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Welford Park versus Crown Wood |
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Wednesday, 19 August 2009 20:07 |
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On a day that promised more sunshine than it delivered, the mighty Park ventured forth – a man short as usual these days – into the field to try and do the double over the much vaunted Crown Wood team and continue their promotion push after recent stumbles. Sloth as usual got his own way at the toss (I think he actually won this one, but it never seems to matter!) and into the field we went. What followed was a steady stream of departing batsmen as the run rate rarely topped 2 per over for the first 20 and the wickets fell encouragingly. George Thornton (nickname anyone? Our John, I’m thinking this is your area…) bowled a hostile and accurate spell from the top end, and the skipper bowled with his usual freakish mix of pace and spin (don’t ask!). At 48-5 (and Park at full strength as the ever phlegmatic Pradeep arrived) we had Crown wood firmly on the run, and phrases such as “they’ll be lucky to get to 70” and “we’ll have to bat before tea again” started to abound. Such hubris may account for the fact that the last two wickets ended up adding about 60 on their own, despite excellent support bowling from Pradeep and the ever elegant Felto. When Monica (bowling like a young Shane Warne) had their top scorer LBW, the whole team were stunned to see that Crown Wood had reached 130 all out. Special mention to our floppy haired ‘keeper Jason “Veterinary” Russell for stopping most things (one way or another) on a difficult track for keeping, and only looking miffed every other ball. You’ll see it better if you get a haircut! With the ball keeping low as usual, Monica and the Vet strode to the middle and began confidently enough against the old ball, a spinner and a dobber. Monica was less than pleased. Jason was so irritated by the lack of pace that he called loudly for a single after drilling one into covers hands and was run out easily after Monica’s equally loud “No”! Our John, having had a week of work, was far too awake to bother with such things as getting his eye in, and his short shot-a-ball innings ended when he played a glorious drive on the up but neglected to hit the ball and saw his stumps knocked back. Nanny joined Monica, and they were both relieved when the new ball was taken and a bit of pace introduced(a young lad who looked like Nick Blair and bowled off three paces like Sloth – and with a bit of zip!). This was short-lived as a succession of boundaries saw him taken out of the attack after two overs! All to no avail as Monica passed fifty and Lewis closed on his. The sudden realisation from Monica that runs were running out and Nanny had 47 meant a new tactic – singles only from his bat – which led to a loss of concentration and an LBW. Not to worry, there were still 8 runs to play with. Naveem promptly spanked a boundary and four byes later a disgruntled Nanny finished 47 not out as the Park won by seven wickets. The match was notable for 3 other things. The theory of “Park always bowl well if they only start with ten men or less” was confirmed as truth. Paul gave three – yes 3 – LBW’s in one match. And Sloth passed 35 wickets for the season. Congrats!
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