Being A Captain Is Bloody Hard Work…..
So, first game of the season – hurrah! A friendly against Bournemouth, This is also a ‘proper’ friendly as over the winter I was playing in the same indoor team as the opposition captain and both the teams in this game would have plenty of youngsters. In light of this I did not pick what probably would be our two best (adult) bats. I also told the opposition captain that my best bowler, who he was aware was too good for this level, would bowl a minimal amount of overs.
During the week, the weather report could not make its mind up as to if it would rain on the Saturday or not. But the morning dawned, well, rather cloudy, but very not wet, so good news. Offset by the bad news that I has a player drop out due to injury….. So, I put out ‘da word’ that I needed another player and hoped…… Luckily, there was someone available, not a bowler though and it was a bowler I lost. This fact would lead me to having to make a momentous decision during the game.
I get to the ground early as I said that I would give a hand laying out the pitches. This game was to be on astro though, as the Winton Oval (the Home of Cricket™) will be very busy during the summer and this was the last week of preparation. Both teams start to arrive and the toss is duly made, with the bad guys winning the toss and electing to bowl. Which is nice as I would have had a bat anyhow. As I was opening the batting I went and got padded up and strode out onto the ground to meet my opening partner. Who was nowhere to be seen…. Apparently he did not have his whites at the ground and was wearing the wrong trousers and had to pop home to get the correct pair.
Attila 10 minutes before the start of the game
So after a quick re-jig of the batting order the game is on. The astro has recently been relayed so has a good even bounce and as it is on the very end of the square there is a very short boundary. Because of this I had a mental note that at least 200 was needed to be competitive. How did we do? Well, we scored at a decent pace, keeping up to about 5 an over but regularly lost wickets. We had several players that got decent starts but did not then go on to dominate. This led to us being all out for 162 after 34 overs. Somewhat short of my imagined target. Still, 162 of your actual cricket runs is not to be completely sniffed at and is a target to defend.
Had a bit of learning for me as a newly minted captain. Before the game started, I had spent loads of mental energy worrying about sorting the pitch, boundary, was everyone going to turn up? Could a player find his trousers? Who was going to bat when and would they be happy with it? That by the time I went out to open the batting I was just not in the zone. I couldn’t concentrate or get my feet moving and was completely unfocused. So it may be that in the future, particularly at home games where you have more to worry about as a captain that I drop down the order. We shall see……
Going out to defend the 162 we would have to bowl tightly as it was only four an over needed. Our performance was a bit of a curate’s egg though. Some very good bowling was mixed in with bowling that the individuals concerned would I think agree was a bit wayward. This meant that Bournemouth were managing to keep up with the run rate on extras rather than hitting runs themselves. The bats were careful and not giving their wickets away but they did not really need to try and push on so things were going ok for them. What was frustrating though was an inability of the fielders to take catches. Over the course of the game we missed 3 chances that should have been bolted on but were put down and many other chances that could have been taken as well. What is the opposite of catches win matches?
Still, Bournemouth, even with all this extra help they were getting, were still only keeping at the required run rate and after giving my 4 bowlers a run out I had to make up more overs due to the fifth bowler dropping out. This I did by splitting these overs between my boy and myself. My boy is really far too good to bowl at this level but the overs needed to be done. I was a bit worried that his radar may be of as he had not bowled for months (a focus on GCSEs) but he clicked in to a groove. He has decent pace, swing and very good bounce (my little boy is now 6’2). The only runs that came off of him were when it flew through the slips area, something that happened fairly frequently with nothing going to hand. So far, so as to be expected. The truly surprising thing though was happening at the other end, where I was bowling. In my 4 overs I only went for 6 runs with a couple of easy catches put down as well as top edges and false shots. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. The first is I was bowling against younger lads who would never have faced such slow and loopy bowling and weren’t quite sure what to make of it. As there was no pace on the ball to get it away it had to be hit hard, which is something they struggles with being quite young. The final reason is the frankly unbelievable bit though. I managed to send down 4 overs that were accurate, good length and line, with dip and even a touch of spin of off the straight. Yes, yes, I know it sounds like I am making up nonsense on my blog about myself but there were even independent witnesses and everything. So, these 8 overs altogether went for only 16 runs with the asking rate creeping up.
I now had a momentous decision to make, as I had made up the 8 overs needed. Carry on as things were going to force a win or give the other bowlers their full allocation. I could not in all conscience continue to bowl my boy; in a friendly against this team his level was just too high. I could justifiably continue myself though, as no one could ever accuse me of being ‘to good at cricket’ which would keep one end pinned down. I decided against this though as it was a friendly and the slightly wayward bowlers could do with getting into the swing for the season. This meant that although there was some decent bowling the scoring rate did creep up until Bournemouth managed what I can nobly and magnanimously say was an underserved and lucky win that I am not upset about at all……..
The Winton Captain being not bothered by the result
So, was it a useful game? I think absolutely for all involved. Especially for the younger players in both teams that are stepping up into adult cricket. So would like to say welcome to Jacob, Jamie, Sam, Aarav and Alex to the team and adult cricket, I look forward to playing with you this season. Also congrats to Aarav and Alex for their first wickets in adult cricket. A possibly even bigger congratulations to Andy for his first wicket in about 30 years….(no exaggeration…..) I believe this is because he has not playing in three decades rather than being somewhat unsuccessful season after season, but hey, back on the horse. Also to Will, his first game in close on two decades and top scores in the game at faster than a run a ball, like riding a bike eh?
I will close this match report with a completely new and original idea I have had called ‘The Champagne Moment’. Each week I will choose an incident in the pitch worthy of celebration and respect. To be completely clear, no Champagne will be used in the celebrating of this award. The award this week goes to John Woodage, a veteran of even greater years and greyer beard than me. A firmly struck ball that was only a little uppish look like it was flying through the covers for a 4. John threw himself downwards and to the left like Jonty Rhodes on amphetamines to pluck the ball out of the air one handed. An impressive feat and one worthy of celebrating.
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