Match Report vs Chartered
Trust 20 May 2015 @ St Fagans (Skipper Jesus, report
Shag)
A bit of jiggery pokery with the team selection and everyone
was on time and ready to go against CT on the St Fagans main
pitch. Skipper Will won the toss and elected to bat first.
The team, spectators and scorers had to be on the ball as
openers Tesh and Luvvers were at the crease...for a while.
Tesh got the Cazh off the mark with a 2 in the first over.
Luvvers, playing his first game of the season started with
an elaborate cover drive that he missed. Head down for the
2nd ball after shouts from the sidelines. His confidence regained
– he followed with another full drive which turned into
a top edge which was caught at point. Tesh had unfortunately
managed to scamper to the other end, as next ball also tried
a cover drive and was bowled. Bambi approached the crease
on a hat-trick, which he defended. 2-2 off 2. Jesus and Bambi
looked to repair the innings. The bowling was accurate, not
particularly quick, which made it even harder to play, both
Jesus and Bambi struggling to get to terms with the pace and
bounce of the pitch.
Bambi faced 13 deliveries, scoring 2 singles before being
the 3rd victim of Craig Mohring – bowled in the 6th
over. 13-3. Britpop now in. The change of bowlers introduced
a quicker pace and a bit more bounce. This actually helped
the batsmen, however, there were quite a few very good deliveries
that just beat the bat and a few chances of those that were
close enough to the keeper, were thankfully put down. Typically,
even though more balls were connected with, a combination
of ball placement and fielding, the score never rocketed or
indeed left the ground. Britpop lasted 24 deliveries before
expertly fetching an exceptionally wide delivery from off
the square and managed to not only connect with it, but also
directly to point for 11. 47-4 off 14overs. Pressure was increasing
on those remaining and on Skipper Will still at the crease.
It induced a big 6 from Will. Ash faced 9 balls and his scoring
shot was a nice 4 in the middle of his innings before being
literally run out by a mile. With just 2 and bit overs to
go, the Cazh were swinging at everything. There was a bit
of discent in the field to a couple of full toss no-balls
called by Tesh (CT have since apologised for this minor indiscretion,
plus the individual punished heavily by the CT fining system).
Will finally fell for 42, playing on; Rolf out for 1, Kiwi
Pete out for 3 and finally Dan out off the last ball playing
on for 0. Matt Purnell on debut carried his bat for a 2 ball
0. The Cazh finishing on 75-9.
Tesh – 2 b
Luvvers – 0 ct
Jesus – 42b
Bambi – 2b
Britpop – 11 ct
Ash – 4 ro
Rolf – 1b
Kiwi Pete – 3b
Shag – 0b
Shakey - DNB
An uphill struggle faced the Cazh, and the target was to
pick up as many wickets, and therefore bonus points as possible.
Will had divulged that he was going to ‘mix it up a
bit’ with the bowling, reminiscent of the 1 over spell
tactic employed by Shakey several years ago (and also led
to Shakey not being selected for captaincy for a number of
years). Shag opened the bowling from the sun end, and was
successful at get the first wicket bowled. Shakey opened from
the other end, and was himself a victim of the single over
spell after throwing in a few wides and going for 9 (though,
I’m assured this wasn’t the reason he was replaced
– especially as he was unlucky not to pick up a wicket
as Britpop put down a chance on the boundary). Matt P on debut
replaced Shakey from the bowling green end, and Tesh replaced
Dan from the sun end. It was Tesh that picked up the second
wicket inviting the batsman to go large with a lofted off
drive which was comfortably snaffled by Luvvers.
Enter Rolf. First 2 deliveries can only be described as ‘looseners’,
the 3rd the batsman took pity and when chasing a wide multi
bouncing delivery scoring 2. He tried the same the next delivery,
only to scoop it up to debutant Matt P at mid-on. 3 down.
Rolf galvanised by the previous wicket, was this time up against
Craig Mohring, and out of the blue – bowled an absolute
snorter which got a tickle from Craig and potentially even
more a surprise was expertly taken by Ash behind the stumps
(on his 100th appearance for the Cazh). The batsman remonstrated
that he didn’t hit it, but the umpire agreed with the
Cazh and gave him out. 4 down and Rolf on a hat-trick. To
restore the equilibrium, the batsman smashed a straight 4.
51-4 off 8 overs. Tesh continued into a third over and was
to take another wicket caught by Kiwi Pete (after a juggle)
at mid on. Tails were up, the Cazh felt a sniff of victory
(even if the required CT chase was almost at the end). Rolf’s
2nd over was much better, in as much that most hit the strip
and went for less runs, Kiwi Pete bowled what turned out to
be the last over, going for singles and a thumping 6 in the
11th over.
Dan – 2-0-10-1
Shakey – 1-0-9-0
Matt P – 2-0-14-0
Tesh – 3-0-13-2
Rolf – 2-0-19-2
Kiwi Pete – 1-0-10-0
Even though it was a pretty convincing victory (or loss),
the Cazh did themselves proud in the second innings –
bowling well and fielding very well – looking eager
to chase down the ball or being alert to stopping the singles.
Batting – needed to be patient, especially after the
early loss of wickets, but the bowling was very good and the
pitch as low as Wenvoe. Gaining 2 bonus points against the
best team in the league should be taken as a good result.
After changing, the St Fagan’s bar was unmanned, so
it was off to the Plymouth Arms to discuss the state of the
Willow league, and options for inter-league competition with
Full Toss league, plus argue extensively about whether KP
should be in the England side (or available for selection)...after
looking at today’s debacle against NZ maybe he should
have been in....?
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