Barnes Common, Saturday 1 July 2023.

St Anne’s Allstars CC 178-9 (34.5 overs: Raghavendra C R 100*) beat Mighty Wanderers 174 all out (31.1 overs: Nick Charlton 58, James Knight 54, Sheahan Arnott 4-22 including a hat-trick) by 1 wicket.

Report by Garreth Duncan – Photos by Amit Deverathippa and Pete Cresswell

The James Abrahams Trophy is named after our club’s favourite KC, and has been contested between Mighty Wanderers and our club all the way back to 2003. We are very well matched with Wanderers, and over the last 20 years, the Trophy has frequently changed hands, with thumping wins for both sides and some nail-biting contests. But this one must go down as the greatest of them all, as in a scarcely believable manner, a magnificent hundred from Raghavendra took us to victory with just one ball to spare.

We arrived at Barnes to cloudy skies, and all agreed with our pitch inspector and captain for the day Sheahan Arnott that the wicket looked pretty green. Mighty Wanderers captain James Knight won the toss and chose to bat first, but given the conditions, we were far from unhappy to be bowling first. We got off to an excellent start, Pradesh Deveraj striking in his second over as he knocked Tjasink’s leg stump out of the ground. Pradesh quickly followed up with another, as Amit Deverathippa took a well judged catch at mid-on, to leave Wanderers 15-2.

Nick Charlton and Smith repaired some of the early damage, and with the Barnes Common outfield as fast as ever, anything that pierced the infield was running away for boundaries. The fifty was raised – but skipper Sheahan soon found the right length, and broke the stand by bowling Smith. Next over, Gabriel Radomic was run out in a comical mix-up, both batsmen ending up at the same end. Jimmy Scott then bowled Cass with a grubber, and just before the halfway point Wanderers were 77-5 and we looked in firm control.

The fall of the fifth wicket brought Wanderers’ skipper Knight to the crease, and together with Nick Charlton, he pulled Wanderers right back into the game. Both were particularly strong hitting in the V between mid-off and mid-on, as well as putting away anything straying leg-side, and the inevitable Barnes Common ball-searching delays began. Visibility wasn’t helped by trying three different colour balls – white, orange and then pink – and the game looked to be rapidly running away from us.

But our first golden moment of the day was to turn the game back towards us again. Sheahan returned at the railway end, and produced a pearler of a delivery to trim Knight’s off bail – and next ball he did the same to Rigby. With that ball ending his over, he had a nervous wait – but the first ball of his next over was full and right on target and detonated Grant’s stumps. It was Sheahan’s first ever hat-trick, and the fifth recorded in our club’s history (although your statto secretary thinks there’s been at least one more) – well worth him turning down a ticket for the Lord’s Test. Sheahan wheeled away on a celebration run, ripping off his shirt a la Freddie Flintoff in Mumbai – but his day wasn’t finished, as next over he took a blinding catch at mid-wicket off Benaka Karanth to end Nick Charlton’s long vigil. Amit finished the innings by cleaning up Jono Charlton, and we faced a target of 175 – well within our reach, though we knew we’d have to bat well to get there.

But our long history with Wanderers tells us they are always strong with the ball, and Tjasink, who’s always bowled well at Barnes Common, struck an early blow by bowling Pete Cresswell in his second over. At the other end, Jono Charlton was serving up a real mixed bag of full tosses, wides and short balls – but Dave Halladay, making a welcome return to Allstars cricket, was unlucky to get out LBW to the one straight ball Charlton dished up, missing an attempted sweep as it kept low, and after 4 overs we were 14-2.

Now it was our turn to consolidate, and Raghavendra and Barathwaj Nagarajan initially took few risks as they saw off the dangerous Tjasink. They were just starting to open up when the Barnes Common pitch played one of its old tricks, a ball from Grant popping up on Barathwaj which he gloved to Knight behind the stumps. Grant struck again in his next over, Jimmy Scott getting a good bit of bat on it but finding the leg gully fielder. Amit soon departed as he chopped a ball from Smith onto his stumps, and when Sam Macdonald, who’d kept wicket superbly on this difficult surface, suffered the same fate three balls later, we were 61-6 and in big trouble. But having recovered from a similar start against The Min last weekend, we could still believe in victory.

Raghavendra remained untroubled, and began to up the tempo as he passed fifty – but he needed someone to stay with him to give us a chance of winning. Benaka helped him add 34 before Taylor knocked his stumps back, and then skipper Sheahan’s long run of not-outs finally came to an end as he too chopped on to his wicket. Iain Wilson provided doughty support as another 20 were added, but when he was also snared in Wanderers’ leg-trap, 46 runs were still required. The run rate wasn’t an issue – but one more wicket and it would be Wanderers’ day.

Raghavendra was continuing to look a class apart, and Wanderers were happy to give him the single while surrounding Pradesh with fielders. But for someone claiming never to have batted in a proper game before he joined the Allstars, Pradesh looked remarkably unflustered, hitting a couple of boundaries of his own while running hard and being unafraid to take twos to keep the scoreboard moving. With four overs remaining, 22 were required and all results still seemed possible.

Wanderers skipper Knight strangely elected not to use Tjasink’s last two overs – but Grant and Smith were still bowling in good rhythm. Both teams and spectators were gripped by the drama unfolding before them, every run ticked off getting encouragement from the boundary edge, any boundary a bigger cheer. As we entered the last over, three were required – incredibly, almost an identical equation to our first ever game with Wanderers where they got home by the same margin. Raghavendra watched the first ball go by, and then put incredible faith in his partner as they ran a single to take him to 96. Pradesh, calm as ever, found a gap as another run was added to level the scores. Finally, and to the unbridled joy of his watching family, Raghavendra cut Smith away through point to bring up his hundred with the winning boundary.

Raghavendra’s innings rightly belongs amongst the greatest in our history. But Pradesh’s contribution to this remarkable partnership shouldn’t be forgotten. It takes two to build a great last-wicket stand, as cricket history has shown time and again. Where would Stokes have been without Leach? Lara without Walsh? Perera without Fernando?

Mighty Wanderers were very generous in defeat, and should feel very proud of themselves for giving their all in such a great game. We all joined together in our favourite pub the Sun Inn to celebrate as Sheahan took a sip from the second most important small trophy in cricket, and the party in Banbury may well have continued long into the night! But there’s no rest for us as our back to back games continue, as we head to beautiful Kent to face Derek Underwood’s Matfield next Sunday.