The Greasby Roaders v The Bromborough Penguins
With some trepidation, The Greasby Roaders cricket team hit the field for their 1st match. For many of us it was the 1st such venture since school days some 20yrs ago! For others it was, quite simply, their 1st such venture.
The Bromborough Penguins, a team ranked 224th in the world, were warming up - gulp
A cold, brisk westerly was whipping in across the surroundings fields, the temperature was a cool 12 degrees and there was a dark gloom that hung over the ground - in more ways than one...
And so, dressed in our new red and white 'Last Man Stands' matching shirts, our skipper (Paul) arranged the fielding placings and tossed the ball to Charles to open the bowling. I had seen Charles bowl just 1 ball in the nets a few minutes earlier and the ball had looped up out of his fingers and landed on top of the netting - an ominous sign... However, put him in the middle and he did a mighty fine job in opening the bowling against a powerhouse batting partnership. Jeff (an American with baseball roots) bowled from the other end and between the 2 of them we were away.
After a tight opening spell of disciplined bowling, Bromborough's opening batter (ranked no.1 in Wirral and 124th in the World!) started to get his eye in and when Nick (yours truly) entered the fray with his gentle off-spinners (more of the former, less of the latter), the sixes-count started accumulating and a frighteningly high score looked to be on the cards. However, further controlled bowling spells from Paul and James (an Australian leg spinner - wow, how did we get him on the books?!) and we started to make inroads. 1st a fumbled run resulted in a sharp pick-up and release from Paul for James to whip the bails off and then soon after a misjudged pull resulted in a nice catch from Paul again at mid-wicket. An impressive full length dive from Bry earlier on had almost resulted in catch of the century but his outstretched fingertips just could not quite reach the full blooded pull through square-leg. Later on, Phil nearly pulled off what would have been a superb catch running in from the deep to a high hook but with gusting winds and very poor ambient light it was always going to be a very difficult chance. Special mention to Dave, who in his 1st ever game of cricket, adapted to the new game quickly and fielded well throughout the innings (despite his zero-grip trainers)!
In the end, we did well to keep Bromborough under 200 runs (very short boundaries by the way) and they finished with 194 runs off their 20 overs.
And so to our innings. Gulp again. Following his successful ability to open the bowling, Charles was chosen to also open the batting. At the other end - Paul, resplendant in all his brand spanking new cricket gear - pads, gloves, bat, etc - could this be his day?
Well, despite a shaky start, our worst fears of complete collapse thankfully did not transpire. Charles and Jeff combined well with contrasting styles. Charles the more orthodox with cover drives and late cuts - Jeff using his baseball skills to clobber some fine home-runs back over the bowlers head. There was a little cameo from Nick, but nothing prepared us for Bryan "Lara" Jackson - a few early play and misses and then from nowhere - WALLOP - a sudden frenzied attack of 4's and 6's straight out of the T20 cricket textbook! Suddenly, the opposition looked vulnerable and for a brief few overs we even dared to dream - was this impossible looking runchase possible?!? Bromborough seemed to save some of their best bowlers to the end though and alas it wasn't to be. But as darkness fell, the earlier gloom had made way for uplifted spirits as we left the field to the beckoning lights of the bar and a very creditable 135 runs to our name!
Well done fellas, a cracking 1st outing and thanks to you all for playing your part. Until next week...
| Bromborough Penguins vs The Greasby Roaders |
| Date: Thu 26 May 2011 |
| Batted First: Bromborough Penguins |
| Bromborough Penguins Score: 194 for 2 after 20.0 |
| The Greasby Roaders Score: 138 for 4 after 20.0 |
| Bromborough Penguins won by 56 runs |
details of the game by following this link:-
http://lastmanstands.spawtz.com/SpawtzSkin/Fixtures/GameDetails.aspx?FixtureId=26998&LeagueId=354&SeasonId=36
