Village Cricket Match

PLAY UP! PLAY UP! Thursday 15th June Village Cricket Match

There’s a breathless hush in the close tonight,
Ten to make and the match to win…

Lympstone’s own version of 20/20 cricket comes to the fields of Harefield on Thursday 15th June, at 6pm, when the men (and women?) of the village take on the Gentlemen of St Peter’s School, in the annual Cricket Match. Twenty overs each, but rather more sedate than the professional version.

On a beautiful sunlit evening, it is one of the most enjoyable events of the summer, with a bar and a barbecue, ice creams and prizes, a pair of partial umpires and the Last Great Scorer (Tony Day in his own box), all accompanied by the wonderful Lympstone Training Band, who are becoming such a welcome part of Lympstone life. A real village band!

The revival of a cricket team in Lympstone has been one of the joys of the last decade. They don’t have their own cricket field in the village, but here is your chance to see them on home soil. Come and enjoy a proper old-fashioned game of cricket in the beautiful setting of St Peter’s School, with its views over the estuary and the Haldon Hills. Entrance and parking is entirely free, but proceeds from the bar and barbecue, ice cream and raffle, will go to support the Friends of Lympstone Church, who organise this most enjoyable of annual occasions. Bring a rug or folding chair, or stroll round the boundary and prop up the bar.

RUGBY STARS TO PLAY IN ANNUAL CRICKET MATCH

Two Exeter Chiefs players, Tom Johnson and Matt Jess, who both live in Lympstone, are to play in the Annual Friends of the Church Cricket Match on Thursday, 15th June, starting at 6pm. Lympstone versus Harefield is fought out on the beautiful pitch at St Peter’s School.

Tom Johnson, a flanker, joined the Chiefs in 2007, and was first selected for England in 2011, the first of eight international appearances. After being a member of the Chiefs squad that has just become the Premiership Champions, Tom is now retiring from rugby to take up a new career. Already he has started working with a number of clients as a personal trainer, whilst it will not be too long before he takes on a new and exclusive PT role at Lympstone Manor.

Winger Matt Jess, who grew up in Cornwall, joined Exeter in 2008, and is one of the club’s most experienced players. He has missed most of this championship-winning season after he underwent surgery on a toe injury, which ruled the 32-year-old out for four months, He expects to be fit for the cricket match, however!
The Annual Cricket Match is a festive occasion, with a brass band, a bar, a barbecue, a raffle and a sweepstake. All proceeds help to maintain the fabric of the church, Lympstone’s oldest and finest building – the tower was built more than 600 years ago.