Wargrave (A) – 10.6.12

RUASCC 167 all out
Carpenter 47, Ward 20

Wargrave 168-5
Waqar 2-38, Jagesh 1-27

RUASCC lost by 5 wickets

We were promised rain, lots of rain – indeed we were led to believe that there was supposed to be some kind of monsoon on Sunday afternoon. Once we arrived in cool, grey, breezy Wargrave at 1.30pm we were expecting to either bat or bowl for a couple of hours and then call the whole thing off. But no, the rain didn’t come. And then we lost. I’ll never trust the BBC Weather website again.

Suspecting rain, the captains agreed a 35-over match and Eagle opted to bat first almost certainly hoping to reach 20 not out and boost the old average. A big swish across the line in the sixth over put an end to that as the skipper was bowled for 10. Carpenter got off the mark with a boundary and with opener Ward added 35 in six overs before the left-hander fell LBW to Moss in the youngster’s first over. When Chan was bowled second ball by Owen RUASCC were 59-3 but with Zia joining Carpenter at the crease there was still reason to be optimistic.

Zia creamed a straight four off Moss while Carpenter took a few more from the other end but with the partnership building nicely Zia (12) mistimed one straight to mid-on. Then Waqar (4) attempted an unlikely second run and was found wanting before the fall of the big wicket, Carpenter caught and bowled for 47. With 12 overs still to bat RUASCC were 105-6.

Waseem and Obaid added a useful 28, including the only six of the RUASCC innings, but both batsmen were dismissed in their attempts to force the pace against the slower bowlers. Jagesh and Withers were given the task of trying to push the score past 150 and they managed to achieve it in their own leisurely fashion before Jagesh skied a full toss to the wicketkeeper with four balls of the innings remaining. Dr Ashman contributed three runs from the first two deliveries before Withers finished things off nicely by first hitting a boundary and then by running out Dr Ashman.

With the rain still holding off the teams grabbed a quick tea and RUASCC were suddenly faced with the very real possibility of having to actually defend 167, a total that didn’t feel quite enough – slightly disappointing that of the five partnerships that reached 23 none got any higher than 35.

Withers sprayed it all over the place against the left-handed Drew and was despatched for 14 in one over – entirely the fault of the rain that didn’t arrive when it was supposed to – and was hauled off very quickly to be replaced by the dependable Waqar. The switch worked immediately as Drew was trapped LBW for 39 (from the opening stand of 48).

Zia struck soon after, then Waqar induced a false stroke from Davies but Withers dropped a fairly simple chance at long-on, something which wouldn’t have happened had we been forced back into the pavilion because of the rain that didn’t exist. A Malde stumping gave Waqar his second wicket and another inspired bowling change brought success in Jagesh’s first over: 74-4 in the 16th and the match was still in the balance.

Not for long though. 30 runs were added in the next five overs by Moss (a grown-up) and Woods (a small boy); 40 runs were added in the five overs after that. The batsmen were seeing it like a football, hugely aided by the excellent visibility provided by the lack of rain, and looked to be cruising to the victory total when a calling mix-up and quick work by Zia led to the senior partner being run out on 49. It proved only a temporary setback as Woods hit the winning boundary in the very next over. AND STILL THERE WAS NO RAIN!

So a second consecutive defeat and back home to the regular Sunday night job of putting the bins out. Took one step outside my front door and suddenly it’s pissing it down.

RUASCC Highlight: The lovely weather.

RUASCC Man of the Match: Carpo.

RUASCC Team: Ward, Eagle (capt), Carpenter, Malde (wkt), Zia, Waqar, Abbas, Obaid, Jagesh, Withers, Ashman