Inter Insular #44 1995

The match was played at College Field, Guernsey
on Sunday 13th August 1995
for the Tetley Bitter Challenge Trophy
50 overs per side
Umpires John Mountford (Guernsey) and Ian Kearns (Jersey)
Scorers Richard Gauvain (Guernsey) and M Shaw (Jersey)
Toss won by Jersey who elected to bat
Jersey won by 55 runs

Jersey innings    RunsBallsMins4s6sSR Guernsey bowlingOvMdnRunsWktsWNbSRER
S CarlyonlbwbCulverwell2024233083.3Smith70130221.9
T CarlyonbSavident3154714057.4Culverwell9143100544.8
S BlampiedbSavident2141673051.2Savident9134300183.8
*W JennerlbwbRich4069762058.0Rich7.102910042.64.1
+†S ShortbSavident1621203076.2Anthony8027400123.4
T RousseaucSmithbAnthony1119290057.9
J Carpenterc&bAnthony022000.0
C JonesstKimberbAnthony056000.0
M Reynoldsnotout3480075.0
J GileslbwbAnthony011000.0
M Mitchinsonrunout032000.0
Extras (b4, lb13, w2, nb2)21
Total (in 40.1 overs)163
Fall of wickets
1-25(S Carlyon),2-67(T Carlyon),3-84(Blampied),4-108(Short),5-155(Rousseau),6-156(Carpenter),7-160(Jenner),8-162(Jones),9-162(Reynolds),10-163(Mitchinson)

Guernsey innings    RunsBallsMins4s6sSR Jersey bowlingOvMdnRunsWktsWNbSRER
*R E H AnthonybMitchinson81291066.7Mitchinson10132200303.2
P VidamourlbwbReynolds49131044.4Reynolds8315202241.9
V Kennyrunout11322007.7Jones122350102.9
L SavidentbReynolds1670016.7T Carlyon12421300241.8
A BigginscBlampiedbMitchinson726350026.9Giles10110061.0
R J VeillardcS CarlyonbGiles551081196050.9
G J RichlbwbT Carlyon01626000.0
G TappbT Carlyon2159622035.6
+†G Kimberrunout4690066.7
M Culverwellnotout037000.0
M SmithbT Carlyon022000.0
Extras (b1, lb3, w1, nb2)7
Total (in 43 overs)108
Fall of wickets
1-8(Anthony),2-12(Vidamour),3-14(Savident),4-16(Kenny),5-33(Biggins),6-53(Rich),7-104(Tapp),8-104(Veillard),9-108(Kimber),10-108(Smith)

 

PREVIEW
Andy Biggins will make his senior cricket inter-insular debut on Sunday at the College Field. Mark Jefferies, Mark Clapham ad Mike Kinder miss out as the selectors cut down the squad of 14 and announced this side to face Jersey:
Ralph Anthony (captain), Peter Vidamour, Richard Veillard, Vince Kenny, Lee Savident, Andy Biggins, Gary Tapp, Gary Kimber, Gary Rich, Mark Culverwell and Mark Smith. Jefferies will be 12th man.
[Andy Biggins played one match for the Yorkshire Cricket Board in 1998, opened the bowling with figures of 12-0-68-1 against Lincolnshire]

Guernsey Press
‘Will it be victorious 20th appearance for Anthony?’ by Rob Turville

Ralph Anthony’s 20th consecutive senior appearance in tomorrow’s inter-insular for the Carlsberg Tetley Trophy will be victorious and Guernsey will release the stranglehold that Jersey have on the fixture. At least that is what the ‘hill’ and everyone else will be wanting.
‘You won’t win again for years’ was the post-match comment from a Jersey selector after the Caesareans’ 116-run win at Grainville last year. Those words may stick rather painfully in the throat if Anthony’s men come good. Anthony will be Guernsey’s fourth different captain in four years. He skippered in Guernsey’s last win in 1991. Since then Ian Damarell, Peter Vidamour and Mark Clapham have led the Sarnians, all unsuccessfully. Tony Ayton, Mick Fooks and Mick Wakeford together with Anthony have chosen the team they hope will bring Jersey’s run of wins, with increasing margins of victory, abruptly to a halt. Typically after the selection of the inter-insular side, eyebrows were raised, questions asked and dozens of ‘better’ sides discussed by the cricketing cognoscenti. However the four men with the power have their reasons for picking the team and should be backed up by every Guernsey supporter on Sunday.
Several names were ‘automatic’ choices, Anthony, Richard Veillard and the three Garys; Tapp, Kimber and Rich. All have scored countless runs this season and there is no reason why they shouldn’t do the same tomorrow. Lee Savident is Guernsey’s best cricketer although some have questioned whether his recent Hampshire experiences have been the ideal preparation. In a way Savident is in a no-win situation. If he scores buckets of runs, grabs a hatful of wickets, takes a blinding catch it will be said, ‘He’s a pro, he’s supposed to.’ If he fails the comment will be,’ He’s a pro, he’s supposed to be good.’
Jersey skipper Ward Jenner said in an interview with Paul Le Conte of the Jersey Evening Post. ‘He is a talented young player… we won’t be complaining if he scores a century against us.’ Let’s hope ‘Longbody’ Savident performs to his undoubted ability.
The five other members of the team will have been unsure of their places right until they received the nod. Andy Biggins’ GCA A runs at Grainville helped him claim a place although he’s hit a stickier patch of late. Peter Vidamour hasn’t had one of his better years with the bat and his record in these matches is only average. He’s hit 162 inter-insular runs in eight innings but 88 of those came in the win in 1988. Like Biggins his GCA A runs would have got him in.
The knee injury to Vince Kenny would have ruled out many other players for the season but Kenny is determined and gambled in making a very early comeback, specifically to try to win an inter-0insular place. The gamble paid off. It would be a cruel twist of fate if he was to be injured again on Sunday after having worked so hard.
Mark Culverwell makes his debut which I omitted in my piece earlier this week. He has made several appearances at other levels and in other Island sides but never in a full Guernsey v Jersey match. He doesn’t move the ball as much as Smith and won’t be as effective at the CF as he would have been on Grainville or Les Varendes but undoubtedly he will give 100 per cent. Mark Smith bowled aggressively in the GCA B match this year and his burst in the Elizabeth College v OE match which nearly grabbed a late win was also fiery and would have caught the selectors’ eyes.
But what of the payers who didn’t make it? Most surprisingly Mike Kinder misses out after four inter-insulars on the trot. He has also appeared in each of the five previous matches at the College Field. It is said of him that he offers nothing new, that Jersey know how he bowls and know how to play him. However his record since his 1984 debut is 94 overs, 12 for 300. They may know how to play him but they still don’t know how to play him well. He grabbed four wickets in the two-day GICC v JICC match and bowled very tightly in the GCA B match on the CF.
Mark Clapham’s tons must have brought him close to a second appearance. His limpet-like batting abilities would have held up one end and allowed others to play around him. His first ton was in the two-day game on grass and he followed that with a century against Cobo. Ward Jenner is a known admirer of Clapham and in any other year surely the Optimists’ skipper would have been in. Similarly Mark Jefferies is in the form of his life. The very correct Pessimist has fulfilled his potential as an Island class batsman and he was particularly gutted to have been left out after his immaculate 132 in the selection match at the MF two weeks ago.
Someone who wasn’t mentioned by many but who would have been ideal on a slow pitch is Phil Challenger. He is treated by some people as a joke bowler. Thirty-three cheap Division One wickets in 11 games is pretty good going. The only joke so far is that he has not been given greater consideration.
Mick Fooks said that this year it was particularly difficult to make the selections and several players were very close to making the team. It was a pleasant change for the selectors to have so many in-form players to choose from. Hopefully by close of play tomorrow their choices will have been justified and Anthony will collect the trophy.
Guernsey have made six changes from the side beaten at Grainville in 1994. Out go Mike Webber, Richard Headington, Ian Damarell, Mark Clapham, Mike Kinder and Miles Dobson and in come Kenny, Tapp, Veillard, Biggins, Smith and Culverwell. Jersey show just one change from their winning team of last year, Mike Mitchinson in for Paul Horton. Mitchinson makes his debut tomorrow. He hit the Jersey headlines recently when he picked up a hat-trick of three pretty useful scalps – Tony Carlyon, Steve Carlyon and Simon Short. Guernsey’s umpire is John Mountford.

Mark Culverwell    Lee Savident    Mark Smith    Andy Biggins    Mark Jefferies    Vince Kenny (12th man)

Gary Kimber    Ralph Anthony    Richard Veillard    Gary Rich    Pete Vidamour    Gary Tapp                             GEP

Jersey Post
‘Selectors plump for Mitchinson’
Jersey’s senior cricket selectors have once again taken a ‘horses for courses’ approach to the task of beating Guernsey on their home soil and retain the inter-insular Carlsberg Tetley Trophy for the fourth consecutive season.
Captain Ward Jenner and selectors Trevor Moore and Dave Billingham have taken the traditional slow pitch at the Elizabeth College Field into consideration in a bowling line-up for Sunday 13th August that contains the only new cap – Caesarean 30 year old opening bowler Mike Mitchinson.
There have been some mutterings among the local cricket fraternity about whether or not Guernsey’s Hampshire seconds player Lee Savident is eligible to play in the inter-insular as he is on a professional contract with the county. Jenner has no objections. ‘He is a talented young player but we won’t be complaining if he scores a century against us. We feel confident of beating whoever they select – they can borrow Ian Botham from Alderney if they want.’

MATCH
Guernsey Press
‘Feeble Guernsey lose again!’ by Rob Turville
Guernsey’s dismal top order batting display at the College Field yesterday handed the Carlsberg-Tetley Trophy to Jersey after the bowlers had given the home team a great chance of their first win in four years.

Jersey’s win, and especially the 55-run margin of victory, looked unlikely after a huge post-lunch collapse. However, Guernsey’s inept batting at the start of the reply was worse and, apart from a rally by St Saviour’s Richard Veillard and Gary Tapp, Jersey dominated. Jersey began fiercely. Twenty-four without loss after five overs was good Evening League pace. Mark Smith’s line was too wide early on and the Carlyons loved Mark Culverwell’s pace. Only a dodgy lbw saved Guernsey from a bigger mauling, Steve Carlyon being given out by the visiting umpire to a ball that possibly was missing leg.

 Tony Carlyon departs, bowled by Lee Savident                 GEP

Mark Culverwell in action bowling up the hill            GEP

Further onslaughts from Tony Carlyon and Steve Blampied were halted by Lee Savident, his fuller length beating both all ends up. The bonus wicket of Simon Short just before lunch was especially handy, the wicket keeper batsman had already hit three glorious fours and looked in fine nick.

Guernsey celebrate a wicket                           GEP

At lunch the game was finely balanced. With 19 overs left skipper Ward Jenner and Trevor Rousseau hoped to crack on and turn 116-4 into 220 plus. Six overs after the break and with an extra 40 on the board Jersey were on target for something near 240. Enter Ralph Anthony and some inspired Guernsey fielding. Trevor Rousseau’s miss-hit sweep was held by Smith running from mid-wicket to square-leg and after just surviving his first ball Jason Carpenter was superbly caught and bowled by Anthony diving forward. Any doubts the muscular batsman may have had whether the ball carried was dispelled by the less than amiable assurances of certain fielders.
Jenner played over a pull and was trapped in front and in the next over Anthony again picked up a brace of wickets. Chris Jones was tempted forward, Gary Kimber whipped the bails off. Next ball Jon Giles copied his captain. Mark Reynolds chipped to long on, ran one and turned for two. Tapp returned hard and low to Gary Rich who spun and threw to Kimber. Mike Mitchinson had been sent back by Reynolds and was yards out. Jersey, 155-4, were all out for only 163. The crowd, understandably, had become somewhat vociferous and already the victory songs were being practised. But the old saying, ‘They’ve got them, we’ve got to get them,’ should have been heeded.

Action from the game with Guernsey in the field           GEP

For a side packed with batting Guernsey were feeble. Take Veillard’s and Tapp’s scores out of the total and you are left with 25 runs from the other nine batsmen. Anthony had already driven Mitchinson for eight runs from his opening two overs when he left a gate and the Jersey debutant pushed back the off stump. Pete Vidamour played around a straight one from Reynolds for another inter-insular failure and when Savident was bowled trying to force the same bowler through the leg-side the visitors were in command. Vince Kenny’s wicket epitomised the meekness of the Guernsey batting. He definitely wasn’t out from a bump ball to slip but as he dawdled aimlessly out of his crease his wicket was thrown down. That was 16-4, Guernsey with a mountain, nay Everest to climb, and Jersey ‘over the moon.’
Andy Biggins, unfortunately, was out of touch and tamely chipped to mid-wicket. Suddenly the games of Frisbee and slip-cradle catching behind the boundary became more interesting and barbecues were being prepared to cremate the cadaver that was Guernsey cricket. The ‘hill’ was silenced and everyone knew that the chance of victory was gone. Rich, usually sedate early on, took far too long to get going, let the bowlers get on top and then played over the ball when pulling – plumb lbw.
Where were the batsmen who might stay at the crease and anchor an end? Well, Mark Jefferies was probably preparing drinks as 12th man and Mark Clapham was enjoying a burger and a beer in the crowd, If any players were to put some pride into the Guernsey innings Veillard and Tapp were the men. So often this year they have shown great application and a taste for battle. Yesterday they did all they could but the task set them by the failings of others was too great. It is scant consolation but they can be happy with their knocks. Veillard played some glorious drives and pulls in his fifty. Tapp, possibly a little too circumspect in curbing his natural game, at least stayed at the crease and helped rebuild the ruins.
A 51 run partnership injected some small hope but both men fell attempting to keep up with a growing run-rate. Tapp had already been dropped by Blampied off a skier out of the sun when he was bowled by Tony Carlyon an doff the second ball of Giles’ first over Veillard hit high to Steve Carlyon at long-on. Kimber had no chance to play shots and fell risking two to Steve Carlyon’s arm at deep square. Man of the match Tony Carlyon castled Mark Smith and the Caesareans celebrations could officially begin, although they had been underway for a good hour or so already.

Jersey Post
‘Bowlers to rescue as Jersey batting collapses’ by Paul Le Conte
Jersey bounced back from a batting collapse that involved the loss of 6 wickets for just 8 runs to beat Guernsey by 55 runs.

REVIEW
Guernsey Press
‘VJ Day – Victory for Jersey!’ by Dave Marshall

The result was appropriate enough considering we are coming up to VJ Day – it was , indeed, victory for Jersey coupled with a complete Guernsey surrender. The only difference between yesterday and 50 years ago was that there was very little battle. No fighting was done by any Sarnian batsmen, except the St Saviour’s pair of Richard Veillard and Gary Tapp. Having worked themselves into a winning position – an unaccustomed situation in recent years – the Guernsey top order threw away their wickets as well as any chance of victory.
It was an all too familiar tale but it could have been so different. Let’s take a closer look. Nearly every batsman looked as if he felt constrained to play ‘sensibly’ and wait for the bad ball. This is fine in theory but the Jersey bowlers’ offerings, a mixture of allsorts more tempting than Bertie Bassett’s, were not put away. The top four went quickly and the domino effect had started. But with dominoes you get the occasional four. Anthony never got started; Vidamour played a glorious pull but then missed a straight one; Savident looked out of sorts and Biggins looked out of his depth. A sorry story. It was not until Guernsey were 53 for six that Veillard and his team-mate Tapp did a repair job. But it was a bit like the man who asked the Irishman for directions and was told, ‘If I were you, I would not start from here.’ It was too little too late. If the Guernsey side had been an animal they would have been put down. It would have been far less painful for spectators and players alike.
At times, there were elements of farce. Vince Kenny’s dismissal for example was typical of the middle part of the game. A half volley was bowled and squeezed into the ground to second slip. This was followed by a large -and it must be said wholly unmerited appeal – which was rightly turned down. While Kenny remonstrated, he is run out. Unbelievable. If this had been in a Chaplin film it would have been cut for being too unrealistic. Or maybe this is a bit harsh. The Guernsey side was a good one, full to the brim with talent (so much so that the selectors felt able to leave out Mark Jefferies, on of the most in-form players of the season) which underperformed on the day. They had also turned the game on its head just after lunch. Resuming with Jersey in a promising position they induced as collapse that could only have been matched by themselves.
Jersey it could be said did a Guernsey. In the face of some top quality bowling and fielding Jersey submitted and offered the game to the opponents on a plate. Unfortunately the only thing the Guernsey team could grasp was the wooden spoon.

‘Skipper and selectors agree that Jersey bowlers were superior.’
Guernsey just weren’t good enough. The fielding may have been excellent and the bowling as tidy as could have been expected, but the battling failed because Guernsey players are not used to taking runs off tight, straight bowling.
The team wasn’t everyone’s choice but there was no mistaking the commitment of the 11 and the feeling of total dejection after the match. Skipper Ralph Anthony and selector Mick Fooks agreed that ‘Jersey just bowled straighter. Jersey have bowlers who put it there or thereabouts every ball. Unfortunately, we don’t’, Anthony said. Fooks added, ‘Jersey bowled fewer bad balls. As for our batting, there were one or two shots played that our batsmen will want to forget. The spirit was there but we lost early wickets. It was very disappointing.’
‘We have to build again for next season’, concluded Anthony. There are hopes that the youth policy tentatively introduced this year will be expanded next year. As the song goes, things can only get better.