Sunday’s Giants – Tom Allkins, Seb Clark, James Ellis, Thomas Elks (wkt),
Brian Furness, Jacob Kalnins, Andy Stevens, Tom Stevens, James Walker,
Tom Weston(c) and on debut: Tom Barlow.

May 1962: Eleven mid-twenties gentlemen from the Surrey & South-West London
area travelled over to Redhill to play Salfords CC, under the guise of their newly
formed team, The Flemish Giants Cricket Club. The idea to form this side was born
out of a trip to a local pub in the year prior to this first match.
The game itself was not as tight as the newly formed side would have hoped;
Salfords set 120 odd, a chasable target. Alas, despite a promising start with the bat,
the Giants showed their inexperience and collapsed to 91 all out, falling short at their
very first hurdle.

As they walked off the pitch that day, none of them could have imagined that 60
years later, an incredibly similar series of events would play out at almost exactly the
same location against the very same opposition. Although, to be honest, I don't think
the London 7s took place at Twickenham the day before that famous game in 1962…
you can blame globalisation, the rise of elite-level professional sport & capitalism for
that.

May 2022: The Giants arrived at Woodhatch Road in their drips and drabs, wishing
to give the opposition as authentic a Giants' performance as possible. This author
would love to give you more insight into what took place before the start of the
match, but unfortunately fell victim to the SW London traffic. T. Weston arrived bang
on the 2pm start time, with 2022 debutants Elks (little), Ellis (large) and full debutant
Barlow (even larger) in tow.

In Tom's absence, the most senior Tom present, Tom Allikins took charge of the
toss, lost it & got asked to bat first. With almost half of the team missing at that stage,
a makeshift top 4 of T. Stevens, J. Kalnins, B. Furness & A. Stevens was
assembled.

The Giants' opening partnership of Stevo and Jacob was an untested one, and there
was a keen sense of intrigue around the ground as they strode out to the middle
together. Jacob, unfortunately, got a great ball early on, departing for 2. New No. 3
Brian stuck in well with ’Limpet Stevens’, but the pair struggled to really find any real
rhythm. While Stevo held up one end well, Furness (9), A. Stevens (4 - including his
customary dropped catch) and Elks (0) all failed to support him. With the score at 44-
4, the Giants' collapse was in full swing.

44-4 quickly became 44-5, as Limpet Stevens was finally prised out for a gritty 16.
44-5 was soon 46-6 as James Ellis saw a gentle guided stroke down to Third plucked
out of the air by an experienced player diving at full stretch.
There looked to be some resistance in the stand between James Walker, another of
the 2022 debutants and Tom Weston, putting on 20 for the 7th wicket, before Walker
nicked off to a good ball. Weston inevitably missed a straight one and the score read
66-8…

The Salfords attack showed little mercy to the spluttering Giants but was met with
some fine resistance in the shape of Clark, Allkins and Barlow. Clark (2) showed
defensive solidity and was unlucky not to score more. Allkins (7*) rolled back the
years with some fine stroke-making, while Barlow came in hit the ball into the
vegetation with more force and more consistency than even Aayush Patel could
manage on the golf course. 12 from 4 is not a bad return for the No.11 bat on debut.
At 89 all out inside 33 overs, there were not enough runs on the board. Despite this,
the side knew that with a few early wickets there was still definitely a game on…

While Stevo was metronomic,
and Barlow quite erratic,
Weston got the breakthrough
and Allkins kept the scoring static.

With Andy's neck in trouble,
his hand clasped against its side
Walker ended the over,
firing down a massive wide.

Just as the game was slipping,
from under the Giants' claw.
A tactical drinks break was taken,
for Tom to stretch some more.

With the light fast fading,
and Elks leaping like a salmon,
the ball was thrown to Barlow
where he set fire to the cannon.

Barlow blew-through 3 & 5
Leaving stumps out splayed.
His hobbled run-up haunting batsmen
Making them dismayed.

Those two quick wickets did such wonders,
It gave the guys a feeling.
But in the end it was misplaced,
Like Jacob and Seb's appealing.

The Giants boys put up a fight,
And saw the Salfords scramble.
But in the end they made it there,
At really quite an amble.

So what have we all learnt,
a mere 60 years after?
Giant collapses are still common
& still greeted with great laughter.

Why do they always happen?
Mentally fragile or unable?
Would winter nets cut this out?
Or are these just a staple?

As a wiseman once said,
And the legend it grows stronger:
"They are big rabbits for a reason
And their tail cannot be longer."

For the Giants' tail starts at 1;
they're all number 11s,
And please don't arrange a cricket match
for after London Sevens…

But seriously, a very decent bowling performance with not many runs on the board to
defend. Stevo bowled the best I have ever seen him bowl - moving it miles and
allowing us to have a 7-2 field. That is almost unheard of in Giants' cricket. Barlow
showed his quality in his second spell with some serious wheels that I cannot wait to
see again in action. Walker bowled with excellent shape and control, Allkins bowled
exceptionally economically and kept things very tight. The Brian, James Ellis and
Seb trifecta all bowled well too, but unfortunately there just weren't quite enough
runs to play with. There were a couple of missed run-out attempts that could have
piled on the pressure further, but none stuck, and it allowed a very competent
batsman to get in and score a match-winning 30*.
Fingers crossed the injury list is on the way down… wishing for quick recoveries for
Andy Stevens & James Ellis.

Tom Weston - June 2022

Salfords win by 6 wickets.
Player of the Match – Tom Stevens, for his gritty 16 off 38 balls and parsimonious
8-2-19-0 with the ball.
Giants’ Moment of the Match – The Giants fielder who shouted ‘Tom’ when asked
for “bowler’s name” by the Salfords’ scorer, narrowing his choice down to just under
50% of the Giants bowling attack.

"This is like deja vu all over again" - Yogi Berra, baseball coach 1925-2015.