| The Match: Chevening Amblers TalkSport XI v The World-Famous Bunbury's Bunbury's Day 2005 On a huge day in the club's history, Chevening Amblers merged with some well-known talkSPORT presenters such as Patrick Kinghorn, Adrian Durham, Andy Jacobs and Paul Hawksbee to play against the World-Famous Bunbury team, captained and organised by David English MBE. Former Kent and England player Chris Cowdrey also played for us. The tag 'Chevening Amblers TalkSport XI' is slightly misleading, as there were certainly more than eleven! At one point we had thirty players fielding at once, and anyone who wanted to field was more than welcome to do so. The Bunbury team included a wealth of current and former county players, including Alan Mullally - an established England player until just three years ago - who took over 50 wickets in Test Matches and also played in 50 one-day internationals. Min Patel, the Kent and former England player, opened the bowling with him. Rugby World Cup Winner and Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson also played for the Bunbury's, to add to an impressive line-up of celebrities that Chevening and TalkSport were up against, and ITV newsreader Mark Austin showed for the Bunbury's that he could play cricket too, showing some prowess with bat and ball. Umpires included former Kent, Somerset and England batsman Chris Tavare, former Kent and England wicket-keeper-batsman Paul Downton, and talkSPORT presenter Mike Dickin. The Bunbury's batted first and made 185-12 (they, of course, had more than eleven too!) from their 35 overs. David Nash, the Middlesex batsman, scored a rapid half-century in an exhibition of county-standard batting before being stumped by John Smith off the bowling of one of Chris Cowdrey's twin sons - Fabian and Julius - I can't quite remember which! Both of them exhibited good control with the ball and will be names to look out for in the future. David English MBE also made a good 31. Andy Jacobs' son took 4-5 from his two overs, and Patrick Kinghorn will no doubt be thrilled to have bowled out Alan Mullally - even if he wasn't known for his batting prowess. The well known talkSPORT duo Hawksbee & Jacobs opened the batting for us, but unfortunately, Andy Jacobs was bowled by Mullally third ball - 0-1. Chris Cowdrey came in with great expectations on his shoulders and weathered the Mullally storm with some technically excellent batting before being given out LBW. Then followed some Chevening players - Mark Burkitt, Mark Challis and Simon Smithers. Mark Burkitt had good partnerships with both of them during a fantastic performance in which Chevening Amblers batsmen took on county-standard bowlers and hit them all over the park (well, maybe a slight exaggeration). Mark then went on to his half-century - a fantastic achievement against bowlers of this quality. talkSPORT had been running a quiz competition - the prize being a place on our team! The winner, Stewart Sales, came in next, and followed a good bowling and fielding display with a powerful show with the bat - perhaps the most memorable moment of the day was the penultimate ball when he hit Min Patel straight back over his head for a monumental six that cleared the hedge and went somewhere in the trees above before falling into the nearby field. David Franklin came in and scored 6* but in the end, Chevening fell just twelve runs short, finishing on 173-7. It must be emphasised that it has been a fantastic achievement for a club like Chevening to host the Bunbury's and even to give them an extremely good game. Our players did us proud and played above themselves against top-quality bowling, and our bowlers bowled very well against top-quality batting. The day was exceptionally well organised - a huge bouncy castle, a fantastic marquee with an excellent lunch, a laser game for kids and a beer tent provided entertainment alongside the cricket for everyone who came, and with the help of an auction (in which Roy Smithers' Bodyline Tour memento went for �1500 and a Nicole Farhi day out went for �1000) a great deal of money was raised for charity. Many thanks to everyone who helped organise such a great day for the club; Mike Franklin, Roy Smithers, John Westacott, the superb catering staff, and too many others to mention, who worked tirelessly on making the dream become a reality. Thanks go too to everyone who turned up and supported on what became an exceptionally enjoyable match to watch and to play in front of so many. |
| Visit the Bunbury's website: http://www.bunburycricket.com |
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Upcoming Matches: Sun 29 April: Broadway (H, 2pm) Sat 5 May: Farnborough (H, 2.30pm) Sun 6 May: Wadhurst II (H, 2.30pm) |
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