Sometimes, I Bloody Love Cricket

An odd start to my cricketing day. I drive around Bournemouth as I am giving a few people a lift to the game and every road I go down there is an annoying amount of traffic. So I get to the game, if not late, then a little behind time. A warm beautiful day it is though, with BBC weather reporting a precisely 0% chance of rain. So I am thinking, if I win the toss, that is bolted on to bat. As we are getting close to the ground though, it starts raining. This impossible rain keeps up for half an hour. On the plus side this is one of the few grounds in this league with covers which are rolled out. But the pitch probably does get some moisture on it which will juice it up for bit until it dries out. I duly win the toss so am left with a decision to make. ‘Ah, we’ll have a bat’ I decisively / foolishly  / bravely say.  

So, how did that work out? Opening dates started of cautiously in the face of some accurate bowling – making sure that we got off to a solid start. When a bad ball came along it was dispatched. The first wicket going down at 32, so not a disaster as long as it was built on. And built on it was with the remaining opener pushing on well supported by No.s 3 and 4 to get to 124/3 at almost 6 an over. As the captain I had a warm fuzzy feeling about this. We then lost a couple quickly, which for this team is always a dodgy thing, as the batting order has the ability to panic and jump like lemmings over the cliff. Will Lochhead played an excellent steadying hand though, not trying to smash it but keeping things on course, the run rate dropped a bit but a decent score was being built. This allowed the lower middle order to come and attack, upping the run rate again for a very creditable 221 of you actual cricket runs.

A good score, but would it be enough? The pitch was a good one and the outfield was hard and fast. Bransgore I knew also had some very decent bats, so game on. I was informed that their first opener was a danger, a very capable bat. The opening ball of the innings was sent down and thudded into the pad and from where I was, look very LBWish – with the umpires finger going up! One run, one wicket. The second wicket fell a few overs later. This led to a couple of very powerful hitters coming to the crease, and hit powerfully they did. Upping the run rate considerably. This was another point of danger for this team – witness last week when we went from a winning position to losing it (the game / our heads / focus) when some bats counter attacked. Today though no one panicked, the bowlers continued to bowl well, the fielders remained focused and we took a wicket, then another and things snow balled from there to a convincing win.  

As captain, the most pleasing thing about the win was that it was not due to one or two people have a ‘day out’. It was a good all round team performance with everyone stepping up as needed, which was nice. We had come very lose to victory in a couple of games before falling short, so it is nice to now win one.

The Winton captain at the end of the match

Anatomy of a Catch

Early in the Bransgore innings I was put in the position of having to take a catch, a position which I hate….. The ball was hit straight – and in the air. My first hope was that it would be a caught and bowled, nope going over the bowlers head. So, next I hoped that it would be closer to mid on (I was mid off), nope, slightly my side of straight. My final despairing hope was that it would also be too high for me to take – but buggery flip, it was not hit hard enough and it was already dropping. Ah, I don’t like this for many reasons – I had to make a decent amount of ground. While the ball was not absolutely flying it was hard enough and worst of all I HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT – nightmare. I managed to get in line and thinking about it I saw that although dropping it was still going to be head hight so made the mental decision of ‘fingers up’. To the general surprise of everyone in the team and my utter relief I managed to hold on to it. So, this is fair warning to my team, I have taken a catch this season, I do hope you are not expecting me to do something as competent again.

Sijo Watch

A double instalment as I did not included this section in my last games write up. Two weeks ago Sijo, the captain of the 2s got to have his first bat of the season – scoring a creditable 14 at No.11 This game was also the 2s first loss of the season. Last week, Sijo was back on form. He has to get padded up but was not able to get out into the middle. His team also recorded a crushing victory. There seems to be a pattern building up here. So for all the players in the 2s, for your hopes and chances of promotion I beseech you – try to not let your captain have a bat……..  

Match Scorecard