Produced by Cricket Statz - www.cricketstatz.com
Last updated 25-May-2009.
Match Report
So we rolled up to St James' full of confidence following last weeks win. We welcomed back Reading for his first appearance of the season. Fred won the toss, so we batted.
A good start from Colin and Si saw us to 28 inside 6 overs until Colin tamely chipped to cover. Earlier he had played a delicious straight drive of the same bowler, which in the end we agreed he should have done again. Pete came in and hit some nice shots without full conviction. Simon was looking good, leaving P&S' overseas very well. He then got a sharp rising delivery which was gloved to 2nd slip. Pete then followed, the story of his season thus far, getting caught in the covers. At this stage we were 52-3 in the 14th. Myself and Jocky then went about rebuilding for a few overs. Despite Matty getting one on the collar bone off a length early on, he drove anything full very well and passed 50 from 68 balls. We put on 94 inside 20 overs before I was bowled by Upton (27). He did a really good job for his side. He bowled his 10 on the bounce getting swing and seam. He picked up Sammy Free and Ottis also, after Sam and Jocky had put on 50 in 10 overs. The fall of Sammy resulted in Jocky going for a fine 87 next over, followed by Reading. We had lost 3 wickets for 7 runs in 3 overs! Fred fell trying to push on with 3 overs to go, closely followed by Jewell for a golden. Tom and Keith saw us to 50 overs with a partnership of 19 which included Keith flicking their premier seamer for 4 first ball! So 239-9 was our final total which included a liitle bit of momentum thanks to the final partnership.
Tea's were ok, complete lack of Egg!! Then we were moaned at for not putting our plates in the bin, when there was no bin about!! She duly fetched one from the kitchen!!
Any momentum we did have soon went. They got off to a bit of a flier with 39 up in 7 overs. Both openers drove Tom quite well, hitting everything straight. Jewell got the first breakthrough, Matty taking a catch in the covers. In walked the overseas. He signalled his intentions straight away, going for a big cover drive first up. He decided to use the fielding restrictions and hit some ugly, but effective shots. At 80-1, we got a tripple breakthrough. Matty clean bowled 2 and Pete bounced out 1. 3 wickets for 5 runs, we'd clawed ourselves back into the game. Runs were still flowing though, at 20 overs they had 125 on the board. Double wicket time again, Fred and Keith, one each in consecutive overs. At 133-6 in walked 15 year old Rob Evans. He done his team proud. He held up his end while Dyer hit anything we threw at him. He even had the confidece to hit a few 4's late on. They put on an unbroken 107 with Dyer 125* and Evans 28* to see them home 9 1/2 overs to spare.
So another defeat when we looked like we could have gone on to win it. Few points to note, 3 wickets for 7 runs is never good when setting a total and we need to try and create a bit more pressure by bowling dots. We have only bowled 4 maidens as a team in 3 games (all Jewelly). Lets make sure we bowl in partnerships as we do when batting. Plus points, Jocky had a good game, batted and bowled well and we have again picked up max batting points. Bournemouth next week, we still should go with plenty of confidence.
