Saturday 1s vs Woodmansterne
Author: Lewis Hill
Match Report |
---|
The Empire Strikes Back: Colonists save English cricket team An excellent partnership between Sam “Mean Aussie” Furber and Andy Hyland spared the blushes of yet another Putney collapse and banished memories of Saad “The Badger” Hannan’s dreadful drop in the same fixture last year that cost us the match and ultimately ruined our season. As I say, all water under the bridge. Skipper Devon Ebersohn continued his excellent tossing form, winning yet again and opting to bat. Alex “Hopey” Hope and Rich Jefferies opened up on a flat pitch with a lightning fast outfield. We sensed runs. Unfortunately for Rich, he was given out LBW before he could get going. But trust him when he says that he wasn’t out. He was never out. Missing two sets of stumps, apparently. Never out. Never. Hopey flashed a few times outside the off stump before he was out caught behind. Skipper Ebersohn, Riki Sahi and Oli Dudman were then out in quick succession and we soon found ourselves in the all-too-familiar position of being 40 odd with only 5 wickets remaining. In stepped the Mean Aussie and Hyland. Both took advantage of the favourable batting conditions to put on one of the finest sixth wicket partnerships for the club in recent years. The Mean Aussie was fluid through the off side, driving exquisitely through the covers to frustrate the Woodmansterne fielders, who were becoming less chirpy by the over. Hyland, meanwhile, dismissed the opposition’s leg spinner in brutal fashion, slapping him through the leg side for three successive boundaries to end his afternoon with the ball. Together, they guided Putney to a score close to 200 with the Mean Aussie posting 80 and Hyland scoring 50. Late cameos from Gary “GP” Peters (who finished on 21 not out) and Ben “Surrey” Williamson meant that we closed on 213-9. Tea was splendid. Our thanks to Woodmansterne’s tea team. They even put the IPL on the TV! Despite posting a 200+ score, we knew we weren’t out the Wood(s)mansterne yet. The outfield was fast and a solid performance in the field was required to defend our total. In a break from Putney tradition, Skipper Ebersohn opened with Surrey and the Mean Aussie. At this point, the natural response for many was, “WHAT, GP NOT OPENING THE BOWLING?!” Yes, you heard correctly. After refashioning himself as an off spinner, Skipper Ebersohn’s next anarchic decision was to resign Putney’s finest to first change. Thankfully, GP took it well and we reckon there’s only a 70-80% chance that Skipper Ebersohn will meet his demise at the hands of Putney’s true opener before next Saturday. Watch this space – The Badger could soon be the next 1st XI captain by default. Then we’re all royally screwed. In spite of the anarchy, the Mean Aussie and Surrey opened superbly. Both bowled excellent lines and restricted the opposition’s run rate. Surrey deservedly claimed the wicket of their opener, with a good catch from Riki in the field. GP, The Badger and I were then handed the ball, tasked with keeping the middle 20-25 overs of the match tight. GP did exactly that from his end and was unlucky not to take a wicket. The Badger bowled well and was rewarded with two wickets. He forced Woodmansterne’s no. 3 batsman to edge behind to Hyland before taking a catch off his own bowling to continue the trend of spilling catches off everyone else’s bowling, but not his own. I took four wickets. One was a half tracker that should have gone for four but was instead plucked out the sky by GP at square leg. With the final ten overs looming, Woodmansterne could sense the match was slipping away from them. This almost certainly explains why their no. 6 batsman decided to stop concentrating on his batting and instead turn to umpiring as he started to call no balls from my end. After some words from Umpire JP and Skipper Ebersohn, he decided to end his brief dalliance with officiating the match and return to batting. In hind sight, this was a poor decision because he was soon caught out at point by Surrey. Returning spells from GP and the Mean Aussie, who claimed his first wicket of the day bowling Woodmansterne’s no. 10, ended any hope of a home side comeback. Putney left the field with a 32 run victory and our second set of 20 points this season. Next week – the SW15 Derby! |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19/05/2018 | 1pm | Saturday 1st | Woodmansterne | A | 213/9 | 181/9 | W | 20 |