3rd June 2006:
Whalers beat Elthorne by 68 runs.
The captain finally made his debut
today and promptly won the toss on a day he described as 'Scorchio'.
In the great tradition of the season thus far we again batted first against a
team we loosely calculated we had lost to 4 times and beaten 3. Thus we were
ready to even the score, and off the first legitimate delivery of the game Oz
straight away edged a regulation chance to short third man who promptly made a
meal of it - things were going our way - a sign of things to come.
After the early let off Will and Oz
set to work building an opening stand against some useful and steady bowling.
At drinks (20 overs) they had moved the score along
to 72 without loss, though there did appear to be some lost opportunities with
the running between wickets. Nevertheless it was a solid start and with another
long batting lineup waiting in the wings, Ads went out to give the hurry up
message to the boys.
Inspired by the pep talk, 3rd ball
after drinks saw Will’s stumps rearranged for a patient 16. Dario joined Oz and
together they upped the pace, Dario was particularly aggressive against their
spinner (I would say his spin direction here but I really don’t have a clue),
nearly both offering a catch and clonking a straight six with the same
delivery, but instead settling for 4. Things were going well until Dario (26
runs) led a spate of fallen wickets around 120–130 including Ollies comedy run out (cue Muppet moment to Gibbo), and Oz's for a very nice 64 - all of which saw
Geoff enter the fray batting at 8 to join Ads.
On a painfully slow outfield Geoff
decided on other ways to score, and quickly dispatched the spinner for a
straight six over long on followed next ball by a lofted drive for four through
long off. Together with Ads they pushed the score towards 200 before Geoff ran
himself out for 30 in yet more comedy running style. Whalers reached 198 after
40 overs, with Ads sitting on 20no. A pretty useful
target given the slow outfield and large ground.
In reply Elthorne
also made a steady start against some good early bowling from Paul M and Dan.
However they couldn’t make the breakthrough (tough on Dan who had the opener
dropped behind off the first ball of the innings), and it wasnt
till Special K came on and bowled a waist high leg side full toss that the
break through was achieved as he hit it straight to Dan at Square Leg. Needless
to say the batter wasn’t happy at being out-guiled by
Special K.
Geoff joined Kamal
in the attack and together they maintained the pressure as the run rate rose,
but wickets were proving hard to get until Geoff got the breakthrough with a
successful LBW. Drinks came and the score was 69-2, cue Paul to bring up
something about how his and Wills partnership wasn’t that slow after all.
After drinks the game turned on its
head as Ads came up with some inspired captaincy. Bringing himself into the
attack, his first ball removed their dangerous opener (LBW), but it was the
'Dazzler' coming on at the other end with his off spin that ripped out the
middle order. His FOURTH wicket was the moment of the match, pitching from
outside off to knock the off stump bail off as the batsman didn’t play a shot.
By now Elthorne
were out of the game. At 7 wickets down requiring 8+ an over, Dan and Paul M
returned to mop up the tail. Dario took in good grace the slightly odd decision
of Skipper to not bring him back to try and get his 5-for as he had a couple of
overs to spare, but this is not to take away from a
good days captaincy by the skipper.
Elthorne were all out for 130 on the back of an excellent fielding and bowling
display by the Whalers ending in a stunningly good 68 run win against a very
decent Elthorne side.
MOM -
Dario (26 and 4-29)
Muppet - Gibbo for his part in the Oli run
out
Champagne - Dario for his fourth wicket, coming from outside off to take off the
off stump bail while the batsman watched on, no stroke offered.
Whalers 198-8 vs
Elthorne 130 all out
Batting
Oz 64
Geoff 30
Dario 26
Ads 20no
Dario 4-29
Dan 2-18