Match Report - 1xi vs Ripley (h) - by AJ

After last week's improbable win at Merrow, we faced Ripley at home, having won three from three. Confidence was high, though the ground looked less good due to a week's worth of torrential rain. The outfield was painfully slow, whilst the wicket wasn't a great deal quicker, despite having shown vast improvement on last year's feeble square. The outlook was poor; muggy and overcast, so we decided to stick them in, and knock them off. Carlsberg don't do game plans...

Their openers looked solid, though found scoring opportunities difficult, understandable given some decent bowling and a very long and lush looking outfield. Joey (several beamers apart) bowled as tightly as he ever has for the first team. His figures reflect this; 11 overs, 5 maidens, 3 for 16. He really did bowl straight, fast and economically. It was great to watch from square leg. He accounted for both openers, one via an inside edge to Boney, and one via a flying edge to Mattyd at first slip. This has to be catch of the season. Full on cut off top edge, flying high, Matty tucked in the previous night's Ruby to take a fine catch high above his head. Plucked. Too easy.

Shauny grabbed the third, a plumb lbw as the bat played back to a straight one at the Millennium Wood end. Word of warning; NEVER play back at that end. Trust me. Their number five played a few decent shots until he too also played back to a straight one from Kam. End result; off peg knocked back, oppo four down, we're flying. And then Zam came on...

The conditions were clearly not in Zam's favour. Wet ball, slow track, short boundary at his favourite ridge end, so he bowled from Kingston bridge end (thus without the ridge that offers him so much turn and bounce). It really didn't matter. He bowled absolutely beautifully. There was drift, flight and turn in equal measure. Most of Ripley's inexperienced bastmen would struggle to pick their nose let alone Zam's slider or googly. Siralun Sugar's words "not a blaaahdy clue" sprung to mind. White flag offered, and accepted. Boney took two very sharp stumpings, and a further catch off Joey to complete a very solid performance behind the stumps. Very slick to watch. Apart from the three (I swear it felt like more!) eminently catchable byes he let through off Joey. It was almost as if Boney was turning his nose up at them. This is of course said in jest, but helps illustrate just how much his keeping has improved in recent times. You just don't expect him to let byes through any more. But who am I to criticise? Seriously. The infamous persian rug from the Godalming game will stop me in my tracks.

There was a wicket first ball for the debutant Chris Madoc Jones courtesy of a fine catch from Junaid at mid off. Joey returned to take another, before Zam wrapped things up, clean bowling their no. 11. 92 all out, job done.

Tea was below par to be honest. Bombay potatoes were nice, but the chicken tikka rolls must go. ASAP. 4 out of 10 methinks.

Mattyd and Paul Casey opened up, seeing off the new ball very comfortably indeed. Saycey mixed solid defence, with strike nurdling shots either side of the wicket, whilst Mattyd either left alone, or unleashed. Saycey perished to an lbw shout, though most people in Bushy Park heard the ball cannon from bat, into pad, with what seemed like a three second time lag in between. But he took his medecine like a man, which is all too rare in league cricket.

But his demise brought in Boney. The oppo had been waiting for this. Boney had dished out some gentle words of encouragement during their innings. Nothing untoward or personal, just letting them know when to play forward or back, or what he thought of their techniques. By all accounts they shelled it out to young Adam, tooth and nail. Sadly for Ripley, Boney has just about as much talent as anyone they are likely to see in this league, and so it mattered little. Their first change bowlers were as innocuous as anything we've seen in the last two or three years. At both ends they decided to dish out some short and slow stuff to Matty and Boney. Odd tactic that, on a slow deck... Matty was ruthless, hooking all of it to the boundary with great aplomb. Boney was just as decisive, playing effortless pulls and easy drives through the covers to see us home in the 21st over.

This was a convincing win, though the oppo weren't nearly as bad as the scorecard suggests. JT summed it up nicely in the bar "four wins from four, you can't do better than that." Points on the board.

MOM; a tough one. Zam and Boney both had outstanding games, but Matty's catch in the slips, and his captain's knock seals it. Well holed sir.