With the great series standing at two draws, two wins to the Gold Bats and one to the Sherlockians, there was enormous anticipation of yet another tense game as the teams gathered at West Wycombe on 25 June 2006. The ground had been impeccably prepared. Swallows swooped low over the grass. Red kites circled above. Two foals scampered in an adjoining field. And a flock of sheep had taken up residence somewhere around where long stop was going to be posted. It was as idyllic as ever.

And, as ever the game between those representing the PG Wodehouse Society (UK), and the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, was to be played under the 1895 rules, lob bowling, five-ball overs and all.

The toss had been won and, by tradition, the Gold Bats were to bat first. The game, of course, was late starting So much so that the venerable Umpire Hedgcock was seen to walk sternly over to where the Sherlock Holmes team were talking in erudite fashion about the train times down to Grimpen Mire. ‘There are severe penalties for a team refusing to play’, he shouted. And they scattered out onto the field.

Then Umpire Hedgcock could be seen gesticulating to the groundsman and then coming off the field. ‘No bails’, he explained, before gathering them up and taking them back out to the wicket. Oliver Wise and Mark Wilcox had now been out at the crease for some time. And sure enough the first ball was a bye and brought long stop out from amongst the sheep and into action. Wilcox started his innings with a boundary to leg. And was then out lbw. 10 for 1.

Mike Jackson strode out and by the tenth over the score was 50 for 1. It was noticed that in the spirit of 1895 several Sherlockians were striding about the boundary in full Victorian fig, though one had updated the setting by having a mobile phone clamped to his ear. Probably on the phone to his man at the bookmakers.

The Sherlockians employed the moustachioed Charles Miller, who’s their lob bowling specialist, in the 17th over. But he failed to stem the tide. With the score on 101 for 1 Oliver Wise reached his fifty to prolonged applause and was retired. Shortly afterwards Mike Jackson also reached fifty and was retired. Lunch was taken with the score at 143 for 3 and around the boundary some 70 people tucked into an enormous range of repasts. Some spectators had come from as far as Bristol, having heard the match mentioned by the commentators on Radio Four’s Test Match Special!

The Chairman’s famous raised pie, this year with a decorative motif of pigs which bore a strong resemblance to the Empress of Blandings, took its toll. By the time that the Gold Bats innings resumed Oliver Wise had fallen sound asleep in a deckchair. Out on the field the Sherlockians played their trump card. A bowler as exceptionally tall and willowy as the Demon Spofforth of the great Australians (a man who once took 10 for 20 at Lord’s in 1878) was put on at the top end. It turned out that his name was Knight and not Spofforth, which cheered the Wodehouseans. Mike Savage immediately hit him for two extravagant fours. But then Julian Hill was stumped by Levinson off Knight for 27. It was 163 for 4.

At this point some errant spectators, who had rambled into an adjoining field and found a car boot sale, returned in great high spirits. They had bought a cricket game for 20p. The box contained the game, but also several earwigs.

Controversy followed on the field. At an attempted stumping umpire Norman Murphy appeared to give Mike Savage out. But he stayed on and was then dropped twice. Ben, the twelve-year-old son of the Sherlockian wicketkeeper, Stephen Levinson, came on to bowl lobs. And shortly afterwards, on the stroke of 3 o’clock, skipper Bob Miller declared the Gold Bats innings closed. The score stood at 192 for 4, a stout and, it was thought, a winning effort.

The weather had turned sultry by the time the Sherlockian innings got under way which may have explained the opening three maiden overs. Then Bob Richards bowled Knight, very gently, the ball clipping the top of the middle stump. In the next over, another wicket maiden, Jonathan Fisher got an lbw. The game may have been afoot but it wasn’t going well for the Sherlockians. No runs for two wickets doesn’t look good in anyone’s book. And it was followed by another maiden. The first score was a boundary in the sixth over.

Then the Gold bats employed their lob bowler, who immediately bowled a wide so wide that the umpire was joined by mid-off and they stood side by side with arms outstretched to signal its enormity. The only other oddity so far was Umpire Hedgcock, vigilant as ever, startling everyone, and especially the scorer, with a shout of ‘one-short’. By tea the score was 34 for 2.

A strange gathering was observed as the players took the field after tea. Under an awning by the boundary someone had produced a new-fangled television machine and, very much against the season and the spirit of 1895, had drawn a sizeable crowd to watch some football match from Germany, improbably involving both England and Ecuador. A passing fielder was heard to remark that Sherlock Holmes would have announced that “The game’s a footie”.

In the second over after tea an easy catch by Fisher off the bowling of Wilcox reduced the Sherlockians to 35 for 3. Worse was to follow. Wilcox hit the stumps. 44 for 4. Jackson hit the stumps. 44 for 5. This brought the captain, Peter Horrocks, to the crease. He was wearing knee-high stockings in MCC colours. Umpire Hedgcock complained. But whether it was because of the assault on his sensibilities or his sensitive eyesight was not clear. Thankfully Horrocks took an early swish at a ball which he should not have. 44 for 6.

Then came Nick Utechin. Umpire Hedgcock immediately demanded further sartorial action. Utechin had a Garrick Club tie dangling over his pads. ‘Tuck your tie in!’ came the Umpire’s demand. This took a while and Gold Bats captain Bob Miller tried to help out. ‘I’m being assaulted sir’, appealed Utechin to the umpire. But he soon settled into his usual style. This consists of two strokes: one as if jabbing at a low-flying wasp, the other a heave down the legside. The latter was more productive of runs.

Levinson Senior was then bowled by Miller. 58 for 7. A cheer came up from the crowd. But it turned out to be something to do with the football. “Hoy!” , came the admonishment from Umpire Murphy. Nick Utechin then had to run three for a shot which pulled up just short of the boundary. ‘Trousers holding up?’, he shouted to his partner in mid-run, ‘Mine aren’t’. Further adjustments to his dress had to be made. Charles Miller was then bowled by Hill. 63 for 8.

This brought in the twelve-year-old Ben Levinson. The drama of the closing overs had started. He played out the over with a studied correctness and then started taking singles. Nick Utechin’s patience was finally brought to an end as he was bowled by Mike Savage. 67 for 9 and the Sherlockians, some way short of the 5 o’clock close of play, were in distinct difficulties. Utechin’s son James then came to the crease and it became a battle of the sons to make up for their fathers having got out. James Utechin had been one of the heroes of the last-wicket stand which had denied the Gold Bats victory in identical circumstances in 2005. Was history to repeat itself?

Oliver Wise came on to bowl. His style was expected to baffle the two young tyros, given that it consists of a bustling run followed by a very slow looping ball which spins fiercely when, or sometimes if, it reaches the pitch. ‘He’s evil. Watch him’, the young Levinson warned the young Utechin.

The overs reeled by. In the penultimate over Ben Levinson was agonisingly dropped off a sharp chance. All the fielders were ringed closely round the bat. But it was to no avail. It ended on the stroke of five with James Utechin on 1 not out and his partner Ben Levinson on 5 not out. Youth had triumphed over experience and salvaged the draw. And furthermore Ben had outscored his father Stephen by one run. There was a rapturous reception for both teams at the boundary’s edge. Another game had gone down to the wire. And there was much discussion in the beer garden of the George & Dragon afterwards.