Rangers Blue Vs St Barts
October 20th & 27th
Premiership
REPORTS
PAGE
Our game yesterday started in complete opposite fashion. Our Captain Paulie was away on School Duties (to better his name and make him irreplaceable) So we were always going to be down a class batsman with the temprement of a work horse!! But, when you replace Paulie for Sam Wise batten you know that you have traded well... With Paulie out i was relegated to captain duties of which once again I lost the toss... So St Bart's Captain Daniel Viles elected to Bowl first... We couldn't have got off to a worse start, Omar and OP1 opened the batting with Omar facing first ball receives a very wide ball and attempts a cover drive only to scoop it up and give an easy catch to cover... Thats right, we were 1 down from the very first ball. But as stated before, Sam wise entered the crease.... We didn't have the opportunity of having a regular umpire so i stood in for umpiring duties for the time.
OP1 and Sam wise steady the innings, Sam wise pulling off one of his trademark shots to get off the mark, a beautiful cover drive that raced away to the fence. OP1 was playing the anchor role as Sam wise tore apart the opening bowlers with boundary after boundary. Unfortunately OP1 received a gem of a in swinging Daniel Viles ball which caught OP1 on the crease, and yes I had to give him out because he was dead plum in front! Sorry OP!!
In came Jihad, and he started off really shaky! scooping a catch to to mid off, only to be dropped, and it was a sitter, and then the very next ball scoped back to the bowler Viles only to be dropped again.... Two in a row soft chances gone down, Jihad was very lucky. But his next over was not to be so lucky this time scooping another catch to a fielder that looked like he would actually catch it, and he did. Jihad gone for 6. In the mean time sam wise was still picking off boundaries at will, with a beautiful slog over cover for 6.
With Myself umpiring there was a promotion in the batting order, in came the younger one of the Hart Brothers, Cody... With Cody's recovery from a broken wrist, we were unsure as to how long he would last out there so other batsman were gearing up ready to go in. Sam Wise played a lover mid wicket pull shot to bring up his 50 to the cheers of the huge 15 large crowd, (sounded like there were thousands) but a few balls later he was bowled by a ball that cut back in off the seem. A great knock of 54 from about as many balls as well. Another Promotion in the order, Amrit was keen and ready to join the ranks. We were now 4 for 65 and although we weren't overly happy with our start we knew we had batters all the way to the end. Amrit and Cody looked shaky to start but as they lasted out a few balls they looked more and more comfortable at the crease starting to play some actual cricket shots.
By now I had replaced myself as Umpire and Sam wise took over. Amrit and Cody made it through to the first drinks break at just a few minutes to 2pm. A couple of overs back into the the second seshion Amrit went on the walk to their spinner and missed and was nicely stumped by there keeper. I then came into bat at 5 for 80. I was playing second fiddle as Cody started to open up and play some lovely slog sweeps off all bowling attacks. I was in ore watching from the other end as Cody took three boundries in one over racing him along in his score. I managed to hit a full toss 6 that cleared the trees near the road end of Yaronga. that settle my nerves a little, but Cody was just smashing at will. Cody and I managed to play it out to the next drinks break at 2pm. We then came into bat and Cody began again where he had left off, smashing another 3 boundries in one over bring him up to 47 with one ball left, So I walked down to the pitch and said to Cody, your on 47 now with one ball left, just play it out and we'll get you that 50. Unfortunately Cody saw another ball in his hitting zone that was just like all the other balls he was smashing to the boundry and too the chance, this time it was to his dismissal, missing the ball and being bowled. A brilliant innings coming to an end falling just 3 runs short of his first maiden 50. Cody and I put on 36 for the 5 wicket.
Out came P-Diddy Dowden!! with Pete's confidence so far he was ready an able for the challenge. This time I started to open up hitting a couple of boundaries and also another 6 over cow corner. I was not to last long as I tried to hit a hard straight drive down the ground on a good length yorker, I was cleaned bowled with all my stumps being rattled. I was out for 42. with pete and I putting on 52 for the 6th wicket in only 10 overs.
Out Stepped The Chad!! His specific words were to "Count all the balls that I face as well"... So we knew that the Chad was after something special.. Pete soon followed suit with getting bowled off Viles for a comforting mid 20 score.... Chad started hitting the ball cleanly hitting a couple of 6's ... His new Batting Partner Michael "junior" McDonald, came and went for a low score of 1, and Undies was the last batsman to walk out. The Chad was still going nicely but was undone eventually caught at mid off for 27, leaving Undies not out on 0.
So we were all bowled out for a total of 215 runs of which I was very pleased with. We then had 16 overs to bowl before the end of days play, of which we aimed to get at least a wicket or two to end the day on a great note. Well Undies bowled a probing first over, just trying to find his right line and length. I then followed up with the second over of which I was very fortunate to get a wicket with my second ball with there opening batsman playing on. We had the start we wanted but there was more to come. In my second over I gained a second wicket with a brilliant well timed catch from Cody to follow on with his super batting innings. I was then able to pick up the danger batsman who punished Rangers White attack last week for a cheap score LBW in my third over. My Fourth over I again picked up another batsman, the cricket gods were with this one, a leg side ball with the batsman walking across to the ball to whip it off his pads but the ball hit his pads and smashed into the stumps. A lucky wicket that I was happy to take. There next batsman walked out and Daniel Viles (Who was umpiring at the time) said to me quietly that this batsman wont be able to handle a short ball so I said no worries I don't ball short anyway. It didn't matter anyway, the next ball just hit the top of the leg bail giving me my 5th wicket and my first 5 wicket haul in Rangers Colours.
I replaced myself and Andy for Jihad and Pete and in Jihad's first over I put some real pressure on the batsman having a first slip, short gully, bat pad, and myself at silly mid on. Jihad bowled a few gem deliveries and then one came off the top edge of the bat and I will try to explain the moments that followed..... "I saw the ball clip the top of his bat and I thought to myself, I can get this. So I leaped to my right as far as I could and just as I was hitting and sliding onto the ground my out stretched hand caught the ball just in my fingertips which felt like ages as it was going into my hand. When I knew that I had completed the catch, I jumped up and stretched my hand up and such joy and then immediately in pain as I felt my right side that I had landed on start to ach and sting in pain and I dropped like a sack of patatoes. Meanwhile the team were running over and jumping around in such joy as well It felt like my whole right side was on fire. It took me a few minutes to gain some composure, but still very happy with the catch
So in the end we had St Barts reeling at 6 for 60 odd. We had had a great day out in the field from a all round contribution from the team with the bat and some really good field from the team. Either way if we perform like we did yesterday next Saturday then we should be in the box sit for a comfortable win.
Week 2
Well well well.... What a game of cricket on the weekend! What a two weeks worth of cricket more like it... Here is how it finished last week leading into yesterday's game.... We had batted first finishing on 215 runs and had St bart's struggling at 6 for 63... Plays of the day were Sam Batten reaching 54 and the Star of the day Cody Hart making a very handy 47... Myself gaining a 5 wicket haul...
So Saturday finally came round for us to try and gain fist innings points and maybe even outright... Andy started us off perfectly claiming 2 wickets in two balls causing another hat trick ball making it the 2nd opportunity this game between Him and I. Unfortunately there was no Hat trick, but in his following over he was able to claim another wicket, leaving us with one wicket to get before first innings points were ours... I was able to snap up the last wicket and St Barts were all out for 80, myself getting very lucky figures of 6 for 26 off 10.3 overs, Andy 3 for 36 off 11 overs (special note was Andy actually bowled 5 Maidens out of those 11 Overs) and Jihad (Correct name Gihan Ratnayake) with figures of 1 for 0 off two overs... A perfect Start to the 2 day comp claiming first innings points!
So a long debat was had between Myself and the Real Captain Paulie along with the senior playing group (the whole team) as to whether we should enforce the follow on.. We were ahead by 135 runs, (need at least 100 run lead to enforce a follow on) and as we spoke and weighed up our options we decided to bat again to try and get a lead of at least 250 with hopefully 40 overs left to try and get them out. Omar and Ben were to start us off again. The word was "hit out or get out" and unfortunately OP1 (Ben) with his great eye saw a ball too early and closed the face of his bat too soon hitting the outside edge, (something I am very good at doing, hitting the actually edge of the bat, but with my eyes closed usually, just ask Varun "50cent") and was out for no score off only 2 balls... Out walked Sam 'Wise' Batten, gleaming from his previous weeks knock of 54 he started right where he left off... Sam up the Tempo as Omar played second fiddle getting the singles trying to get Sam on strike as much as possible. Sam eventually fell, but not before making his second 50, two in two innings! That is where we declared. Sam had made 63 off only 46 balls, Omar made 22 off 24 and Jihad was left not out with 14 off 9 balls. We had reached our target making a lead of 254 leaving us a minimum of 39 overs to bowl them out...
St Barts openers Treloar and Brown were like Paulie in disguise, They didn't want a bar of anything outside off stump and only played the ball that looked like hitting the stumps as they were intent on just playing out the days play. They took St barts to the first drinks break after 16 overs at 0 for 43... So It looked like they had no intention on trying to score the runs. Seeing as we had not taken any wickets thus far it was time to do something different. Andy and I had bowled 8 overs total in tendon with no luck so The chad had a go and with his whippy action and occasional bouncy ball some good overs were bowled with no luck. OP1 turned in some good overs as well with the same result of no luck, but at the other end the ever dependable Jihad continued to roll down his off breaks varying his pace. Jihad eventually claim the first wicket with a loose shot by Brown holding out to the safe hands of Sam Wise in the deep. A few overs later the same thing happened, Jihad tossed one up and there third Batsman Warrington went for the kill only falling just a few meters short landing into Sam Wise hands again at Long on. Then a beautiful low caught and bowled by Jihad sparked some enthusiasm in our team. An inspired bowling change of Bringing Cody hart on (mind you he was replacing the wicket taker of Jihad, but only too change ends and give Jihad a go against the wind) brought about another brake through. Cody's first ball was a very slow eat me up ball that got hit for a boundary, upon which I said, "I didn't bring you on to bowl pies, if i wanted to do that I would have put on myself on. Ball fast as you can, I don't care if you bowl a wide, just try and hit the stumps"... He did the next best thing, edging a catch to our replaced wicket keeper of The Chad Hart, (Amrit wanting to field and showed that he is proabably better then most of us with out the gloves on in the field. A special moment was seen by OP1 as Amrit was fielding the ball he thought he saw Amrits hair actually move... Is that even possible?!?!) We had gained another wicket and were now left with 6 wickets to take with 11 overs to go. ( I thought that we had at least 15 overs left at least, bad captaincy on my part not knowing) I gave the ball to Omar and Michael McDonald to try and claim a wicket or two... Unfortunately no luck but we did see some really good things with the ball from McDonald showing us that he can actually roll his arm over with some leg spin and looked like taking a wicket with almost every ball with great flight and variation of pace as well... It had come down to the pinnacle point of the Match, (once again I thought that we still had at least 10 or so overs left to bowl) we needed 6 more wickets to claim outright victory and they needed at least a 100 plus runs to win. So it was never going to be the latter, I thought to myself, again (I seemed to be doing a of that through out the match, funny that...) Well I could continue with what I was doing in that I was giving everyone a bowl in the team, or I could make a vital change and have a real go at this, so I went up to Andy and said how do you feel... I want to try something different and we spoke and decided that I would put myself back on for one over (once again still thinking that we had 10 overs to spare) and if i were to claim at least one wicket then maybe we could really give this a go at winning outright.. If I was not to claim a wicket then I would revert back to letting the rest of the team bowl out the overs... I started off feeling quite comfortable and so set the field up having 3 slips, two gullys and a point with a very short mid wicket and a very short cover and fine leg, and with my second ball I knocked middle stump backwards and in the process broke one of the stumps, (yay, another first!) We now only needed 5 more wickets so i was then keen on having a shot at outright... My next over I was trying to ball as hard and fast as possible (which is still only as fast as Elliot's Slower ball) but it seemed like I was shooting them out as fast as Clintoff! With my second ball I struck there set batsman Uhlmann on the pads directly in front, out LBW. When the new batsman arrived I asked the umpire how many overs had we left (man how stupid am I, you would think a Captain would have asked this long ago!!) to my surprise I found out that we only had 1.3 overs left to bowl! So my next ball came out and once again I plucked Middle stump and for the third time in the match someone was on a Hat trick... Unfortunately I didn't get a Hat trick, but wait!! The unthinkable happened, the ball I bowled hit the pads of the batsman and started heading down leg side at which the batsman called through for a single and with a flash our newly found keeper Chad had stopped the ball and with out looking, throw his left hand round his body flinging the ball out of his glove towards the stumps, as I was racing towards the stumps I saw that this ball was going to roll and hit them... and they did and the batsman was left short of his ground... We claimed a Team Hat trick!! The break through that we needed was complete and was given to us by the hands of the master!! THE CHAD!! My over thus far claiming three wickets with us only needing one more wicket and I had one more ball to bowl. Out Stepped there team mentor and leader, Daniel Viles. I gave it everything I had at his toes right on middle stump, but cool as a cucumber Viles blocked it out well.
One more over was left to try and either win a Match or Save a match! Jihad was given the ball again, he was on 4 wickets. I crowded the batsman with fielders all around the bat... Having a short fine leg, 2 short silly mid ons, first and second slip, short gully silly mid off... Practically everyone was around the bat and we had two man out in the deep. Long on and long off.... The moment had arrived, Jihad was ready to bowl and as quick as a flash the first ball was delivered and the batsman played and missed the ball, but the ball didn't miss the stumps!! We all went jumping and screaming with joy and excitement, We had won the match with 5 balls to spare... Jihad claiming superior figures of 5 for 22 off 10.1 overs (and only one maiden was bowled for the whole 10 overs!)
It was a great game played in every greater cricketing spirits between the two teams. Showing the pleasure and joy it is when we play each other. Stand out performances for the match was Sam Wises two 50 plus innings, Jihad and Myself claiming our first 5 wickets in an innings for the club. My very lucky Match figures of 9 for 31 off a total of 16.3 overs and Jihad finishing with 6 for 22 off 12.1 overs.
Later when talking with our real Captian, (of which I will be pleased to have back seeing at how bad I was with keeping up with what was going on.) he said he gave us no chance, to which i replied either did I after the staunch efforts of their opening batsman. The great thing about Cricket is the unthinkable can always, and it did for us... A great team effort was had by us all with every catch been taken that was on offer through out the match, (except for my caught and bowled chance, some may say it was more like a defend yourself chance!!) Some really great fielding and some really funny fielding by the Codemyster!! Those that witnessed it will know what I am talking about... A job well done is all I can say, a great pleasure to play alongside a talented bunch of cricketers but more importantly, a really great bunch of guys!! Well done to you all!
Final Scores:
1st innings, Rangers all out for 215.... St Barts all out for 80.
2nd innings, Rangers 3 dec for119.... St Barts all out for 117
Rangers win outright by 138 runs
Camo signing off!!