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Match Report vs Barry West End 21 May 2009 @ Wenvoe (Skipper BA and Report Smitts)

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”
Russel Baker

On a glorious Sunday afternoon, The Casuals arrived at Wenvoe looking forward to a full day’s cricket. For once the weather was not a concern and Pikey was not playing. Coincidence?

C-H-A-R-L-I-E, my main man.

I have no idea who won the toss, so let’s say they did and decided to have a bat. Lewis and Mahesh opened the bowling for the Casz and as always the Wenvoe pitch was slow and low. It was obvious from the start that M. Williams and R. Howell The West Enders opening pair, knew what they were doing and weren’t going to give their wickets away. This coupled with some excellent bowling meant that after ten overs the score was 22/0 and Lewis and Mahesh had earned a rest.

Andy F and Hand took over bowling responsibilities and continued in the same vain. Andy F was finding a little bit of movement through the air and with the quicker ball making an appearance now and again the batsmen had to be on their toes. After one of Andy F’s quicker balls that caught the batsman (and the wicket keeper) unawares but failed to bother the timbers, he commented, “That used to be my slower ball,” and much hilarity was had by all. The Hand Shandy at the other end, after a wayward first ball found his line and length. He then proceeded to get quicker and quicker in the blistering heat and started moving the ball back in to the batsman off the pitch. The batsmen, although not hitting many boundaries were not panicking and kept the score ticking over slowly with ones and twos.

Twenty overs in the score was 50/0 and it was time for a bowling change. Pablo and Mo were called upon and Pablo decided to shake things up a bit by throwing the ball above the batsmen’s eye line. Could the batsmen resist these tempting moon ball deliveries? The answer was no and the ball raced to the rope a couple of times. Pablo undeterred stuck like a limpet to his moon ball strategy and got his reward. As Paul released the ball the batsman’s eyes lit up, as he advanced down the track the ball dipped and turned bamboozling him and clattered in to the stumps. R. Howell bowled 39. With the new batsman at the crease Pablo reverted to bowling medium pace. Mo at the other end was bowling well without reward but keeping the score to a minimum. In the last over of his spell Pablo picked up the wicket of the other opener caught by Dan ‘safe hands’ Lewis going for a big yahoo trying to get the score moving. M Williams 31 Caught Lewis Bowled P Stephens.

After thirty four overs the score was 113/2. With The West End looking to make use of the wickets in hand, Lewis and Mahesh were bought back in to the attack. The batsmen were willing to chance their arm in these last six overs and we knew chances would present themselves. The next wicket fell when a ball down the leg side from Mahesh was only partially stopped by the bronzed Adonis Smith behind the stumps, who had been cooking in his helmet all day and was by now suffering from severe dehydration. The batsmen tried to run a quick single but like a whippet from the slips Lewis pounced and threw at the bowlers end. (As Smith dived for cover at the strikers end given Dan’s reputation) The throw was good and collected by Mahesh who whipped the bails off. The batsmen continued to look for runs in the last couple of overs and there was just enough time for Dan to pick up a wicket LBW before the 40 overs were bowled.

Barry West End 156/4 off 40

D Lewis 8-1-32-1
M Kannan 8-0-28-0
A Furnham 6-0-23-0
S Hand 6-0-18-0
P Stephens (J Snape) 6-0-27-2
M Jamal 6-1-18-0

Tea was superb. Foxy is a legend.

Easy and The Bar opened for The Casuals but The West End struck first over. Chris bowled with the score still on 0. Out came Smith and struggled from the off with the bowler adopting the cunning tactic of bowling at the wickets! Smith and Bar had a quick chat about how there were loads of overs and no need to do anything silly…so on and so forth. Akbari was next to go, playing across a straight one. Many a Casuals downfall. Smith was joined by Spider and the two of them had the same chat about steadying the ship and getting them in singles if we had to ….. and for a while this plan seemed to be working.

The scoreboard wasn’t racing along but it was moving despite the high number of dot balls. Smith was struggling with his timing and struggling with the running in the heat. (I was blowing out my ass at some points) Eventually he too fell to the deadly straight delivery and was back in the club house. Smith 13 Bowled. Dewbs joined him shortly after, mistiming one and being caught and mid off. Dewbs 8 Caught. Richy and Mo took up the reins keeping the score ticking along slowly wittout giving it away. Eventually Richy was bowled for 7. After twenty two overs the Casz were 62/5.

Hand joined Mo in the middle and the two of them pulled the innings together. Playing sensibly, taking the singles when they were available and not giving away their wickets. Eventually Mo was bowled for a hard fought 21. Mahesh picked up right where Mo left off and after a brief return to the club house to empty his pockets of mobile phone and camera...really started to get the score moving. With the total approaching three figures and with less than 10 overs left it was clear that caution had to be thrown to the wind. Scotty and Mahesh started to up the run rate but both fell before either could release the beast inside. Hand 23 LBW. Kannan 25 Bowled. It came down to this. The score was 102/7 off 33 overs.

Pablo and Lewis were in the middle and needed 55 runs off the last 7 overs. Lewis wasted no time hitting his first delivery for 4. One of their players could be heard to say, “ Take a look at it then, and play yourself in” What followed was the closest thing you’ll see to a public execution this side of Saudi Arabia. Dan bludgeoning everything to the boundary with his meaty wand. Pablo realising that Dan was on fire made sure he rotated the strike as often as he could to get the mighty cow banger on strike. The opposition captain realised that they were in danger of losing the game and went defensive with his field settings but too late. With four needed off the last over and the field back they were easily picked up in singles.

The Casz were victorious!

C Ryde 0 off 5
A Akbari 4 off 7
M Smith 13 off 33
D Dewberry 8 off 20
R Holliday 7 off 37
M Jamal 21 off 35
S Hand 23 off 32
M Kannan 25 off 37
P Stephens 13 off 15 (not out)
D Lewis 26 off 13 (not out)
A Furnham DNB

Bowling figures of note

T Miller 8-6-3-2

[Ed: Milestones reached - Dan Lewis 50 catches - the most taken (so far) by a non keeper] [Milestones]

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