Match Report vs Glenwood
05 May 2022 @ Wenvoe(Skipper Richie, report Jim)
There are four words that can sum up this game: welcome back
to Wenvoe!
The Casuals got their Willow League campaign underway with
a home game against Glenwood. With a full 11 available, and
nice weather on show, there was reason to be fairly confident.
Then, the team arrived at Wenvoe, where the troubles began.
Firstly, nobody could locate the stumps, usually in the kit
bag. Luckily, there were some in a store cupboard, that probably
belong to that other club that use the ground. This is when
the next issue emerged: the pitch. Looking out across the
vast space at Wenvoe sports field, identifying a cricket pitch
was a tricky business, with long grass covered in daisies
as far as the eye could see. Some players walked to the rough
position where the square usually is, where there was some
slightly shorter grass, clearly intended to be the wicket.
Using the faint white lines to guide them, the stumps were
placed into the ground, with a rough boundary marked by shards
of white plastic, and it was game on!
Glenwood’s skipper won the toss and put the Cazh into
bat, with Rhys and Rob sent out to open. With the pitch doing
a perfect job at making any delivery into a slow ball, the
pair set about rotating the strike with many singles. At one
point, one of them actually got the ball off the square, which
rarely happened in the whole innings! Despite the pitch’s
slow nature, and the difficulty playing big shots, the pair
has got off to a good start, reaching 33 off the first 5 overs.
In the 6th, however, Rhys was bowled for 12, bringing Will
out to the middle. Despite showing endeavour, boundaries were
still impossible to find, with wides and quick singles allowing
the Cazh to continue scoring, with the score on 53 in the
10th over, before Rob was bowled for a score of 14.
This was where the run rate began to drop and wickets began
to fall, with two falling in the 12th over. First, Will was
caught off a leading edge, having caught his bat with his
pads, before skipper Richie was bowled two balls later, leaving
the score on 54-4. In came James who, along with Steveo, aimed
to rebuild the innings. James in particular tried to add some
impetus by swinging from the hip, although this produced very
little success. The pressure to add to the total reached a
crescendo, producing a calamitous run out. James pushed the
ball to mid-off and called for a run, feeling there was an
easy single. Steveo disagreed and stood his ground, with James
run out whilst halfway down the track, 65-5. Maxy entered
the fray to try his hand at adding some runs, before being
bowled, with Dave W also bowled two deliveries later. Goffy
and Steveo navigated the remainder of the innings, with the
Cazh finishing on 79-7 off 18 overs, with not a single boundary
scored!
Rhys b12
Rob b14
Will ct13
Steveo no9
Richie b0
James ro7
Maxy b3
Dave W b0
Goffy no0
DNB: Shakey, DT
Despite the low score, the Cazh were not disheartened, knowing
that the pitch and outfield would be just as problematic for
the opposition. Indeed, the Cazh got off to a great start,
with Goffy getting one of the openers caught and bowled. The
following over, Shakey was very unfortunate not to get the
number 3 batsman out LBW, for reasons that still remain unclear.
At the other end, Glenwood’s danger man found the first
boundary of the game, hitting Goffy back over his head for
6. Soon after, however, he was gone. In the same week that
Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘hand of God’
shirt was sold at auction, the Cazh also found themselves
on the right side of some fortunate handy work. In Shakey’s
third over, the Glenwood opener walked down the wicket and
got himself in an awkward position. Unable to see the ball
until late, keeper James desperately stuck out a glove, mainly
hoping to prevent byes, with the ball rebounding onto the
stumps to remove the batsman, stumped! Just the slice of fortune
that the Cazh would need!
There’s a common saying in cricket that one always
brings two. Well, in this case, one wicket brought a second
and a third in quick succession! Entering his final over,
Goffy tempted the number 4 into a drive, finding an edge that
flew perfectly into Will’s bucket hands/bread basket
region. Two balls later and Goffy had the number 5 trapped
LBW for his third wicket of the innings in what was a useful
spell, with the score at 26-4 off 7 overs. Maxy replaced Goffy
and DT replaced Shakey, with both bowling tidily to help restrict
the scoring. DT found a wicket early in his spell, with Shakey
taking the catch at mid-on, removing the potentially dangerous
number 3 batsman, 41-5 off 10. Dave White soon came on to
bowl down the hill and also got his spell off to a positive
start with a wicket, Goffy taking the catch on this occasion.
The score started to creep up, however, with a few wides being
bowled and the Glenwood numbers 7 and 8 running at every opportunity,
with one also hitting a 4 through square leg. After 16.1 overs,
Glenwood reached their target of 80, to take a 4-wicket win.
Goffy 4-0-15-3
Shakey 4-0-10-1
Maxy 3-0-17-0
DT 3-0-22-1
Dave W 2.1-0-14-1
Catches: Will, Shakey, Goffy x2
Stumpings: James
Overall, a tight game of cricket played on a pitch that was
not fit for purpose, which showed in the difficulty in scoring
runs. The Cazh remained competitive all the way until the
end, but just couldn’t quite hold on. After the game,
the team went across the road to the Wenvoe Arms, where pints
and buffet were enjoyed!
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