Place of Interest:  On August 15th 2013, Battle Cricket Club fielded a President’s XI which included Tim Rice-Oxley and Tom Chaplin and also England’s Gladstone Small.

Main image courtesy of the Battle Observer. Follow the link for more Observer photos of Tim & Tom at the match

Battle Observer coverage of the match

Match Result

Battle President’s XI: 179 for 8 (30 overs)
Battle Chairman’s XI: 182 for 4 (30 overs)keane
Chairman’s XI win by 6 wickets.

Battle CC match report by Tim Dudgeon below:

Battle Cricket Club continued to celebrate 275 years of recorded cricket from the town with a last ball victory for the Chairman’s XI against an XI raised by the club president, Dr Rice-Oxley: that XI featured Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane, two former Kent CCC captains in Steve Marsh and David Fulton as well as Warwickshire and England’s Gladstone Small. Batting first, the President’s XI lost two early wickets as Chaplin unluckily played on during an impressive spell from Kye Phillips. However, Fulton showed real first-class batting with a range of shots around the ground before retiring after making his half-century. Meanwhile Ollie West continued to drive and pull impressively for 60. Tony Boardman sneaked one through Marsh’s defences to bowl him cheaply, and Josh Jones bowled the best spell of the match to take 3 for 11. Owen Griffiths (31) and Tim Rice-Oxley (17) drove and nudged to keep the scoreboard moving in the latter overs to leave the end score at a good, but not out-of-reach 179 for 8.

Following a quite magnificent tea with a range of cakes to die for (including a special delight iced with the club crest) supplied by the Rice-Oxleys and Wests, the suitably fortified Battle openers waddled out to the middle slightly fearful as to what pace Small might generate on a track with lively but consistent bounce. Tim Dudgeon (38) and the patient Phillips (39) started well though with Dudgeon employing the glance and cut effectively despite a field featuring 4 slips and 2 gulleys. Curtis Chandler and Elliot Jeffs eventually did for them though and, with Small tweaking a muscle to end his bowling spell, the classy Jeremy Reid (21), a wise Ciaran Treloar (13) and a more belligerent and destructive innings from Jo Carthew (51*) took the Chairman’s side closer to victory. After a couple of attempted ineffective dabs, it was the new batsman Steve Huggins who hit the last ball for four and bring victory in the inaugural match of this fixture to chairman Stuart Reeves. Dr Rice-Oxley generously hosted a very enjoyable and much appreciated buffet for the players and supporters in The Bull Inn afterwards.

Tim Dudgeon – 16/08/2013