NACTON C.C. 30th ANNIVERSARY TOUR
CORNWALL 2009 This page contains details of tour, matches with a slideshow of some tour pictures at the bottom
A party of 42 players, wives, girlfriends and children took part at various stages in Nacton C.C's 30th consecutive cricket tour. The popularity of the tour has grown year on year since the first tour in 1979 , when only 7 players attended. Of that original magnificent 7 who first toured Leicestershire, playing two games, winning one and loosing one, Chris Rush, Dave Simmonds, Berni Andrews and Brian Tipping, were present on this years Cornwall tour. The other three being Dave Evans, Steve Ranner and the late Richard Fulcher.
Richard , very much a Nacton legend , toured for many years and his broad Suffolk accent and impish humour caused many a laugh among all who happened to bump into him. On one occasion whilst touring Worcester and in particular during a visit to the ancient Cathedral, Richard approached an unsuspecting clergyman who happened to be lighting candles and bellowed out " I see one of your lot has buggered off with a married woman ", explaining to the rather startled priest that he had read a rather seedy story in the Sun newspaper that morning. Needless to say, the rest of us slipped quietly away leaving Richard with a broad grin and chuckle ,explaining all the gory details of the alleged offence, to the clergyman.
This years tour was based around the Truro area with most staying in a town centre hotel, but others in cottages or camping at a local site. Rather surprisingly, Cornwall has not been enjoying the best of summers recently with this year being no exception, leaving very green damp pitches.
The first 40 over fixture was at STITHIANS in the Southern area towards Falmouth. Nacton skippered by Jonathon Warner , batted first on a very pleasant village recreation ground. After setting a target of 146, Nacton's bowlers were unable to make serious inroads into the Stithian batting to lose by five wickets.
NACTON 146 - 9 ( Alex Brunt 32*, Jon Warner 19, Millership 5- 36 )
STITHIANS 150 - 5 ( B.Tann 52*, D.Hadley 44, Ellis Baker 2 - 11 )
The second match was at Laddock, just North of Truro on the road to St. Austell, rather surprisingly high up on a hill side with a sloping pitch and a very rustic scoreboard from where the Nacton Chairman kept the scorebook going, at the opposite end to the main wooden pavilion. Skipper, Clive Ralph, lost the toss and saw Nacton in the field. Some very tight bowling , restricted Laddock to 136. However this proved too much for Nacton who were bowled out for 94 in the 35th over, in spite of 45 from Marty Pilborough, to lose by 42 runs.
LADDOCK 136 ( Morgan 42, Mark Adams 2- 20, Berni Andrews 2- 24, C.Ralph 2- 15 )
NACTON 94 ( M.Pilborough 45*, M.Butler 2 - 4 )
Third match was probably on one of the best pitches in Cornwall at Truro, a ground complete with grandstand, balcony and sports bar and is the County Ground, in a splendid setting alongside a river. Unfortunately the weather spolit the match, although our hosts, to their credit, allowed the fixture to be played in spite of very damp conditions and light drizzle during most of the afternoon. Truro proved to be quite strong and amassed 217 - 5, with an overseas player from South Africa, retiring on 104. Nacton's reply didn't get off to the best of starts and after 9 overs, were 18 for 6. However,a spirited knock by skipper Alex Brunt of 57 not out and 21 from Marty Pilborough, gave the score a degree of respectabilty, but Nacton lost by 76 runs.
TRURO 217 - 5 ( G.Buittendach 104, G. Songer 3 -22 )
NACTON 143 - 8 ( A. Brunt 57*, M.Pilborough 21 )
The last match of the tour at Perranporth was rained off on the Wednesday but re-scheduled
for the Friday, which proved to be a dry day, but given Perranporth's ground setting high up on the cliffs, overlooking a rolling surf, it proved to be extremely windy.
John Bafico skippered the side and fielded first in a 30 over a side match. Perranporth took full advantage of the gusty conditions and plundered the Nacton attack, finishing on 183. Nacton's reply fell short, closing on 150- 5 to lose by 33 runs.
PERRANPORTH 183- 9 ( M.Phillips 59, C.Johnson 40, A. Brunt 2 - 31 )
NACTON 150 - 5 ( S,Revett 45, J.Warner 20 )
Yet another successful tour came to a close with some wonderful games and extremely enjoyable times in a superb area of the country. Boat trips, tours to Maritime museums,pub lunches, an evening meal in an Italian restaurant and a night of Karoche, were just some of the activities on offer
