Out for the 2s

Another good weekend for the club



We had three teams out on Saturday, which meant it was bit difficult to get enough players - but we managed, just about. Myself and one of the other 4th teamers were drafted up to the 2nds, along with some lads from the 3rds. And most of the 4th team were names I'd never heard before - I don't know where the captain found them :?

The 4ths had an interesting game by all accounts. They batted first and were all out for just 57 - but then they bowled the opposition out for 30 including one lad getting 5 for 7 off 10 overs.

Our game was just as dramatic - if for different reasons. The top order did it's job well, with the first 3 getting 91, 72 and 77, which led to us getting 294 in the 45 overs. Which is a record for the club, beating the previous best (267) that was set in 1987 (in a game that they lost believe it or not)! There was also plenty of activity aside from the free run-scoring - with scuffles between the batsman and the keeper; a dog trying to eat the ball; some comical attempts at fielding the ball; and no less than 4 arguments over the rules - all with the same member of the opposition. I didn't get to do much during the first innings obviously - being set to bat at 11 in a game where we only lost 4 wickets. But I did square-leg umpire for a bit. I still haven't had to do the bowlers end umpire yet this year - I'll have to start doing it at some stage I suppose, but a 2nds match is probably not the right place.

I did manage to get a bowl too. I wasn't really expecting to get on, but just after drinks the captain gave me the nod. My first over was a perfect study in how NOT to bowl! I was a bit nervous, and was alternating between long hops and full tosses down the leg side. And my run-up was just feeling wrong. My first over was carted around the place, going for 12 runs , 8 of which came from 4s hit straight over my head! I have recently been putting some thought into setting a field for my bowling - which does include a long-off that would have discouraged the batsman from playing that shot - but I wasn't confident enough to set the field coming on ... I was more worried about not screwing up! It would have looked bad if I'd set a field for my normal bowling and then proceeded to give them balls that were crying out to be hit into the gaps. I'll definitely be doing it next time though.

I came back well though - I relaxed a lot and only gave away a total of 6 runs off the next three overs. There were a good few close chances in there too. About 2 in each over beating the bat, and somehow just missing the stumps; I'd 3 or 4 good shouts for lbw too, but in all fairness I probably wouldn't have given them myself; and there were 3 catchable opportunities, 2 fell short of fielders (who should have been walking in), and one was driven just over my head and I just managed to get my fingertips to it at the top of a jump, which at least took the pace off it and stopped a possible 4. There were a couple of byes off me too, strangely enough. Two of the balls that beat the bat, also confused the keeper it seems. It's not that they were too fast, if anything they were slower balls. But perhaps the problem is that it so rarely gets past a batsman (either hits or defends) that the keeper's not expecting it when it does

Four overs was all I got though. When coming on for the 4th, the skipper said I could stay on if I got a wicket ... but it wasn't to be. I even tried a deliberate slower ball with my last one, but the line was off and it just resulted in a single. The game was over fairly soon after anyway. The other 4th teamer (who was given the chance to open the bowling and took 1 wicket from his first spell), came back on and did a great job - being rewarded with 3 more wickets. The last being a decent enough catch from me running from mid-off to cover and taking it at a stretch to end the game with the opposition on 153. So a 4-for for the other 4th team bowler! It's quite likely now that the 4th team mightn't be getting to keep him for much longer

That catch was my 7th of the season from 10 games, which puts me currently joint top of the table with the 3rd team keeper. If I can keep up with this sort of pace it might result in a cup that can be used to "cancel out" the now near-inevitable duck cup. I could also do with a few more wickets too. I racked up 11 wickets in 4 games (6 if you count games where I didn't bowl) and then didn't get to bowl for almost a month. I'd like to be getting a lot more overs in, but we almost always seem to be in games where we bat first and then don't have to defend for long enough for me to get a chance at them. Maybe this weekend?