26th June 2010
The 1st XI travelled to table rivals Flamingo on a scorcher of a day in their push for promotion.
Graham won the toss and decided to follow last weeks example and have a bat first. Ali 'Harry' Cheyne and Graham took to the crease first and got off to a steady start working the ball around and running between the wickets. It wasnt long however, before the long spell of dry weather demonstrated its effects on the pitch and Ali got onto one a touch early, chipping to mid off for 7. Naz was next up and again looked in fine form with some delightful late cuts to the boundary, all the while Graham looking more and more settled dealing with the odd surprising bounce. Despite the heat Graham pushed Naz hard with the running, an excellent feature of the season so far. Eventually though, Graham was out LBW for 68, attempting to whip one backwards of square leg, and Naz followed shortly after top edging one straight up, bringing Damo and Stevie The Bean into the fold in quick succession. Steve displayed his continually improving ability to play through the line with power and grace before following in Ali's footsteps and playing a bit early to be caught. Nobby ambled out to join Damo and repeat their partnership from the previous week. Damo never looked troubled by the unpredictability and worked the ball around bewtween fielders and to the boundary. Nobby in contrast, I can only say 'got lucky', playing the wrog shots and getting dropped 4 times on his way to a streaky 50 not out. Damo was eventually caught on 61 with a few overs remaining allowing Spenny to make his batting debut. Some obscene amounts of running meant we finally amassed a season best of 314 for 6 at the end of our 45 overs.
Our defense started in excellent style as usual with Damo and Jammer taking advantage of the knowledge that bowling stump to stump would put pressure on the Flamingo batsmen. Chances appeared early on with several balls flying through the slips hands.....any would think Jack Wateridge was playing. Damo eventually struck first bowling their opener, all the while Jammer continually looking threatening from the other end and was unlucky not to take several scalps, but had to settle for 2 excellent wickets in his best spell of the season so far. Graham and Craig took over and both 'varied' it about, all the while the required run rate creeping up. Craig used the bounce to his advantage sneaking one through the bat pad gap for a bowled, while Graham was content to take a couple of wickets with rank mis-hit full bungers. At the end of their spells the home side had a tough job on their hands on an increasingly unpredictable track. Ali and Paul 'The Swan' Ebb were left to tidy up. Ali bowled consistently well and fast sending down several unplayable balls and was unlucky to finish with only the one wicket. Ebby varied his pace, and on a couple of occasions the track we were playing on, to bag two in his maiden 1st XI spell. Flamingo were eventually all out for 164. Particular credit though to Flamingo batsmen I Heath who reached 69 despite some increasingly very tricky conditions and sweltering heat.
Max points again ..... lets continue against Portsmouth next week.
Up the Manor !!
Nobby Snr