CRICKHOWELL were forced to travel to an away fixture at Goodrich this week, with a much depleted side with injuries and unavailability once more reducing the team to nine fit men, and this week young Callum Tew from the juniors making it a team of 10.

With showers forecast, it seemed a good toss to win for Crickhowell, who elected to field first. Goodrich, however, on their own ground are formidable opponents and with a very short boundary on one side, just inches outside the 30 yard fielding circle, they began to make hay while the sun briefly shone.

Abell and Jackson put on 75 for the first wicket with just 11 overs bowled, with Nick Francis getting the breakthrough. This however, only brought the powerful hitter Brown to the wicket, and the Jackson–Brown combination certainly took things easy, amassing a partnership of 232 to take the score on to 307 in just 33 overs.

Crickhowell were staring down the barrel as it looked like a number of records were going to be broken with Jackson looking at a double century and his team probably heading towards a total in excess of 400.

Crickhowell were therefore very grateful for some respite with a rain interruption holding up the run feast. Some delay in getting the covers on, might have affected playing conditions, because after the break, with skipper Francis turning to opening batsman-cum-part-time bowler Greg Tew, it looked like a totally different game.

Jackson, then just two away from what would have been an exceptional double hundred smashed a long hop to square leg, where Ben Bowker gratefully took the catch.

As Jackson dropped to his knees in disappointment, the jubilant, and much relieved Crickhowell players mobbed Tew and his golden arm.

To show it was no fluke though, he then shortly afterwards bowled Brown for a quick fire 76 and he also picked up a third wicket bowling Griffiths for a duck. Tew now had three wickets for 16 runs in 6 overs and were figures in stark contrast to the rest of the Crickhowell bowlers.

Price and Ben Bowker, having been expensive in their first spells, came back on to pick up another three wickets between them, so with the earlier carnage, and 361 runs on the board, at least Crickhowell had three bowling points when the rain came again.

This time it was slightly more persistent and a much longer delay meant that an early tea was taken. The contrasting moods in the two dressing rooms was palpable with Goodrich desperate to get back on the field and Crickhowell sensing that this game just might be curtailed, with the delay prolonged and the available overs reducing by the minute.

There was talk of Goodrich perhaps declaring on their current total to speed up the change over between innings if play resumed, and Crickhowell could have then been looking at chasing down a reduced target of about 180 in 20 overs with the Marches League version of Duckworth-Lewis system, coming into play.

With big hitters Francis and Price licking their lips and eyeing up the short boundary to the east, the umpire had his gaze firmly fixed on the west, where substantial rain clouds were still evident.

The game therefore had to be called off, and with the Marches League points system taking effect, which gives each team five points for an abandon game plus whatever bonus points have been accrued, Goodrich were cursing their luck with just 10 points and Crickhowell were thankful for the weather, and the great escape, which gave then eight points.

This also meant that Crickhowell retained third spot in the league, one place ahead of Goodrich, which added a bit more insult to injury, given the state of play at the end.

The talk after the game though, was not so much about good luck and bad luck, but about Jackson’s innings and the heartbreak he felt falling two runs short of a double century.