Saturday 3s vs Whiteley Village
Author: Gerald Duckworth
Match Report |
---|
Winning is a habit. Although unlike gambling or smoking, this is a habit you want to keep. Buoyed by our first victory, the Putney 3rd XI travelled to Whiteley Village looking to make it two wins on the bounce. The journey down was less than ideal. Rolf and I were forced to listen to Barney’s cocktail bar music in the car, including one track by a group named ‘Sirens Lesbos’. It then transpired that on Wednesday, I had rooted through Sam Mazurek’s bag and taken his keeping kit, thinking it was the club’s kit bag and keeping kit. To quote Sam from our text exchange, “you plonker!” Things soon brightened up once we reached our destination. We won the toss and Rolf was appointed vice-captain in a short cap giving ceremony. The recruitment process was very thorough. He asked to be vice-captain on the way down and I said yes. After electing to bowl first, Max and Seaman opened up and bowled accurate first spells. Max was particularly effective, with every ball hitting the fourth stump line and he was unlucky not to take a wicket on the day. Chances were few and far between, but I royally stuffed up the first one that presented itself. Whiteley Village’s opener top edged one skywards behind the stumps. The ball was swerving, I completely misjudged it, my legs ended up in muddle, and I failed to get a glove on the ball as it plopped beside my left shoulder. It was a goober. I had DotD nailed on. Charlie and Niket were our first change bowlers and caused the opposition problems. Seaman took a good grab at the 45 after Whiteley Village’s opener failed to turn Niket round the corner. Niket swiftly followed up his first wicket by trapping Whiteley Village’s number three LBW. Callum came onto bowl and immediately got stuck into their middle order (assisted by his skipper’s tactical nous). Before Callum’s first wicket, Charlie came up to me and asked why mid-wicket was open. Well, Whiteley Village’s number five batsman was striding out and he looked like the type of player who enjoyed a hoik into the leg side. He was stocky, held his bat on one shoulder, and was not wearing a helmet. Callum bowled a straight ball, the hoik appeared and the bails went flying. Callum trapped their number seven LBW for his second wicket, before Barney took an excellent diving catch at gully to give Callum his third. Thankfully, Barney learned from his mistake at Ewhurst and resisted the temptation to over-celebrate a la David Warner. This time he celebrated with a simple ball toss in the air. Classy. Rolf tried to follow up my tactical ‘masterstroke’ with one of his own. Removing himself from first slip, he went to short mid-wicket to stem the flow of singles in the final 10 overs of the innings. Unfortunately, two balls later, a nick was drawn, and the ball went flying through first slip to the boundary. Perhaps I need to revisit the recruitment process. Max, Seaman and Niket returned to bowl well at the death and restrict Whiteley Village to 107-7. COVID-19 tea report: I had a ham and honey mustard sandwich and a packet of McCoy’s cheese and onion ridge cut crisps. Not the best tea – it was ruined by a persistent wasp and scoring duties. In recent weeks, our top order has looked fragile (putting it generously). This week was the polar opposite. Barney and Josiah got in and stayed in. They carried their bats, putting on a 100+ run partnership to chase down 108 with relative ease. Josiah was the more aggressive of the two. He played his shots from the off, advancing down the track to the spinners and thumping anything loose through the infield to the fence. He finished with 37* and was unlucky not to be rewarded with a half century. Probably because Barney was greedy and hogged the strike. No, in fairness, Barney played well. As usual, he batted sensibly, blocking out anything that looked to threaten his stumps and dispatching bad balls to the boundary. He ended up with 63* and the MotM award. Two wins from two and an early finish led to the inevitable – a heavy fines session! The results were as follows: MotM: Barney – for his 63* DotD: Myself – for accidentally stealing Sam Mazurek’s keeping kit and my fielding goober TFC: Rolf, Floppy and Fraser – did not bat, bowl or contribute in the field. Still good guys though Champagne Moment: Barney’s catch at gully |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15/08/2020 | 1pm | Saturday 3rd | Whiteley Village | A | 108/0 | 107/7 | W | 20 |