Match Report vs Dinas
Powys 14 August 2016 @ The Common (Skipper Kim, report
Shakey)
It was a cloudy but warm day for the annual match on The
Common and all eyes were on where they had cut the strip this
year. Just for a change it was as high up the slope as you
could go - making the hit to the road far too easy. So big
scores were in the offing and it was all about how the short
boundary was played.
Dinas had first dibs and lost two early wickets to Rob and
Dave, reward for good opening spells. The opener and number
4 batsman then set about building a good century stand against
some mixed bowling. Adam on debut showed huge promise with
a tight but luckless unbroken spell that only yielded 19 runs.
But we couldn’t apply any sustained pressure and the
short boundary took a peppering. Pete finally bowled the opener
and at 132-3 off 30 there was a sniff of somehow keeping them
to 200. But Dinas powered on in the final 10 overs. Two more
wickets from Pete (including the number 4 batsman caught and
bowled for 87) and one from Stevo failed to stop them running
well and hitting to good and sometimes brutal effect. We bowled
and fielded ok and there were no drops. But to be fair the
procession of adults who came to the crease could all bat
and 217-6 was a fair reflection as the innings closed.
To exploit the short boundary you first had to hang around.
But we got off to an awful start with Rumman bowled for 4
and Will lbw for a duck before Kim and new batsman Rob set
about re-building our reply. At 10 overs we were 31-2 and
at the 20 over mark we had moved seamlessly on to 93-2 with
Rob hitting his maiden six amidst some sensible shots to gaps.
Rob eventually fell for 33 to a diving square leg catch to
leave us 104-3 and the problem now was to give Kim some support.
Kim eventually reached his chanceless and deserved ton as
his hitting became fiercer and more assured. His batting meant
that for a long time we were ahead of the Dinas score at the
same stage of the innings. But the succession of wickets meant
we couldn’t get a decisive partnership going with Rik,
Richie, Adam and Pete all contributing but falling.
With 3 overs left we needed 31 with only 3 wickets intact.
We hit 19 off the next two overs but lost Stevo to leave Kim
and Shakes needing 12 off six balls. That's an easy target
at nets but a bit different in a real match but with Kim still
there anything could happen. Kim smashed the first ball of
the over straight as hard as he could. But it went up and
up more than it went long and he was out to a good catch near
the boundary for a brave 128 with five sixes. Last man Dave
made sure we weren’t bowled out as we settled on 211-9
with Dave doubling his tally of runs off the bat this season
in scampering the last ball for a defiant single.
A great effort from Kim but it was a fair result given the
more consistent Dinas batting.
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