11th September 2006 vs M.P. Extreme Automotive

Tonight there was no toss as the Extreme’s only had six players so they batted first.
Our player lineup included Cap’n Bob, Little Mahstar, the King, Philbert, Bendy, Bruce Reid (returning from injury), Thorpe and Daints.

The Extreme’s first pair put on an easy 47 runs in the four overs as the didn’t lose a wicket in the process. The overs were bowled by King (9 runs), Mahstar (17 runs), Bruce (10 runs) and Bendy (11 runs). In that pair there were four wides and four no balls. Mahstar surprisingly bowled one ball that didn’t concede a run as it passed down leg side just inside the line.

Their second pair continued where the first guys left off taking 10 from Philbert’s first over, before Cap’n Bob put a stop to it getting the first wicket by bowling the batter with his 5th ball. The score after 6 overs was 57 runs. Daints the destroyer came in for the 7th over and handed the gloves to Bendy for the first time in our Indoor matches. Daints picked up two stumpings and a runout in the over for a total of -12 runs. Mahstar bowled the 8th over and after conceding a five from the first ball, a change of action slightly allowed him to get the ball on the pitch, with maximum flight around a few centermeters from the roof net. This resulted in a catch by Thorpe on the back net and a catch to Bruce at mid wicket. The pair ended with the score on 46.

The third pair batted a little smarter to start with but lost a wicket in each over faced and managed to make 16 runs for the pair. The overs were bowled by Thorpe (6 runs), Bendy (2 runs), Daints (6 runs) and Bruce (2 runs). A brilliant catch to Bendy in Thorpe’s over brought the score back a bit, Bendy’s wicket was from the last ball when he bowled the guy, Daints wicket was through another stumping by Bendy and Daints took a brilliant catch behind from Bruce’s over.

The final pair were chosen by Cap’n Bob, and I’m sure the right decision was made as they made just 17 more runs. The overs were bowled by King (8 runs), Thorpe (-1 runs), Philbert (0 runs), and Cap’n (10 runs). Thorpe picked up two more wickets with Bendy taking a great low catch and Phil throwing down the stumps. The final wicket of the innings came from Philbert’s bowling with another Bendy catch. As a result we were needing 80+ runs for victory.

Cap’n and Mahstar batted first again, and started with a side net shot for a jackpot total of 4 runs, I had it in my mind to rotate the strike a lot more, and first ball faced was hit up into the legside net and caught but we crossed. Bob ended the over with a four and retained the strike for the next over, which started with a couple of wides, and ended with Mahstar facing the “third ball” rule on the last ball, which ended up landing off the pitch. The third over we scored from every ball although one of the singles could have been given out LBW for lack of shot played. 14 runs from the 3rd over took us to 26, but two wickets in the last over ended our partnership on 20 runs. Bob got clean bowled, and Mahstar was given out LBW, for I think that allowing the ball to hit the leg once is enough, although it was though by the team that the first one was closer to out than the second one.

The King and Philbert were together again, and made an easy 26 runs. King scored from every ball he faced which was just 6 out of the 24 balls. Philbert hit some glorious shots to the back net for a couple of fives, but was bowled twice which meant he scored 16 runs from 18 balls.

Bendy and Bruce were cruising with 22 from the first two overs, but Bruce allowed the ball through his defense twice and was caught once. Bendy scored from every ball faced making 14 from 9 balls, while Bruce netted zero after the three wickets, but also faced a wide and a noball.

Thorpe and Daints, needed 16 runs for victory but made it tougher with a couple of wickets in their first over. Thorpe was almost caught behind after a cracking shot hit Daints in the head and rebounded back to the keeper who dropped the catch. They needed 9 from the last two overs, and made it a little tougher with a runout, but brought it home in the last over with Thorpe hitting three with two balls left to take the score past 80. Daints faced out the over with a wide that wasn’t rebowled, and he let the last ball go in a superb judgement the ball missed off stump by just a few centremeters. The final score was 83 to 79.

This victory I think will move us to 2nd on the ladder as MP Extremes were second 6 points ahead of us and Master of Puppets were 3rd with us 4th, and Puppets got done by 30 runs.

The highlights from this game were Bendy’s Keeping although I think the stumpings he took the ball just in front of the stumps. Some great catches by Bendy and Bruce. The LBW decision was pretty funny to watch apparently, Daints being hit by Thorpe’s shots on both sides of the wicket. Bob’s final over conceded no extra balls, and Daints taking 3 for -6 plus a runout. As a team we lost 11 and took 13 wickets.