Well, That Was Unexpected

An away game against Mudeford 3s. Still not sure why they are in the same section of Div 6 - 6A, as Mudeford 2s rather than one of them being in 6B but ho hum. I was assuming that this game would be at Mudeford Rec. This is a ground that is functional, but feel sure that no one in the club would be too offended if I did not describe as one of the most beautiful that I have been to. It has some nice trees in the background and a really good chippie opposite, but no breathtaking vistas of the English countryside. However, a few days before the match I realised that if their 1s and 2s take turns playing at home the 3s must play their home games elsewhere. When I checked I was sent a link to a map of the ground that was labelled as ‘Bisterne Football Club’. Great, this was going to be a ropey stretch of astro in the middle of a field that for 10 months of a year was used as football pitches so the outfield would be dangerous to play on; oh ffs. Imagine my surprise when I turned off a quite country road into a sports ground that had been fully converted into a cricket pitch with a good square and smooth flat outfield. This being situated with views of beautiful countryside in every direction. On top of this, it was a perfect day for cricket, sunny without being overly hot. A perfect setting for a game of cricket. Don’t go telling the captain of Mudeford 1s or he might go getting ideas about what ground he wants to play on……

 

Bisterne Cricket Ground, a view from the boundary at the close of play, looking west

Winton 5s are coming into this game of the back of two bad defeats. Not due to the opposition being so much better than us but due to a lack of effort and fight on our part leading to batting collapses. As captain I found this intensely annoying and my main priority was for this to not happen again. Winning the toss I elected to bat on what looked like a good pitch. It did indeed play well all day, a little up and down but nothing too mental.

Striding out to with my partner we agreed we needed to be solid, create a base for others to build on, didn’t need to do anything mental. Can you guess what happened? First wicket down with only 7 on the board in a frustrating fashion. Attila was given out LBW by his son. I thought that I heard a nick but what boy does not want to give his dad out LB? Indeed Freud argued that this rite of passage for any young man was an expression of a desire to clear the way for his own future. He probably also said something about it being an expression of a primal Oedipal urge about wanting to shag your own mum, but Freud was a bit of a perv like that. It might also be a case of as Alex said ‘it was plumb and I didn’t hear anything’, which is also fair enough. Wicket number two fell shortly after for 18 in the eighth over and I was worrying about another collapse and ignominious defeat. I was determined that this would not happen and Harry, the new bat was of similar mind. So with a plan of just not losing any more wickets until the 20^th over and then seeing where we were we dug in. We let wide ones go and flat batted anything straight and we did let quite a few maidens go. As we got our eyes in we started to strike the ball to start the score ticking over.

All this meant that after twenty overs we were 56 /2. OK, not a great scoring rate by any means but in our previous game we were all out for 61 so I was more than happy with that as an improvement. With wickets in hand though we could try and push on  and I had a hopeful target of 175 in mind – which was just over 5 an over in the second half of the innings. Ah, alackaday, both Harry and I went quite quickly, Jacob at 5 showed a bit of fight but succumbed just as he was starting to look comfortable, followed by the No.6 for a duck, leaving us 89/6 in the 30^th. This could go south very quickly and even if we weren’t skittled limping to 125 just would not be enough; my estimate being 150 was the bare minimum to make a game of it. But then Alex T and Adam L stepped up, Alex taking the lead in attack and Adam showing steady support they managed a 50 partnership in 7 overs before Alex went down. With the tail also chipping in we made it to 154 by the end of the innings. Not a great score but far better than what it looked like it could have been and enough to make a game of it. The fact that several people in the batting order stepped up when needed was also very heartening.

Although I did not say so to the team, I was not overly hopeful going out to bowl, as Mudeford seemed to have a few people top order that could whack it and we would need to get them out quickly.  And to be fair, with Alex Leach leading the charge there was a regular clatter of wickets; the score being 25/3 at the end of ten overs – game on. To try and keep up the pressure I turned to that handsome young devil, a certain A Worsdale, to see if he could produce a wicket or two; as to everyone’s astonishment, including his own, he has been regularly taking wickets this season.

I managed to take two wickets. The first could be described as ‘a beautifully flighted delivery, the angle of the ball confusing the bat who played a false stroke and was caught at square leg’.  To be fair, it could also de described using phrases such as ‘rank full toss’, ‘hit straight to fielder’, ‘taking wickets with shite’ and ‘lucky bastard’. I would therefore like to thank the bat for the gift of his wicket. Mind you, I also have to say it was a good catch by Harry – it was hit at him very hard. The second wicket was the result of a lovely shot – a beautifully executed lofted straight drive. Unfortunate for the bat, there were two factors that got in the way of the six he was looking for. The first was that the straight boundary was a decent size, not massive but certainly bigger than Winton.  The second was that stationed on that boundary was Adam Loader, who is a) a tall lad and b) probably the safest pair of hands in the team. So just as it looked like the ball was soaring over his head for a six he stretched both arms above his head and the ball smacked into his hands. It is gratifying to see a plan come together.

Unfortunately, although we got Mudeford 6 down their Wicket Keeper Alex Burns stepped up to guide his team to the win scoring at a decent rate but without taking many risks. A 7^th wicket in the 32 over seemed to be no more than a consolation as Mr Burns hit a 4 in the 33^rd over to tie the scores and that, it seemed, was that.

But then Alex Leach took his fourth wicket to dismiss Mr Burns, leaving the scores level and two wickets to go – interest was revived. Adam Nichols then bowled an over of dot, dot, dot, dot wicket! Only one more needed to tie the game. The Winton team crowded the bat, The Mudeford team watching had gone from a relaxed calm to a rigid oh ffs this can’t happen disbelief. Final ball of the over, this is what makes sport thrilling, what would happen? The bowler completed his run up, a whirl of arms and legs and released the ball. Then the umpire outrageously called the ball a wide to seal the win for his team. I say outrageously, when to be fair, after 5 awesome balls in the over, the last ball I think was so wide it may have been in a different postcode to the batsman by the time it smacked into the keepers gloves.

So, no last minute miracle, no thrill of pulling it out of  the bag as we went down to a loss. I am not so worried by this loss though, as there was a great spirit and effort showed by the team. A team that had 4 U14s in as well as a couple of other young lads, playing against men. To be good at cricket it is at least as important to have the correct mental attitude as well as technical skill, so the young lads learning that attitude is an important part of the role of the ‘development’ team. Would also like to thank our opponents for an enjoyable game and enjoyable days cricket.

Match Scorecard

Winton Round Up

The ones continue their uneven start to the season with another loss on an away day to the Island. The 2s and 4s both continue their winning streaks both making it 5 out of 5 with the 3s joining them in the winning column.

HCL Div 6(a)

The big game this week was first played second – Pyewell Park v Mudeford 2s, with Mudeford coming away the victors. When that is added to Mudeford 3s outrageously lucky and undeserved win, it puts Mudeford in both top spots. For Winton 5s, the next few games are against teams at our ewnd of the table so a good chance to pcik up some points. No disrespect intended, I am sure those teams are thinking the same about playing us. Will be interesting to see how it goes.