Match Report vs Eclipse
- 18th August 2009@ Llanrumney (Skipper John, Report
Tesh)
The sun was shining, somewhat uncharacteristic for Cardiff
in August and certainly nothing like the damp conditions we'd
seen in July.
The Casuals opened the batting with Kim and Shakes. Kim got
off to a flyer; unfortunately Shakey did not and was caught
behind for 0 in the 2nd over. Frank joined Kim and the pair
put on 13 runs together - Kim scored all the runs and Frank
ran well until he too was caught behind for 0. Darren and
Tesh both came and went each adding 9 to the score, now on
57. Kim eventually departed with a well earned 31 bringing
Goughy on who amassed 14 with a couple of boundaries and a
few ‘come one’s. Foxy failed to trouble the scorers
as did Paul but Dave made a valiant 8, all singles. A final
wicket stand of 17 by Warwick (8) and Furnham (9) meant the
Casuals had seen out the full 18 overs with 94 on the board.
Not a bad total consider the bowling was very good, they gave
away just 7 extras of which only 3 were wides.
With a relatively small total to defend the Casuals took
to the field. The Eclipse batsmen got off to an aggressive
start but Iain put a stop to that with a wicket in the first
over, caught by Frank at point. Paul and Iain did their best
to stem the flow of runs but by the 4th over Eclipse had 22
on the board. Paul forced the 2nd breakthrough and a very
good catch by John F at mid off now put Eclipse firmly on
the back foot. In the 5th over Iain took another wicket, again
a catch, this time taken by Tesh at mid off. With the score
around the 30 mark the run of wickets dried up, Niluka and
R Jones, clearly their in-form batsmen, added another 40 to
the score with Shakes and DT throwing all but the kitchen
sink at them to halt their charge to the 96 run mark.
Foxy was the next bowler to cash in on the catch fest, he
forced the batsmen to go aerial and Paul took a comfortable
catch at square leg. The Foxy Prior show truly got underway
when he took the next two wickets, one clean bowled and the
other, the prized wicket of Chris Stork, was a stumping. Kim
got in on the act next with a caught and bowled leaving Eclipse
tantalisingly close, 85-ish, with a couple of wickets in hand.
With the game looking like a certain loss the tables were
turned once again when Kim was hit straight back over his
head, Iain made a frantic effort to even get near to the ball
and with arms outstretched and travelling at a rate of knots
took arguably the best catch of the season.
The game, now in the last of the 18 overs, with one batsman
remaining and 4 runs to get, was poised for a stunning finish.
While most of the Casuals had been flaunting their newfound
catching abilities Frank had been quietly plugging away. In
his three overs he had bowled a staggering 13 dot balls and
was finally rewarded by taking the all-important final wicket,
bowled.
The Casuals won by 4 runs in what was possibly their season’s
best fielding performance.
Apologies for a very, very, very late report. Besides forgetting,
then returning back to work, then going on tour (and remembering
again), then forgetting, and finally remembering...again,
it can safely be said that I'm a tardy ****!
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