T&T Classics: Like Father Like Son (1) Paul Osborn

Report by Fingers

Over recent years we’ve got used to seeing Harry Osborn scoring runs in junior and senior matches. However, fewer of us were around when his dad Paul was a youngster and playing regularly to perhaps see where Harry got his batting talent from.

Below is a scorecard from a Theale junior match that took place in June 1982. Opening the batting was a young Paul Osborn and it was tough going to start with. The Emmer Green opening bowlers Jackson and Swindley started with a brace of maidens each and wickets fell early as the rest of the top order contributed zero between them. However, Paul stood firm.

It seems the change bowling was more to Paul’s liking and having seen off the openers he was able to take advantage and start moving the score along. In partnership with Bradshaw and Clark Paul was able to take the Theale innings to a competitive 96-5 from their 20 overs. Paul finished as the main contributor with 56no including 8 fours and 1 six.

It seems that the Emmer Green innings also started slowly but it seems they were lacking a top order batsman to accelerate the innings once the opening bowlers had finished.

Presumably the man of the match adjudicator didn’t have to spend too long making their mind up at the end of this game!

Now, the British press has a reputation for building people up only to knock them down again. This correspondent supports tradition so here goes.

In July 1988 we find Paul representing Theale against Wargrave in a league match (see scorecard below). Wargrave batted first and scored what for the time would have been a decent 179-8. Leading the wicket taking and doing the bulk of the bowling for Theale were Bob Williams (4-47) and Heath Messer (3-45).

Presumably the talk at tea would have been about getting a good start to set a platform, keeping the score ticking over in the middle overs and then attacking the Wargrave total with wickets in hand later in the innings.

Or perhaps not. I think it’s probably fair to say that Derek Partridge and the late Peter Hopper would not be considered one of the more dynamic or aggressive opening partnerships. And it’s fair to say that the Theale reply didn’t get off to a dynamic or aggressive start.

By the time 35 overs had been bowled the Theale reply had crawled to 78-1. By this time Paul had joined Derek at the crease and in the next ten overs they added 41 runs as the depths of the Wargrave attack were explored.

I’m not sure if we should admire the stubbornness of the Theale reply or ask at what stage they thought they should try and push on to win the game. Or perhaps they never thought the game was safe.

All I would say is that next time Paul’s on the sidelines with a pint of cider and the subject turns to how to pace a run chase remind him of Wargrave in July 1988.

SCORECARD
Home Team		Emmer Green Colts						Away Team		Theale Colts
Date of Match		1st June 1982						Played at		Emmer Green

		Team							Result	Team
Result		Theale Colts							beat	Emmer Green Colts

1st Innings of		Theale Colts
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	P Osborn	not out								8	1	56
2	D North	bowled						I Jackson		0	0	0
3	J Ferguson	ct			-			R Swindley		0	0	0
4	P Desbois	bowled						T Conway		0	0	0
5	M Bradshaw	ct & b						R Sutherland		2	0	11
6	R Khan	lbw						I Jackson		0	0	3
7	A Clark	not out								3	0	15
8	D Bunton
9	S Osman
10	D Carrughers
11	M Turner
							Byes	0
							Leg Byes	3
							Wides	7
							No Balls	1
									Extras			11

							Wickets	5	Total			96

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	I Jackson		5	3	11	2
2	R Swindley		4	2	15	1
3	T Conway		5	0	24	1
4	R Sutherland		3	0	21	1
5	G Legg		3	0	14	0
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	1	2				1
2	2	3				1
3	19	4				17
4	52	5				33
5	65	6				13
6
7
8
9
10




2nd Innings of		Emmer Green Colts
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	J Smith	bowled						M Bradshaw		0	0	2
2	R Pethybridge	ct			P Osborn			M Bradshaw		1	0	6
3	R Salmon	ct			P Desbois			D Bunton		2	0	20
4	R Sutherland	bowled						D North		0	0	0
5	T Conway	ct			D Bunton			D North		2	0	10
6	G Legg	ct			R Khan			D Bunton		2	0	13
7	J Hammersley	bowled						M Turner		0	0	1
8	I Jackson	not out								0	0	1
9	S Pearse	not out								0	0	2
10	J Sporle
11	R Swindley
							Byes	0
							Leg Byes	0
							Wides	5
							No Balls	0
									Extras			5

							Wickets	7	Total			60

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	M Turner		5	2	4	1
2	M Bradshaw		5	1	8	2
3	D North		5	1	20	2
4	D Bunton		5	0	23	2
5
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1						0
2						0
3						0
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

SCORECARD
Home Team		Wargrave						Away Team		Theale
Date of Match		30th July 1988						Played at		Wargrave

		Team							Result	Team
Result									Drawn

1st Innings of		Wargrave
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	J Taylor	bowled						Messer		6	0	47
2	T Owen	bowled						Messer		0	0	8
3	J Shannahan	bowled						Williams		0	0	2
4	D Purcell	ct			J Ferguson			Messer		7	0	71
5	C Baker	ct			-			Williams		0	0	3
6	P Jones	bowled						Williams		0	0	1
7	R Sutherland	run out								0	0	0
8	C Searle	not out								2	0	20
9	D Duckett	ct & b						Williams		0	0	1
10	R Gurton	not out								0	0	2
11	G Alston
							Byes	9
							Leg Byes	9
							Wides	4
							No Balls	2
									Extras			24

							Wickets	8	Total			179

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	Williams		17	2	47	4
2	Messer		14	1	45	3
3	Hayter		8	0	38	0
4	Murphy		7	0	35	0
5
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	24	2				24
2	27	3				3
3	143	1				116
4	146	4				3
5	146	5				0
6	148	7				2
7	164	6				16
8	168	9				4
9
10




2nd Innings of		Theale
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	Hopper	run out								3	0	24
2	Partridge	not out								3	0	53
3	Osborn	not out								3	0	29
4	Alleyne
5	Hayter
6	Messer
7	Ferguson
8	Murphy
9	Newton
10	Reeves
11	Williams
							Byes	2
							Leg Byes	4
							Wides	6
							No Balls	1
									Extras			13

							Wickets	1	Total			119

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	C Searle		16	7	23	0
2	D Duckett		13	2	37	0
3	R Sutherland		8	2	21	0
4	J Shanahan		1	0	2	0
5	R Gurton		2	0	5	0
6	C Baker		2	0	13	0
7	T Owen		2	0	4	0
8	J Taylor		1	0	6	0

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	54	1				54
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10