Ahead of the curtain raiser, there were two main talking points about two ‘debutants’:
- How would the returning Martinez fare after a 6 year hiatus?
- How would Miss Radcox handle the pressure of her tea lady audition?
More on both shortly.
A late-night deluge on Friday left a few question marks over the condition of the home pitch; these fears were unfounded as there were no signs of damage during the pre-match pitch inspection. With a welcome headache of a strong XI to factor into any decision at the toss, Chipperton opted to bat first on what was (at that point) a balmy spring afternoon.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Martinez was welcomed back into the fold and entrusted with the unenviable task of facing the first ball of the new season! A regular attendee at the recent indoor nets, Hill will certainly be better off with him back in their ranks! He showed no signs of rust as, in partnership with the captain, he set a high early tempo and helped Hill make a promising start. The hosts brought up the half century inside the opening 10 overs and looked largely untroubled, but Martinez fell for a brisk 35. His demise brought last season’s Division 4 Top Scorer to the crease, although in his haste to carry on where he left off, Mackay danced past a delivery from the young leg-spinner and departed with troubling the scorer.
Symons was the next cab on the rank as Hill looked to regain the initiative having gone from 64-0 to 67-2 in the blink of an eye. The rebuild looked to be going well until Symons was bowled, after inadvertently deflecting the ball back onto his stumps. Ransom joined Chipperton in the middle as Hill still harboured hopes of posting a score in excess of 200. The pair continued to score at a reasonable rate, with Ransom the aggressor in chief. Having seen Ransom clear the rope, Chipperton’s attempts to match his power-hitting were ill-advised and he was caught on the square-leg boundary, departing for 36 and with 106 on the scoreboard.
The trend continued shortly after as the well-placed Ransom fell on 36 after picking out midwicket. This left the responsibility of reaching a reasonable score to Hill’s middle-order – thankfully a deep batting line up looked to be needed. Vithalani and Rolfe continued to keep the score ticking over until they fell on 21 and 12 respectively. T Jones, in a show of solidarity with his batting mentor Mackay, came and went first ball to a carbon copy stumping. D Jones played a key role lower down the order and his entertaining knock of 19 was ended as a he became the second victim to Subramanium’s haphazard running. His undefeated contribution of 7, in conjunction with Jeavons’ 12 meant that Hill posted a healthy total of 202.
T Jones and Jeavons were handed the new ball as Hill looked to apply early pressure to the visitors’ run chase. The breakthrough was provided by Hill’s speedster as he responded to being dispatched to the fence by pitching one up and crashing the ball into the stumps. Mackay replaced Jeavons and collecting two scalps in his spell. Chipperton struck shortly after to remove the danger man as Hill claimed the first 3 wickets inside the opening 10 overs. The next victim was trapped LBW by Chipperton as Leatherhead’s young side struggled with the scoreboard pressure.
Hill’s imposing total meant that they were able to pass the ball around in preparation for sterner tests ahead. Subramanium entered the attack and picked up a wicket, whilst a luckless Ransom troubled the batsmen from the other end without much luck. Leatherhead rallied for a brief while and denied Hill’s hopes of an early drink in the sun, but their resistance was eventually ended as Chipperton claimed a third wicket, D Jones helped himself to 2 wickets and a Mackay run out gave Hill a convincing 88 run victory.
Player of the match – Sponsored by Nicholls Residential = Alwyn Martinez
Park Hill Cricket Club 