Damp Disappointment
25/06/2013
The Saturday 1st Team lost to Avonside by 54 runs. They hit 227 from their 40 overs. RT1 bowled 28 for 3 from 6 and TT bowled 18 for 1 from 8. In reply The Cowboys managed only 173 all out. Angelo hit 29, Iggy hit 28. Scorecard. The match report is below.
Saturdays 2 were rained off at Timsbury which is only a mile from where the first team were playing. The stewards are inquiring.
26/06/2013
The Sundays lost to Blagdon by 152 runs. Blagdon hit 261. Matt D bowled 8 overs for 18 runs taking 1 wicket. In reply The Cowboys hit 109 with Fat Boy hitting 32. Scorecard
TT reported the Saturday 1 game thus:
In cricket there are several types of rained-off matches, but this wasn’t one of them. Despite overnight rain and an abundance of blue splodges on the rainfall radar, the Saturday 1st XI headed through intermittent light drizzle to Farmborough for their home match against ‘big-hitting’ Avonside.
Working his solstician magic, Iggy won the toss for the seventh time in succession and once again, with an octet of bowlers at his disposal, asked the opposition to bat first on a green strip with a damp but fast-drying outfield.
Davey and RT1 took the new ball, the latter having the best of possible starts by inducing a mistimed swipe into the covers for the Landlord to pouch, dismissing the reputable opening skipper for a duck. The new batsman and remaining opener then accumulated runs at just under four an over, putting on fifty together until the Landlord, replacing Davey down the hill, starting with two maidens, prompted a risky swipe across the line that found an edge which soared high before descending for RT1 to take a well-judged catch.
Wilki and the Landlord proceeded past drinks, keeping the run rate down and giving stumps and bats a close shave, but it wasn’t until Garnier’s spell that the next wicket fell. Thereafter, the Avonside middle order sought to up the tempo, attacking Lalith, who responded to no avail by bowling off a Duncanesque longer run.
After Garnier hit the stumps for the second time to dismiss the opener just short of his half-century, the opposition, with wickets in hand, piled on the runs as Ev and the returning Davey tried their best to prevent them from doing so. Both picked up a wicket apiece in the process and RT1’s second spell earned him a couple more, one from his trademark slower delivery after being hit for a six the previous ball.
At the end of their 40 overs ‘The Riverbank Men’ had amassed 227-8, which was perhaps no more than had been expected earlier in the week, but a few more than had been forecast earlier in the afternoon.
Gratitude is owed to Ange not only for providing the tea, but for the pizza and chips back at the pub later. After a light passing shower he took his Nimbus 2013 to the wicket with Grove to open the Cowboys’ reply.
The pair coped well with Avonside’s pacey opening bowlers, building a slow but solid opening partnership, finding the boundary with just enough regularity and reaching fifty together unscathed. The middle of the brother’s willow certainly appeared to have some oomph in it and he used it well. Grove was the first to depart, caught at point off the slow bowling of the opposing skipper, then Ange was out in a similar fashion to the bowler from the other end: 65-2.
Ev and Wilki tried to rebuild, one eye on the escaping run rate, but when Ev was not long after caught at extra cover and Davey his replacement was bowled a couple of overs later, there was a familiar blue funk in the air. Wilki’s departure in a similar fashion to the same bowler compounded the feeling: 84-5.
If anyone was capable of maintaining the required asking rate it was Iggy, with solid support from Preash. The latter, hitting the ball with more force each week, looked more than capable of staying around in support, but perished to another catch before the hundred was up, bringing Lalith to the middle.
The pair’s sensible but purposeful intent paid off and the score picked up as both got their eye in, unleashed some powerful blows and dashed up and down the wicket. Then, with a crack that would have been picked up by Snicko, Iggy’s calf muscle tore, depositing him on the ground and to the sideline for weeks to come, but not until the job in hand was completed. This was going to require a runner and possibly the chaos that one often brings to proceedings: Step forward the Landlord, next man in and never yet run out while playing for the Cowboys.
Iggy continued to defend and bludgeon as best he could, the other two doing the scampering up and down without incident or comedy, until the tragedy of his dismissal at mid-on for 28 (with a strike rate of 155, if the scorebook is to be believed, although for parts of the afternoon it is not).
Lalith took over the heavy hitting, joined now by the runner turned batsman, both searching for the runs to keep their team in contention, but when Lalith failed to complete a second run to a good throw and departed for 20, the required run rate was over ten an over with only two wickets left. Enter Garnier with the Nimbus 2013, throwing hands and craftsmanship at a ball with a modicum of width and sending it hurtling to the square boundary like a hare escaping a greyhound, twice, thereby garnering enough votes to win the Cider Moment.
There was some more scampering between wickets before Garnier’s cameo ended (word up!) and he fell to the opening bowler’s second spell with the score on 164-9, still some sixty runs short. Could Tinkler and Taylor perform a heroic tenth wicket stand? Apparently not, as the Landlord attempted a quick single to the best arm on the field, didn’t ground his bat and was run out for the first time in fifty-one games.
The Landlord was voted Man of the Match, probably not for being run out for five and dropping a catch, possibly in sympathy, as a member of the opposition had inadvertently gone off with his raincoat and a heavy shower was imminent.