Balls Of Different Sizes
08/09/2012
The Suburbans drew there first game of the season 1-1 with Old Georgians
Downs A Beat Cotswool 6-3
Downs B drew 1-1 with Portland Old Boys Res
The Satuday Cricket Team lost to Midsomer Norton by 1 run. The match report is here.
09/09/2012
The Sunday 1st Team beat division champions Churchways by 93 runs. The full scorecard is here.
The Sunday 2nd Team lost to Farmborough by 56 runs. The full scorecard is here. Fat Boy’s write up goes as follows:
And now the end was near….. The end of an era at Frenchay? And what a way to finish, 2 home games cheek by jowl. The 1sts chose to use their knowledge of the Frenchay 2nd pitch against table topping Churchways, so the 2nds had our chance on the Frenchay 1st team pitch against our soon to be Saturday hosts Farmborough, or the tractor boys as they call themselves.
James tossed off badly, so the opposition chose to bat, a decision they might have been regretting after Littleton’s northern tightness, and Ghanaby’s more exuberant pace had them on the back foot. A fortuitous lbw for Ghanabay took care of one opener, a regulation catch for Reg off DL1 the other, before Ghanaby clean bowled number 3. He softened up number 5 by hitting him in the box with a delivery, then taking a return catch 2 balls later, otherwise known as softening him up! At 32-4 the Cowboys scented something, was it victory….? However numbers 4 & 6 had other ideas, with our opening bowlers taking a well earned rest, these 2 batsmen started the rebuilding until the skipper removed number 4 Knight for 35, Rob Brown however continued to make hay at the bowlers’ expense, and ably supported by numbers 7 and 8 took the score onto 171, number 7 falling to Alex who gained confidence as his spell went on, number 8 to a catch for the Ghanabian off Matt, who then produced the cider moment by holding onto a stunning caught and bowled, which involved hurling himself, twisting and clutching a ball that had been hammered down the pitch at him to remove top scorer Brown. Quite a remarkable feat for anyone let alone a man of his size. His next 2 balls both went for 6, with Matt blaming the damage to his hand. DL1 and Ghanaby were brought back with the latter mopping up the tail, and with Matt returning the compliment of a catch, and another dubious lbw earned himself the honour of his first ever jug for the Cowboys with 5-29. The tractor boys had posted a respectable total of 185.
Tea had been prepared by Nelly, who had offered to do so despite having to pull out of the team with an injury, which of course deserves an honourable mention. He was however slightly perturbed by the gargantuan appetite of the farmers which left slightly less than he had imagined for the hosts. Over tea talk was of batsmen playing themselves in, and victory would be within sight.
So to the Cowboys Sunday 2s final ever innings in the Sunday league, until we switch back again. The visitors didn’t appear to have been weighed down by their stuffing at tea, and the Cowboys batsmen appeared not to have listened to their own words as Simon, Grant, Matt, and Reg all disappeared back into the hutch like startled rabbits with the score on 14, 14-4!!! Simon managed to find one of only 2 leg side fielders for a fairly good catch, Grant had a rare rush of blood to the feet for a limpet, and ran himself out going for a suicidal second run, Matt and Reg both bowled by the impressive Rob Brown. Ghanaby however had been listening quietly at tea, and with the right mix of determination to keep out the good ball, and hit out at the bad, managed to take the score past the Cowboys lowest ever total before the skipper succumbed, followed by Johnsie not long after for another dubious lbw. The old hands on the boundary wondered whether Simon’s height gives him a slightly warped perspective of where a ball that hits a batsman’s thigh is going to end up! DL1 came out with the game still possibly winnable, and he and Ghanaby set about restoring the innings and hoping to put the Cowboys in a position to make a charge, however the hero of the day somewhat tarnished his image by shamelessly throwing away his wicket 4 shy of having to buy a second jug.
DL1 and Stroddy added a useful partnership, before the former departed like a tired old man with 7 overs left and 70+ still needed. Into the arena strode DC2, and apart from being blamelessly involved of a confused Stroddy, managed to confound all those on watching by adding another 20 with Alex, including two fours. The rapture with which these were greeted led those on the other pitch to suspect that an unlikely victory had been achieved however twas not to be, in the final game of the Sunday 2s we had been defeated by 56 runs, which kind of sums up this and the past few seasons really.
I suppose tractors are always going to come out on top against cows, however this agricultural match was played in excellent spirit. Ghanaby was unsurprisingly man of the match, Matt’s catch won cider moment. Well done to all Cowboys who have turned out for the 2s this season despite all the upheavals I have enjoyed it immensely.