Game 3

Thursday 9th June 2011

The Greasby Roaders v WK Willows

2 games played, 2 losses and bottom of the league 2 table... What would this evening hold?

WK Willows won the toss, elected to bat and quickly started working the ball around and accumulating runs, oh dear - ominous signs..

...but wait there, only a few overs down and a mis-timed hit towards the long-off boundary and Rob's under it, Rob's under it, "He's caught it!" shouts the skipper prematurely (the ball is still 25 meters above the ground), Rob steadies himself, beads of sweat forming, OMG OMG.... annnnnd THAT'S OUT! Well done Rob

...and with that catch the tone was set. The run rate eased a little as the new batsman struggled to put bat on ball and it wasn't too long until another chance spooned into the air - alas, Stephen was just a little too close in and the ball cleared his head. But failure is not an option for these Bank of America employees and with a last minute leap up and back with an extended outstretched arm and the fingers just managed to reach the ball as his body slammed into the ground.. surely it hasn't stuck?? but it has and THAT'S OUT - blimey, an early contender for catch of the season! (more of that in a moment)

With our tails up, catches started sticking like glue - Rich with a fine caught and bowled, Nick with a straight-forward one at point and then the 2nd contender for catch of the season, although, if truth be known, probably more for comical value rather than true skill, sorry Rob - the ball had been belted into the atmosphere and Rob was steadying himself once more on the deep mid micket boundary - wide balanced stance, hands cupped with the palms facing upwards at chest level, looking good, soft hands Rob, soft hands.. annnnd SMACK (hands a little tense perhaps) and the ball has immediately popped out. SMACK again, popped out ball has gone on to hit the top of the nose/forehead area, loud scream and resultant headed ball heading for the boundary for a probable 4, but no - one hand clutching the face, the other wafting thin air, an instinctive lunging dive and plop - THAT'S OUT! Great catch and laugh of the evening so far

Further heroic efforts in the field ensued - Mark's boundary slides and textbook flick backs have within a week become legendary! But the real hero award probably has to go to Paul - an awkward turn and chase for a potential catch at long on and it's clutch the back of the leg time - the hamstring has gone, ouch. But, this ex-military man knows not the meaning of pain and, despite being hardly able to walk, it's a quick change into the wicket-keeper gloves and pads to spend the remainder of the innings in the 'safety' of being behind the stumps. However "Paul" and "cricket pads" don't mix well. Granted, Paul had done a good job to surgically repair his brand new pads that had ripped the previous week, but they were located on the boundary, some 70 yards away - a long way to walk for someone who's just ruptured their hamstring. And so it was easier for him to don the wicket-keeping pads that James had been wearing. Loaned to us from a local school's kit bag, these pads I think had been designed for under 15's team and were lacking a little in length. Not a major problem behind the wickets though. Alas, a few overs into his stint behind the wickets and CRACK - the ball had kept a little low, batsman had missed, wicket-keeping gloves had missed, U15's pads had missed, and it was left to that small area of exposed knee-cap to kop the brunt of the full force of the leather ball - ouch! (cue more sniggers from the field as Paul writhed in agony on the floor, hehheh, sorry mate)

Anyway, a fine bowling and fielding display and despite getting off to a fast start, the WK Willows were restricted to 127-7 off their 20 overs. All 5 bowlers got wickets with the pick of the figures going to James and his leg-spinners with an excellent 2-15 off his 4 overs.

And so to our innings, Rob and Nick rehearsing textbook shotmaking skills as they made their way to the middle, the scent of possible victory in the air.

3 balls later and Nick was making his way back to the clubhouse - a clobbered drive that could not have picked out the bowlers hand out any better for an easy caught and bowled. Hmm, 0-1, but on the bright side, only 1 run off our highest 1st wicket opening partnership!

And to the crease, Rich, looking a little anxious but with no good reason as he and Rob started stroking the ball around and building a score. A potential difficult moment however as Rob had to dive in for a close run out call, over to the square leg umpire... in this case the next batsman, Stephen, it's a shake of his head though and "not out" - hmm, close one but the opposition accept the decision. Some enthusiastic appealing follows in the next few overs as Rob and Rich ride their luck and the runs keep coming. As Rich's score increases, his running speed correspondingly decreases - lack of match fitness apparent from the sidelines, but still, some expert strokes to the boundary and that's 50 - super effort!

Rob and Stephen both had good knocks into the 20's, but as the overs left reduced, the run rate required increased and it was a tall order for the the lower order batsman to come in and try to immediately make runs quickly - especially against some decent opposition bowling. Batsmen came and wickets fell and with just a couple of overs remaining and 20+ runs still required, Phil, our number 8 for the day, made his way gingerly to the crease.. and immediately smacked one past the bowler for 4! Could it be?? But with just 1 over remaining and still needing 14 runs, it wasn't to be our week

Still, a great effort all round and excellent game against decent opposition - well done fellas. I might be wrong but I think the WK Willows were expecting an easy win - whilst fielding on the square leg boundary earlier on I had overheard one of the opposition team chatting to one of his teammates - "what's going on, their bowling figures are supposed to be ******* ****"

Haha, it's an area we seem to be improving in! and to end on a positive, because we lost by less than 20%, we got an extra 2 bonus points to take our season total to 5 points (1 point for each game all wearing the same kit = the other 3 points!)... and have therefore moved up a place from bottom to 2nd from bottom, 1 point ahead of "Philarmonic"

.. who just so happen to be our opponents for next week - Game on!

WK Willows CC vs The Greasby Roaders

Date: Thu 09 Jun 2011

Batted First: WK Willows CC

WK Willows CC Score: 127 for 7 after 20.0

The Greasby Roaders Score: 114 for 8 after 19.3

WK Willows CC won by 13 runs

Game stats:-

http://lastmanstands.spawtz.com/SpawtzSkin/Fixtures/GameDetails.aspx?FixtureId=27007&LeagueId=354&SeasonId=36&DivisionId=0