Hambleden (at Leighton Park) – 12.9.10

Hambleden 118 all out
Withers 3-20, Stewart 2-17

RUASCC 121-2
Carpenter 39 not out, Zia 38 not out

RUASCC won by 8 wickets

After a week of filthy weather and Saturday’s cancellation it was something of a relief to get a warm, sunny day at Leighton Park. RUASCC, captained for the first time by Michael Ward, sealed their third win in five matches and their second inside a month against Hambleden.

With Tranter away on a kayaking holiday in southern Japan, Ward did at least give a subtle nod to the Silver Fox by losing the toss in his honour. Hambleden opted to bat first on a green wicket and RUASCC, featuring not one, but two ten-year-olds, took to the field.

Evidence from the first half hour suggested someone has finally mentioned to Keith Withers that the season has started: after two tight overs the opening bowler was rewarded with a nick to the keeper for the first wicket. Several more edges followed, one almost held by the diving Baker at second slip, and the second wicket duly arrived shortly after as Arnold creamed a straight drive back at the bowler’s face. Withers, presented with a straightforward choice of “catch it or die” somehow clung onto the ball and it was 14-2.

Zia, bowling another insultingly economical spell, also bagged an early wicket as Hambleden’s top order crumbled. And Withers hadn’t finished yet – a full, slower ball on leg-stump found a way through to give his best return of the season: 3-20 from eight overs.

Baker replaced Zia and he was frustrated very early on as new batsman Winchester popped the ball up nicely to Ward at cover only to see the chance put down. Ashman, bowling from the other end, had better luck when his first ball was slashed horribly to Carpenter at slip who grabbed it like it was the last cheese sandwich. Realising he wasn’t getting any help from the fielders, Baker decided to go it alone and cleaned up the stumps instead leaving Hambleden six wickets down with only one batsman, Winchester, standing in RUASCC’s way. His confident driving and clouts towards mid-wicket, as well as his consistent success at keeping the strike, pushed the Hambleden score up towards 100.

Then, as Winchester played a square cut to bring up his fifty, Baker’s return throw from the deep cover boundary managed to evade Dip’s gloves for an overthrow, at which point Eagle helpfully asked whether there was anything the wicketkeeper might like to differently in future. Dip, after a moment’s considered thought, calmly enquired as to whether perhaps Dr Eagle might like to assist him by taking over behind the stumps for the rest of the innings. While Eagle pondered this from the mid-wicket boundary, a short but productive meeting with the captain resulted in Dip deciding that he simply loves keeping too much to let someone else do it, and just a few minutes later he was ready to receive the next ball. It’s one of the most rewarding things about playing for RUASCC – seeing these infrequent episodes of potential disagreement being dealt with in such a mature and positive way. It sets an excellent example for the ten-year-olds.

Back to the game, and as so often tends to happen, the introduction of Ken Stewart into the bowling attack earned RUASCC the key breakthrough – Winchester again chipping the ball into the covers and this time Ward taking it safely running to his right. After that there was minimal resistance as RUASCC swiftly mopped up the tail. Such was the visiting side’s dismal fate that they even suffered the indignity of succumbing to a run out from “good arm” Withers (deadly from silly mid-off). Carpenter took another slip catch to give Stewart (2-17) another wicket and the final scalp went to Rahul Patel whose uncle Dip took the stumping. 118 all out.

It would be remiss of me here if I failed to offer a big thank you to the visiting members of the Patel family for an excellent tea.

RUASCC’s innings began with a left-right partnership for both sides: Ward and Eagle doing their best to nullify the threat of two quick, aggressive bowlers including the main batsman Winchester. Thanks to some generous wicketkeeping it was byes that set the early pace, reaching ten before either batsman had got off the mark. Eagle, despite being 6’5” tall, was peppered with bouncers by the left-armer - he attempted to hook one and allowed the others to pass before sending a message to the pavilion that perhaps a helmet might be a good idea. He didn’t need it though, for in the next over he was done by a quick, full one and was out LBW for 2.

Having seen off the quicker bowlers things got easier for Ward and Carpenter. When presented with several short balls down the leg side Ward proved adept at finding the backward square leg boundary, and when Winchester unwisely chose to start bowling spin Ward spanked him for two consecutive fours thus swiftly putting an end to that experiment. Carpenter slashed hard over gully to get off the mark and never looked in any trouble at all while, for the second consecutive match, he took control of the run chase.

Having put on more than fifty for the second wicket Ward went for 29, bowled attempting another big shot, but that was to be Hambleden’s last success. Zia (38 not out) and Carpenter (39 not out) played cuts, drives and pulls all over the park and made light work of polishing off the last fifty runs. RUASCC won by 8 wickets with more than 12 overs to spare.

RUASCC Highlight: The enormous fight.

RUASCC Man of the Match: Not for the first time this season - Zia. Economical with the ball, devastating with the bat, he was well-supported by Withers (3-20) and Carpenter (39 not out).

RUASCC Team: Ward (capt), Eagle, Carpenter, Zia, Dip (wkt... not wkt... wkt), J Baker, W Baker, Stewart, R Patel, Withers, Ashman