Match Report vs Caerleon
21 June 2009 @ Wenvoe (Skipper and Report Dan)
With the late withdrawal of Skipper and ‘recognised’
batsmen Jonny F due to another reoccurrence of gout, JR was
drafted in and Dan made stand in skipper. Everyone was on
time, Foxy working hard on his tea – and suggested to
Captain Dan that it would be prudent to field first –
using all of his wily cunning tea tactics….as it happened
that played into Dan’s hands, with the potentially shakey
batting line up – he was only too happy to bowl first.
Things went to plan with the toss won and oppo inserted.
Lewis opened the bowling attack and immediately extracted
some bounce off the Wenvoe wicket. Andy F opened from the
other end and varied his line, length and speed to keep the
batsman on their toes. The tactic worked – encouraging
a drive, the batsman hit it straight to Dan at mid-on who
took a less than easy catch head high on the left side (after
a little juggle). 6-1-2overs. The pair continued to keep a
lid on the Caerleon batsmen, Dan regularly getting bounce,
got his reward in the 11over – the batman nicking an
edge to keeper Ash, the umpire took his time as the batsman
wasn’t walking, but eventually the finger went up. 39-2-12overs.
At this stage all was rosie, however a change of bowling
was required and Dewbs was given the ball (to his surprise
as it turned out). The surprise was then radiated out to the
rest of the team as Dewbs proceeded to bowl light full tosses
down the legside which the batsman happily slapped to the
boundary. However, persistence paid off and in his 3rd and
final over, Dewbs got one to bounce and spin taking effect
and with a deflection off both pads hit middle and leg. 81-3-17overs.
DB had replaced Porno and he too struggled to find his line
and length. The batsman tending to hit through the ‘v’
but however many fielders were put there, the ball always
seemed to find a gap and race away through the vast but fast
outfield.
At drinks Caerleon had rattled along to 106-3-20overs. Mojo
had replaced Dewbs and began to stem the flow of runs. DB
continued and with only DB, the keeper and JR not on the boundary
– the batsman pushed 2’s. After 28 overs both
batsmen reached their half centuries and the bowling attack
was changed once more. Steveo from the pavilion end and Foxy
from the footy end. Steveo started with 3 down leg that got
punished, however he manged to get the break through by throwing
in an unexpected straight one – bowling his man! 160-4-29overs.
Foxy from the other end, not to be out done, was having more
success on the line and encouraged the batsman to charge him
at the end of the over, only to miss it, spin, fall on his
arse and got stumped by Ash. 163-5-30overs. With the two new
batsman at the crease, the cazh had the opportunity to stem
the runs and pick up wickets.
Steveo unbelievably picked another in his next over getting
his man for nothing also bowled rattling off both pads before
finding it’s way through. 164-6. The batsmen consolidated
over the next few, punishing Foxy a little – at least
he was defending the larger boundary. Some good fielding stopped
some boundaries, though Ash could have taken a run out from
the throw of Shag in the deep, but not moving close enough
to the returning ball, managed to get struck square in the
box rendering him ‘in-shock’ and unable to reclaim
the ball or move closer to the stumps. 181-6-34overs. In the
35th over guess who struck again (with a wicket maiden) –
this time with a catch taken by Tesh as short third man…..yeap
it was Steveo….181-7-35overs.
With the best chance of his life to claim a 5for Steveo (and
Foxy at the other end) was kept on for the remaining overs.
Foxy unlucky with a couple of difficult catches off his bowling
(mainly fielders running desperately in the deep), but Steveo
got one wicket closer in the 37th picking up another bowled.
The penultimate over Steveo needing one more….second
ball, the batsman looped one up to mid-on, Richie standing
underneath it, hands out (or should it be thumbs out), fumble,
spilt dropped….was that the chance…? No, two balls
later the milestone (that’ll never be seen again) was
reached Steveo bowling the number 9.!!!! After the celebrations
he finished off the innings last ball of his spell getting
the last wicket bowled once again!! Shocking scenes.
Lewis – 6(overs) 1(maiden) 16(runs) 1(wicket)
Furnham – 6–1–19-1
Dewberry – 3–0–35-1
Thomas – 8–0–53-0
Jamal – 5–0–22-0
O’Reilly – 6–1–29-6
Prior – 5–0–30-1
The Foxy tea machine stirred into action, providing the oppo
with more that they could manage – though as it turns
out they have a similar constitution as the Cazh….would
it backfire…? Tea was lovely and plentiful once more.
Chasing a large total 213 (to win), Captain Dan wasn’t
looking to go after that target straight away, but started
with an opening gambit of 40 for no loss off 10 – it
was pointed out that this target might have also been a bit
optimistic… Tesh and Ash opened and started as requested
– slow. The bowling attack was steady from the pavilion
end, and erratic from the other, but as always (and as with
Steveo’s first over) there was a good straight ball
out there, which was to get the first victim Tesh –
for 0 off 13 balls. 6-1-4overs. JR joined Ash and the pair
continued to play each ball on merit usually resulting from
dead batting from JR and a swish fro Ash. Ash was next to
fall (4 ) in the 8th over after facing 17 balls. 14-2-8 –
admittedly not quite the start captain Dan had been expecting,
but their wickets hadn’t been thrown away trying to
chase the large total from the start. Rich joined JR and both
battled through the next 16 overs.
At drinks the pair were told to look for singles and turning
1s into 2s, which they did where possible. Richie displaced
the much talked about ‘batting by numbers’ style
from the sidelines (4 or swish, block, 4 or swish, block)
by blocking 3 deliveries in a row! The partnership of 60 ended
in the 24th over with JR being bowled (26 ) off 67 balls faced
in 77 minutes – not quite Twenty/20 but just what the
Cazh needed. 74-3-28.
MoJo was next in, still with the instructions of staying
there, but pushing the score where poss. This worked for a
while until Richie was caught and bowled by a cracker supposedly
for 24 off 51 balls. 85-4-28overs. Dewbs joined Mojo and after
waiting on the side lines for years, asked for the wrong guard
and was bowled second ball (0 ). 85-5-28overs. Foxy who was
due to be in next found his game cut short after being summoned
to attend an annual picnic in LLandaff, and so he’d
already left by the time he was meant to be batting. In a
bit of a rush Shagger made his way out to the middle. After
a confident start, or to be more honest, after he believed
was a confident start, he went too soon for all out attack
and top-edged one to third man (6 ). 92-6-29.
Pushing for man-of the-match, Steveo made his way to the
middle, first ball crunched for 4, second dot, third, smacked
for 4, fourth caught similar to Dan. 100-7-31overs. DB joined
MoJo and the bets were taken. All bases from 1st ball to 4th
ball were snapped up immediately, with Richie confidently
saying he would bat out an over….we were all wrong.
He lasted a lot longer than that. However, MoJo seeing Dave’s
batting style, wisely realised that unless he was going to
keep scoring no more runs would be added to the total. And
so, making runs come from no where he began to display his
array of shots. He was undone trying to manufacture a cover
drive from leg stick and being stumped giving himself some
room (25). 126-9- 37overs. Andy F was last man in and now
facing the first team bowlers found the line and length very
difficult to get away. Dave scored a run, but Andy F didn’t
as he was stumped at the end of the 38th over(0 ). Dave finishing
1 not out off 19 balls faced! The Cazh 126ao.
A valiant effort by the Cazh, who’s main target was
to try and bat for the full 40overs. We nearly made it. An
enjoyable game, and excellent tea also, with everyone contributing
with either ball, with the bat or fielding – Dave even
chased down a 3 to stop a boundary….and a game which
I’m sure SOR will remember for a long time to come.
To continue with the formula – whenever SOR reaches
a momentous occasion we always lose – and today was
no exception...
Tesh – bowled - 0
Ash – bowled - 4
JR – bowled - 26
Rich – c+bowled - 24
MoJo – Stumped -25
Dewbs – bowled - 0
Foxy DNB - 0
Dan – caught - 6
Steveo – caught - 8
Dave – not out - 1
Andy F – stumped - 0
[Milestones]
The following Milestones were reached in this game. Congratulations
to:
Tesh Hirani - 50 appearances
Paul Stephens - 3500 runs (a great achievement - well done
BA)
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