Match Report vs Barry Wanderers 26 April 2026 @ Hayes Point (Skipper and report Steveo)

And so it came to pass…

After much anticipation, and a very successful indoor nets season, and the tragedy of the initial game being cancelled, we were finally about to begin the 34th season on the Cardiff Casuals Cricket Club journey.

Fittingly, the game was against our old friends and rivals the Barry Wanderers, at their lovely, if lumpen, ground next to the sea. An early start of 12:30 did not auger well, as yours truly does like a slow morning to ‘prepare’. Luckily the kit was still packed since the previous week and despite an emergency stop for Maccy D’s ( yes I’d forgotten my ‘tea’ ) the Skipper managed to arrive by 12:15.
This would be my first full captaincy game, after a mere 29 years with the club, and I admit to feeling a little trepidation. Instead of getting an early night on Saturday I had attended a ‘gig’ at The Gate ( bumping into the legendary Casual, Simon ‘Little’ Gough, known to many of you). Having had a few alcoholic beverages to help with my shyness in large crowds, I was then inveigled to attend a post gig party with the band, wherein more and various intoxicating relaxants were administered. When I finally got home to watch Match of the Day at 3am I realised I had better start to think about the batting and bowling order …

At the ground the toss seemed to be predetermined, as Cpt Niall said his team wanted to field ( going against his own desire to bat). I actually wanted to field also, going against my teams (Will’s) desire to bat. So I insisted on the toss, which I lost, and we were batting!

Weather was good; warm, even sunny at first. With five new players to be blooded, and one ‘newish’, the day was going to be all about seeing how the fresh faces fitted in. But it was to the old faces we first turned in choosing our openers, as both Tesh and Dave volunteered to wield the willow after a long winter without cricket. The idea was to protect newer players ( and Will) from the opening bowlers and to an extent it worked, except… well, except Tesh suffered a dismissal in the 2nd over bowled by ‘Ricky’ Hatton who was using the wonky crease well and cutting the ball in, catching the bottom of Tesh’s off-stump with a very good ball.
Tesh bowled for 1, casuals 2 for 1 in the 2nd over.

Never mind, Dave was plugging away, keeping out the tricky deliveries from Hatton and Blundell ( who also showed good pace and accuracy). Not for long though, as shortly after Will joined in, Dave succumbed in the 4th to a similar ball from Ricky, who had been plaguing the off stump.
Dave bowled for 1, Casuals 2 for 2 in the 4th.

* there was later some discussion as to whether Dave had scored a run or been given a bye, with Dave firmly in the camp of NOT having scored a run!

Hmmm. Time to get scribbling on the Maccy D’s paper bag as Captain O worked out a belated strategy. James Barber was chosen to join Will and the pair looked good, with confident batting, calling and running from both. Will got into his stride, sharing the singles, the occasional 2’s and eventually finding his aim with a consecutive run of five 4’s. Meanwhile James was patient, getting the lie of the land, before himself stroking a lovely 4, followed by lifting one up to be caught (by Blundell?) of the bowling of T. Boker, who, if I recall correctly, was lofting up horrible bombs into the sky which, when they finally landed, proved trickier than they had any right to be. But excellent start James, and a confident new addition to the team who looks capable of scoring a few in future.
James out caught for 8, Casuals 28 for 3 in the 11th.

Batting at five (excellent decision Skipper!) Benedict Watson in next to join Will. With his ever present smile (or was it a grimace?) he strode out knowing that we were looking rather shakey with a long way to go, not many runs and 3 down. Like Will, he began carefully, taking the singles, finding a couple of 2’s, before adding some lovely placed 4’s to his collection. By the time the next wicket fell, the total had jogged along to 69. At this point I should mention that yours truly had been umpiring for the opening quarter, taking both ends to allow volunteer umpire Sanka de Silva to gauge the level of the game (and the level of the appealing … more of which later). I had told the Barry skipper, Mr B, that I was going to be quite generous with the wides, suitably ‘Sunday’ as it were, especially as this was the first game of the season. It may also have helped that the opening bowlers weren’t given extra balls to do damage with, but that wasn’t the intention at all! So the score by the time Will was dismissed might have been even better than the somewhat salacious 69, but when WMW was caught by Blundell off Boker’s bowling he had done well with over half the total including seven 4’s!
Will out caught for 39, casuals 68 for 4 in the 17th.

It was essential that the next couple of batters put in a good shift and added mightily to the score. Sadly, bats 6-11 could only amass 25 between them. But fear not gentle reader, for the mighty B. Watson Esq. was not aware of the traditional Casuals Collapse Tactic and decided ‘Not today boys, Not today!. The rest of us did our best to hang around, with Matt Davies giving a decent account of himself despite scoring a modest ( but useful) 6 runs, including a lovely 4 before being cleaned up by Rahul having stood firm for four overs.
Matt bowled for 6, Casuals 89 for 5 in the 21st.

With so many overs left on the board, something special was required. Sadly, it was not to come from the No. 7. The captains curse meant that O’Reilly scored a very uncharacteristic big fat Zero having ‘left’ a couple of wides and getting bowled after only a few deliveries. New members may be shocked to see such a clearly talented cricketer falling so swiftly, and might be perplexed at the shouts of “who had 5?” etc coming from the giggling boundary. It’s a mystery to me also but thanks go to Rob for scoring and Liam for supporting from a sedentary position, and Goffy and Richie taking a keen interest via WhatsApp… anyway their excellent bowler Suneesh saw off el capitano.
Steve-O bowled for -O, Casuals 92 for 6 in the 22nd.

Sanay up next and had slightly less trouble finding the ball than he did finding the ground earlier, but only slightly. Despite his first scoring shot being a rare 6 he only added another single before being trapped by the aforementioned excellent Suneesh.
Sanay out LBW for 7, Casuals 102 for 7 in the 25th.

The day had clouded over by this point but there was a little ray of sunshine still present in the form of B Watson. Joined by Sanka de Silva, in his first outing for the CCCC, one might suppose that the Duck duly scored helped not a lot, but he stuck around for a couple of overs which is no mean feat and also kept himself rested for later in the day!
Sanka out Caught for 0, Casuals 104 for 8 in the 27th.

By this point we were down to ‘the bowlers’, but unlike the gung ho (swinging gate) approach of some of our usual opening bowlers when they find themselves batting at the end with not enough on the board (you know who you are), our new faces were far more circumspect. Carefully clinging on to their wickets meant that despite adding only a 5 and a 7 respectively, Andy Munn at 10 and Finn Hishon at 11 managed somehow to eat up the overs and support the still battling Ben. Andy played solidly for five overs before being caught and bowled by Aziz.
Andy out C&B for 5, Casuals 124 for 9 in the 31st.

This is where things got interesting to the point of being surreal. Young Battling Benedict had never (we were told later) scored a 50. But having done that, he now set his sights on higher things. Inspired no doubt by the excellent captaincy that had entrusted him with the central role of number 5, he worked well with Finn who is no slouch between the stumps. This meant that singles were often taken where more elderly and rotund casuals might have dithered, and with encouragement and advice a-plenty from the boundary, the pair made their way towards using the full forty overs. By now BB was seeing it like the proverbial beach ball and started playing his shots with many a gorgeous 4 hitting all sides of the boundary. 6 of his final 15 scoring shots were 4’s, and with Finn hanging on until the very last ball of the very last over - where he selflessly ran himself out trying to make the last delivery count- the final score was a credit to the team and quite a surprise! That final over began with three leg side wides, the first two of which I let slide. But with the 3rd delivery in the same place I decided I was indeed being too generous and wided the delivery to help keep the bowler on a line. The boys ran a 2 off the penultimate ball, with Ben hitting the last delivery and both batters trying their best to complete a single, but to no avail.
Finn run out for 7, Casuals 172 for 10 off 40 overs.

Benedict NOT OUT for a fantastic 75, having (more than) survived 23 overs.

24 extras,

M. Hirani 1 bowled Hatton
D. White 0/1 bowled Hatton
W. Mason Wilkes 39 ct. Blundell b. Boker
J. Barber 8 ct ? b. Boker
B. Watson 75 NOT OUT
M. Davies 6 bowled Rahul
S. O’ Reilly 0 bowled Suneesh
S. Goyal 7 lbw Suneesh
S. de Silva 0 ct Aariz b. Lord
A. Munn 5 C&B Aariz
F Hishon 7 run out b. Stone

At tea we already felt we had scored a victory of sorts by getting to the end of the allotted overs. We had at least been given a lifeline. As is our way, we reversed the order and, referring to my paper bag list, Finn and Sanay opened up. Those of us who know the oppo and the pitch know that 172 is an okay score, but under par by some way. However, Finn is new and doesn’t know / care, so despite his first couple of balls moving down leg he got used to the slope and with his 6th delivery he bowled No. 2 bat Bynon for 0. Brilliant start! Finn bowled 6 overs, with a tight line and even a maiden over. Sanay did very well also in his six, unlucky to suffer a single 4 off nearly each over (=20 runs), but otherwise plenty of dot balls and just a few singles in the mix.
Opening bat Aariz began to settle in and had singles, pairs and 4’s equally distributed. After 6 overs each it was time for a change ( according to my scrap of paper) and, in yet another formidable bit of captaincy, Andy Munn was given the ball. And lo, wonders never cease; 2nd ball, gets the settled Aariz, bowled for 35. A danger player taken out at just the right time. Well done Mr Munn!
Not to be outdone, the next bowler on the list, Sanka, stepped up and coolly bowled Lawrence (at 4) with his very first delivery! These boys were on fire. Andy won’t be eclipsed, so takes another wicket (Stone for 7) in his second over! De Silva says ‘hold my coat’, delivers 5 dot balls….. and with his 6th, bowls Lord for 1. Munn is having none of it, and raises with a Wicket Maiden!
He traps No. 6 Chahan Lbw for 0.
De Silva is temporarily stunned, and counters with dot balls. There is no stopping Munn, who throws down …

Sorry, I need to take a moment, and find my inhaler.

By the way, in the midst of this hectic competition bowling, we are also seeing some fantastic fielding from the youth team, and even the oldies are holding their own. Will was keeping as well as assisting me and the bowlers with fielding positions, but occasionally I put my stamp on the game. One such instance was telling Andy I fancied fielding in close cover ( no surprise to established casuals). He was less than sure but …. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes.

There is no stopping Munn, who throws down …ANOTHER WICKET MAIDEN - this time caught by yours truly, who humbly and quietly snatched the ball in close cover to yet again take the lead in the catching contest.

We now find ourselves having taken three wickets for no runs. Sanka still has some petrol in the tank and replies once again, adding a maiden over to his tally, meaning Wanderers are now 7 down, in the 20th over, for 69.

Drinks were taken. I remind the team that we’ve lost from worse positions ( I’m not sure thats true, but the wanderers still had Blundell, Hatton, Rahul and Wolfy to bat). The ball now went to Tesh and Dave W, with me keeping. I had a relatively quiet time with the gloves, except for a very good catch down off that elicited a loud and prolonged appeal. I even allowed the umpire one more chance to hear the appeal, in case he wasn’t sure of its merits. Such was my enthusiasm that Mr Blundell ( the batter in question) said that I had almost convinced him that he’d edged the ball. I was sure I had heard something, but we concluded that it may have been my knees cracking as I went down for the catch.

Whilst anything could still happen, Tesh and Dave saw us home with discipline, Tesh doing what he does best and turning the ball, and taking two wickets, bowling skipper Niall Blundell ( 2) and wolfy (0), but not before Dave trapped Rahul (No. 9) LBW for 1.
Ricky not out on 7.

Finn Hishon: 6 overs 1 maiden 19 runs 1 wicket
Sanay Goyal: 6 overs 0 maiden 30 runs 0 wicket
Andrew Munn: 4 overs 2 maidens 9 runs 4 wickets
Sanka de Silva: 4 overs 1 maiden 3 runs 2 wickets
Mitesh Hirani: 2.3 overs 0 maiden 8 runs 2 wicket
Dave White: 2 overs 1 maidens 2 runs 1 wicket

Barry Wanderers all out for 79, in the 25th over. Handshakes all round, team photo, beers and chats by the clubhouse, Elvis was there, and Barry Island friends also, and even some spectator cricket virgins in the form of friends of James, who were almost converted to being fans. Almost.

Well done all, fun start to the season and memorable win. Great to welcome new faces to the team and have them fit in -and perform- so well.

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