Casuals vs. Sevenoaks 17 August
@ Wenvoe
(match report author - Jonny F)
Another lovely night in Wenvoe and, unlike the previous evening,
both teams were ready to go at 6.00pm: well almost –
the acting skipper was not there, so my thanks to Andy Hood
for winning the toss and choosing to bat first. Because of
the prompt start it was agreed that we could play 18 overs
a side.
Easy and Winkie opened in a fruitful partnership of 52. Chris
continued his rich spell of form striking some rasping shots
as well as one particularly deft cut in a well-made 24. Mind
you, he did provide the comedy moment of the evening when
he was bowled by a no-ball which only Ed seemed to notice.
He and Paul almost crossed in the outfield while the rest
of their players were calling Easy back in – very strange!
Meanwhile, Andy Hood was playing a steady knock up at the
other end before he went, stumped for 22 with the score on
62-2.
So out strode Dr Rubbish in an extremely rare appearance and
I would just like to point out that I was certainly not one
of those Casuals who were praying for a Gazza duck, video
recorder at the ready! He spoiled all the fun by getting an
early single and it was actually Paul who was out next, bowled
for 5 trying to get on with it (70-3).
A sedate partnership between Gazza and Dan ended when Dan
was bowled for 9 by one that stayed very low, bringing the
score to 88-4 in the 16th over.
With just about 2 overs to go, Will came in flashing his blade
and was the main reason that we got 21 in the last 12 balls
of the innings. He struck 4 fours in an excellent 20 and remained
unbeaten at the end. Great stuff from the Goadmeister!
Gazza was eventually bowled for 8 with just three balls left
(113-5) and JF faced one ball for 1*.
Final score 117 – 5 off 18 overs.
We started our fielding in a similar situation to the night
before – defending more than a run a ball on a pitch
where straight bowling was difficult to get away. We could
not have got off to a better start when Andy F got a wicket
with the first ball, caught by Ed at point. Even better was
to come when he got an LBW decision later in the same over
- a double wicket maiden to start the innings. You can’t
ask for much more than that!
David Harris also took a wicket in his first over thanks to
a stunning one-handed catch by Andy Hood low down at cover,
leaving Sevenoaks reeling at 8-3 after two overs.
The dangerous Andy Parry came in at 5 (playing as a guest)
and immediately got the scoreboard moving, but Dave got him
out in his last over when he edged one up to Paul at point.
Andy F finished with 3-1-22-2 and Dave 3-0-19-2.
Gazza then bowled a superb spell, conceding only 4 runs in
3 overs. He didn’t get a wicket but they simply couldn’t
get a bat on him. 3-1-4-0 and the required run rate increasing
rapidly.
Meanwhile, Shaky trundled away at the other end, taking 2
for 24 – one bowled (or should that be “rolled”)
and one caught behind by Will who had another tidy game behind
the stumps.
Dan (2-0-2-0) took over where Gazza left off and bowled two
brilliant overs for a miserly 2 runs, while Ed took 2 for
9 aided by a good catch from a stunned-looking Easy fielding
at midwicket.
With the light fading and the oppo still needing 35 to win,
I didn’t think it was fair to keep the quicks on, so
I asked Paul to bowl an over of twiddly stuff before JF bowled
the last over with the game already won.
Final total 102 – 8 off 18 overs.
Casuals win by 15 runs.
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