The Greasby Roaders v The SCC
Sunday Sept 11th 2011
Game 1 of the Indian Summer League marked the welcome return to action, after a long lay off with various cricketing mishaps, of Paul - and on a windy autumnal day, there was a spring in his step as he set foot onto a cricket pitch - injury free - for the 1st time for a good few months.
Sunday Sept 11th 2011
Game 1 of the Indian Summer League marked the welcome return to action, after a long lay off with various cricketing mishaps, of Paul - and on a windy autumnal day, there was a spring in his step as he set foot onto a cricket pitch - injury free - for the 1st time for a good few months.
The SCC had won the toss and elected to bat 1st, so we made our way to the astro-turf strip in the middle for a quick warm up and a few gentle practice bowling deliveries whilst the oppo padded up. 1st up, Rob, and his medium paced seamers. Charles, still organising his kids on the sidelines, was yet to appear in the middle with the wicket-keeping gloves. No problem though as Paul stepped up the wickets to receive Rob's 1st delivery... and no "gentle practice" about it - a fast well pitched up delivery skims past the top of the off-stump. Paul, barely a couple of yards behind the stumps and no doubt expecting a lazy loosener, instinctively sticks out his unprotected hands to stop the ball flying down to the boundary... and it's the 1st "OOH YOU F****** B******" of the day as, barely 30 seconds into the warm-up, the ball misses the safety of Paul's fleshy palms and stubs into the end of his thumb - ouch! There are half a dozen small children, playing merrily on the sidelines. They cast a glance upwards to the sudden shouting frenzy. Fortunately for all concerned the muffled expletives struggle to penetrate against the strong westerly that is blowing and their youthful innocence is preserved! Welcome back Paul, its good to have you back mate.
A superb bowling performance ensued - both Steve and James taking wickets with their 1st deliveries and Rob, steaming in, enhanced his label as being probably our best bowler, eventually taking 3 wickets. Chris, in only his 2nd game, bowled tidily but without much luck as the SCC batsmen looked to pick up the pace and Paul, still nursing his bruised thumb, also had a bowl and Sod's Law - in his 1st over the batsman absolutlety clobbered the ball straight back to Paul who dropped his hands low to his ankles to almost take a superb caught and bowled, the ball once again evading the central palm area and this time smacking into the area where hand meets wrist at the base of the thumb... another bruise and another loud f-word barrage, haha! He did however eventually take his deserved 1st wicket of the season.
On the subject of catches, special mention to Rob again, who took a couple of scream inducing finger-stinging catches whilst fielding in the deep, and who along with Phil who must have done 50% of the fielding, helped restrict the SCC to an all out score of 117.
And so a target of 118 set. Enter Paul and Nick - the Kevin Petersen and Geoffrey Boycott of the day as one belted and the other built - Paul going for 4's and 6's with every ball, Nick nudging the ball around for 1's and 2's. After 5 overs, the score was 38-0, Paul having scored 33 of them! With a decent start, the run-chase never really seemed in serious doubt. Paul eventually holed out for a fine 33 runs, easily eclipsing his previous best (2!) and Rob came in and continued where Paul left off scoring 42 before being caught by a fine catch in the deep by Paul?! (fielding for the opposition now due to their reduced numbers). Nick's steady (ie comparitively dull) innings eventually led to the scores tied and facing the last ball of the 19th over. Going for glory, a slash outside off-stump nicked the edge of the ball and sent it flying over what would have been the slips, surely to safety and the single run that would take the Greasby Roaders to victory... but what's this, Stephen's son, Sean (aged 11), is fielding for the opposition at a quirky back-stop position, and with a diving leap, he just manages to slide his fingers under the ball and take an amazing catch! Nick and Phil by this stage have taken the single and think they've won the match, however Sean even has the presence of mind to get up and hurl the ball to the non-strikers end and, oh no, it's a run out and a double play wicket - both batsmen out, d'oh! Sean - that's the last time I buy you an Apple Tango in the bar after a game. Just kidding fella - a really superb bit of fielding, well played!
Fortunately, it was left to the steady nerves of Sean's dad, Stephen, to come in and nudge the last single for a deserved Greasby Roaders victory - Well played everybody, another confident all round team performance and a great fun afternoon!
The SCC vs The Greasby Roaders
Date: Sun 11 Sep 2011
Batted First: The SCC
The SCC Score: 116 for 4 after 20.0
The Greasby Roaders Score: 118 for 3 after 19.1
The Greasby Roaders won by 5 wickets
Date: Sun 11 Sep 2011
Batted First: The SCC
The SCC Score: 116 for 4 after 20.0
The Greasby Roaders Score: 118 for 3 after 19.1
The Greasby Roaders won by 5 wickets
Match stats:-
No comments:
Post a Comment