Sunday 1s vs Marble Hill
Author: Ash French
Match Report |
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So things for the Sunday 1’s started in what only can be called a farce, some of the more mouthy members of the team had other words for it, but when the opposition turned up with 9 men, Putney turning up with 12, neither team remembering a scorebook and everything generally running late it, cricket was not a winner to begin with. With Putney fielding 12 men due to “selection issues” we duly gave them our extra player and when Ash Baptista turned up shortly after the start just wanting to watch, he ended up playing for the opposition as well. So with a full quota of players things carried on. Before even bowling a ball though a ball dilemma did occur when we were given the new ball that had been supplied by the opposition. It had no seam and was not your standard spherical shape, and any level of shine to get swing was seriously in doubt, the phrase “Sports Direct Special” sprung to mind, but more on the ball situation later. Ash French and Charlie opened the bowling and kept things fairly tight, with Ash managing the break first break through. But then no sooner as the opposition got to a full quota of players they were quickly knocked back down again as Charlie deviating from his usual short length, put it slightly fuller, and the batsmen looking to take advantage of this, ended up with the batsmen top edging into his face and what quickly looked like a broken nose and damaged eye socket. So that was 2 men down with the player retiring hurt and another to take him to A&E. Luckily overrate isn’t a thing in Sunday cricket otherwise we would have been in trouble, this was as much due to the batsmen being slow as us – never seen a set of batsmen waste so much time! Things were after the restart stayed fairly tight apart from Ash French’s last over of his first spell which, due to a ‘difference of opinion’ between umpire and scorers, appeared to last for years. This then brought on Ed Forrester who really tightened the screws from one end with a lovely spell of controlled bowling (8-2-1-14). Sadly from the other end we struggled to keep it tight as their captain and left hander utilised the faculties well (i.e. the very short leg side boundary) with both Barry and Chris Powell struggling to keep it tight. But this wasn’t entirely their fault due to the fact that the captain had been dropped about 5 times on the way to a very good 62. The drops were a surprise as in the last few weeks we had been very good with our catching, as only a couple of weeks ago we took 9 catches. Once we were rid of the captain there was little other batting and the rest of the team collapsed, with Jamie Grieg and Ash French being brought back to tidy up the tail, with both players ending up with 3 wickets, and chasing a very gettable 157. After bowling them out inspecting the ball, that had now got no seam, had split on one of the hemispheres and barely swung all game, the opposition decided that having a just one ball to play with was a bit unfair, so they pulled out another for them to bowl with. A brand new fuller’s ball, which appeared to have just a bit more in it than the delightful misshapen rock we bowled with. With Jamie Greig and Leon Orr opening the batting they started out well, dealing with the swinging ball well. The captain bowling very fast left arm causing a lot of problems, but both players managed to handle them quite well through the early overs, with Leon hitting a few boundaries. But after a good start the usual Putney collapse occurred, with few batsmen seeming able to deal with the left armer and first change bowler who came on at the other end who was swinging a mile; Jamie and Luke Grieg beaten by good balls. Few people offered little resistance. From being about 40-0 to 76-6, with the run rate sitting about 5.5 an over, Shipar was then joined in the middle by Ash “I can bat – honest” French, as for some reason he had been promoted from his usual number 11 spot. Ash then started as he meant to continue getting off the mark second ball with a 4. Seeing that the game was starting get away from them, they brought back the other opening bowler, who Ash knocked straight out the attack taking 16 from the over. Still needing 50 to win, Shipar then played all around a straight ball from their military medium bowler (ended up with 4 wickets). Ash French seeing the tail of Tan, Ed Forrester and Chris Powell, saw glory in his eyes and proceed to farm the strike and protect the other batsmen and plunder runs where possible. Ash then got a shocker of a pea roller, that didn’t bounce at all - (35 from 25 balls), leaving Chris and Ed to get 35 from the final 11 overs for the final wicket. Chris deciding he was the man to see us home, started striking the ball very well, but only finding fielders. This frustration ended up getting to Chris where he holed out. Another disappointing loss as it was a game that should have been won. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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07/06/2015 | 2pm | Sunday 1st | Marble Hill | H | 135/10 | 156/8 | L | 0 |