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 11th 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.
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