Cricketers (202-8) beat Whalers (149) by 53 runs
Under the stewardship of Pip
English on Whalers captaincy debut, the Whalers faced the Cricketers for the
first time this season at the CSSG. Before the game had started Ed had already
managed to get his car written off at the top of the road. Fortunately he was
uninjured although obviously his consequent lateness was duly noted. The
Cricketers only had 8 players at the start so Pip was unable to put his extensive
tossing practice into effect as he agreed to let the opposition bat first.
The final three late
arriving players were flying in from
Initial exchanges suggested
not as Cricketers got off to a solid start against Matt and Si, happy to have a
swing occasionally, and taking full toll on any loose deliveries. It took some
sharp work from Al and Toby to make the first breakthrough removing Sohail run out for 31. Change bowlers Ed and Kamal bowled well in between a few proper Sherratt balls from Ed but wickets remained hard to come
by, and at drinks Cricketers were 93-1 off 20 overs.
It took the introduction of
Rob to the bowling attack to finally get some numbers in the wicket’s column as
he bowled a spell of 6-0-35-3 finding good value in softening the batsmen up with
four balls before taking a wicket. As the Cricketers looked to force the pace
the Whalers outfielding remained excellent and two
superb throws from James and Si resulted in two more run outs with Toby doing
the necessary with the gloves. Si’s reintroduction to
the attack brought two wickets in two balls including a sharp stumping from Toby
(that he didn’t mention at all after the game) but we couldn’t finish the tail
off and the Cricketers set an imposing 202-8 off their 35.
Dario and Al opened the Whalers
response against the bowling of Summers. It was to
prove a pivotal spell in the context of the game as Summers
extracted lively bounce from accurate deliveries. Dario was out hit wicket as
he got into a mess trying to hook one from his face. Ads went next ball getting
tucked up and looping one to slip; Al followed a few overs
later fending at another short delivery and the Whalers were 10-3 chasing 203
on a wearing Pitch D and it wasn’t looking pretty. Pip and Toby set about
rebuilding seeing off Summers (7-4-10-3) and taking
some runs off the change bowlers including a big 6 from Toby. 58-3 at halfway
represented a good recovery but the required rate was already over 8 and
acceleration was needed.
The Whalers did manage some
big overs after drinks, but wickets began to fall as
well as Toby was caught for 22 and Pip soon after for 27. James and Simon then
added a lively 34 but after Simon was bowled the rest of the order followed
fairly quickly with the Armitage brothers involved in
most of the wickets (including a fine boundary catch from Delon
to dismiss Ed) leading to many ‘dismissed by rugby player fines’ later on.
Amongst the general clatter of wickets James stood firm proving especially
strong on the leg side and scored his second Whalers fifty. He was last out for
57 leaving Kamal not out 0 off 0 balls and the
Whalers were all out for 149 losing by 53 runs. The match was played in
excellent spirit against sociable opposition but ultimately the Whalers
couldn’t recover from 10-3 after conceding over 200.
Man of the Match: James M
(57), catch and run out.
Champagne Moment: Toby’s
stumping
Muppet Moment: Toby’s very
wide ‘throw’ attempting a run out