Whalers win by 46 runs
Whalers all
over
Captain
Richard Giles was soon in action at the toss of the coin which he won with
aplomb, electing to bat (i) so we would be able to
bat in maximum daylight and (ii) for the more practical reason that some
Whalers were still South of the river.
Giles made
the controversial decision to ask Ben Manzi to open the batting alongside
regular opener Al Dickenson and while the run rate was not spectacular after a
couple of overs, Al was keen to push on and on knocking a ball to a leg-side
fielder, called “yes”, but alas his partner was run out for 2 at the other end,
allegedly not backing-up enough although the author of this report maintains
the run was never on.
This
brought Si Whistler to the crease, who
was playing in his second game of the day, having earlier been dismissed by famous
cricketer U.S. Embassy. Si and Al began to put on the
runs, notching up a few boundaries between them, including a 6 from Si but it was Al who became the first victim of Pittman Jr – a young lad, apparently not even in his teens – who
bowled Dickenson for 19. Vice-captain Matt Lucas was next in, although he did
not hang around and departed run-out for 1.
Following a
nifty piece of haberdashery in the crotch area after it was pointed out that
Rich was exposing himself, Giles took to the field
with the intention to stop the flow of wickets, Whalers already 3 down after 5
overs. However, it was not long before Pittman Jr
struck again bowling Whistler for 17. The partnership between Giles and Osgood
got off to a shaky start with some comedy calling and running but after two
in-depth conversations the present and former captains got their act together
and started despatching the ball to all parts of the ground, both scoring
maximums. Giles was eventually out bowled James for 15 off the last ball of the
over, by a quick ball following some more erratic stuff in the previous
deliveries.
Adam Hanmer
(1) came in at 7, but didn’t really have time to get his eye in as he too fell
to Pittman Jr who was making quite a name for himself
(and racking up some future fines for the Whalers kitty).
As a
result, Ed Kirkness came in with the score somewhere in the region of 80-6 off
11 overs and Whalers needing someone to step up and take a hold of the innings.
On this occasion, two Whalers stepped up in the guise of Osgood and Kirkness
and some huge overs followed, particularly when Ed was at the striker’s end,
hitting a flurry of fours and sixes when up against Beamers’ spinner and to the
dismay of many (but the relief of the author of this report), narrowly missing
Ben Manzi’s car. Dan was not to be outshone though
and followed Ed’s lead from the other end, eventually ending up with 7 fours,
and 2 sixes in a quickfire unbeaten 53*. Ed fell just
short of his half-century indulging in some jug avoidance and his total of 47*
included 5 fours and 3 sixes. All of which meant Whalers had recovered from
their earlier slightly precarious position to finish on 171-6 from 20.0 overs.
A quick
turnaround saw Dan and Ben Blane open the bowling. Beamers got off to a good
start in the first over, with a mixture of some fine
cover drives and a few wides from Dan contributing to
the score. However, at the other end, Ben Blane was keeping things very tight
and was rewarded with a succession of wickets, the first of which was caught by
Si out on the boundary but the next two just being
too good for the batsmen that followed (one of whom, Joseph, had looked
particularly dangerous). Ben finished with figures of 4-0-12-3, a very tidy
return to Whalers cricket on his season debut.
Throughout
the performance, the general standard of fielding was high, none more so when
on one delivery, Matt slid to his right at mid-off, picked the ball up and
threw it back to the bowler’s stumps in one fluid motion – an excellent piece
of fielding that really geed the team up following an earlier good stop on the
boundary by Dan. Rob Lothian replaced Dan and he too bowled economically,
picking up a wicket (caught by replacement wicket keeper Osgood) in the process.
Rich was soon to get in on the act, casually plucking a ball out of the sky
with his right boot, before back-heeling it back to the bowler and Dickenson
and Manzi joined in with the football fielding late on, buoyed by Giles’
earlier example of Messi-esque technique.
Not
everything was going so well though as a simple
request to move the sidescreen caused havoc in the
Whalers ranks – Rich and Matt crashing the screen into the wall and then
getting it wedged. Ads saw that they were making fools of themselves and immediately
wanted in on the action.
After that
particular side-show (geddit?), another direct hit by
Ed helped wrap the game up near the end and this was sandwiched between wickets
for Si Whistler (who had deserved a wicket throughout
after a drop off his own bowling and a more straightforward chance for Matt)
and Matt himself with Dan taking to the gloves well. Beamers ended up on 125-9
off their 20.0 overs and with the sun just beginning to set, Whalers had won by 46 runs.
Whalers: 171 for 6 (20 overs)
Beamers: 125 for 9 (20 overs)
Man of the match: Ed Kirkness (honourable mentions
to Ben Blaine and Dan)
Champagne moment: Matt’s sliding stop and throw to hit a single
stump and effect a run out
Muppet moment: Sightscreen faff,
Rich, Matt and Ads