Frieth (A) – 25.8.13

RUASCC 208-9 (35 overs)

Zia 83 not out, Main 59

Frieth 160-9 (35 overs)

Withers 4-21, Ben 2-37

RUASCC won by 48 runs

After an hour of this match I was already writing a report in my head about yet another dismal score on this ground: put into bat first in a 35-over game, RUASCC had collapsed to 43-6.  12 overs in and Dr Ashman was padding up!

Left-armer Harry Williams caused havoc in the top order, first producing a beauty to bowl Ward (3), then taking Malde (1) and Weeks (4) while Carpenter (0) and Saad (1) were also dismissed cheaply.  Debutant Ben hit a quick 20 before he was bowled by Peter Smiley as the two opening bowlers threatened to run through the whole team.  Obviously we missed the steadying influence of Andy Eagle, dodging mountains in Portugal.

At this point the home captain opted to make a game of it and made changes at both ends, a decision that suited Bruce Main as he hit a six and three fours from McKenzie’s first over the followed it up with two fours and another six, thus doubling the RUASCC total in his first three overs at the crease.

Main took the bowling apart and comfortably outscored Zia (even the return of Williams to bowl his final two overs couldn’t shift him) and he raced to an incredible fifty with his tenth boundary.  The pair added 95 before Main, perhaps inevitably, holed out to deep square leg.

Then Zia took over.  From 33 not out at the time of Main’s wicket, Zia marshalled the strike while first Stewart, then Ashman and Withers, held up the other end.  70 runs were added in the last 14 overs, 50 of them coming from Zia who posted his highest score of the season.  Finally, a total at Frieth that we could defend!

On an otherwise sunny and warm afternoon tea was briefly extended by a hailstorm which mercifully passed over quite quickly, and the resulting muggy air and damp pitch proved very much to Withers’ liking.  Finding plenty of movement and passing the bat on numerous occasions, Withers eventually got the breakthrough bowling Tanveer through the gate.  Saad, bowling very fast and straight from the other end, perhaps forced the batsmen into playing some risky shots against Withers’ medium pace and soon Williams was caught at slip by Ashman.

Two more wickets fell in Withers’ final over, including the dangerous Ben Smiley caught and bowled, before our Ben (a friend of Zia) picked up his first RUASCC wicket as Frieth’s top order fared little better than RUASCC’s.  From 58-5 the home side rallied as Peter Smiley hit a confident fifty but with overs running out they never looked like reaching their target.

A stroke of good fortune saw Ian McKenzie run out at the non-striker’s end off Main’s fingertips and Bruce capped a good day at the office with a wicket from the very next ball.  With the result no longer in doubt Smiley was eventually bowled by Ben for 56 and the innings petered out, although not before Saad returned to take the ninth wicket thanks to a catch by Weeks behind the stumps.

So another superb win, the 11^th of the season for RUASCC, and a bowling performance notable for the fact that Zia didn’t feel the need to bring himself on at all.

RUASCC Highlight:  Having smashed a quick 40 off the change bowlers Main was suddenly faced with the return of opening quick Harry Williams - and met his first ball with the most elaborate, un-Bruce-like forward defensive stroke.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  A few contenders this week, as Zia top scored with 83 and Withers ran through the Frieth top order, but for the way his astonishing innings turned the game completely around it has to be Bruce Main.

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Carpenter, Ben, Malde, Weeks (wkt), Zia (capt), Saad, Main, Stewart, Ashman, Withers

Sixpenny Handley (Tour) – 11.8.13

RUASCC 206-6 (40 overs)

Ward 56, Eagle 29

Sixpenny Handley 100-9 (all out, 27.3 overs)

Stewart 3-14, Withers 3-19

RUASCC won by 106 runs

The second match of the tour, and by now the resentment had started to set in.  We’d been stuck with each other for three days, we’d been staying in a filthy hotel with inexplicable evening “entertainment” and at least one member of the team had been guided into a local bush after an evening in Vodka Revolution.  We’d had a pizza together, we’d had a curry together, we’d had a few drinks together… at this precise moment, 2pm on Sunday afternoon, we didn’t want to see any of our teammates ever again, let alone play cricket with them.

With no game on the Saturday we were free to pursue other activities.  Baker, Main and Withers set off for yet another coastal walk and several others went for a round of golf before we all convened in the Walkabout to watch Chris Rodgers and Shane Watson rescue another perilous situation for the Australians in Durham.  Kenny Stewart lost his glasses then went out to buy a new shirt, ending up with the kind of shirt you could only buy if you’ve lost your glasses.

So to finish the tour we just had to pass one more test: the fixture against Sixpenny Handley, another wonderful purpose-built facility with cricket pitch, tennis courts and recreation hall.  Skipper Eagle lost the toss and we were asked to bat first in a 40-over game.

Scoring didn’t come naturally on an unpredictable wicket and Ward accumulated only in singles while Eagle, naturally, accumulated only in edges down to third man.  Having put on 60 Eagle was the first to go when he was run out.  Zia repeated his score from the previous game (hitting one six and one four to make a quick ten) before being trapped LBW by one of several that kept very low.

In a playful shake-up of the batting order Richard Tranter was next in and he made a handy 19 in his long-running chase to reach 5,000 club runs.  Meanwhile Ward eventually started finding the boundary despite having to face a bowler who sent the ball 22 yards high but barely 18 across.  On a number of occasions Wardy found himself beaten by the absurd flight and yet still able to comfortably regain his ground before the ball passed the stumps.

Nevertheless our opening batsman passed fifty for the second time on tour and then decided it was time to give others a go and got himself bowled.  Stewart (11) and Weeks (14) did their bit in the middle order but runs only really started to flow when Malde and Baker, who had been itching to get out to the middle, added 39 in the last four overs to take us past 200.

From the looks on the faces of the home side at tea we suspected we might have scored enough, but when ten runs came from the first two overs we had momentary cause to question our optimism.  Not for long though: wickets in each of the next three overs (two for Withers, one for Zia) made headway into the top order, and a flurry of boundaries from Nodder ended when a full toss from Carpenter was miscued to the bucket hands of Bruce Main at mid-off.

Main’s bowling proved too hot to handle as his five overs went for a mere three runs, while Withers was removed from the attack having taken 2-5, which gave Ken Stewart the chance to run through the lower order taking an impressive 3-14.

With only one wicket remaining the home side did at least reach 100 before death bowler Mike Ward came on to take the final wicket of tour.  A just reward and a fitting end for our undoubted Player of the Series.

Those tour stats in full:

Games Played: 2

Games Won: 2

Highest Run Scorer: Ward (106)

Highest Wicket Taker: Stewart (4)

Most Catches: Eagle, Baker, Main and Ward (1 each)

Mildest Curry: Withers (pasanda)

Purplest Shirt: Stewart (hideous)

Loudest Snorer: Main (troubled)

Until next year then, I’m sick of the lot of you.

RUASCC Highlight:  Tremendous diving catch by wicketkeeper Baker to dismiss Patel after the ball had brushed a glove and looped up in front of square.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  It’s Ward again!

RUASCC Team:  Ward, Eagle (capt), Zia, Tranter, Stewart, Weeks, Baker (wkt), Malde, Carpenter, Main, Withers

Pimperne (Tour) – 9.8.13

Pimperne 138-6 (20 overs)

Zia 2-11, Main 1-14

RUASCC 139-4 (17.5 overs)

Ward 50, Malde 34

RUASCC won by 6 wickets

Friday evening of Tour, a sunny evening in Dorset and a picturesque cricket ground – this is the best part of the weekend, before we all hate each other and the bitter recriminations begin, like a warring family at Christmas.  Withers, Baker and Main had spent the day walking on the south coast; Ward and Weeks had been for a couple of pints – everyone prepares for cricket in his or her own way.

The game: a 20:20 encounter on an astro pitch, with Zia captaining and Eagle pushed down to number 11.  Pimperne won the toss and predictably chose to bat to get the best of the daylight.  Withers and Baker started well and after two overs it was 7-1, then Withers got clubbed for a four and six before Main came on and bowled the other opener.

Carpenter (bowling spin) and Stewart (“bowling”) grabbed a wicket apiece and the home side were 61-4 in the 12^th.  Zia started well, going for just one run in each of his first two overs, and threatened to expose the tail but the Pimperne number six was an entirely different beast.

First Stewart took some hammer as House launched three consecutive, enormous, sixes over long-on.  Baker returned and went for 25 in one over; the fifth wicket pair added 54 before Moore was dismissed for just 1!

Zia restored order with two quick wickets but House was still there and took 10 from the final over to finish on 74 not out.  Probably a good thing he didn’t come in any earlier.

Despite a dodgy start (Carpenter was bowled in the first over) RUASCC always looked in control of the run chase.  Ward played and missed early on and offered a couple of chances but soon settled down to play the perfect innings for a T20 opener.  Malde went on the attack and the pair posted a half-century stand before Chan was dismissed.

Johnny Baker, playing for only the second time this season, continued to push the score along with some quick singles before a knackered Wardy reached exactly 50 and got himself out.  Tom Weeks was bowled just ten runs short of the line but Zia came in and promptly knocked them off in two deliveries.  A comfortable win and a successful start to the tour!

RUASCC Highlight:  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” – as keeper Ward looked for a run out at the non-striker’s end, bowler Withers appeared less optimistic about the chances of success.  The result: one overthrow.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Ward - for his work with the bat, not the gloves.

RUASCC Team:  Carpenter, Ward (wkt), Malde, Baker, Weeks, Zia (capt), Main, Tranter, Stewart, Withers, Eagle