Highmoor (A) - 20.6.10

A weekend of firsts: my first trip to Lord’s on Saturday was followed by my first trip to Highmoor on Sunday. And, at the seventh attempt, this was to be RUASCC’s first win of the 2010 season.

Highmoor is not a difficult place to find: you simply take the B481 from Reading and once you enter the village you need to immediately drive straight past the cricket ground. Next you need to slow down a bit and think “ooh, it was back there”, then check your mirrors, spin round in the next side road, re-trace your journey in a slightly cautious fashion and finally say “aha!” as you spot the hole in the hedge that forms the entrance. Then simply choose which wing mirror you can bear to live without, shut your eyes and hope you make it through.

Once inside the fortress you find it’s a beautiful setting enclosed by trees and on Sunday the sun shone brightly as Captain Tranter lost his ninth consecutive toss. The home skipper obligingly opted to have a bat so for only the second time this season RUASCC fielded first.

The pitch offered variable bounce straight away and Withers made the breakthrough in the fourth over with a straight one that kept low. From the other end Koslicki found the outside edge several times in the early stages – two found the gap between slip and gully and two were dropped by Young Sam, the second into the waiting forearms of Withers at second slip. 41-2 soon became 53-3 as a very attacking batsman who looked like Javed Miandad was bowled by Koslicki, who finished with 2-42.

Carpenter replaced Withers (1-31) from the Car Park End and duplicated the opening bowler’s earlier LBW in his third over. By this time Highmoor had passed 100 and their opener was approaching a deserved 50 - that was until Jagesh saw the red mist and banged in a brutal lifter which tore a hole in the man’s head. Forced to retire hurt on 49, the young batsman later went to hospital and got six stitches above his eye so I won’t tell you which RUASCC player had said “well that’s as good as a wicket.”

Jagesh followed this with a more routine (and less bloody) wicket as Dip took a good catch on the cover boundary. This was just after the same fielder had dropped a difficult chance off Carpenter, who continued his impressive spell and was rewarded with a second wicket when a lofted drive picked out Withers on the long-off boundary. Highmoor jogged along without further loss to finish on 158-6 from 39 overs.

The RUASCC reply began with a boundary each for Ward and Eagle before the left-hander was bowled for 8. Next man Dip made just 5 before he played all round a straight one and was given LBW. It was 31-2 at the end of the 11th over.

Eagle clearly carried his confidence from Farley Hill into this game as he looked to attack the bad balls – full tosses were punished, long hops were cut (sometimes even in front of square) and RUASCC were halfway to the target with 20 overs gone. Our Dr Eagle is perhaps a batsman more commonly associated with caution, but his runs dominated a stand of 85 with Carpenter and he reached an excellent 50 with a cover drive for four.

Plenty of well-run singles punctuated with powerful boundaries saw Carpenter reach 33 before he was bowled with the score on 116. Then It was Loader’s turn to play second fiddle to the increasingly assured Eagle and their partnership of 32 took RUASCC to within a dozen runs of victory with four overs still remaining.

Sadly for us all, Eagle didn’t make it to the finish line as he was bowled for a career-best 86. “Should have been a not out”, he moaned as he trudged back to the pavilion in typical Eagle fashion. There was to be no RUASCC hiccup though, and Loader sealed things with two boundaries in the very next over - a very satisfying win by six wickets.

RUASCC Highlight: It has to be the batting again, Eagle’s in particular.

RUASCC Man of the Match: For the superb temperament, enthusiasm and technique he displayed during a long and difficult stint in the field, it’s got to be Very Young Ben Loader.

RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle, Dip, Carpenter, Loader R, Griffiths (wkt), Loader B, Koslicki, Withers, Tranter (capt), Jagesh