9th October 2006 Vs Bulls

We played these guys earlier in the season, and beat them 117 to 106.
We lost the toss and were sent into bat for this game. Our lineup was Cap’n Bob, Little Mahstar, Raddis, Philbert, The Don, The King, Pax, and Daints.

They were fairly accurate with throwing the stumps down, which meant that we had to be quick between the wickets. The understanding of our pairs this game saw just three runouts and a couple of stolen runs, including Raddis and Philbert taking a run when the bowler had the ball in his hand.

To the start of the game and Cap’n Bob and myself batted first as we have done most of this season, and started with a noball, then a couple of 2s and a four. The first ball I faced I managed to get the bat on it and to the side net. We had 17 runs on the board after the first over, whichs just below our current partnership average. The next over Bob hit a three, and I faced a few dot balls. During the third over I allowed the ball to hit me and drop down, then Bob called the run. I didn’t run hard enough or ground my bat soon enough and was runout. We had 24 runs after 3 overs. The fourth over Started with 2, and 4, and ended with Bob hitting the back net for Seven. This took our total to 40 runs. Which is the highest that we have had for quite awhile. Bob made 29 runs from the ball off 11 balls, Mahstar made 8 from the bat off 13 balls and runout once. There were 8 extras in the pair.

Raddis and Philbert batted second and played it safe in the first over with just 1 run from the bat and 8 extras. The next over Raddis was runout, then next ball he faced hit a 7, and Philbert was bowled on the last ball. The third over they had 9 runs until Raddis was caught off the last ball. Their last over they made 6 off the bat and a noball. This included the stolen single so Philbert retained the strike for the last ball. The partnership was 21 runs with Raddis making 14 from the bat off 11 balls and lost 2 wickets, while Philbert made 10 from the batt off 13 balls and lost 1 wicket. They There was 10 extras in the pair.

The Don and King made nothing from the jackpot ball, but made an easy 9 runs with a 2 and 3. The second over King was caught first ball, they then proceeded to make 13 from the rest of the over. The next over they made 1 run after a runout. The fourth over they made 11 runs with very little risk. The partnership was 29 runs. With Don making 15 off the bat from 12 balls and lost 1 wicket, while King made 20 off the bat from 12 balls and lost 1 wicket. There were just 4 extras in the pair.

Pax and Daints continued their batting after playing outdoor cricket during the previous weekend. Pax brought his form into the Indoor arena, with hardly any risk he made 22 runs from the bat from 9 balls. They started with an easy sidenet shot from the jackpot ball, and ended the over on 8 runs. The last ball of the over bounced over Daints head and wasn’t called a noball. Perhaps from the angle that the umpire has it didn’t look like it bounced over his head. The next over Daints hit a 4 and 2, while Pax made a single and two 3s for a total of 13 runs. The third over they made two 2s, faced two noballs and Daints was caught once. The final over they made 11 runs with a four, a three (which included a stolen run), a two and two singles. The partnership total was 35 runs with Daints making 12 off the bat from 15 balls and lost one wicket. There were 6 extras in the partnership. Our total score was 125 runs.

The Bulls started the innings on -5 for uniform. The first pair made 33 runs after a slow start, with the overs bowled by King (1 run), Mahstar (17), Pax (5) and Mahstar (15) King’s over was well bowled with nothing higher than a two scored and it ended with a stumping. Mahstar’s bowling was a little off which allowed some hard straightish hits. In the two overs there were three 4s and a 7. Pax’s over picked up a stumping and conceded a four, two 2s and two singles. Perhaps I shouldn’t have bowled my second over to the same pair.

Their second pair made 18 runs with the overs bowled by Raddis (11), Pax (2), Philbert (3) and Cap’n (2). Raddis kept them under control with no more than a 2 from each ball (although the first one was the jackpot). Pax’s over conceded no more than 2s and took a wicket with a catch. Philbert and Bob also managed to keep the runs down, with no real big shots, they picked up two wickets with a Runout in Philbert’s over and a Catch in Bob’s. The team was 10 runs behind us after the same number of overs.

The third pair put on a nice hard fought 1 run, with overs bowled by The Don (-7), Daints (4), King (9), and Daints (-5). Don’s over started with the jackpot 2 (for 4 total), ended with a four and we picked up a team hattrick in the middle with King taking a runout, Pax took a catch behind the stumps and then Mahstar took a catch. Daints’ over conceded a 3, a 2 and a couple of extras, but finished with a catch by The Don. King’s over started with a runout, but then was hit for a seven. Daints second over was well bowled with a runout and stumping from the last two balls.

Their final pair needed more than 70 runs to win the game which is nearly impossible to achieve in 4 overs. They ended up making 33 runs, with the overs bowled by Raddis (0), Cap’n (9), Philbert (7), Don (17). Raddis’ over ended with a catch, Bob and Philbert conceded no more than a two from any ball. Don’s over started well with 3 from the first two balls, then a four was struck. Following a wide call they hit a seven from the second last ball of the match. The final margin was 50 runs.

Some things of note, again with the no balls for the height of the ball not being called when we are batting, Philbert bowled one that hit the batter in the shoulder and it was called a noball, Pax was hit in the forehead after the batter edged the ball while trying a cross bat shot from Philbert’s bowling. Team hat-tricks are always great for the team’s morale. There were five 7s hit for the game. I had the worst bowling figures for the two overs with none for 32. A couple of times the ball was thrown at the stumps and missed when the fielder could have run to the stumps and removed the bails. That happened to both sides, although it was worse for the Bulls cause the bowler fielded the ball and was less than a metre from the stumps and threw the ball into the ground.

Next week we are supposed to face the Puppets again.