Match Report vs Cavaliers 5 August 2010

Due to what sounds like a bit of a wrangling behind the scenes on the venue for tonight's game Dan was very keen to win this game and even more so to make sure we started at 6pm. Dan lost the toss and we were put in so Kim and Pabs strolled out to start proceedings, waited for the oppo and play began at 6.05.

My fellow scorer was Andy H but it did look like I would have some female company again, not for the first time this year although the standard was mixed in previous games to say the least. This was quality mind you. Sadly it was not to be but as she decided to lean over the railings to our right and have a chat to a non playing cavalier. Me and Winky tried to concentrate on the game in hand with varing degrees of success. On Sunday gone I had the pleasure of some young ladies flashing their Brenda Frickers behind me while scoring so its been a good few days.

Anyway there was a game going on Kim and Pabs got us off to a steady start to some excellent bowling. It was not easy out there but they ticked along nicely and took 22 off the first 5 overs. By now Rich had turned up with his bag a topic of conversation as it looked like a woman's. Shakes was telling us about his Special Bhoona and letting a few farts go while sat. Our Scottish friend had giggled somewhat when he earlier told us he has used the same box for 14 years and mentioned it when she heard him let one go.

Kim had to change his pad as the strap broke and they were last seen in the bin as we left, he did mention he had them since he was 15. Nadders was telling us about the pricks he had in his arm today because he is going to Mauritius and Dubai? He also said he was getting married in September with Leicester and Birmingham being the venues for the celebrations. I did ask if she was fit as I didn't want him to spend the rest of his life with a minger. He just smiled so from that I reckon she is.

On the field the ticking continued until Paul skied one and was caught and bowled off Al Fraser for a well made 20. 54 for 1 in the 11th. This brought Orgazzers into the fray to join Kim and kept up the ticking with some speedy runs being taken. Kim had two lives, the first was tough but the second you would have expected to be taken by Marchant 9 times out of 10. Their bowling continued to be tight but not enough to stop Kim reaching 50 again. Unfortunately he couldn't see it to the end and was bowled for 52 in Chapmans first over to make it 105 for 2 in the 16th. Tesh came in to join Gaz and again we ticked over nicely but never got away due to the tightness of the bowling. We never quite managed to hit as many boundaries as we would have liked but still managed to post a decent enough score of 120 for 2 from the 18. Gaz finished on 24 not out from 19 balls and Tesh 10 not out from 11 balls.

Kim 52 off 44 balls in 60 mins bowled 4 x4
Paul 20 off 34 balls in 39 mins caught
Gaz 24 not out off 19 balls 1 x 4
Tesh 10 not out off 11 balls 1 x 4

106 off the bat and 14 extras 8 wides, 1 bye and 5 leg byes

A quick turn around and Andy opened from the pavilion end and then Iain from the far end against the very dangerous pair of Irishman Mcveigh and Steadman with both players capable of taking the game from us in no time. Fortunately for us Iain bowling a super spell of slow and straight did for both of them within the first 4 overs and both were back sat by me with the score on 21. This meant we were very much back in the game but Marchant was at the crease with the hard hitting Chapman.

Andy finished his spell followed by Iain and they were 36 after 6, while we had been 28. Nadders came on for Andy and Goff the other end. Goff bowled two short ones that went for 4 from his first 2 balls but his next 16 balls only went for another 8 in total. Nadders just dropped the odd one short and had a few taken off him but at the end of the 10th they were 69 for 2 while we had been 54 for 0. They needed 52 off the last 8 which is 6 and a half an over.

Enter Dan who was desperate to win at least one shield game. 3 balls later with the help of a top catch from Nadders that looked far more likely as the hard hitting Chapman was gone for an excellent 29 and 70 for 3 in the 11th. Dan did not have to wait much longer for the next as he yorked the number 4 Adams for 1 after the ball before showed some major bounce. 75 for 4 in the 13th. At the end of the over the score had moved onto 81 meaning they needed 40 off 5.

This brought to the wicket Graveson who recently hit the quickest 50 in Cav history. He was preparing himself to bat by having a back of the leg massage...He and Marchant little by little started to whittle down the target. Gaz bowled one over from the far end before Dan ended his spell and it was 89 from 14 so 32 off 4 then 22 off the last 3. Marchant had the odd bit of luck but kept compiling while Graveson certainly wanted to give it a whack but was very strong off his hip. As agreed by the female spectator.

Shakey came on to bowl the 16th as the bats looked to try and smack everything. One more wicket could have changed it all, it was quite dark and would have been tough for the new bat. 8 came off the over so 13 off 2. Gaz changed ends and bowled a good over but with a couple of byes and a leg bye they still managed to take 8 off it meaning 5 from 6 balls with Shakey to bowl.

A leg bye a single and a straight 4 later and it was all over with 3 balls to spare. Credit must go to their bowling for making us work very hard and a superb innings from Marchant to see it through with excellent support from Graveson who bowled 3 overs for 8, hit 25 not out.

Did we do much wrong? Not really, there was a catch Nadders misjudged, hardly a misfield to note, and Dan wishing he hadn't tried to stop one of Graveson's big hits (as he now has a very swollen finger). They probably bowled a touch better then us and that's not to say we bowled badly as we didn't. Unfortunately we didn't quite have enough to give us the win we wanted. It was a very good game of cricket though and I reckon one more wicket in the last 4 overs would have done it.

Andy 3-0-21-0 2 wides
Ian 3-0-11-2 3 wides
Nads 2-0-20-0 2 no balls
Goff 3-0-16-0
Dan 3-0-17-2 2 wides
Gaz 2-0-13-0
Shakes 1.3-0-13-0
101 off the bat and 21 extras of 8 wides, 2 no balls, 6 byes and 5 leg byes

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