14th August vs Bulls

Monday the 14th of August 2006 saw us face off against Young Bulls. We played these guys twice last season and we absolutely slaughtered them. By 191 and 55 runs.

This week we had 3 fillins, with Thorpe playing again, Phil and Chanka making a return.
Our batting pairs were Cap'n Bob & Little Mahstar, Phil & Chanka, Daints & Thorpe, The Don & The King. We won the toss and Bob decided to bat first.
First ball Bob hit for two which jackpots to 4, then I faced three balls that were wides or no balls. Next ball saw a runout, then a dot which meant I faced the first ball of the next over. We had 5 after the first over. The second over saw another dot ball, then a single to me, Bob hit a 5, then after another dot I was bowled followed by a wide and a dot. The third over Bob hit a 2, 3, and 4 with myself getting 2, 1 and dot. Taking the score to 20. The fourth over Bob hit a two, then I got a two, Bob got caught, I faced a wide, then hit a single which was stolen when the bowler had the ball in hand. Bob finished off with a single from the last ball, taking the score to 23.

Second pair of Phil and Chanka started with a bang, with Phil facing first scoring 4, 2 and 5, whilst Chanka got 1, 2, and 4. That's 19 from the over, the next one had two dot balls, but Chanka hit 3 (which included a stolen run), 4, and 2 with Phil a single. Their third over started with Chanka facing a dot then the third ball rule which ended up being a leg side and stolen single, Phil scored a 2, then Chanka a dot and 2, ending the over with a dot. The last over Chanka again started with a dot then 2, Phil faced a legside wide, then blasted the ball Malpass-esque for 5. The final two balls were caught and runout. The partnership was 35.

Daints and Thorpe batting together for the first time, started with an easy 6 runs from the over in this order dot, one, two, dot, one, two. Now there is a nice pattern. Second over a wicket, 3, 2, 1, 3, 1 which included some stolen runs. Their third over 1, 4, 3, 1, 2, 3. The fourth over started with a wide and 3, then a Runout and single, two and 5 from the last ball. The partnership was 33.

The Don and The King in their usual fashion took it up to the opposition, taking 11 from the first over including two 3s. The next over the Don faced first ball and it unfolded with 2, 2, 2, RO, 7 and Catch. The catch was extremely hard, hit with lots of power and taken one handed just past the bowling wicket on the right side. The third over scored just 2 runs, with three 2s a single and a runout. The final over saw two wides, two 2s and two singles. The partnership of 26 is just a little down on their average.

A score of 117 was a good score to defend, although it was a bit of a struggle to begin with after 10 runs came from the King's first over then another 13 from mine. Phil bowled the 3rd over and a runout first ball meant he conceeded just 1 run. Thorpe closed out the pair conceeding nothing more than a 2. The pair ended on 34.
Chanka took the challenge of the Jackpot ball and was rewarded when the batter hit it straight back to Phil for the catch. the over conceeded -2. I bowled the 6th over and didn't do to well conceeding 14 runs. The Don got the stumping on the third ball, with a 2, a 3 and three singles for the over. Cap'n Bob took the 8th over and his first ball bounced just a little and clipped the top of the stumps, the rest of the over was 2, 2, Nb, 1 and Runout. This meant the Opposition needed 72 from the last 8 overs to win.
The 9th over and jackpot ball was taken by Phil which was a dot ball. A total of six was scored from the over. Daints bowled the 10th over conceeding 13 including a few 2s, a 3 and two wides. Chanka got hit for 5 first ball, but a wicket 3rd ball meant they only got 4 from the over. Thorpe's next over had three 2s, two 3s and a single. This left 38 for the final pair to make. Bob took the jackpot and had three 2s (with the first doubled), a Four, a Three and ending with a runout. The King had the 14th over and bowled well to keep them to a 2, two singles and then a Runout last ball. Daints had the 15th over and conceeded three 2s and three singles for nine runs. Needing 19 from the last over for victory The Don showed his prowess with a superb over which included two dot balls and just 7 runs. We won by 11 runs.

This game we missed several runout chances, we just couldn't hit the stumps, and on several occasions, if the ball got to Daints on the full he could have taken the bails off. There were quite a few missed catch chances too. But we did just enough to win.

Next week is at 7:40pm.