Park Hill Sunday side get trounced by Woking
The scorecard for our match against Woking and Horsell can be found here
Park Hill Sunday XI did not have the best of weeks as they lost to Woking and Horsell by 123 runs. The day started off badly when one person dropped out late doors which didn’t give us enough time to find a replacement. Then with Phil running late the self-appointed director of cricket stepped in to do the toss which he lost and Woking elected to bat.
Phil finally turned up and decided he was going to open with the new cherry alongside Chris Webber and both didn’t have the best of starts but for very different reasons! Chris bowled with his usual sharp pace which caused the batsman trouble but was let down by our catching. Over the years we have seen a load of drops ranging from the ridiculous chances right down to the easy dollies but Chris had 3 drops off his bowling in 3 balls!!
The first was a massive edge to symbols… sorry James McInnes behind the stumps which was shelled, second was a difficult caught and bowled chance to Chris himself and the third was a tough one handed catch for the returning Kev Matthews. While everyone was weary that Chris was upset I think they were secretly glad that it wasn’t Joel bowling otherwise there would have been serious trouble!
If Chris thought he had it bad though nothing compares to what was going on at the other end. Poor old Phil wasn’t having much luck with the ball as he was either bowling no ball beamers at the batsman or getting carted to the boundary. When asked to describe Phil’s bowling Elliot Ransom described it as “the most awkward spell ever witnessed at 1st slip”
Elliot came on first change and bowled a very tidy spell without a wicket while KP was at the other end bowling his bag of tricks picking up a wicket with Phil taking a catch which turned out to be the highlight of his day. After 20 overs they had 120-1 with both openers getting 50 with Phil looking to change things up. McInnes swapped keeping duties with Park Hill debutant and one of our Deando ringers James Burns while Phil threw the ball to busy Kev. This seemed like an inspired change as Kev got their other opener out with an lbw decision that may have pitched slightly outside leg stump…
This brought in another one of their league batsman who was obviously not getting any runs in his team so came down for some Sunday bullying. Phil sacrificed, sorry brought himself back on as he didn’t have many other options and while he had cut out the beamers he was still conceding boundaries with one of them being up there with the biggest 6’s seen at the home of cricket. At the other end our second Deando ringer and long-time friend of the club Simon Parker (Sparky) came on to bowl and bowled a good but slightly expensive spell. He did get out batsman no 3 though with major taking a decent catch at long off.
Chris and KP came back to finish off the innings with Chris finally picking up a wicket by bowling a short one to the bully who skied it in the air and Sparky taking a good catch. KP also got another wicket but by then the damage was already done. Woking’s skipper rubbed salt into the wounds by declaring after 37 overs in a 40 over game to leave them with 273-5.
Just like’s Surrey t20 final against Northants it seemed like the game was already over before we even started to bat but after some inspiring words we went out with the intention of trying our best and seeing where we end up. The opening partnership of Sparky and McInnes looked good and got us off to a steady start before the major got caught in 3 minds to edged one to the keeper.
Ade the wall Forrest was the next man in and he set himself for a good 15 balls before finally getting off the mark. Everything seemed to be going fine but then he was out to a good Yorker for just 5 runs which added to his misery after his fielding attempts.
James Burns was the next man in and he was on a mission after he had made a bet that I would buy him a beer for every 10 runs he scored. My money was safe though as he missed a straight one and was out for just 1 run. He was pretty upset but I reminded him that anything better than 0 is a great debut for the club.
Among all the wickets falling Sparky was still going strong and had moved on to 34. If we were going to make any inroads into their score the next partnership was vital as Chris headed to the middle to show us why he is becoming our very own Sunday Nelson Muntz. Together they put on a partnership of 52 with some really nice shots along the way before Sparky played-on to leave him with a well-earned 52.
Next man in was Phil Woods who wasn’t exactly excited with the prospect of having to bat with a hangover after he had been out with the director of cricket the night before. As we all know that’s a terrible idea and it showed as he was stumped for a quacker!
Before Phil could even trudge over the boundary rope to pack his kit busy Kev was already in the middle looking forward to batting with Chris. Chris had other ideas though as he was out moments later mooing across the line and getting bowled for a quick fire 44. He told everyone after he was playing a sweep shot but if it looks like a moo and sounds like a moo it probably is a moo!
With the total out of reach and the sun setting the tail had no plans of hanging about so went for the hit out or get out approach. Unfortunately the latter prevailed as Elliot got out for 4 smashing one of in the air while Phil’s day was summed up in one shot as he once again hit the ball straight back to the bowler for 2.
The game seemed dead and buried but KP wanted to show how good his leg side heave really was. After getting hit in the chest numerous times attempting the shot he finally connected with one that flew over the boundary rope and was only saved from the gardens by a tree. He was out next ball however as he hit a quicker ball straight up in the air. This left Kev stranded at the other end on a very nice 8* to leave us on 150-9 off 32.2 overs. I’m sure he would have got even more runs if we had 11 players…
Overall the result seems a bit one sided and it was but it’s not every week we are going to face a batting line-up that good when we have such a lack of bowling options. They did seem to have a ringer or two who took advantage on any bad bowling which shows on the scorecard. While there were some tracksuit moments in the field there were also some good catches and ground fielding. We just got to make sure we keep our heads up when things aren’t going our way because that’s when mistakes can creep in. The batting was ok with Sparky and Chris doing really well. We posted what would normally be a competitive score on a Sunday so we can take that as a positive
I would like to thank Burnsie and Sparky for helping us out this week. I’m sure it wasn’t the greatest game to make your debut in but you are welcome to come back to play for us any time. Also thanks to Phil who drove all the way down to help us out again. I’m sure you will get a run in the county soon!
Cheers and hopefully see you all in the near future
Dan
The scorecard for this match can be found here
Park Hill Cricket Club 