Match Report vs Highway
Hurricanes 23 June 2010@ Blackweir (Skipper Muff, report
Shandy)
A scorcher at Blackweir to face the Hurricanes and with the
Casuals diminutive, nay Napoleonic skipper for the night,
Muff at the helm we gathered to inspect the 'pitch'. Now at
this point Muff had already declared that the batting order
was going to get a shake up with him and Nadeem opening. One
look at the pitch and our orthodox top order batsmen all agreed
that this was a jolly good idea indeed. I believe Goff asked
whether we had actually wandered onto a municipal driving
range by mistake due to the array of divots and holes on a
length at one end in particular. Muff, obviously not wishing
to break with tradition promptly lost the toss. With only
6 players present at this point the Hurricanes elected to
bat.
The cherry was thrown to our chirpy Antipodean who opened
from the A470 end with Big Willy charging in from the Taff
end. Both kept it reasonably tight. The book is sketchy to
say the least so forgive me if I get any of this wrong...
Will got the breakthrough with the opener caught by Jam for
8 in god knows which over. Will took the next one as well
bowled with a straight one that may have kept a bit low. Well
deserved as the bat got away with a few air shots before then.
Gaz next up who generated good pace but bowled a few short
ones that got punished before pitching one right up and taking
the number 4 with a yorker that sent the stumps sprawling
and another ct by Muff. Tesh was on at the A470 end and bowled
some cracking stuff that had the batsman most confused including
one that probably should have been called a wide on height
grounds I think we may have dropped a couple of chances before
Muff pouched another off Tesh to dislodge the No5.
Their No 6 then strode to the crease in possession of the
'eye of a shit house rat' and started banging it around (mainly
off middle stump) to both Will's and my dismay. He played
some seriously ugly cricket shots, but effective he was and
the score was rattling along. The number 7 fell to some sharp
wicket keeping from Ed the cheese who scampered to field a
push to off and fired it back to yours truly who gladly smashed
the stumps as the number 7 who had just hit me for four was
left stranded on the dusty deck following an impressive full
length dive for the stumps. Ed had a torrid time behind the
stumps thanks to the pitch but we'll never know what the fielding
extras column looked like thanks to the lack of a complete
book.
In strolls Imran and Muff sent a fielder to bovine long on
in response...didn't work and both he and the 'shit house
rat' accelerated the score with me, muff and Will getting
a bit of a battering with the Hurricanes eventually ending
on 173 for 6 (Imran 42no and SHR 39no
(It didn't feel like 173 to me and I thought we'd be chasing
a slightly lower score)
Kim 4 overs-0 maidens-25 runs-0 wickets
Will 4-0-33-2
Gaz 4-0-33-2
Scott 4-0-34-0
Tesh 3-0-31-1
Muff 1-0-17-1 (don't remember your wicket mate and not in
book)
(Their batsmen are credited with 146 of the 173 total but
the bowling figures suggest they scored 176....go figure)
Anyway out stroll Muff and Nadeem to start the chase and
get off to a solid start before Nadders was ct behind (7)
Paul came out next and promptly swatted the opener for 2 4s
in quick succession before getting undone when the bowler
actually got one to bounce on the pitch following two ridiculous
beamers (words were exchanged...)(8)
Easy and Muff kept it ticking and then Muff was run out (8)
and Easy was bowled (2) Cheese and Jam then got after it with
Ed eventually holing out for 21 (we were on 90 odd for 6 in
the 11th) In strolls Will who pushed a few singles and holed
out after middling one as well for 3. Someone at this point
was heard to ask them if they worked for Magners.
Tesh was unlucky to be run out for one (he may wish to describe
it in more detail ;-) and this then brought Gaz to the crease
with Jam, and the two of em pushed it along well until Jams
calf popped and he called for a runner. Kim gamely went out
to help which just mean't he was in the right place when Jam
then fell a ball or two later bowled for 21.
Gaz and Kim kept us in the chase with Gaz hitting some massive
boundaries and Kim scoring in 1 and 2s before perishing for
7 (bowled). I went out to keep Gaz company. I think we needed
about 35 odd of the last four (ish) overs and with Gaz hitting
some massive boundaries we were almost in with a shout but
we didn't quite make it, finishing on 165. Gaz 46no and Scott
9no
Due to my ineptitude our book doesn't have all the overs
and runs figures hence the sketchy nature of the report but
suffice to say it ended a lot closer than it looked like it
would for a long time and this is really down to some great
batting from Ed, Jam and in particular Gaz who launched some
enormous sixes (4 of em) with some great running between the
stumps to finish on 46 not out.
The curse of the Hurricanes strikes again. They batted well
and fielded solidly to be fair and we made a match of it in
the end......
Blackweir Inn was rammed with student hockey clunge though
which helped us all forget over a pint. I love summer.
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