Tilehurst & Theale (A) – 17.7.11

Tilehurst & Theale 172-7
Greenhalf 3-32, Waqar 1-14

RUASCC 153-8
Zia 54, Extras 30

RUASCC lost by 19 runs

As my tribute to Tilehurst’s excellent Fleetwood Mac report from our game earlier this season, I have included in this report the names of all eleven tracks and the album title from Take That’s most recent offering. Get well soon Robbie, Denmark needs you.

I woke up in Dorset on the morning of the game with the rain pounding the windows but on checking with Dr Eagle learned that the game was still on. So I left the house at 11am with the rain pounding the windscreen of my car. Game still on. I drove up the A31 and onto the M3 in fog and more torrential rain. Game still on. I arrived back in Berkshire where my neighbours were fashioning a small but sturdy life raft out of patio furniture. Game still on. There wasn’t a patch of ground anywhere in the south of England that could realistically allow a game of cricket to take place so I could only conclude that Theale must be in some kind of freaky weather vortex but fair enough, I had all the affirmation I needed to drive through another rainstorm on the M4 to give it a go.

Incredibly we were rewarded for battling through the flood when we arrived at the ground in sunshine, although the black clouds in the distance looked unfriendly. Still somewhat sceptical we all got ready to play, Trant won the toss and chose to field… then it started raining again. So we just had to wait a bit longer.

And then the weather vortex took hold. For the next six hours there was barely a shower - no interruptions at all. The sun appeared at intervals and the famous Theale wind helped to dry out the pitch. It really is quite incredible how the elements conspired to allow RUASCC to lose yet another game of cricket that we didn’t think we’d ever get the opportunity to lose.

Zia got things going with an early wicket as the home side accumulated steadily in the opening stages. At the other end Withers bowled like Glenn McGrath in his prime getting lift and movement, beating the bat repeatedly but once again failing to actually get anyone out (hey, what do you want from me?) and it wasn’t until the change of bowling that wickets began to tumble. Greenhalf removed Dimmack for a confident 47 and Koslicki followed that with a wicket maiden as Dip took his third catch of the innings behind the stumps. And Greenhalf wasn’t finished yet: he took two more wickets in his third over thanks to a catch by Eagle and an LBW from a knee-high full-toss to leave Tilehurst 81-5 with just 15 overs remaining.

At this point we realised that none of the opposition batsmen had reached fifty yet so to give opener Stroud a chance Greenhalf dropped him a few times, while Bozarth threatened to drive his way there himself as the pair pushed the score to 150. But then 17-year-old debutant Bilal Sirfraz came on to bowl and, showing his inexperience, removed Bozarth for just 39. Waqar bagged a wicket in the penultimate over as Tilehurst reached 172-7, with Stroud carrying his bat for 42 not out.

RUASCC need 173 runs to win

Eagle and Chan began cautiously against the Tilehurst kidz who bowled with good pace backed up by a vociferous slip cordon. Then just as Chan began to go on the attack he holed out to mid-on for 8 and Eagle, whose 9 runs all flew through the slip region, was eventually caught at first slip from an attempted swipe to leg – not pretty. Things were soon looking up though as Zia and Dip added 69 in ten overs to put us back in control – the bowling looked less assured and the occasional long hop or full toss merely provided more opportunities for Zia to slap the ball into the flowerbed by the road. By this point even the outfield was almost dry, lending weight to the theory that there must be some sort of underground machine sucking the water through the earth.

Zia brought up his fifty with his second all-run four but perished soon afterwards when he pulled directly to Rees at square leg. Greenhalf looked busy immediately, aiming heavy blows at the young spinner and connecting with some of them, and with 50 runs needed from ten overs we were comfortably on course.

But in the next three overs we only added one run and lost two wickets, Dip (19) and Greenhalf (13) – that’s RUASCC’s impression of an England batting powerplay – and it was time to raise the SOS. Pensioner Ken Stewart, promoted to number six, made slow progress in the face of more tight bowling and he lost both Waqar and Tranter as the game slipped hopelessly away. Sirfraz whipped a boundary over mid-wicket but the run rate was suddenly alarmingly high and he was caught at point going for another big shot in the final over.

Profesional scorebook operator Withers was mightily relieved to see the eight letters “Koslicki” above him in the order: “just block out the last two balls so I don’t have to get my pads on.” Koslicki obliged, finishing on 0 not out as RUASCC fell 19 runs short.

So that’s four consecutive defeats, but at least Ken got a bat so he should be happy now.

RUASCC Highlight: The first of Dip’s three dismissals, a very sharp edge off Zia’s quicker ball. He did well to take that.

RUASCC Man of the Match: Another economical spell and another fifty – it’s boring I know, but it’s Zia again.

RUASCC Team: Eagle, Malde, Zia, Dip (wkt), Greenhalf, Stewart, Waqar, Tranter (capt), Sirfraz, Koslicki, Withers