With the thoughts of Tudor Drive well and truly in the rear view mirror as we drove through the leafy heart of Surrey, we arrived at the pleasant surroundings of Nutfield CC. With a lovely club house consisting of a scorer’s box, a fantastic balcony with views and a nice little bar area, we were further convinced that switching to this league was a good idea.
Mackay as stand in skipper actually won a toss and elected to bat on a decent looking surface. With a few grumbles from the ever cheery Barry Smith, we cracked on looking to post a good score.
Aarsh and Chirag took to the crease as stand in openers and got us off to a steady start against some accurate bowling. The score at 16 when Chirag fell LBW – for once the batsman seemed content the correct decision was made! Mackay came in at his usual number 3 spot and alongside Aarsh a steady partnership developed with a mixture of some nice strokes from both and confident running. At drinks we found ourselves 80 ish for 1 and fancying our chances of posting 200+.
Shortly after drinks Aarsh fell LBW which was hard to argue with. New boy Abdul came the crease following his positive debut last week, but unfortunately with bat in hand it wasn’t to be his day, nicking off for a duck. Runs however will no doubt follow in his Park Hill career. Ex club president strode to the crease at 5 and looked in decent touch and rotated the strike alongside Mackay. Mackay continued to try and play sensibly with the pressure of a somewhat proud father (grandfather – Barry Smith) figure umpiring who was regularly trying to get him to ‘keep his head’. Mackay passed 50 and looked to steer the total up towards 200. Unfortunately, one shot too many led to his downfall as he was caught a wide mid on for 72 with the score at 133. Kev followed shortly after, but no doubt he will score some runs in this league if he is available to play more.
Prem and Jake found themselves at the crease and with the usual lusty blows from Jake and some sensible batting from Prem the score kept creeping up. Jake made a quick fire 16 before one big shot too many which gave the opportunity for both youngsters to bat alongside Prem to steer to the innings to a close. With some nice shots and positive running, we ended our innings 180 for 7 off our 40 overs. A decent effort that we felt was very much in the game.
Tea was once again a treat and a far cry from the dross served up in the Surrey Cricket League. Scones, donuts and sandwiches a nice treat with some lovely veggie options!
We took to the field feeling positive albeit slightly heavier! Mackay and Abdul opened up and bowled threatening spells. At one point Mackay bowled to an all offside field which was an interesting tactic. A few streaky runs followed from both ends before Mackay took the openers leg stump as he found our first wicket.
Assume drop catches somewhere around here…
Prem and Barry both came on first change and bowled superbly, barely offering up a bad ball between them. Barry ‘one calf’ Smith bowled great lengths and Prem missed the outside edge numerous times. With the pressure building wickets came with Barry picking up both their opener and number 3 LBW. Prem unlucky not to pick up a wicket but the pressure built certainly contributed to wickets falling at the other end.
Assume drop catches somewhere around here…
Chirag who has not bowled for a significant amount of time entered the attack and looked fantastic…Bowling great areas with a little bit of movement.
Assume drop catches somewhere around here…
Jake picked up a well taken stumping in his mix bag of 12 legal deliveries and both Mackay and Abdul managed to hold on to catches…yes 2 catches were taken amongst the 9 (maybe 10) drops.
Assume drop catches somewhere around here…
In fairness to the oppo their number 6 came in a played really well, mixing up smart cricket with some big shots. A few streaky 4s through slip and balls falling just away from fielders, along with drop catches, made it a game that simply just slipped away.
They managed to knock of the runs with a couple of overs to spare and Hill left disappointed, although plenty of positives to take from the game.
A shout out to Barry Smith who certainly played through the pain barrier to help out the club and to Clare who was happy to help out but not bat or bowl!
Chirag, Barry and Prem all put in long umpiring shifts to also help out – hugely appreciated.
Another pleasant and enjoyable game of cricket at a lovely ground against a nice opposition. All in all cricket was the winner.
We roll on to next week.
Up the hill !
Stand in skipper – Alex Mackay
Player of the match – Sponsored by Nicholls Residential = Alex Mackay
Park Hill Cricket Club 