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.
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