The Geof Cripps Memorial Cricket Match

2001 July 31, at Girton College, Cambridge

The BAS Captain, Teal Riley, arrived at the ground shortly after 16:00 to keep the keg of beer company. No-one else arrived until 17:30 and slowly numbers started to increase, though there seemed to be a distinct lack of players from The Empress. Suddenly they all arrived in a rush, bringing more drinks with them. Traffic in Cambridge had been even worse than usual, thanks to a series of road works, particularly on Elizabeth Way.

The toss was won by The Empress, who elected to field first. The BAS players swung the bat, with strong barracking from the huge crowd lining the boundary ropes whenever they failed to score. Many of the shots were in the air, however none were pouched and the BAS score relentlessly rose as first one player and then another reached his 25 and retired. The umpires were generally unmoved by glares from the batsman when they failed to connect with wide balls that they had chased.

After a drinks interval it was The Empress’ turn to bat. The openers survived the first over, but then Jeff Evans bowled a straight one, which took the stumps. Jeff got another two wickets in his next over, making it a double wicket maiden. This was far too successful, so he was taken off and replaced by Mark Belchier. Mark’s first over was uneventful, but two wickets in two balls saw all the fielders round the bat for the hat-trick ball, but Nick Tripp saw this off. Together with Rod Thomas he began to consolidate The Empress’ score, but Steve Marshall made the breakthrough at the close of a fiery spell and bowled Rod. The end was in sight, but The Empress kept going and used up all their allocated overs. At one point in the match the BAS bowlers were told to bowl wide of the stumps, but our accuracy isn’t a strong point and this ended up taking more wickets!

Team photos were taken in the gathering gloom, then Geof’s sister, Bobby, presented the trophy to the winning captain, Teal Riley. All adjourned to The George in Girton for a buffet and more drinks, with festivities continuing till well after closing time.

Thanks are due to Neil Audley for making the brass pins that support the trophy bat and to Steve Canham for manufacturing the trophy.