The season is finally underway and is off to the right start with a win for our new 4th team. On a day where it stayed dry but temperatures never got above 8 degrees C (felt colder though), 22 brave souls from Sandyford CC (my club) and Avondale CC clashed in a (fairly) epic battle.
Our captain won the toss and chose to bat, which suited me fine as I could leave my extra few layers on for the first while. I was down to bat at 9, so I made myself useful by taking over scoring duties. By about an hour in my hands were so cold my writing looked like a 3 year olds! But my, was I kept busy!!!
In an inauspicious start to the season – the first ever ball faced by a 4th team batsman resulted in a clean-bowled :o And then 3 balls later … same again :o A double wicket maiden for the opposition to start – things were looking bad :( After about 10 overs things weren’t much better, with the score in the 30s and 5 wickets down. But the middle order managed to stabilise things for a while and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Still though, about an over after drinks the number 8 was called for duty meaning I was next in – scoring duties were delegated and I set about looking for someone to give me a few throwdowns – but two balls later “Ed, you’re up”.
Undaunted, I strode towards the middle – then ran back again as I’d forgotten to take off my jacket – then jogged back to the middle, confidence radiating. I was at the non-strikers end for the first two deliveries, before dashing through for a quick single to get ready to face my first ball of the 2008 season.
I took guard on middle and leg and turned to look the bowler in the eye. He started his walk-in … I triggered … he bowled, a full toss … I swing, I miss, I take it in the stomach. Ouch – lucky enough he was a pretty slow spinner, so no harm done. Though I think a full toss above waist high is technically a no-ball, but it wasn’t called. Second ball pitched, and I drove it between mid-off and cover for a single; at least it’s not a duck.
Before the next over I went to talk to the other batsman (our opener who was keeping his head amidst the falling wickets), to ask what the next bowler was doing with the ball. He took a quick look and said “Oh this lad, it’s just dead straight”. The first ball he sent down looked like it was going down leg – so I decided to leave it. But then the bloody thing came back towards me and I had to make some attempt to play it – too late, it hit me on the pads and played on to the wicket … crap.
I mentioned this strange non-straight behaviour to the opener later on and he said “Oh yeah, you’re right, he was swinging it from outside leg” :< Anyway, to be fair, even if I had been expecting it I probably would have been bowled anyway – I’m rubbish on the on-side, and I can’t deal with swing. Ah well – I’m not in the running for the Duck Cup so far this year at least.
Our opener made his 50 during the last wicket stand, and then got run out next ball calling for a non-existent second. So at the end of our innings we were 114 ao. This certainly didn’t seem enough, but we’d no intention of giving up.
I was a bit underprepared, gear-wise, for the conditions we were playing in. I had on two white t-shirts, and my whites trousers are a bit flimsy when it comes to wind resistance. So consequently it was a bit hard to stay warm in the field. I was fielding at point for the most part, and there wasn’t much coming my way, so I had to make do with running to back-up people (who didn’t really need it) and jogging between overs.
We got off to a great start too, with both their openers out in the first 4 overs. We opened the bowling with a mate of mine who had only ever played twice before – and he managed to get 3 wickets!! A great start for his Sandyford career. One of these was a catch I took at deepish forward midwicket. It was a simple enough chance, but I still had to cover a bit of ground to get under it. And he managed a fantastic diving one-handed caught and bowled, so we were all delighted for him.
My own bowling was horribly disappointing :( I was far too cold coming on, and for my first over, every ball was either wide or went for runs over my head. I managed to do a lot better in my 2nd over though, with 4 dots off the last 4 balls. Still, a 2 over spell going for 15 runs is unacceptable. The only thing is, I know I can do much better than this so I’m determined to have a better spell next Sunday – that is, if the captain gives me a bowl.
I’m going to look for some advice on the forums about warming up during the game before bowling; and I’m going to invest in a long-sleeve white top!
In the end it looked like it was going to be pretty tight. They needed 30 runs for the last wicket with plenty of overs remaining, and their number 11 was no pushover. The first ball he played at went for 4 :o It was OK though, as we managed to run out their number 3 with about 25 runs in hand.
All in all, I’m happy with the game. We won; I avoided a duck; and took my career 2nd catch. And I learned the importance of warming up before bowling – without costing my team the game luckily enough.
I’m heading towards next weekend with something to prove, and I’m determined to do everything I can to make sure it goes well!!
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