best of starts, with news filtering through that 12th man Tom ‘tea boy’ Fletcher had failed a late fitness test. The back strain he picked up when bending down to clean skipper Ed Duffus’s boots in a previous fixture had not cleared up, so he didn’t travel. With a hot weekend forecast, Strollers knew that losing their premiere drinks carrier would be a major blow.
Unperturbed Strollers went into their pre-pmatch preparations in high spirits. A wonderful barbecue at the Duffus’s, 6 pints of Jim’s infamous home brew, a darts competition, and a silent midnight warm-up match under the lights of Doug McAndrew’s Audi TT. Luke Fletcher looked in particularly fine fettle during the cricket, with a dogged 1 not out before excessive noise brought an early close to play.
While key players Bristow, Young and McAndrew were afforded the luxury of beds in the Duffus house, the lesser members of the squad were left to fight it out for comfortable spots on the wooden floored village hall. With varying degrees of backache, Strollers rose early the following morning for yet more fantastic Duffus hospitality, this time in the form of a huge fried breakfast.
After an intense behind closed doors Strollers fielding session in the midday sun, the crowd began to gather for the main event. The ground was buzzing (with flies) as Duffus went out for the toss, which, despite ludicrous success in the pre-match coin flipping practice (1/1), he somehow concocted to lose. It was no surprise to anyone that in the 33-degree heat, and on a pitch as flat as the Great Elm village hall floor, the hung over Mells skipper elected to bat first.
Undaunted at the prospect of having to toil away for 40 overs in the searing heat, the Strollers set about their task with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the usual cunning variety of long hops, wides, half volleys and full tosses proved completely ineffective against a rampant Mells batting line up. 3 hours and 265 runs later, the Strollers could barely manage the short walk to the pavilion to eat tea. Only second string spin bowler, Paddy McGuirk (2-49), and new recruit Andrew ‘the aussie’ Carey (1-40) emerged with any credit. Opening bowler Rick Bristow (2-37) was fortunate to pick up a couple of cheap wickets late on, and Luke Fletcher showed good resolve in his second spell to pick up 1-55. Doug McAndrew genuinely impressed with the gloves, and Simon Young was arguably the best fielder on display, once again showing remarkable agility for a man of his size.
Chasing the highest score ever scored against the Strollers, openers McGuirk and Holliday made the most of some friendly bowling to put on 30 in double quick time. However, just when he was looking set, McGuirk (11) lobed a rank long hop to midwicket, where a regulation catch was taken. This brought Luke Fletcher to the crease. His 2005 average of 0.5 hardly bred confidence in the pavilion, but despite a shaky start, the runs began to flow, and the pair put on more than 100 before Fletcher was clean bowled for 40 attempting to hoist the ball into the packed tennis courts adjacent to the gound.
With well over a hundred runs still required, the hapless Simon Young arrived at the crease. His repeated playing a missing without actually getting out forced Holliday to open his shoulders at the other end, and the Mells bowling attack was carted to all parts of the ground. However, with the Strollers seemingly storming towards a remarkable victory, Holliday, to the bemusement of his teammates, retired in order to protect his average, leaving his team with 50 runs required off the remaining 8 overs.
Rocked by this sudden turn of events, Strollers suffered the inevitable middle order collapse, with skipper Duffus and Jonny Allen (first ball duck) falling in rapid succession. However, Young found some solace in Australian debutant Andrew Carey, and he finally started striking the ball cleanly. A solid partnership reduced the runs required to 12 off 12 balls, which soon became 6 off 11 with Young smashing a colossal six out of the ground
Incredibly, more drama was to follow. With just 3 needed off 8 balls, Young, seeing his name in the headlines the next day, attempted to repeat the shot from earlier in the over, completely missed it and was clean bowled. Rick Bristow, usually a calm head in these situations, came in and was fortunate to survive a tight run out call first ball, leaving Aussie Andy on strike with three required off the last over. Not wanting to delay the start of his attempt on the Mells-London beer drinking record any further, Andy smashed the first ball over bowler’s head for four to wrap up the most extraordinary, and implausible victory in Strollers’ history.
The greatest XI in Strollers history, produced arguably their greatest match. Credit must surely go to man of match Simon Holliday for his phenomenol 147 not out, but in fact this was a genuine team effort. Every player contributed to some extent. A jubilant Ed Duffus commented “although one team goes home as the winner, at the end of the day, the real winner was cricket”
Special thanks should go to the Duffus family, who were brilliant all weekend. Barbecue breakfast, home brew, great company and accommodation. The Strollers were treated like kings.
RB