Match Report vs Glenwood
07 May 2024 @ Wenvoe (Skipper and Report Jim)
Ahead of our first midweek game of the season, players could
be forgiven for having forgotten what cricket is, given the
cold, wet and miserable weather of the last few months that
had seen a high volume of games cancelled for the Casuals
and wider South Wales cricketing community. In arriving at
Wenvoe, however, it appeared that the council had forgotten
there was a cricket pitch there, despite having taken a booking
a pitch booking and sending us an email saying ‘good
luck for the cricket tonight’ to confirm the game could
be played. Long outfield, unprepared wicket, no boundary marked
and no tables or chairs to use, the evening already looked
to be a chore.
Captain James lost the toss (useless tosser) and the Cazh
were put into bat, with Rhys and Steve B opening up. Glenwood
opened with two seamers who were using the poor pitch to their
advantage, with movement and slow bounce making batting difficult,
and the daisy-covered outfield meaning no value for good shots.
Towards the end of the 7th, whilst trying to up the run rate,
Rhys was caught at cow corner, bringing Joel out to the middle.
Having struck the first boundary of the innings, Steve was
soon run out trying to push a second, with Fred striding out
to join Joel in the 10th over. This partnership accelerated
quickly, worth 21 and included Fred hitting his first senior
6, before Joel was bowled at the end of the 11th having swung
across the line, the Cazh 57-3 at this stage.
Debutant Alun was in next and struggled to get going, whilst
Fred saw himself caught, giving Robbie ‘Rupert’
Sayer the chance to have a swing. Al was soon gone, run out,
with skipper James returning two balls later after giving
the bowler catching practice, 63-6 with only 5 overs left.
Rob O was next in and pushed runs hard with Rupert, who was
soon bowled before Dan was trapped LBW in the 15th, with Maxy
coming out with one job – run! Indeed, Maxy stuck to
this task and supported Rob O in running at any opportunity,
allowing the Cazh to reach 93 off their allotted 18 overs,
DT particularly delighted as he achieved another DNB.
The standard of the pitch meant the Cazh had reason to be
confident that they could defend this total and this confidence
only increased when Dan bowled the opening batsman on the
first ball of the innings! However, it seemed the impact of
multiple Casuals running up and down the wicket had had the
impact of flattening it out. This, along with some inconsistent
bowling, meant Glenwood piled on runs quickly, with their
skipper retiring in the 3rd over having smashed three 6s.
The Cazh kept fighting, however, with Fred running the other
opener out, Maxy bowling the number 5 and Steve getting the
number 4 LBW. One more wicket would fall, with Joel taking
a very un-Casual (athletic) diving catch on the boundary off
Fred’s bowling, but Glenwood reached their target with
ease, finishing on 96-5 off just 11.2 overs, the Casuals cup
run over at the first hurdle.
With the evening still young, the team retired to the Wenvoe
Arms for a few drinks and buffet, consisting of crisps and
freshly made pork scratchings. Reflecting on the game, perhaps
we should have interpreted the council’s good luck email
as being more of a sarcastic indictment on the state of the
pitch and cancelled the game, rather than genuinely wishing
us well for the upcoming fixture…
Full scorecard: https://cardiffcasuals.play-cricket.com
back
|
