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| Tea a Poor 5.5 "Saved" by Sausage and Chips |
HWRCC 3xi 162 all out (Collier 41)
OW 163 - 5
Scorecard
The weather and the setting for this encounter encapsulated all that is good about playing cricket in the British summer. The sun shone, it was even warm (sun cream dusted off for the first time) and a small, well situated ground. The deck was rock hard but patchy suggesting plenty in it for the bowlers. The boundaries square were very short and the outfield short and quick. Old Whits won the toss and decided to bowl.
One senses this wasn’t a popular move by the skipper. Having a drink after his first over, the opening bowler was heard to remark, “I can’t believe we’ve decided to bowl on this. It’s an absolute road.” In the third over Collier induces cover to twist his ankle and take them down to ten men. Canny work. All looks fairly serene, Kannan times two beautiful back foot drives to the boundary and it’s another solid start by the pair. At 31-0, Kannan is castled by one that comes back in. An over later, Sayce is sent packing for a duck, bowled having left one. It’s come back a mile – even the bowler doesn’t know how it happened.
The mercurial Tughral is in at 4, having returned from Hong Kong on the Friday. He strides to the crease with the words of “take your time” resounding in his ears. First bowl, slapped through the covers for four, the second he takes two steps down the track and dispatches Woodrow over long on for a huge six. That’s one way to counter-attack. Fifth ball his stumps are splattered as he aims another big shot over the leg side. 45-3.
The skipper’s brother is given the no5 slot ahead of the recently arrived new boy, Yasir. Collier and Sayce R look comfortable and put us back into a decent position and still moving along at 4.5 an over. The elder Sayce having outperformed his brother chips to mid-off and is caught. 80-4. Collier is left in charge of rebuilding again, this time with Yasir who’d been given a personal recommendation by his mate, Farooq. The new boy looks good with cuts and drives either side of the pitch. Collier falls on the verge of drinks for 41 to stall the recovery. Dan Kemp is then undone by one that keeps low by the wily left armer. 115-6. Yasir and Jonny Allen mix defence with attack to good effect putting on 40 before Yasir is caught at mid-on for 40 before Allen is caught in the covers. The last few wickets fall for not many and the Wick finish on 162 but having used only 40 overs. It feels a long way short of par but it’s a score on the board to be chased.
Tea? Saved by hot chips and sausages. 5.5
We take the old ball and entrust it to the youngsters. Alex Dare spinning and teasing the openers from one end, and Dan Kemp swinging it and tempting them from the other. The bowling was excellent, and the number of times ball beat bat escalated. Eventually Dare traps one LBW. Somehow the other opener doesn’t edge one of Kemp many in-duckers. Bowl like that every week and these two will surely take a stack of wickets this summer. The new ball having been taken departs at a quicker rate as Donnelly and Smith are treated harshly by the second wicket pair with the Wick pushing for wickets to force a way into the game defending their total. Eventually the opener skies one to Donnelly at mid-off but having made 70 most of the hard work has been done. In the closing stages, Smith takes two more victims including an incredible leaping catch by Kemp on the rope to dismiss the no3 for 46. Kannan makes a good run out but in the end Old Whits reach their target in 28 overs with 5 wickets down.
A disappointing result to be beaten so comprehensively by a side of not massively superior talent. Collier and Yasir showed the requirements for building a total but 162 never felt like enough. The bowling of Dare and Kemp showed real promise and on a different day would have found greater reward. Again, more positives but not the positive result the boys have been striving for.
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