Englefield 152 all
out (39.5 overs)
Karthee 2-19, Withers 2-26, Ashman 2-30, Main 2-35
RUASCC 147-8 (40
overs)
Ward 56, Eagle 30, Greenhalf 15
RUASCC lost by 5 runs
Everything hurts. My
back, my shoulder, my arms, the defeat… it all feels bad this morning. Two games in two days after seven months
without bowling a ball has proved too much for this torso - I don’t even want
to cough for fear of structural disintegration.
And it’s not just me, I’ve heard a similar story from Wardy who can
barely move following two consecutive fifties and 39.5 overs of keeping wicket.
But even in our discomfort we must spare a thought for Bruce
Main. Bowling the final over of the
Englefield innings to an agricultural but very powerful hitter, Main
instinctively stuck out his left hand to stop a blistering straight drive that
would probably have amputated a weaker limb.
You know it’s a bad one when the big Kiwi shows any kind of pain, but
after a few moments of choice Maori curses he picked up the ball, took the
final wicket and strode off the pitch to get some ice. Soon the hand was swollen and had gone a
shade of dark grey I’ve never seen before.
Two hours later, with the RUASCC response in dire need of
impetus, Bruce was persuaded to pick up his bat and see if he could hit a few
boundaries to get us over the line. A
one-handed Bruce, the thinking seemed to go, is still better than a two-handed
Tranter, Ashman or Withers. It wasn’t to
be. Main was bowled off the last ball of
the match when only a six would have done, and our first defeat of the season
was sealed.
It had all started so well.
On a warm sunny day, on a pitch situated in a deer park and overlooked
by Englefield House, Withers opened with a wicket maiden and life was perfect. We were, for a short time, unsettled by some impressive
batting from a young man who we soon learned plays for Jersey - the Channel
Island. The kid was an
international. Jersey are currently
ranked 36th in the world by the ICC – that’s the level we’re talking
about here. Anyway, Zia got him out and
the rest of the innings progressed smoothly until the last two wickets added 50
to boost the score.
Chasing 153 to win a 40-over game shouldn’t present many
problems to a team that won 14 matches last year, and when Eagle and Ward
posted 78 for the first wicket it all seemed to be going according to
plan. But wickets tumbled and runs dried
up against persistently accurate bowling and as a result we came up agonisingly
short.
Sadly for the owners of the Englefield Estate, Sir William
Benyon (strongly connected to Reading University himself) passed away in the
week leading up to the game hence the flags of the house and pavilion were at
half-mast. He was 84, which we
cricketers would refer to as a good innings.
One hopes that no one will be put in the same unfortunate
position as the Earl of Lonsdale who has this week been forced to put one of his favourite mountains up for sale to settle an inheritance tax bill. Blencathra, in the Lake District, is on the
market for a mere £1.75m and with the new owner also assuming the title of “Lord
of the Manor of Threlkeld” this is sure to be a hot topic of speculation at
food banks up and down the country.
RUASCC Highlight: Andy Greenhalf continues to provide many of
the on-pitch highlights this season. For
the second match in a row he got off the mark with a six, and his stylish
one-handed catch at mid-wicket epitomised his display in the field.
RUASCC Man of the
Match: It’s Ward again, and it will
keep being Ward until someone else does something useful.
Accurate bowling, yes I suppose it was but some some of the batting could have been better! We need to be able to accumulate runs at times rather than try to play like the IPL waiting for the one big shot! Having controlled their batting with a good performance in the field this was a demoralising yet familiar scenario. Asmuch as my nurdling and nudging is maligned some people need to learn how to do it!
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