RUASCC Review 2010 - The All-Rounders

These are the men who hog all the glory - if they fail with the bat, at least they get another chance to shine with the ball (and vice-versa). Here is my salute to the RUASCC men who sometimes fail with both.

Zia Ul-Haq
364 runs @ 36.4
25 wickets @ 12.28

Zia finished the season top of both the batting and bowling averages. He took the highest number of wickets, had the best economy rate and he bowled more maidens than anyone else. But really, what else did he do?

Well, he scored three fifties and was involved in the best partnerships for each of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th wickets; his best bowling figures were 5-20, he took three catches and he became the 11th RUASCC player in history to reach the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets for the club.

Describing Zia’s individual highlights would take a considerable chunk of my word count, however the 82 he scored against Wargrave at Leighton Park seemed all the more remarkable considering he was hobbling for the vast majority of it. This was followed by 70 at Hambleden, littered with fours and sixes. He is human though: he recorded ducks at Frieth and Woodcote, the latter owing to the fact that he took guard a yard outside the crease to a spinner and was out stumped by a yard.

Zia has developed a Swann-like knack of taking wickets in his first over, which proves exceptionally useful when he replaces “Wicketless” Withers as first change. At Peppard he was introduced with the score at 63-0 and before long it was 84-4, with all four wickets to Zia. He took 3-7 from a 10 over spell against the BBC and on another occasion bowled seven consecutive maidens.

Whether bowling off the short or the long run-up he is accurate, economical and dangerous – except, that is, when he throws in the slower ball (a danger to local aircraft) which usually ends up in the hedge at square leg.

Quite simply the outstanding RUASCC performer in 2010, Zia is the worthy winner of the Player of the Year award.

John Baker
242 runs @ 34.57
9 wickets @ 31.78

Johnny Baker made several handy contributions with the bat this season – he made one fifty (65 at Tilehurst) and two scores of 41 (one at Portsmouth in a match-saving partnership of 103 with Main; one at Braywood in a 114 stand with Carpo) and ends the year with the second highest average.

Against Greys Green, on a roasting hot day in May, he first top-scored with 37 then bowled 16 overs and took 2-40. Later in the season, facing a desperate match situation at Stonor, he briefly lifted hopes of a run-chase when he hit three consecutive fours in one over only to be caught at mid-wicket off a long-hop in the next. I can still hear the scream of “NO!” as he realised what was happening to him.
Bowling-wise, a spell of seven overs, 1-12 at Portsmouth was notable mostly because every other bowler had trouble keeping the run-rate down that day. During the season Baker took two catches and, thanks to some athletic diving, almost held onto a few more.

It should never be forgotten that on the Friday night of tour Johnny Baker drove seven of us to the curry house and back to the hotel under intense pressure. Man of the Match.

Bruce Main
144 runs @ 28.8
17 wickets @ 24.23

Probably the best New Zealand all-rounder since Hadlee, Bruce Main had another highly effective season despite playing in only 11 of the 20 matches. His best bowling figures (4-36) and his highest score (63) both happened to occur in the same match – on tour in Portsmouth – where, perhaps not coincidentally, he was rooming with his mentor Keith Withers. Coming to the crease at 51-5 against some talented young cricketers, and having seen his own top order fail to play their way in, Main smashed anything slightly short to the boundary and flat-track-bullied his way past fifty to ultimately earn us the draw.

In another vintage bowling performance Main took 4-64 in the game at Britwell Salome, and even when he’s not taking wickets his economy rate can sometimes seem like torture – figures of 1-7 from a 9-over spell at home to Greys Green for example. There is one over at Peppard he’ll want to forget (but I won’t let him) when a 14-year-old with a Mongoose hit 20 runs and was dropped twice at long-on.

This season Bruce passed 100 wickets for RUASCC with a career average of under 24, and the big Kiwi’s importance in the field was underlined by a total of 13 catches, almost twice as many as his nearest rival.

Ken Stewart
103 runs @ 17.17
16 wickets @ 18.56

One definition of an all-rounder is a cricketer whose batting average is higher than his bowling average. Well, Ken was close enough for me. Opinion is divided between those who feel Ken should be a genuine all-rounder batting at number 6 (Ken) and those who feel he is more suited to batting at number 10 (everyone else).

But the fact is, when you consider two of Ken’s biggest contributions to the team’s cause this season, one was with the bat (his match-saving 46 not out at Britwell Salome) and one was the ball (4-48 against Tilehurst). If that’s not the mark of a true all-rounder I don’t know what is!

Stewart chipped in with useful wickets every time he bowled: three at Hambleden, two at Frieth, two against Greys – the list goes on – and his average of one wicket every 22 balls is the best strike rate of anyone in the team. He also showed remarkable reactions for a man of his vintage by holding onto five catches. At 71 he is certainly the front-runner for the Best Newcomer award.

Richard Tranter
37 runs @ 7.4
4 wickets @ 29

Q: Why did the cricket ball cross the road?
A: Because Trant was bowling at Greys Green!

That infamous over at Greys aside, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Trant has scored nearly 1,000,000 runs for RUASCC and taken nearly 400,000 wickets in a career spanning the lifetime of fourteen US Presidents and nearly one Ken Stewart.

His best figures of 3-4 against BBC helped to give Trant the superb strike rate of 22.5 balls per wicket. Yes, one of the wickets was a Canadian girl, and yes those 22.5 balls would cost nearly a thousand runs, but to reduce Trant to the level of mere statistics seems rather like discussing which brand of hand cream God liked to use when he created the world.

Stationed in his favoured gully position Trant chose to hang onto three catches this season while allowing many other, presumably inferior, chances to get away. His three stories each got several airings despite his time-consuming responsibilities as Club Captain, and while umpiring at Peppard he had a spectacular row with a certain bowler who felt he should be awarded a wicket simply because the wicketkeeper knocked the bails off.

During RUASCC’s record breaking run of 14 consecutive lost tosses, Trant was responsible for 12 of them.


Coming soon: The Bowlers (and Keith Withers)