Good afternoon all
Yesterday we hosted Linton CC at home.
Match reporter this week is Bevan Gordon
This weekend we welcomed Linton Village CC to The Pleasuredome, hoping to return to winning ways after suffering a first Sunday defeat of the year last week. After the usual pre-game preparations were completed in the Hare, Jeppo managed to maintain his 100% record. Winning the toss yet again and electing to bat.
Tris, returning for his first Sunday game of the year after a successful outing in the mid-week T20, opened the batting with Bev and they got off to a flying start, with Tris hitting 3 boundaries in the first over and Bev hitting a couple in the second over. Tris was making good progress on his way to 33, with 5 fours and 2 sixes, before he was caught out with LCC on 47 runs.
Matt then joined Bev in the middle and lasted a few overs, but by this point the first change bowlers were on and scoring was difficult for both batmen as the run rate plummeted. Once Matt was bowled for 8, Depak had a brief visit to the middle but was soon on his way back to the pavilion after a 3-ball duck.
This brought Jeppo to the crease, who survived a couple of overs from the first change bowlers, then another change of bowlers gave the batsmen a bit more freedom and the skipper wasted no time in getting the scoreboard ticking over again. Bev also starting hitting the boundaries again, after having survived, but barely scored any runs, through the previous bowlers speels, and soon the batsmen were in a race to get to 50.
Bev got there first and pressed on before hitting a terrible shot to mid-wicket and being caught for 77, Bev and Jeppo having putting on a 110-run partnership. Jeppo, having got to his 50 too, was then joined by Dan. This once again coincided with a change of bowling though and scoring again slowed down dramatically. Soon Jeppo was bowled for 59 and Dan was caught on 13. Chowny made a brief visit to the middle and hit a beautiful shot, lofting the top wicket taker for 4 over midwicket but was then caught trying to repeat the shot, out for 4. Si was unfortunately dismissed for a 2-ball duck, leaving Callum to get 2 not out, and Wellsy (very proud) of his 4 not out, having once again gone for a wonder down the wicket first ball, just not being stumped for a golden duck this time.
Overall LCC managed to post 220 for 8, a score we felt may be a bit low, but gave us something to defend.
After the now club favourite baguette “build you own sandwich” teas from Wellsy we made our way into the field, hopeful we would defend the total.
Five overs later, when their opener retired on 53, some of those hopes were somewhat dashed. With Callum having a tough first over. Superted, opening at the other end bowled the second opener for a golden duck with his first ball, before he too started to get hit around the park. Neither gave up though, with Ed managing to pick up a second, caught by Cal, leaving him with 2 for 36 of his 3 overs. Cal finished his first spell 0 for 36 off 3, having bowled some lovely inswingers and a couple of much faster deliveries thrown in too.
With the fast-scoring opener retired, and with the theory that taking pace off the ball may slow the opposition down, Chowny and Jeppo then came on to bowl. Chowny bowled beautifully for his 3 overs, taking 2 wickets for just 8 runs and bowling one of the only 3 maidens that we managed as a team, his wickets being catches at slip and gully by Tris an Ed. Jeppo also bowled well taking 2 for 18 off his 3 overs. Continuing with the pace-off approach Matt and Si then came on to bowl. Matt bowled a good spell of 3 overs, 1 for 11 (also managing a maiden) his wicket a caught a bowled. Si continued his improved bowling that we have seen so far this year, unfortunately a few loose deliveries that pitched a bit short were punished by the batsmen, leaving him 0 for 34 from his 3overs.
Enter Dan and Depak, who both managed to take a wicket, with Depak bowling a wicket maiden and hitting the top of middle so hard that he cracked the stump!! At this point our hopes were restored as we had Linton 9 wickets down for around 160 runs, with the fast-scoring opener returning to crease and Linton still needing over 50 runs.
Unfortunately, LCC’s fielding let us down, as the opener immediately tried to go after Depak and Dan’s bowling and spooned the ball straight into the air off Dan, right to where a fielder had just been moved from! A couple more chances then went very closed to hand on the boundary but ultimately went over the rope, somewhat ruining Dan’s figures and leaving for with 1 for 34 off his three overs.
Depak had his own chance for a caught and bowled, but the ball had gone an awfully long way up and he wasn’t able to hold on to the catch as it came back down, still a good spell of bowling to end with 1 for 15 off his 3 overs.
Cal came back on for a 4th over and had their opener dropped on the boundary 3 times in that single over!! Special mention to Depak who did incredibly well just to get his hand to the ball as he sprinted round the boundary, while he wasn’t able to hold onto the catch it was an amazing effort and saved the boundary.
Wellsy was brought on to try and save us from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and bowled and lovely 2 overs for 10 runs, during which another piece of amazing fielding from Depak at point should have resulted in a run-out and the Win but Wellsy wasn’t able to gather the throw to remove the bails.
At this point the scores were tied, Linton’s opener had cruised past 100, at a strike rate of over 207 to finish on 112 not out, and he left their number 11 to glance the ball down to fine leg for a single and the victory.
Overall a good days cricket, played in good spirits, and we only have ourselves to blame for loss number 2!! We now have a couple of weeks to regroup before our game against Bures, and hopefully a return to winning way.
Next weekend game is Bures away on 13th June - Chris Ayers Memorial game - please come over if available.
Thanks
Dave