|
After the disappointment of the previous year, when
the side missed out on promotion and the Division 7
title, there was unfinished business to take care of as
the new Sunday season dawned. Mere's protest over an
abandoned fixture at the end of 2001, (leading to
Triangle being penalised 25 points) was a distant memory,
as the Captain prepared his team for the season ahead, in
which promotion and the championship were the least
Graham Elenor would settle for, and defeat was not on the
agenda. There was a new face in the side as Kev Dodson
had been plucked from obscurity by Grant Neven, after a
chance meeting in the Dorothy Inn, with a successful
career in Surrey League cricket behind him. Pete Walburn
unfortunately left the side due to a recurrence an old
hip injury sustained after years of banging in goals for
Portland United. . Graham was in bullish mood when the
year kicked off with a 6 wicket victory against Suttoners
at Kinson Manor, the skipper stole the show with quite
magnificent figures of 3-11, as he dismantled the home
side's tail with gusto. There was a portent of things to
come as a questionable umpiring decision by Ben Doidge
led to Kev Dodson being dismissed lbw on his Triangle
debut, then later Suttoners' firebrand Paul Barber
squared up to the equally as fiery Grant Neven, over a
disputed stumping call, luckily Barber Snr. was on hand
to dispel any trouble.
Ibberton then fell to Elenor's side as Jan Davey
destroyed the visitor's bowling attack, except the mighty
Brian "Hoppy" Hopkins, bludgeoning his way to
153 as Triangle amassed an insurmountable total of 325/6.
This time the Captain had to step aside and play a
supporting role as Richard "Rikishi"
Stewkesbury took the plaudits, bagging himself career-best
figures of 5-16, which included 3 sublime stumpings by
Neven.
Dave Males took the reins for the away trip to
Broadstone II at the Delph, as the main man, Graham
Elenor, was sunning himself at the Dorset Echo's expense
in Tunisia. Without their spiritual leader, all looked
doomed, but Dave proved a more than able substitute as he
masterminded restricting the home side to just 139/9 off
their 45 overs, as future first team skipper, John Ryan,
along with Jan Davey and Males Jnr. shared the wickets
between them. However, the pressures of leading Triangle
took their toll as Dave fell for a disappointing 13, but
luckily Ben Doidge was on a roll on Sundays, after
scoring an impressive 72 against Ibberton, followed that
with a match-winning knock of 75*. The islander's
umpiring was called into question once more, as yet again
Kev Dodson succumbed to a debatable lbw call, this time
Jan Davey pulled the trigger.
Rain then caused the next, highly anticipated match
against Wimborne at Reforne to be cancelled, which was
already being touted as a championship decider so early
in the season. Back from his sojourn in the
Mediterranean, the aptly-titled "Bronze Bullet",
Graham Elenor, was back in charge and it showed as Parley
didn't know what had hit them as the Captain shared in a
108 run partnership with Bill Trevett, after the top
order had surrendered meekly for a paltry 114 runs. The
home side replied in kind, knocking 100 runs for the loss
of just one wicket off the first 15 overs, but the
captain had a few aces up his sleeve, shuffled his pack,
and gave Trevett and veteran spinner "Stone Cold"
Jon Dixon the ball. Coming out of enforced retirement
due to a knee injury, Dixon could, and should, have had 5
wickets if not for Doidge's abject display behind the
stumps. A combination of the captain and John Ryan
secured the maximum points as Parley were dismissed for
176.
Rain then struck again as the games against Wayfarers
and Cranborne were abandoned, but this didn't stop
Elenor's "Babes" returning to winning ways
after the enforced break with a decisive victory against
Oakdale Conservative Club. The highlights being John
Ryan's quickfire 51 to open the innings, then Grant
Neven's equally as vital 48*, an innings that deserved to
be recorded as a half century, if it wasn't for his
batting partner, Jones, blocking the first 3 balls of the
final over before being bowled and then leaving Trevett
to try to get the little guy on strike for the final
delivery.
The captain was on a roll, after 5 straight victories
(ignoring the abandonments), Elenor had yet to experience
the bitter taste of defeat, but that was to change
against Bisterne. After suffering mental anguish when the
World Cup Final result had gone the wrong way for the
betting industry, and then being asked by the groundsman
if he was the umpire, the skip wasn't in the right frame
of mind as he took to the field against Bisterne Willows.
Following a bad day in the office in the field, where a
number of catches went down and the Captain unable to
conjure up the vital wickets, the home side were still
reduced to an easily makeable score of 146/7, helped by
the tail going after Jon "Dicko" Dixon in his
final overs.
More drama was yet to follow, though at the early
stage of the innings it looked to be going in Triangle's
favour as Dave Males and John Ryan got the side off to a
steady start, interrupted by Bisterne's opening bowler
removing himself from the field of play after his back
went out. Bisterne's Captain, Redgwell, then made short
work of Ryan, then Doidge, before Jones joined Dave in
the middle and successfully slowed the run rate
considerably. With Elenor trying to bring his troops in
as the heavens almost nearly opened, but alas only a few
drops of rain fell. Neven then replaced Jones (who had
manfully resisted a barrage of full length balls that had
popped up off the unruly pitch), but objected strongly to
a Ben Doidge lbw decision claiming the ball had hit the toe of his bat before the pad (albeit in line with middle stump) and duly dispatched Stewkesbury's Big BerthaTM over the boundary rope.
The Duke then entered the fray and provided able
backup as Trevett looked to close on the victory target.
Coming under sustained pressure from the Bisterne
bowlers, Stewkes finally folded and the Captain replaced
him. With just a meagre 5 runs required for victory,
Elenor lost his cool for the first time that season,
calling for an unnecessary quick single, and Jones, after
carefully studying the crease (from an angle not square on, but more like a side step away from his position behind the stumps) as the appeals rang in his
ears, ruled Trevett run out. The remaining batsmen then
crumbled as their Captain lost his head completely and
tried to smash a yorker for 6 and Triangle limped to a 3
run loss. At this halfway point PRT had just lost just
one game, but morale had been destroyed as Jones was
dropped indefinitely for his part in the "Battle of
Bisterne" and the relationship between Doidge and
Neven, and that of Stewkesbury and Elenor, would never be
the same again.
Luckily the visit of Suttoners to Reforne gave the
Captain the perfect stage to get the season back on track
and win back the respect of his disillusioned flock. Just
one year ago this tinder box of a fixture had provided
more than one flashpoint with the Barber family and
Graham Elenor clashing on numerous occasions. This wasn't
helped by the involvement of a certain two young, hot-headed
Triangle batsmen playing their own mind games in the
middle of it all, aided by the old campaigner Dave
Tremlin who unfortunately resorted to physical
retribution in the face of a torrent of abuse from PRT's
favourite Suttoner, Malik Kudmany.
This year's vintage was no different, though on this
occasion Paul Barber managed to arrive on time and was
able to bowl his full quota of overs, but as last year,
Triangle were glad he did when he finished with figures
of 1-48, also contributing in the field with 2 massive
boundary-to-boundary overthrows for fours. Kudmany was in
fine form as he took particular pleasure in running out
young Doidge, after a mix-up with Dave Males. Then later,
when batting, he questioned a definite nick to the
keeper, before then querying whether his eventual
dismissal had not looped off his bat to Quayle at short
gully, but in fact had been a bump ball. Not to be left
out of all the fun, Grant Neven then voiced his doubts
over the umpire's (Barber Snr.) credibility, as Paul
Barber was at the crease, and then after a short debate
over this claim, was offered the chance to either have a
length of willow wrapped round his cranium or to sort
their differences out in the car park. "Henry
Kissinger" Elenor then acted as peacemaker telling
his gloveman to button his lip, and with this the sweet
little guy removed his gloves and marched to the pavilion.
John Ryan then turned to Ben Doidge, standing next to
1st team wicketkeeper Dave Blackman, and told him to get
his pads and gloves on sharpish, before sanity in the
form of the Captain intervened, and Dave took up his
position behind the stumps. "Pocket Pasty"
Neven then tried to return to the field of play after
being given the go ahead by Barber Snr, but his own
skipper turned him back and subsequently gave him a 2
match suspended ban. The 10 men of Portland then
proceeded to bowl out Suttoners, helped by some inspired
fielding from Doidge who claimed two run outs by direct
hit and Melvyn Tremlin turned back the years with a
masterful display of spin bowling, as the visitors were
vanquished in a 123 run demolition.
Graham then took his team to deepest Dorset as Hoppy's
Ibberton entertained the islanders putting them into bat
without a coin being tossed. They probably wished they
hadn't as Triangle amassed 315 runs, Dave Males scored
his first century (108*) for the club, sharing
partnerships with Jan Davey (92), Jon Dixon (44 off 29
balls) and Jones (16). Triangle then ripped through the
home side's batting line up as they finished on 70 and 20
valuable points were secured with a convincing 245 run
win. Broadstone were Triangle's next victims at Reforne,
as an 89 run victory and maximum points were gained with
the final ball of the match off evergreen John Ryan's
bowling.
Triangle then suffered their second defeat of the
season and possibly it was here the championship was won
and lost as Wimborne cruised to victory over a poor
Portland side. Elenor was not impressed with Wimborne's
debutant, wearing a combined universities sweater,
christened "Dinger the Ringer" or the fact that
they included their overseas professional. The highlight
of the game was John Ryan giving out his Captain from
square leg as Graham went walkabout outside the crease,
after playing and missing for the umpteenth time.
Portland could only muster a score a little over the
hundred mark and despite the loss of their top order
Wimborne were never in trouble in winning this 'battle of
the big boys'.
Triangle had to wait 3 weeks to get back on the
victory trail as first the game at home to Parley was
cancelled due to rain, then Triangle travelled to face
Wayfarers who then delayed coming out to bat while there
was "still moisture in the air", even though
their openers were quite content to bat in the nets. Play
was then abandoned after 12 overs as the drizzle
returned, but not before Ben Doidge showed his prowess
behind the stumps taking two fine catches off the bowling
of Trevett, and almost one off Jon Dixon. The following
week Cranborne decided to scratch their game rather than
make the long journey to the south coast with little more
than half a team.
Away to the Oakdale Conservative Club was what the
fixture card read and what Stewkesbury predicted would be
the next game, as Triangle travelled to Bournemouth in
late August, confident of repeating their earlier
season's success against the Tories. Batting first and
after having lost John Ryan to a comical run out in the
first over and Stewkesbury soon after (he just couldn't
time the ball, it was going for six but somehow short mid-on
managed to get it). Males and Doidge proceeded to put on
148 runs for the third wicket, though Dave started his
contribution just 49 minutes into the innings when he
finally got off the mark, a fact a certain Mr. K. Dodson,
formerly of Surrey and Manchester, was very keen to
criticise. Dodson carried on the good work (after taking
his sweet time to get his first runs on the board) and
notched a half century, and Portland set a challenging
total of 266 for victory. The home team were never close
in their chase and with a Morris run out (one for the
scrapbook) securing the twenty points, more interest was
found in the Oakdale Conservative Club's cheap beer and
both Red Neven and Comrade Males decision to put
pecuniary matters before idelogical tenets.
The season's grand finale presented the Triangle boys
with the double opportunity of guaranteeing promotion and
gaining revenge for the result that could have cost them
the championship. Bisterne Willows were the opponents,
the very Bisterne who had performed a Lazarus-like
comeback in defeating Portland some two months previous,
and Elenor on winning the toss decided to make first use
of what appeared to be a pretty true wicket. Again
Portland amassed a total well in excess of 200, Dave
Blackman top scoring this time with a well crafted, and
unbeaten 72, and again Dave Males at the top of the order
notched close to fifty. Five runs were also contributed
by the visitor's very aptly named opening bowler, "Psycho",
who after seeing a loose delivery stroked to the boundary
by Males, first knocked off the bails, then removed the
middle stuimp with a sweet strike of his left boot,
leaving umpire Rusty Davey no option but to invoke a 5-run
penalty. Bisterne were given a rather easy ride by the
home captain, who deciding that promotion was already a
certainty and victory inevitable, set fields that some
would have questioned. Bisterne in scoring 215, fell only
35 runs short of what would have been an avoidable
defeat, but victory it was nonetheless and with the news
that Wimborne had defeated Parley, promotion though not
the championship was assured.
All in all, this was a good season for Triangle,
losing only twice on the way to second place in the
league, and only a few points behind Wimborne. Ably led,
as ever, by perennial favourite Graham "Vitesse"
Elenor, certain players proved they can more than cope
with the demands of lower division Sunday cricket. Dave
Males was a tower of strength at the top, his son (Scott)
looks like developing into a very good player, Ben Doidge
scored runs whenever his hectic lifestyle let him, and in
Grant Neven they have the league's best wicketkeeper (when
work commitments prevent Dave Blackman from playing) and
a very fine batsman to boot.
Umpiring decisions played their part in many matches
this season and the website would like to salute these
brave souls who showed that when the pressure was on, no
matter who was standing in the crease and no matter the
situation they found themselves in, they were willing to
put their reputations, and in most cases their places in
the next week's side in jeopardy, as they strove to make
their decision. This wasn't always the right one, but we
must admire the strength of their convictions as tight
run out calls were not given a second thought, as very
disputable lbw's were ok'd immediately, as faint nicks
were ignored. Let us raise a glass to these foolhardy
folk, and long let they stand their ground next season,
taking our caps and jumpers, acknowledging our request
for a guard, and calling out the bowler's action. Spare a
thought for these men, because it could well be you, yes
you that has to raise the finger and send Neven or Graham
on his way to the pavilion and face his ire later on when
the points are won or lost.
Of course a team is a collective effort but in this
season, as in so many others, the efforts of "Ele"
or "Dirtbag" as his players affectionately know
him, or "the nastiest man in cricket" as one
opposing player christened the great one (Mr. P. Barber,
Suttoners), leads from the front always with a word of
encouragement, never beaten, never down, a true giant of
the local game, and betting scene. A man who epitomised
the phrase "cool in a crisis", there was no
time when this man let the pressure get to him; no time
when players were rushed to the crease as a barrage of
wickets were falling; no time when a bowler was discarded
after just one 'experimental' over; no time when he said
"Someone's got to win us this game, I'm having a
bowl". This website salutes you..."My name is
Graham Elenor, King of Kings, look upon my work ye mighty
and despair."
|