1 Brings 2?
Fresh of a victory we roll on with confidence to our next game. Who are we playing? Pylewell Park, second in the league and they have only lost one, where we have only won one. OK, this seems like it may be a bit of a challenge…..
First up as captain I have a selection challenge, not as in having enough players but the opposite. There is good availably across the club as well as in the 5th team with a few new players joining as well. This means I am left with having to makes choices, the main one being between playing youth or older players. On the one hand, an avowed aim of this team is to help develop youth players. On the other, if I leave a youth player out I know that they will get a game of cricket in during the week, maybe two, as many play in different age groups. Every adult player I leave out though, I know it means that they will not get a game at all. Another factor is that it seems we will be playing one of the strong teams in the division, so if I don’t pick a team that can complete we might end up getting a complete dicking, which is no good for anyone’s development. So I end up selecting a fairly strong side, the strongest that we have probably put out this season. I do have a rule to include at least three children in each team which I kept to. Although I may have cheated a little bit as two of them were U16 and amongst the strongest players in the team, well able to play at a higher level. Still, if you are going to have rules, if you make them self imposed you should know how to lawyer then to your own advantage.
The Toss
So, mein Kapitan, you are a wise
and sagacious cricketing captain type person, can you talk us through your
thinking of choosing to bat or bowl first so we may learn from your enormous
intellect? Asked no one at all. Ah, I’m glad you asked me that, I rhetorically
reply to the voices inside my head. Nice hot day and hard pitch would lead me
to think batting first is a very good idea. But then, early afternoon it was
overcast, and you only use one ball in the game at this level which means you
may want to take advantage of the conditions to bowl first. However, I am
unsure how the pitch will play, as the weather has been baking and preparing
pitches has been a bit hit and miss. So far this season we have had really
difficult wickets to bat on and also some belters. Which would it be today? I
didn’t have a Scooby and no idea of what a good score may be. It could be 125,
or it could be 240. So I thought I would choose to bowl first so the opposition
could figure that out for us. After all this 4d chess thinking brilliance I
promptly lose the toss. The opposition captain thinks for several seconds and
says he will have a bat. What thoughts were going through his head? Was it a
fine calculus of advantage and tactics? Or was it the thought of ‘it’s going to
be a baking afternoon so I’m buggered if I want to be standing in the sun for
several hours’……. Either way, Alea iacta est;
on with the game.
The
opening overs were a parsons egg. The first few overs were very loose with a
lot of runs being scored early but then the bowlers found their rhythm. The
bats continued to attack though, leading to the run rate staying very healthy
(including what I thought a beautifully hit 6). But
it also lead to a few wickets falling. So after 8 overs the score was 42 / 3. A
run rate this early of more than 5 an over
I considered was far too high as the fielding captain, but having 3
wickets down gave me some hope.
Then
came on the two sixteen year olds to bowl, and an excellent display of bowling
it was. At one end the bowler chose to pitch it back of a length with pace
looking for bounce and movement which caused the bats real difficulties. After
a couple of overs I ended up pushing so many fielders into attack positions
that I only had a deep fine leg and midwicket on the on side. Only one wicket
was taken but only 7 runs scored in 5 overs. At the other end, the bowling was
a bit slower and more pitched up to attack the off stump with movement in the
air and off the pitch. This invited the drive more but the run total was kept
low and another wicket taken – it should have been two but an easy catch was
put down.
Stele of the Vultures
All of the above meant that off the first 8 overs 42 runs were scored, after the next 10
only another 29 were scored for the fall of another 2 wickets – 71 / 5 after 18
overs. I was hopeful that the scoring rate would stay down now as the bats
looked to ensure that they batted out their overs. Pah, shows what I know.
The
next two bowlers were an off spinner and a 14 year old medium pacer. The bats
looked to counter attack, with the medium pacer particularly being attacked and
going for a few. He won his battle though, taking the wicket of the bat who had
been slogging him. The offy bowled with skill and although the bats looked to
score of him he also took a couple of wickets. So in this section of the game,
36 runs were scored from 6 overs but crucially another 3 wickets fell. Now,
with the opposition 8 down after 24 overs this should have been me as Mr Happy.
But two weeks ago we had the opposition 8 down and still fucked it. On this
occasion though, a returning opening bowling took the final two wickets
cheaply, closing the innings out for 112.
As the
fielding captain I have to say that this was the best collective bowling
performance I had seen from my team all season. Opposition all out for 112 – I
should be confident right? Feeling good? Looking forward to an easy run chase
yes? Have you not been paying any attention at all to this blog? Or indeed how
cricket works in general? I just tried to impress on my team (almost pleading)
that we did not have to do anything special, just wait for the bad ball. I
wanted the rest of the game to be boring, an unexciting grind to a win – how
did that go? Well…….
It
started off very well, both opening bats looking to be cautious but willing to
put away the bad ball (why is it that it always my batting partner that gets
the bad balls). So we had got to 36 after only 6 overs, lovely. I was aware
though that the opposition had started similarly so was not feeling overly
cocky. Then we lost the first wicket, trying to turn a straight ball into leg,
missed for a fairly plumb LBW. Off Attila goes looking disappointed. No worries
thinks I, we are doing well, just keep plugging away. But then 2 overs later……
Anatomy of a wicket
If you
do not like reading bad language I would advise you to skip this paragraph, if
you are under 18 please get your mums permission before reading on.
I am facing fairly accurate
bowling, nothing too dangerous, but on or outside off stump so I just knock it
down to point, no fuss, no worries. Then another ball comes, wider, allowing me
to free me arms. I launch a cover drive, the ball moves a bit and I manage to
get a nick, look round to see the keeper has taken it and I tuck my bat under my
arm and walk off as the opposition celebrate. I try to walk with an air of calm
dignity but if you could listen to what was going on in my brain it would sound
something like - ‘fuckingbollockspetrichormingearseholebeggarwankbigdogscockepistomologyshitcheesybellendparabulabumder’.
Ah, everything I said about no
worries, play it chilled, we can only lose if we give out wickets away and I go
and do that. Why did I not just leave it and give it an expression of slightly
pained contempt instead? Cricket, it’s a difficult game.
We then lose a few more, my
particular favourite being the wicket lost to the ‘golf shot’. The one where
how the batter sees a straight one, does not move their feet and gives it an
almighty swing. If it connects it goes a long way, if………
I should not have worried though,
as we had good batting in depth. Sargon is able to adjust his game to the
situation and ‘Mr Good Time Dave’ even managing to modulate his instincts and
to wait for the bad one to whack. These two brining us safely home in the 22nd
over.
So a second win of the season! With
what I can safely say was my teams best all round performance this season. A
thank you to Pylewell, who even as things did not go according to plan for them
played with grace and good humour. How did the pitch play? What would have been
a good score? Well, some balls did pop up a bit and some kept low but not sure
any of the wickets could be blamed on the pitch. I think a score in excess of
200 would have been possible, the wickets falling through a combination of some
excellent bowling and perhaps poor shot selection. Sometimes the batters win the contest and build a big dcore, but sometimes the bowlers do.
Having just re read this post I
realise that it is overall a thoughtful attempt to accurately describe a game
of cricket. I do realise that this is probably a disappointment to most of the
several people that read this blog regularly. I can only apologise for this lapse and
promise normal service should be resumed next week.
HCL Div 6(a)
Winton Round Up
A good week for the club, with four wins out of five. The ones, after a slow start are climbing the table. The three advance into the top half of their league with the 4 dominating at the top of theirs. Only the 2s lose, and are now theirs, so still in the hunt for promotion.
Sijo Watch
Sijo again managed to sneak ut into the middle to have a bat this week, leading to another defeat. The 2s really need to make sure Sijo does not even need ot put his pads on. Mind you, the 10th wicket partnership he shared was the biggest of the innings. So maybe the 2s may start to think they could be with a calm steady bat higher up the order to stop the collapse they seem to have suffered in both the games they have lost?
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