4th September vs Bartlett's

The draw that we got last week said that we were supposed to be playing the Bulls. We had prepared ourselves for a fight with the matador, and showing the red rags. As it turned out we were to play Bartletts from that Blinds place that like to advertise using penguins and igloos. These guys were older than the Bulls, and since we hadn’t played them before we were sure how good they were. Watching them warmup before the game gave us a bit of an idea as to how well they bowl and bat. They had one left hander, which is a little annoying for me as I have to swap sides when fielding to the left-right combinations.

The game was scheduled to start at 7:25pm, and I think it was closer to 7:30 when we took to the court. We lost the toss and were sent in again. Our lineup saw Pax return in place of Jacko, with the rest of the lineup the same as last week. The Don is still out injured for another two matches. Bruce Reid should return next week following his ankle injury that he experienced several weeks ago in a Basketball game.

Cap’n Bob and Little Mahstar batted first pair again. Cap’n seems to prefer batting first pair rather than second, even though for most of last season we were the 2nd pair. I haven’t taken the jackpot ball in this partnership before and tonight wasn’t any different. The first over we made 7 runs with Bob getting two singles, but the first doubled. The next over Bob made another 3 runs whilst I had a single and was bowled on the last ball, after I moved outside off stump and the ball clipped my leg and went onto hit the stumps. It was a very poor shot choice. The 3rd over I was out on the first ball, but managed to give Bob one ball in the over where he hit a four. The final over Bob made another five and four, whilst I got a single. Our partnership was 20, Cap’n Bob made 19 from 7 balls, Whilst Little Mahstar made 5 runs off the bat, lost two wickets and faced 3 wides.

Philbert and The King were second pair, and started with Phil cracking the ball to the back net for a doubled four. The King got bowled once in the 1st over and it was the only wicket they lost, which was a huge improvement from last week. Really this opponent were nothing compared to last weeks opponent. They made a total of 7 runs from the first over faced. The next over Phil got the ball to the back net again, whilst “King” got the easy side net twos, for a total of 11 in the over. The 3rd over the strike rotated each ball, for a total of 14 runs. The last over saw the King make a five, with along with another couple of runs for a total of 9 in the over. They were a little lucky with a couple of runs they got as the fielders miss fielded a couple of the shots, that could have been runout. Phil made 26 off the bat from 13 balls and faced a NoBall, whilst The King made 16 off the bat from 11 balls, and lost one wicket and faced a Wide. The total partnership was 41.

Thorpe and Bendy, came in third and started with jackpot legside wide. The first ball Bendy faced was hit for four and then runout next ball while changing strike. They made 9 in the first over. For the rest of the pair they consistently made 1s, 2s and 3s, pretty much every ball and without losing anymore wickets. They made 8,12, and 11 in the remaining overs. They both played some great shots, which allowed them to both face 12 balls. Thorpe made 17 from the bat and faced the jackpot Wide, while Bendy made 22 from the bat and was runout once and face a wide. The partnership was 40.

Pax and Daints returned as a pair for the first time in a few weeks, and started with a doubled 3, followed by a few singles and no-balls. They made 14 from the first over, the next over Pax was caught at the back net after trying for the seven, but together they made 4 for the over with a couple of nice deep shots. The 3rd over they faced a few more legside wides and Pax was runout once. The final over of the innings, both batsmen made the same scores with a single and two 2s for a total of 10 runs. Pax made 19 run off the bat from 15 balls, lost two wickets, and faced two wides and noballs. Daints made 11 off the bat from 9 balls and faced a wide and a noball. Their partnership was 32 which is close to their partnership average.

We had a decent total to try and defend, which allowed us to be more attacking in the field. Again the King bowled the 1st and 13th overs and started with a wide, but recovered after picking up a wicket, conceding 7 in his first over, but his second over the batsmen attacked more as they still needed more than 12 runs an over at that stage of the match. Mahstar bowled the 2nd and 4th overs and was a little over the place with line, length and spin. Conceding 13 runs in his first over, but his second over was a fair bit better with Phil making the runout and taking a catch, along with another chance at a runout where they didn’t score, for a total of -4 in the over.
Pax bowled the 3rd and 9th overs, and kept it fairly tight in both overs, but still gets called for the front foot no balls, he conceded 20 in total.
Philbert bowled the 5th and 14th overs, bowled a fulltoss which was call no ball and hit for two runs, but only conceded 8 from his first, whilst his second over had a few 2s and two wickets (runout and bowled).

Bendy bowled the 6th and 11th overs picking up a wicket in each both catches and kept the runs down with some tight bowling. Bob had the 7th and 15th overs and got two wickets in each, with two runouts in the first over and a caught and a bowled in the second over, which helped keep his runs down. Thorpe took the 8th and 16th overs and they took several 2s from his first over, his second over he picked up three wickets with a Catch, Bowled and Runout on the last ball. Daints had the 10th and 12th overs and managed to get two runouts and also kept the runs down.

The way Barlett’s batting progressed, they had 28 after three overs, but a couple of wickets meant the first pair put on 24. The second pair made 29 after losing 3 wickets in the middle; they played some nice shots at times reaching the back net. The father and son duo brought the third pair back to earth, by keeping the runs down and taking three wickets. They put on a total of 18 runs which left the last pair to try and make 63 to win, which is always hard to do. They gave it a go, by spanking “King’s” over for 18, but 7 wickets in the last three overs prevented them from achieving the target. The final score was 133 to 79.

Some things of note, Phil took several great catches, as did Bendy as well as the runouts. Some straight bowling and not so great batting, meant that three of the wickets were bowled in the last pair. We had no batsmen hitting a seven in this match but were still able to achieve a good score, whilst Bartletts hit atleast two 7s. Thorpe’s fielding is always great to watch, and I believe that he has cemented his place in the team even if he is just a fillin.
In terms of bowling figures Cap’n Bob took 2 for 4 and also 2 runouts. Bendy and Thorpe took 2 for 5 with Thorpe also getting a runout. For the batting the most runs off the bat came from Phil with 26 from 13 balls, Cap’n Bob made 19 from 7 balls, and Bendy made 22 from 12 with Thorpe making 17 from 12 balls.

It would be good to get someone along to the games to help with the stats taking during the match.

Next weeks match is scheduled for 8:35pm.