Hillians
It’s fair to say it was an interesting day on Sunday! A day which started off so promisingly with the prospect of some sunshine, a decent game vs our neighbours and a BBQ! Unfortunately not much of the above prevailed…
Ewell agreed to let us bowl first so we could sort out our much anticipated BBQ. We started off reasonably well with Symo bowling some threatening stuff at good pace and Lawny bowling immaculate lines and lengths and swinging it at will. With things being kept tight, quick thinking and reactions from Symo lead to a run out and our first wicket.
Enter ‘the rock’, Phil Hales who frustrated us to say the least! His partner looked very capable (I’ll be sure to follow his progress in the fullers league) who Lawny trapped LBW fairly early on and things were evenly poised at 51/2. Ewell then went about building a good partnership, helped substantially by a combination of our terrible fielding and some average umpiring (although on the latter we’d return the favour!!). Dropped catches, misfields, nutmegs, overthrows…you name it, we did it in abundance (someone was counting and apparently there were 15 dropped catches!). I’m not going to say too much more about our fielding but they eventually got to 199/6. To give that score some context (in light of how badly we let things get away) at halfway, they were 70/2!! Dismal fielding aside, I thought we bowled pretty well and while stating the obvious, we really didn’t take many of our chances although Dan deserves a mention for holding onto one. Special mention must also go to Lawny who bowled superbly with figures of 8-19-1 including 4 maidens. Top stuff mate and without a doubt the highlight of our bowling performance.
We once again enjoyed a fantastic tea – just what we needed to lift our spirits – THANK YOU Clare!
Onto our chase…Chris K and I opened the batting. Chris fell for 1 which sparked a collapse that looked to threaten our lowest ever total when we were 13 for 5. Their opening pair bowled well aided by a deteriorating pitch. With me caught in two minds about whether to try and give the innings some respectability by sticking around or going big to get on with the BBQ, Barry walked to the crease with an air of relaxed determination. He batted exceptionally well with some textbook shots and he and I started the mammoth task of rebuilding the innings. There was even a (very brief!) moment when I thought we’d be in with a sniff. However, with the pitch getting worse by the ball under increasingly cloudy skies (great for bowling and our ‘BBQ’!!), Barry was caught behind for a highest ever score of 31 and our 59 run partnership came to an end. Great stuff Baz – it was a pleasure to watch. Symo then came to the wicket with the score on 72/6 after 28 and urged me to ‘go for it’ given the state of the game. I duly tried with a couple of decent blows only to be caught behind off about the worst ball I’d faced all day for 39. Symo himself played a little cameo with a few good shots before departing for 10. We were then fairly swiftly bowled out in the 35th over for 103. While it wasn’t the result we’d have liked, we didn’t capitulate (as was looking quite probable at one point) and guts it out which was good to see.
Thanks as always to Dan, Rich and Symo for their help in the field – many eyes make light work – and well done to Stu for earning fielder of the day (it goes without saying the competition was slim…sorry Stu!).
Park Hill Cricket Club 