Saturday 1s vs Ripley
Author: Garth Tiley
Match Report |
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The Saturday 1’s must go down as one of the most inconsistent of the modern era. 70’s era West indies one week, England 2014 Winter Tour the next. We travelled to Ripley, brimming with pomp and confidence after last week’s spanking. Ripley cowered when they saw Bam Bam pull up, revisiting the scen of his glorious 150 last season. But we left 8 hours later with red bottoms of our own. After winning a toss, Mr Ebersohn put Ripley into bat. Seemed a good decision. Their covers had a tear in them, the rain seeping through overnight, so a fresh pitch was cut 30 minutes in. We were confident. David Higson began his 40 yard run up and proceeded to shake some batsman back legs. Real pace and bounce from Hig gave us two early wickets, a long hop hit to the ‘safe’ hands of Wibbers at mid-on, another edged behind to the terrified 2nd slip. 20-2, we looked in the game. A decent 50 from their 3, and one of the worst 50’s ever witnessed from their 4 followed. Piers, after his embarrassing lack of pace was exposed last week during ‘easy single-gate’, was in full flow, inducing false shots from their 4, only for it drop short and balloon over the fielders. Our heads dropped, and Ripley capitalised. Chinny hurt his poor little shoulder, but Brian Mac filled in very well with 4 wickets. Ripley coasted to 248 from their overs, and we were still feeling fairly confident. A big score sure, but the pitch was pretty decent still, apart from the odd bumper. Maybe the addition of ice lollies in the tea (Brian take note), put everyone off their stride. We lacked concentration and the vast majority of our batsmen threw their wickets away. Piers received a ball on a length that bounced aggressively, catching his glove and flicking to Inzaman Ul-Haq under the helmet. Garth hit a few boundaries and thought he was Alex Hales, and proceeded to hit the wise, old dilly dobbler to long on the ball after their chief of a skipper had moved him there. Wibbers ballooned one up, bringing Bam Bam to the crease. Bammers smacked a few big sixes, hitting cars and old folk, and you could see real fear in the Ripley massif. His partnership with Euan was promising, and after I had returned from the pub across the road, both of them had gone. Bam Bam for exactly 50 and Euan for a gentleman’s 9. Abhi, last week’s hero, came to the crease and looked good. He then decided to trod on his wickets after pulling a glorious ball to the boundary. Woody also looked in great knick, back to the Woody of old with his straight Harrow sized bat and ginger beard, getting a very decent 27 before edging behind to the chief Skipper. Chinny hit a few shots before perishing, as Devon tried to encourage to stay with him at the crease. He failed. Brian’s innings a particular highlight. Ball 1 – Ball hits helmet. Ball 2 – Middle Stump uprooted. Our humiliation was complete. 158 all out. As I began, our inconsistencies are becoming a real issue. We must get back to winning ways this weekend on home soil. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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14/06/2014 | 1pm | Saturday 1st | Ripley | A | 158/10 | 248/8 | L | 5 |