Farley Hill 145 all out (34.3 overs)
Withers 4-8, Zia 2-8
RUASCC 137-9 (40 overs)
Zia 22, Taimour 22, Tranter 21 not out
RUASCC lost by 8 runs
At the end of a week containing every type of possible
weather, and the longest, coldest, wettest winter since ooh… the last one, the
bareness of the trees and the greenness of the pitch owed more to mid-February
than late April, and when asked to bowl first RUASCC made full use of the
conditions to reduce the home side to 21-5 in the first hour.
Withers, seemingly unhampered by his recent wedding, opened
with a wicket-maiden, bowling Jalil off a huge inside edge, and followed up
with another when Greenhalf took a diving catch at square leg. Yet another maiden and half an hour into the
season RUASCC’s premier strike bowler (really?)
had two wickets at an average of zero. Then
Zia removed the dangerous Ditchburn thanks to a sharp catch at the wicket by
Dip, before Withers dismissed Dudding and Clacey in the same over to finish his
six-over spell with 4-8.
At first change Longfield began to play himself in and kept
deep-backward-square-leg busy as Pensioner Ken Stewart struggled for a full
length. Greenhalf bowled with good pace
but the sixth wicket pair stood firm until Taimour found an edge that flew high
to first slip. Ashman reacted quickly
and reached to the sky but if I’m honest most of us were looking down to
third-man before we realised the ball had stuck.
Having given a startling impression of cricketing competence
early on, RUASCC faded in the second half of the innings. The fielding lost a bit of discipline and Longfield
looked untroubled, hitting the bulk of the runs as he passed 50 on the way to
dragging Farley Hill past 100. Ashman
bowled tidily for three overs before Longfield went on the attack, and a couple
of leg-side full tosses from Tranter were helped over the fence for maximums.
The last four wickets were shared by Greenhalf, Zia and
Stewart (2), who finally dismissed Longfield for exactly 100 out of the Farley
Hill total of 145 all out.
RUASCC should not have been daunted by the prospect of
chasing 146 to win at fewer than four runs per over, and when Ward hit the
third ball of the innings to the square-leg boundary it all seemed to be going
well. But in the fourth over Captain
Eagle nudged into the offside and called a single – Ward responded but failed
to beat a competent throw from the cover fielder and was run out for 5. Ward didn’t look too pleased as he returned
to the pavilion and left the ground, possibly for an early dinner appointment. No one has seen him since.
Eagle and Zia hit a couple of boundaries apiece from the
next two overs to set the innings back on track before both were clean bowled
by Shaw. Malde was quickly given LBW and
RUASCC were 47-4, needing 99 to win, still at fewer than four per over.
Taimour got off the mark with a four and Dip went even
bigger, hitting Clacey for six in his first over. Subsequently the two batsmen settled in and
scored at a decent rate, adding 42 in 11 overs before Taimour offered Jalil a
return catch. Soon Dip was bowled
attempting a slog and Jalil ran riot through RUASCC’s tail as lower-order
batsmen with varying degrees of senility came and went.
Greenhalf skied one to the wicketkeeper and Withers played
back when he should have gone forward (and, perhaps more importantly, missed a
straight one), leaving Tranter and Stewart to chase down the last 40 runs in
eight overs. And to be fair, they made a
better fist of it than several before them.
Tranter, beginning his 40th season for the club, showed some
clean hitting and Stewart even managed to club one boundary before Jalil did
for him too, taking his fifth wicket in the process.
Needing 16 from the final over, Tranter hit seven from the
first three balls but Dr Ashman couldn’t lay bat on ball and the innings ended
on 137-9, defeat by eight runs. On the
plus side, Ashman finished on his favourite score of 0 not out.
RUASCC Highlight:
Ashman’s superb reflex catch at first slip.
RUASCC Man of the Match:
In the end it had little impact on the game, but Withers’ opening spell
was a welcome relief for everyone who has had to suffer watching how he usually
bowls.
