Neil Thurgood works the ball off his legs [Terry Nash, 1998]
Neil Thurgood came out of retirement to hit a half-century as patched-up Bashley (Rydal) got a ‘winning draw’ out of their ECB Southern Premier League match with Alton.
The 41-year old, who has made close on 7,300 runs in his Premier League career, thought he’s hung up his first team boots two seasons ago.
But with Bashley missing seven first choice players, Thurgood was enticed out of retirement and showed everyone at the BCG he could still bat by making a patient 50 – a score that provided Bash with the chance to post a healthy 262-9.
Alton replied with 197-5.
“It was a fantastic gesture by Neil, whose been a truly wonderful Bashley clubman as long as I can every remember,” said chairman John Neal.
“He stopped playing regular first team cricket in 2016 and turned out for the seconds a few times last season.
“He’s frequently at the club so when we realised how stretched we were for numbers on a World Cup soccer day, he readily agreed to help out.”
Thurgood’s 50 was the 53rd half-century of his Bashley career which began prior to his joining the MCC YCs ground-staff at Lord’s when he was a teenager.
Perhaps anticipating the ‘help’ call, Thurgood played for Bashley fourths against the might of Christchurch seconds in HCL West 1 the previous week, but was run out (by Ian Britton) for 38.
Patrick Holly (51), by contrast, made his maiden senior fifty and, with support from Phil Morris (38) and stand-in skipper Simon Watkins (31), took Bashley to a formidable 262-9.
Julian Ballinger (5-61) wheeled away, taking his third five-wicket return of the summer and his season’s tally to 28 wickets.
Alton lost wickets at inappropriate times – Marco Marais and Scott Myers went for ducks – and as the game drifted towards a draw at 197-5 (Mike Heffernan 45), Joe Paul (53) and Michael Salmon (50) notched maiden fifties for the Brewers.
The 41-year old, who has made close on 7,300 runs in his Premier League career, thought he’s hung up his first team boots two seasons ago.
But with Bashley missing seven first choice players, Thurgood was enticed out of retirement and showed everyone at the BCG he could still bat by making a patient 50 – a score that provided Bash with the chance to post a healthy 262-9.
Alton replied with 197-5.
“It was a fantastic gesture by Neil, whose been a truly wonderful Bashley clubman as long as I can every remember,” said chairman John Neal.
“He stopped playing regular first team cricket in 2016 and turned out for the seconds a few times last season.
“He’s frequently at the club so when we realised how stretched we were for numbers on a World Cup soccer day, he readily agreed to help out.”
Thurgood’s 50 was the 53rd half-century of his Bashley career which began prior to his joining the MCC YCs ground-staff at Lord’s when he was a teenager.
Perhaps anticipating the ‘help’ call, Thurgood played for Bashley fourths against the might of Christchurch seconds in HCL West 1 the previous week, but was run out (by Ian Britton) for 38.
Patrick Holly (51), by contrast, made his maiden senior fifty and, with support from Phil Morris (38) and stand-in skipper Simon Watkins (31), took Bashley to a formidable 262-9.
Julian Ballinger (5-61) wheeled away, taking his third five-wicket return of the summer and his season’s tally to 28 wickets.
Alton lost wickets at inappropriate times – Marco Marais and Scott Myers went for ducks – and as the game drifted towards a draw at 197-5 (Mike Heffernan 45), Joe Paul (53) and Michael Salmon (50) notched maiden fifties for the Brewers.
