Match Report vs Chartered
Trust 10th July 2024 @ St Fagans (Skipper and Report
Jim)
Following the previous week’s soft cancellation, the
Casuals were surprised to find that their game against Chartered
Trust at St Fagans would be on – perhaps even a surprise
to the ground staff, given the wicket was wet and looked like
it hadn’t been cut. The game would be played in an odd
format to ‘save time’ ; bowl 10 overs straight
from one end, followed by the other 10 from the other end.
After losing the toss, the depleted Cazh side were asked to
field, with only 10 players consisting of two players struggling
with finger injuries (James and Rob), one playing for the
first time since rupturing his achilles in 2022 (Richie),
one arriving late due to a hospital appointment to check his
shoulder (Rhys) and one arriving late as he had forgotten
we were playing/didn’t have a lift/watch stopped working/other
excuse (no prizes for guessing who).
By contrast, Trust had their strongest side out and set about
smacking the ball to all corners of the ground and manipulating
the field at will. One big 6 struck the windscreen of a parked
car and, whilst it didn’t smash the glass, it did leave
a big pink cherry. Chances were at a premium, with the only
major one being a cover drive smashed in the direction of
Richie, who couldn’t hold on. With both openers retiring
having reached their half centuries around the 12th over,
the Cazh managed to hit a little purple patch, with Steveo
making up (slightly) for his late arrival by bowling the number
3 batter. DT then took two wickets in two balls. The first
was, officially an LBW, but it was more a case of the ball
hitting the batter’s belly somewhere close to the stumps.
The second, however, was clean bowled, with the hattrick ball
resulting in a single. Steveo also got an LBW, with the score
on 133 in the 17th, but Trust saw out the rest of the innings
and finished their 20 overs on 160-4.
As with their batting, Trust had strong options available
and opened with two quick bowlers, with Rhys being bowled
at the end of the first. Following a steady-ish partnership
with Bryn, James followed, bowled by one that kept low, with
Bryn also bowled later on. Dan came and went quite quickly,
but broke with the innings tradition by being caught rather
than bowled. Having hung around and tried to steady the ship,
Steveo’s resistance was soon ended. Liam W, clearly
desperate to go and watch the football, was bowled for not
many, as was Liam F. Rob, not particularly keen to bat as
he’d inflicted more damage on his broken finger whilst
fielding, was caught behind trying to run the ball down to
third-man, leaving DT and Richie the unenviable task of trying
to take the team to a respectable total, with not many overs
left. However, DT was bowled, meaning that Cazh were all out
for 52 in 16.2 overs.
A chastening and forgettable evening for the Cazh. However,
with the semi-finals of Euro 2024 on telly, the team got comfortable
and consumed copious amounts of crisps, nuts, and Domino’s
pizza that had been ordered – the only enjoyable part
of the evening!
Full scorecard: https://cardiffcasuals.play-cricket.com/website/results/6509253
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