Braywood 253-5 (40
overs)
Main 2-40, Acres 1-32
RUASCC 220-9 (40
overs)
Acres 57, Ashman 32 not out
RUASCC lost by 33
runs
On a bright and breezy afternoon RUASCC suffered a first
defeat since May, falling short in a limited overs game. This was the third match in succession in
which we have seen an unbeaten century scored against us, and in all six innings
the batting sides have posted scores of more than 200, with no side being
bowled out. The heatwave has been a
punishing time for bowlers (at the time of writing even Jimmy Anderson has just
recorded his worst ever Test Match figures, 0-116).
In Eagle’s absence Carpenter took over the captaincy so for
once there was actually a 50% chance of us not fielding first, however Carpo lost
the toss and we fielded first anyway.
Opening the bowling Withers lurched between dropping short
(getting pulled for four) and pitching up (getting driven for four) and after
eight expensive overs was banished to the deep cover boundary to think about
what he’d done. Braywood’s wicket is
unforgiving for anyone dropping short and over the course of the innings it
happened a bit too regularly.
Main took another two wickets to add to his four last week
and debutant Sam Acres held onto a caught & bowled for his first RUASCC
wicket. Jathavedan, who had been dropped
in the slips having scored just one, went on to retire on 114, while others
also contributed at a decent rate of more than six an over.
After another superb Braywood tea (homemade Victoria Sponge
with fresh cream and strawberries a highlight) the RUASCC innings began with the
unusual scenario of a Jas Singh opening the bowling to Jas Singh. Jas Singh (opening with his brother Daman
Singh) drove loosely into the covers but a difficult chance was dropped to deny
Jas Singh a wicket that would have enthralled trivia buffs until the end of
days.
But Braywood didn’t have to wait long for their first
breakthrough: having hit two fours in the second over Jas mis-timed one to
mid-on and was caught. Daman hit three
boundaries before being trapped LBW and Carpenter was almost run out without
scoring but survived two more balls before being caught at deep square leg
without scoring.
Meanwhile Sam Acres was progressing smoothly, the ball
rocketing off the middle of his bat as he began with four boundaries. Likewise Chan Malde, who raced to 17 before
he was bowled to leave us 77-4 after 15 overs.
Acres was joined by Weeks and the pair added 60 with Sam
doing the lion’s share of the scoring. A
second six took him to 49 and his seventh four brought up his half-century. When he was stumped for 57 our hopes of a win
were stumped as well. A mini-collapse
ensued as Weeks, Stewart, Tranter and Main were dismissed and RUASCC slumped
from 137-4 to 160-9. 94 runs needed from
just seven overs with only Ashman and Withers at the crease.
Any thoughts of an early finish were dispelled by Dr Ashman
who set off with real intent, walking across his stumps to pull for four, and
regularly lifting straight deliveries over the in-field for runs. Withers showed less bravado in trying to tick
along and support his partner, but whenever Ashman had the strike we knew the
ball was getting hit. The 200 came up in
the 38th over as Ashman repeatedly found the boundary, and
eventually Withers even managed to dispatch a couple of rank full tosses to the
leg-side fence, but the fun was ended as we ran out of overs, only 33 runs short.
The campaign to move Dr Ashman up the batting order has
officially begun.
RUASCC Highlight: Ashman’s highly entertaining innings.
RUASCC Man of the
Match: Acres for his debut fifty.
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