Match Report vs Llantwit
Fardre Centurions 22nd July 2025 @ Bryn Y Don (Skipper
Jim, report Jesus)
Fair to say our league form has been about as good as my
batting form this year (maybe there's a link there?) but an
unfamiliar Centurions team absent many of their decent players
presented an opportunity for The Cazh and I (whistling a happy
tune? - one for the musical fans there) to turn things around.
We probably won the toss as we were batting and Skipper Jim
and newly minted club premier run getter Hollywood Jack opened
up. A decent opening stand followed against the inexperienced
Centurions attack, though I can't remember a huge amount of
it I must admit. It's probably safe to assume that Jack played
classily and scored liberally square of the wicket, and Jim
played agriculturally and scored cow of the wicket, with nary
a quick single in sight. Jack was first to go in the 9th with
the score at 57, caught behind off the decent second change
quick. Me in next and my wonderful season continued bowled
second ball off an inside edge for 1 (shit sport anyway).
Rhys joined Jim and the singles went from ambled to pedestrian,
with the pair putting on 40 odd before Jim eventually holed
out for a useful 41. Hasnat in at 5 and now the 'runs' could
legitimately be described as such, both batters turning the
strike over well and putting away the boundary balls when
available. All that moving led to the inevitable, Rhys run
out in the last over via direct hit - an excellent bit of
fielding from cover who only had one stump to aim at. This
brought Dan to the crease, just in time for some comedy off
the final ball, somehow attempting a 4th(!) run from a ball
that had barely got off the square, but only making it about
a third of the way, run out without troubling the scorers.
Casuals 145-5 from 20, not a terrible total but less than
we'd previously failed to defend so we weren't exactly cockahoop.
Casuals Batting
J Hodkinson, caught, 41, 7x4s
J Beaumont, caught behind, 27,4x4s
W Mason-Wilkes, bowled, 1 (wank)
R Davies, run out, 38, 7x4s
Hasnat, not out, 13, 1x4s
D Lewis, run out, 0
Extras B-4 LB-3 W-17 NB-1
Dan and DT opened up. 10 off the first - eek. DT with the
breakthrough in the second, popped up behind the bowler and
I swept round from mid on to snaffle it - I can catch again
at least it seems. A couple of tight overs from Dan and then
another wicket for DT in the 6th, this time caught by Rob,
saw Centurions at 36-2 at the end of the powerplay, Casuals
well in the game. Maxi and Shakes first change, and fair to
say it wasn't Maxi's day, struggling with his line 0-12 from
1 became 0-32 from 2 before Jim put him (us) out of his (our)
misery. Shakes plugged away from the other end, picking up
the number 4 stumped by Jim, and most importantly of all avoiding
injury (more on this in next week's report #spoileralert).
Centurions 80-3 at the halfway stage. A few tight overs from
Rob and Hasnat followed, with Hasnat bowling the number 5
in his second over and suddenly we thought we might have a
sniff. This turned to genuine interest when we picked up in
2 in 2 overs, Hasnat again doing the trick removing the dangerous
opener who batted nicely for his 46 before he found Rhys on
the long-on fence. DT struck next, again luring the batsmen
into a big hoik which I took comfortably enough at deep mid
on. 32 required from the final four overs, and the Casuals
well in the game. At this point the book becomes a bit unclear,
so I can't provide all the details, but from memory their
keeper came in and batted very well, hitting a number of boundaries
through the covers and shepherding the less able number 8,
keeping him off strike where he could. This all meant that
they needed just 4 from the final over, which Rob bowled,
and though the keeper offered a chance in the deep it was
a toughie in the late evening gloom and Hasnat couldn't hold
on, though I'm not sure it would have made that much difference
to the result, with Centurions getting home with 4 balls to
spare. 146-5 from 19.2
Casuals Bowling
D Lewis 4-0-23-0
D Thomas 4-0-26-3
M Cullen 2-0-31-0
M Stephens 4-0-23-1
Hasnat 4-0-20-2
R Owen 1.2-0-15-0
Another close one, another loss, another evening of what
might have beens, but we took it with our usual Casuals sang
froid (well most of us, eh Rob #postmatchchunter)
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