So this past Saturday we travelled to Kingstonian looking to continue our winning streak.
With me miss reading the website we almost turned up at the wrong ground but luckily their captain contacted me and a disaster (for me) was avoided!
We turned up and the pitch looked more like the outfield than a cricket strip and with the changing rooms looking ropey and the toilet blocked the first challenge of the day presented itself. Will desperately needing to use the facilities found himself round the back of the changing rooms (in the undergrowth) with toilet paper in hand! I will say no more but for some reason I believe Nick decided to take a photo….will leave it there…
I won yet another toss and chose to bat!
With regulars Bhups and David not available I decided to take some responsibility and open the batting alongside Adam – note when I made this decision I thought we would be playing at their main home ground not the 5th teams ground. Anyway I still decided to carry on. On a ropey pitch Adam and I decided to just ‘dig in’ and see off the openers who bowled a mixture of great balls coupled with some horrendous wides. When I fell for 21 LBW to their first change spinner we found ourselves on 51 off around 12 overs. Williams Snr joined Williams Jnr crease for what we hoped would be a long stay. Adam after working hard to stick around chipped one back to the bowler for 14. A frustrating end to another promising start. Nick looked good until he missed a straight full toss and got cleaned up. Chirag fell cheaply (caught at point) and we found ourselves 84-4 off around 20 overs. The innings was in the balance but with Will and Els in next we still had a chance to reach 200, which we felt would be more than competitive. Will and Els then piled on the runs and formed a great partnership. Will playing another sensible well-paced innings and Els finding form. Will almost solely playing the cut shot to perfection and Els started to open up with big shots like we know he can do. Will finally departed for another solid 44 (off 53 balls) which brought Symo to the crease (last time Symo and Els came to the crease there was a horrible run out). Els continued to cart the ball around and Symo used his experience to run well and rotate the strike. By the time Symo fell bowled for 17 we felt more than in control with 220 on the board. The innings finally came to a close with us getting 240 for 6 off our 45 overs. Elliot a superb 88n.o. Really great knock – let’s hope the form continues.
With tea done we went out to defend our total.
With ZERO volunteers I was forced to open the bowling (for those who provided me with plenty of abuse about me opening the batting and bowling, feel free to step forward next time J) alongside Phil ‘7 wickets’ Nacmanson (last week of that nickname, Phil). We both bowled solidly enough with little luck. I was able to run their opener out as they hit is straight to me in cover, started to run then changed their mind and before he could get back in his ground I had somehow managed to hit the stumps (first ever). It did help set the tone for the rest of the fielding performance that was superb. Bav came of first change and began ripping through their top order with some miserly bowling and some superb catches in the outfield. They found themselves 127-6 through about 30 overs and victory for us appeared close. To their credit the lower middle order dug in a bit and hit some big shots and they started getting a bit closer. Bav picked up his 5 wick haul with the last ball of his spell – barely a bad ball bowled through his 9 overs and supported excellently in the field with some great catching. Myself and Chirag picked up the remaining wickets to wrap up another victory. They finished on 178 all out off 38 overs. A quick mention to Chirag as I believe his 2 wickets are the first for the club. Well bowled!
A quick mention on catches.
Chirag held a great catch at long on.
Nick held on a deep square leg
Will caught one a cow corned.
Symo picked up 2 catches and 1 for myself.
Honestly the catching won us the match. In years gone by they would be dropped for fun but everyone really hung on well and almost looked casual – well done all!
FOD – Will but could have a been a number of others as well
MOM – Joint between Bav and Els – both match winning contributions !
We now find ourselves top of the league!
Next we are at home to Croydon and with no fewer than 7/8 regulars not around we will have to once again show us strength in depth.
Details can be found here http://parkhill.play-cricket.com/website/results/3024977
League table here http://tscl.play-cricket.com/website/websites/view_division?id=70932
Cheers
Alex
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Park Hill Cricket Club 