Produced by Cricket Statz - www.cricketstatz.com
Last updated 05-Jul-2009.
Match Report
Really, this was a match against a side who, almost literally, failed to turn up. I gather that they have had some internal club problems which meant that their side included a lot of youngsters at the last minute, and boy did it show. This was a match not so much won as given to us on a plate, and I mean no disrespect to US when I say that they were very poor on the day.
Having lost the toss and fielding first, Mike Edwards up from the 4ths opened the attack and bowled fast and accurately, only 4 runs coming from his first 4 overs. Les opened at the other end and immediately found the edge, with a couple of streaky 3's flying down to deep 3rd man. However, he got the initial breakthrough with the last ball of his first over, bowling the skipper for 4. Mikey bowled the other opener in his 4th over with the score on 18, and the pattern was set for the rest of the innings. Few runs came, wickets fell frequently - no.3 caught behind off Les, no.4 trapped in front, also Les... From number 5 onwards it was remarkable that not one batsman asked for a guard, opting instead to trust to whatever markings were already there. Once they were 3 down for 25 runs off 8 overs they seemed to just give up. One notable exception was their number 5, who hit some wonderful drives and was the last man out. There was a run out and a couple of great slip catches by Ian Farley. On 64 for 7 off 18 overs a young lad came in, refused a guard, stood with his toes outside off stump and was duly bowled round his legs first ball by Ian Clark. I think the game was summed up in that moment. A couple of regulation catches later, both to Rob Carpenter, and US were all out for 73 after a mere 20.1 overs. A very poor performance, and one lacking heart and ambition once the first few wickets had fallen. It was almost as if they only showed up to avoid getting a 20 point penalty for defaulting. Les finished with 4-42 and Ian Clark with 3-9, Mike and Robbo claiming one apiece. Jake and Rob C didn't even get a chance to bowl.
Teas were good if a touch on the early side, thank you Jake for all your slaving.
How can you defend 73 in a 42 over match? Well they couldn't and didn't. The first ball went for a wide, and after that Farls and Rob Carpenter just set about the bad balls - there were plenty - dispatching them to the boundary with the help of some abysmal fielding. Dramatic dives look good on TV, but only if you are actually anywhere near the ball. Rob was out fending one behind for 8 (two 4s) in the 4th over with the score on 21, Tosders came in and effectively held up an end while Ian Farley crashed 4 after 4 off poor bowling. After a partnership of 46 (including 6 wides off one ball thanks to overthrows) Tosders was out for 7, caught at first slip off the pick of US's bowling, the U13 spinner Peachey, whose flight and ripping off-spin earned him creditable figures of 3-0-6-1. Andy O came in with just 7 more runs needed for the win, and after he had brought the scores level the winning runs duly arrived in the 14th over courtesy of Ian Farley's 9th boundary 4 in an undefeated innings of 42. We were all at The Hollow before the 2nds had gone in for tea.
A win is a win, and the thirds are third in the league table at the half-way point of the season. Although played in a great spirit this was however a thoroughly one-sided game and as poor an opposition as the 3rds will see all year. That should not detract from our performance, which remained focused throughout despite the inevitable result.
