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2nd XI v Riley House
Riley Riled by Belhaven Beast
by Our Indian Reporter - Hita Bundaree
Won by 24 runs
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Belhaven Hill
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126 for 5
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Riley House
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102 all out
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What a match. A 20-20 extravaganza that had the three supporters glued to their seats and the local bird population singing their hearts out (see/listen to video for ample clarification).
Edward won the toss and put Riley in the field to swelter in the heat - god ploy. But in the second over, Angus ‘Biker’ Harley was cruelly run out as Andrew Watson paddled a ball behind him and called for a run. The fielder at short backward square leg stuck a foot out, made contact and under-armed it towards the stumps.
With the play seemingly in slow motion, ‘Biker’ slowed and rtied to skid his way over the crease - sadly unable to get there I time and he had to make the journey of shame back to the pavilion having scored only 2 runs on his debut for the Super Seconds. They weren’t looking so super just then, I’m afraid to report!
On to the pitch strode Leo ‘The Beast’ Seymour flaunting his thigh pad outside his trousers. Clutching his bat like some ancient club he smashed his way to a very creditable 53. LC didn’t have the heart to retire him before that momentous event had been reached. He was ably supported by Andrew Watson who stayed around long enough to sore a 4 and canter a few singles before he, too, was dismissed for not being quick enough between the wickets.
Nevertheless, by that time (7th over) the score had rattled to 43 and the run rate was reasonable. But it needed a little bit more razzmatazz! And who better to provide that than Tom ‘Crossbat’ Wright? A character who quizzically looks down the pitch towards the bowler, makes his mind up, before the ball is delivered, to smash it and either does so or catastrophically misses!
There were, however some lovely off drives (where did he find those from? Ed) some of which found the boundary. Although ‘Crossbat’ was a little hesitant to run quick singles, the score mounted and reached 102 before ‘The Beast’ retired. Thereafter the run rate rather dried up!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Perhaps ‘The Beast’ should not have been retired. But it brought Will ‘Big Man’ Prenter strolling to the pitch to set about the bowling immediately with gusto. Sadly he found great difficulty in making any connection with the ball, despite huge efforts to do so. He also was too slow between the wickets and failed to make it to the other end before the bails were smartly taken off by some accurate Riley throwing.
In for a penny, in for a pound. Captain Edward sent in the secret weapon - The TAW. Tom Armstrong-Wilson shyly shambled to the pitch took guard, looked up, swung, made the briefest of contact and just stopped the ball from rolling back onto his stumps.
Seemingly reasonably happy with not being out for a duck, TAW threw caution to the wind and tried to smash the ball behind the stumps. Bit of a tangle ensued and he hit the ball onto the wickets and nearly fell all over them himself. He ambled back to the pavilion, not too unhappily. Oh, semper laetus, TAW, semper laetus!
Much discussion in the pavilion had put Kit Gordon-Cumming up the order with the instructions to up the run rate and run fast between the wickets. He upped the run rate by scoring a quick 7 runs but forgot to speed up between the sticks and was run out!
At last, the Cap made an appearance. Rumours had it that he had retired and was captaining the team by proxy - but here he was, striding to the crease, grinning myopically. Too bad that there was only one over remaining for the excited supporters to see this classic batsman in action.
Tingling with anticipation the crowd went quiet as The Cap faced his first delivery. Stroll on! He hit a magnificent cover drive and loped off down the wicket for a quick single. Now that’s how to run between the wickets - watch and learn you other slow-coaches!
Champing at the bit for another go, The Cap repeated his shot for another single but as that was the last ball of the 20 overs he had to return to the bosom of the Super Seconds and receive his plaudits.
Having been refreshed with a cuppa, thoughts turned to the score. Would 126 be enough? Should everyone have a bowl? Of course they should and who better to open than the fiery ‘Biker’?
He has a great action (see video evidence) and can fairly hurl the ball down the 21 yards. Not all his deliveries were on the button but he got better. With ‘The Beast’ at the other end chucking it down at a rate of knots you would have thought the Riley batsmen would be troubled. Not a bit of it. They relished the challenge and swung their bats mightily. However their No. 2 launched a ball delivered by ‘The Beast’ towards ‘The Biker’ who made catching look very easy - a difficult task in 2nd XI cricket! This was the first of three catches ‘The Biker’ pouched - and he could have had a fourth, but we won’t mention the one he dropped!
Riley was scoring well as was W. Ides! The total of 127 to win did not look a difficult task and the bowlers did not seem to grasp the idea that the ball has to be pitched up and on line to cause batsmen trouble!
But despite this The Cap took two wickets in his second over as did ‘Flash’ Watson and this made quite a dent in the Riley batting. Even Wills ‘Titch’ Younger threw the ball up in the air lugubriously towards the batsmen who swiped and missed, only to hear his middle stump being rattled. Way to go, Wills!
Even Hamish C-J, sweater flapping in the hurricane of his run-up, managed to send a straight one down to claim a wicket. But Riley had been scoring steadily and at this stage were 101 for 8.
Three overs left; 26 runs to win; 2 wickets to go. Couldn’t be tighter. (Well, to be pedantic, it could actually! Ed) Only one person to get the job done - ‘The Biker’
He rolled up his sleeves, ran in, delivered an unerringly accurate ball which was blindly smashed for 2. Oh! Undeterred, he tried again - this time he knocked the middle stump awry and his next delivery enabled him to catch the last remaining batsman himself.
A very exciting game of cricket played in the best of spirits. Well done lads, you deserved your Haribos, Jaffa cakes et al!! |
David Peek, 20/05/2010 |
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