Tilehurst & Theale (at Leighton Park School) – 8.9.13

Tilehurst & Theale 110 all out

Saad 3-17, Main 3-32

RUASCC 111-0

J. Singh 75 not out, Eagle 29 not out

RUASCC won by 10 wickets

Our first “home” game of the season resulted in a comfortable run chase, the first ten-wicket win I can remember in my decade playing for the club.  Tilehurst brought a young team and RUASCC ultimately proved too strong with both bat and ball.

The players were greeted at Leighton Park by rain, and though the game began in sunshine another heavy shower forced a 20-minute break and a hasty arrangement of the covers by some soggy old cricketers.  Although a cold wind persisted, conditions improved and play continued uninterrupted until the winning boundary was scored soon after 6pm.

Eagle won the toss and chose to field, and for the fourth game in a row Withers made the initial breakthrough when a leading edge flew to Obaid at mid-on.  Then Saad took over, full of pre-match Red Bull and hurtling in for ten violent overs against batsmen ill-equipped to either attack or defend against the pace, bounce and wild screams of “CATCH!”  So demanding is Saad of his fielders that he insists they catch the ball whether or not it hits the bat, whether it’s in the air or on the floor and completely irrespective of whether there’s a single person within 25 yards of it.

Nevertheless Saad took the next three wickets to fall, all thanks to catches by close fielders, and Main’s first wicket kicked off a collapse from 80-4 to 110 all out in the 35^th over.

As it turned out Dr Eagle didn’t need to spend much time thinking about his batting order.  Jas Singh went on a bit of a rampage, reaching fifty with his 11^th four, and even Eagle got creative with a six over backward square leg as the opening pair knocked off the runs in just 17.3 overs - much to the annoyance of Andy Greenhalf, all padded up with nowhere to go.

RUASCC Highlight:  “CATCH!”

RUASCC Man of the Match:  Jas Singh.

RUASCC Team:  J. Singh, Eagle (capt), Zia, Greenhalf, Obaid, Partridge (wkt), Tranter, Saad, Main, Ashman, Withers

Hambleden (A) – 1.9.13

Hambleden 128-7 (40 overs)

Withers 3-14, Ashman 2-24

RUASCC 131-2 (22.5 overs)

Zia 63 not out, Eagle 27

RUASCC won by 8 wickets

I love playing at Hambleden - there’s something about it that seems to sum up for me what it is to play for RUASCC.  It’s not a great wicket, there’s a forty-foot slope from one side of the ground to the other and you know you’re going to get skittled out by someone bowling off one pace, but it’s a wonderfully picturesque setting and when you’re out there in the middle you feel you could be playing cricket in the 1950s.

The facilities have been brought up to date this year - a brand new pavilion replaces the old shed that had to be torn down after Ken Stewart’s last toilet visit.  But what may quite soon become apparent is that I’m writing this match report nearly three months after the game without sight of the scorebook and I have very little idea what actually happened.  I took down the salient details: I know we won, for example, but apart from a couple of notes I made at the time I’d really just be guessing at the rest of it.  But with the AGM next Friday I wanted to get the season up to date, so let’s give it a go.

I did at least write down this bit:

The game began with another potent spell from Withers, continuing his improved form of recent weeks, and he removed both openers in his first six overs, which included four maidens.  First an outswinging delivery was edged to Dip behind the stumps before Zia took a great one-handed catch at short extra cover.  Main also picked up a wicket and Hambleden limped along to 24-3 from the first 15 overs.

What, then, can we deduce?  Well, Hambleden finished on 128-7 so that means they scored 104-4 from their final 25 overs.  There, you see, I’ve got this licked now.  To this I can add that Nick Arnold came in at number three and stayed almost till the end; he eventually fell in Withers’ last over, the ugliest caught-and-bowled you’ll ever see.  That Withers, he is good isn’t he.

I’ll tell you what though, I can’t remember anything else.  It says up there that The Good Dr Ashman took a couple of wickets so that’s bound to be true.  Ask him sometime, I bet he could tell you all about it.

Eagle dropped a catch at mid-on, claiming he was distracted by the sun.  That’s right, it was sunny!  Tranter suggested that Eagle would have caught the ball had he been wearing a cap, though this perhaps places rather too much credit to the skill-enhancing powers of casual headgear.  It was off Kenny’s bowling I think, so no damage done.

That’s that then.  Tea!  It was laid out on a table, definitely on a table.  A table near a wall.  I’m going to stick my neck out and say there were some plates.  Chicken!  There was chicken I think.  I might be thinking of somewhere else.

And then we batted!

We lost two wickets: Carpenter and Eagle.  Eagle made more runs than Carpo on this occasion.  Zia seems to have done rather well, scoring 63 not out.

Look, it’s a puppy drinking Ribena!

What we can be certain of is that, asked to chase 129 in 40 overs, we seem to have polished it off in less than 23.  Well done everyone, well done.

Oh, and according to the team list Channy was playing.  I bet he fielded well, he always fields very well.

RUASCC Highlight:  Oh, all of it.  It was such a memorable day, you know.

RUASCC Man of the Match:  An unbeaten fifty at Hambleden, got to be Zia.

RUASCC Team:  Carpenter, Eagle (capt), Zia, Dip (wkt), Malde, Main, Tranter, Withers, Ashman, Stewart