Saturday 2s vs Lingfield
Author: Rolf "Codpiece" Merchant
Match Report |
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A few beers and a romantic sunset capped off our long but successful day in Lingfield. A full 90 overs left us knackered but satisfied with our efforts. We batted first on what looked like a hard and decent pitch. I was slightly disturbed to see my opening batting partner, Sam Sud, puffing on a fag with a half drained tinny of Fosters in hand moments before we took to the wicket. Neither had any discernible effect on Sam, who was timing the ball sweetly, until he chopped on for 7. Amogh joined me and we made good progress. I even hit some boundaries this week (not sure if any were off the middle), while Amogh looked typically solid, putting away the bad balls with ease. The friendly Geordie opposition umpire compared him to Tendulkar - his admiration was such that he turned down a very close LBW shout, later admitting he probably should have given it. Their spinner came on and I tamely plonked an easy chance to mid off (having been dropped at cover the ball before - doh!) on 28. Amogh, suffering a helmet breakage, borrowed mine only to be LBW next ball. That put us 94-3 at drinks. Phil and Tush united and were soon whacking the ball about merrily. They put on 93 together in quick time, helped by some slightly comedic fielding - I think the drops got close to double figures. Tush reached his fifty but then got out just after Phil who got a grubber after a very useful 33. That left us 5 overs to push our score of 200 on a bit further. Cameos from Dez, Brooksy and Tom got us up to 232, which felt very competitive. Excellent spread for tea - obviously not as good as Brian’s but close to it. Lingfield started positively, with one of their openers seemingly able to cut absolutely anything to the boundary. Broosky dropped a sitter at mid on and with the umpire being strict on wides, Lingfield were quickly up with the rate and Brian and Michael Brunger had little to show for what were decent opening spells. Mark “E” Smith was brought on an made a crucial intervention in the game. He induced their number 1 into a loose drive and managed to get all 6’5 of himself down to ankle height to complete a caught and bowled. Two balls later he castled their number 3 - a real peach, quick, seaming and hitting the top of off. A little “bang bang” became a veritable Chitty Chitty as Amogh took a very sharp catch at short cover off Tommy S. It was larruped straight to the skipper and survival instincts took over - it took some catching. It should have been “bang squared” as another loose drive went straight up in the air. The only issue was nobody went for it, except Tush, very belatedly, who didn’t get that close in the end. After a mild bollocking from Amogh we got back to it. Mark, in fine rhythm, got a third, caught well by Brian. At 87-4, we began to put on the squeeze. Tom charged in manfully and, working in tandemn with Brooksy, slammed the brakes on Lingfield's chase. The introduction of Brooksy proved crucial. He bustled in and bowled very tidily, taking two wickets, both clean bowled. He could have done better than 2 for 12, had Mark not opted to chest a chance at mid on (it left a nice bruise too). Thanks to our now growing number of wides and generally pedestrian approach to setting the field, we had fallen behind the over rate. It was news to most of us that this was an actual rule, but Mr Umpire said it was (he had the rule book in his pocket to prove it), and a now slightly panicked Amogh got us to hurry round. I turned my arm over and after being spanked for a six got a wicket as did Brian. Lingfield’s tail hung around but they ran out of overs on 201-9. In truth we were a bit of a scrappy in the field. The drops tin became noticeably heavier and we conceded an eye-watering 61 extras. Without was the work of Mark and Brooksy, taking wickets just when we needed them, Lingfield may well have got home. All in all, a good team effort and after 3 wins in a row, we now sit second in the league. Man of the Match - Tush for his rapid 50, crucial in making our total that more imposing Mug of the Match - Sam, for swilling lager whilst padding up. Tushar Bhakre “How on Earth did you do that?” Award - Amogh for his reaction catch at short cover. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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25/05/2019 | 1pm | Saturday 2nd | Lingfield | A | 232/8 | 201/9 | W | 20 |