Peppard (A) – 10.7.11

RUASCC 136-9
Extras 40, Tranter 21 not out

Peppard 139-2
Baker 2-36, Carpenter 0-18

RUASCC lost by 8 wickets

For the third match in a row RUASCC batted first, failed to put enough runs on the board and lost - and today at Peppard it was a real thrashing. Captain Eagle won the toss and chose to bat first in a limited overs game and things looked less than promising a short while later at 22-4.

In the third over Ward was given out caught off his pad and was halfway to the pavilion when Vines, the home skipper, sportingly invited him back in. Wardy embraced the second chance by surviving one more ball before being cleaned up through the gate. Eagle lasted a few more overs before he too was bowled, and the same bowler also did for Baker and Dip as he finished his sixth over with figures of 4-9. Dip had taken a beamer on the forearm and was in too much pain to lift the bat - we’re not sure what everyone else’s excuses were but it is certainly true that Peppard were simply bowling and fielding very well.

Carpenter and Weeks added 35, working hard but getting little reward from the slow outfield. There weren’t many bad balls on offer and each batsman only managed one boundary during the nine over partnership which almost saw us through to the drinks break. Unfortunately the first change of bowling saw Danny Hayden take three wickets in his first three overs to leave RUASCC 68-7 - Carpenter (caught at slip), Seymour (caught and bowled) and Weeks (stumped by Vines, now keeping after bowling a nine over spell) the three men to go.

It wasn’t long before Pensioner Ken Stewart became Williams’ fifth victim, stumped for 4 - it was the only time he took his feet off the floor the entire day. Luckily for RUASCC Richard Tranter is a batting machine these days and for the second week in a row he dragged the score up to something that was, if not respectable, at least within 50 runs of something that could almost be considered par. He hit only the third four of the innings, and his able partner Ben Koslicki, playing his first game of the season, hit three more of his own in a ninth wicket stand of 40. When Koslicki was caught for 14 it was 116-9 and there were still six and a half overs to go, but Tranter and professional number eleven Withers comfortably saw out the innings to finish on 136-9.

Peppard need 137 runs to win

Baker started tightly from the Pavilion End and was rewarded in the third over when Adam Seymour at square leg clung on to a very good catch at the third attempt. Then in the eleventh over he took his second with a yorker that snuck through but Peppard were already scoring at a healthy rate and were 45-2 when wicketkeeper-bowler-captain-batsman Vines came in after a stint in the commentary box. And that was where the joy ended.

Withers and Koslicki both bowled decent spells without much luck as another half-dozen chances were put down in the field. Gradually we stopped caring about the cricket and the inevitable result and instead just remembered to enjoy the beautiful warm sunshine and take a moment to reflect on how blessed we are to be free from persecution and famine and that we can spend our Sundays playing the game we all love (and occasionally hate). However there was still one more RUASCC milestone to be reached as Legg became the 10th opposition batsman this season to pass 50 on his way to 76 not out, then just before 7pm Peppard eased home with 8 wickets and 14 overs to spare and we all fecked off directly to the pub.

RUASCC Highlight: Adam’s catch, possibly. Or maybe… no, got to be Adam’s catch.

RUASCC Man of the Match: For holding the innings together and sticking around while wickets were tumbling, it’s got to be Extras.

RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle (capt), Carpenter, Baker, Dip (wkt), Weeks, Seymour, Stewart, Tranter, Koslicki, Withers