Bluecoat 137-7 (20 overs)
Withers 2-25, Ashman 1-6
RUASCC 101-1 (13.5 overs)
Baker 46 not out, Extras 38
Match abandoned due to rain
For the second time this week the rain put an end to proceedings, and this time RUASCC were looking at a comfortable win needing just a run a ball from six overs with nine wickets in hand.
We arrived at the smart new Bluecoat Pavilion before 5pm to find a school game nearing the end of the first innings. The start of our game was therefore delayed by about an hour and after losing the toss and witnessing a thrilling last-ball finish (Bluecoat lost) we took to the field at 6.30pm. Main and Baker opened the bowling and the Bluecoat openers made a brisk start before Pett pulled up with a groin strain and barely got going again before he was run out by Baker at the non-striker’s end.
The two batsmen made good use of the three short boundaries to push the score up to 80-1 after ten overs but a well-taken catch at backward point by Baker off Greenhalf put an end to that. Greenhalf then took a catch of his own off Withers who took two wickets in his third over, the second a textbook outswinger caught behind by (Young Sam) Griffiths. Withers and Griffiths combined again to earn the second run out of the innings as Bluecoat lost their early momentum.
In a bid to help them find it again, Tranter brought himself on with four overs to go. However, bowling from his shortened run up (one step) he was far too much to handle and picked up his first wicket of the year with something that pitched, and in a straight line too. At the other end Dr Ashman was also on the money and won an LBW verdict to finish with 1-6 from two overs. A very welcome decent bowling and fielding performance from RUASCC restricted Bluecoat to 137-7 from 20 overs.
RUASCC need 138 runs to win
With the light already fading fast we turned around quickly and sent Eagle and Dip to open the batting. Both men had picked up a single when Dip was bowled by one that kept low (lower than Dip, which is startling) to bring Baker to the crease. With plenty of runs coming from byes and wides (though not as many wides as the batsmen would have liked) the run rate ticked along nicely despite Eagle scoring only in singles. In the increasing gloom, with a damp outfield, it was proving difficult to play with any fluency but neither batsman looked in any danger and Baker did find the boundary a few times on his way to another score in the forties.
Then in the 14th over, just as the hundred came up on the best electronic scoreboard Withers has ever had the pleasure of doing business with, the drizzle gave way to a hail storm and suddenly eleven fielders, two batsmen and two umpires hurtled back towards the shelter of the pavilion covering themselves with anything that came to hand. The match was over and not only had Baker been denied a likely half century, the middle order of Chan, Young Sam and Greenhalf were denied their chance to bat at all. Chan, desperate for an outlet for his pent up energy, began drinking immediately.
RUASCC Highlight: The perfect dismissal for a right-arm medium-paced swing bowler – Withers finds the edge, Griffiths takes the catch.
RUASCC Man of the Match: Baker was on course to win the game before the hail came, and he took a catch too.
RUASCC Team: Eagle, Dip, Baker, Malde, Griffiths (wkt), Greenhalf, Main, Tranter (capt), Ashman, Withers
Sunday 12 June 2011
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Wargrave (A) – 5.6.11
Wargrave 229-9
Zia 3-26, Jagesh 2-17
Match abandoned due to rain
A heavy shower followed a useless shower on Sunday afternoon as RUASCC turned in a fielding performance that flitted between the realms of comedy and tragedy at Wargrave Recreation Ground. Tranter won the toss on a grey, windy afternoon and RUASCC took to the field in drizzle for a 40-over game that actually ended up as a 40-over game.
Main and Zia quickly removed the two openers - Main took the first wicket as Eagle held onto a catch at mid-off and Zia took a simple one-handed catch off his own bowling - but to set the tone for the next couple of hours, three other chances had already gone down. The miserly Bruce Main bowled four maidens in his eight over spell and Zia bowled the new man for a duck to give RUASCC an excellent start.
Withers officially opened the buffet by shipping 20 runs in his first two overs but persevered to take wickets with consecutive balls, and Jagesh picked up two LBWs in a commendably tight spell to make it 64-7 before the halfway point.
From a position of apparent hopelessness Wargrave rallied as two very useful batsmen came in at numbers eight and nine. They added 50 runs in the next ten overs and it seemed they might at least make a game of it; then they added another 50 in the next five overs and suddenly we were looking at a total to chase. The one word you can’t use to describe the partnership is “chanceless” - practically every RUASCC fielder was offered the opportunity to catch one of them out, but nothing stuck. Withers, Main, Zia and Carpenter will all be kicking themselves after failing to hold on when they got good hands to the ball, although it’s possible Zia deliberately dropped his to deny Tranter a wicket. By the end of the 40 overs only Tranter, Ward and Jagesh remained innocent of spurning opportunities.
The home side passed 200 and “Ratty” (batting for the first time in eight years) attempted a big shot on 49 - alas, as a result he was stumped by half a yard to give Ashman (1-63) a wicket. Zia returned at the death to remove Owen first ball (a catch even Withers couldn’t drop) and Wargrave were down to their last wicket.
Robinson wasn’t finished yet though: after a brutal attack in the final over he hit a huge straight six from the last ball of the innings to finish 100 not out. Wargrave scored 229-9 having added 108 in the last ten overs.
At tea the intermittent drizzle gave way to a full on shower and at 5.15pm the captains agreed to knock it on the head. Wargrave had a lucky escape if you ask me. Just look at the batting line up: Eagle is due a big score, Wardy and Zia are still unbeaten from two weeks ago and Carpenter had a look in his eye that said "I'm gonna fuck you up chappy, so don't even try it." And that’s before Chan and his massive bat get a look in. Let’s face it, a RUASCC win was a nigh-on certainty.
RUASCC Highlight: It’s getting pretty desperate when I can’t think of anything better than Wardy skilfully stopping a boundary with the outside of his foot.
RUASCC Man of the Match: Jagesh - took his first two wickets of the season in an economical spell and was one of the very few who didn’t drop a catch.
RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle, Carpenter, Dip (wkt), Malde, Zia, Main, Tranter (capt), Jagesh, Ashman, Withers
Zia 3-26, Jagesh 2-17
Match abandoned due to rain
A heavy shower followed a useless shower on Sunday afternoon as RUASCC turned in a fielding performance that flitted between the realms of comedy and tragedy at Wargrave Recreation Ground. Tranter won the toss on a grey, windy afternoon and RUASCC took to the field in drizzle for a 40-over game that actually ended up as a 40-over game.
Main and Zia quickly removed the two openers - Main took the first wicket as Eagle held onto a catch at mid-off and Zia took a simple one-handed catch off his own bowling - but to set the tone for the next couple of hours, three other chances had already gone down. The miserly Bruce Main bowled four maidens in his eight over spell and Zia bowled the new man for a duck to give RUASCC an excellent start.
Withers officially opened the buffet by shipping 20 runs in his first two overs but persevered to take wickets with consecutive balls, and Jagesh picked up two LBWs in a commendably tight spell to make it 64-7 before the halfway point.
From a position of apparent hopelessness Wargrave rallied as two very useful batsmen came in at numbers eight and nine. They added 50 runs in the next ten overs and it seemed they might at least make a game of it; then they added another 50 in the next five overs and suddenly we were looking at a total to chase. The one word you can’t use to describe the partnership is “chanceless” - practically every RUASCC fielder was offered the opportunity to catch one of them out, but nothing stuck. Withers, Main, Zia and Carpenter will all be kicking themselves after failing to hold on when they got good hands to the ball, although it’s possible Zia deliberately dropped his to deny Tranter a wicket. By the end of the 40 overs only Tranter, Ward and Jagesh remained innocent of spurning opportunities.
The home side passed 200 and “Ratty” (batting for the first time in eight years) attempted a big shot on 49 - alas, as a result he was stumped by half a yard to give Ashman (1-63) a wicket. Zia returned at the death to remove Owen first ball (a catch even Withers couldn’t drop) and Wargrave were down to their last wicket.
Robinson wasn’t finished yet though: after a brutal attack in the final over he hit a huge straight six from the last ball of the innings to finish 100 not out. Wargrave scored 229-9 having added 108 in the last ten overs.
At tea the intermittent drizzle gave way to a full on shower and at 5.15pm the captains agreed to knock it on the head. Wargrave had a lucky escape if you ask me. Just look at the batting line up: Eagle is due a big score, Wardy and Zia are still unbeaten from two weeks ago and Carpenter had a look in his eye that said "I'm gonna fuck you up chappy, so don't even try it." And that’s before Chan and his massive bat get a look in. Let’s face it, a RUASCC win was a nigh-on certainty.
RUASCC Highlight: It’s getting pretty desperate when I can’t think of anything better than Wardy skilfully stopping a boundary with the outside of his foot.
RUASCC Man of the Match: Jagesh - took his first two wickets of the season in an economical spell and was one of the very few who didn’t drop a catch.
RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle, Carpenter, Dip (wkt), Malde, Zia, Main, Tranter (capt), Jagesh, Ashman, Withers
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