15th January vs Bright Sparks

They appeared to be bright guys, but they weren't very sparky in the field or with their bowling accuracy. We were forced to field first which wasn't to bad on a very warm night. We had a few fillin players with Malpass, Philbert, the semi regular Bruce Reid, and Jacko following the late withdrawal of Daints. The regulars who played were Cap'n Bob, Mahstar, King and Thorpe.

King took the ball first as per usual and picked up a wicket (bowled) late in the over to conceed just 2 runs. Mahstar took the second over and got a wicket (caught) and a wicket runout for a net of -3 runs. Malpass had the third over and conceeded 16 runs. Little Mahstar took the fourth over and conceeded a single and a two for the first two balls, then Malpass took a catch on the back net, Bruce got a runout, Thorpe and King took catches for the last two balls. The partnership was -2.

Thorpe had the fifth over which saw a stumping and runout for a net result of -4 runs. Cap'n Bob bowled the sixth over and also got a runout and stumping for another -6. Philbert had the seventh over and also picked up a stumping, but conceeded a couple of 3s for a net of 5 runs. Jacko was having a good time with taking the stumping chances and was given the ball for the 8th over and gave the gloves to the King. Another stumping started the over and a couple of 2s and 3s netted 5 runs. The partnership was zero.

Malpass bowled the ninth over and had 9 runs scored from the over. Bruce was given the ball for the tenth over and picked up a wicket while netting 2 runs. Thorpe had the eleventh over and Mahstar took a nice catch one handed from the net behind the batter. A couple of wides and a two netted one run. The twelvth over saw the Cap'n take two wickets and net -8 runs. The partnership was 4 runs.

King took the thirteenth over and had a four hit from the jackpot ball, and the next two balls then ended with a wide and single netting 19 runs. Jacko bowled the 14th over and with one wicket netted 7 runs. Philbert bowled the fifteenth over and with one catch netted 8 runs. Bruce bowled the last over and got one wicket bowled and netted 4 runs. The partnership was 38.

So we were chasing 41 for victory and with the return of Malpass partnering Little Mahstar started with a wide. We had 14 runs after the first over which included a five hit by Malpass. The second over we scored every ball with Malpass reaching the back net twice with a 7 and a 4. The score was taken to 30 after two overs. The only wicket of the pair was lost in the third over when Malpass was bowled which meant we only made 2 runs. The final over saw 17 runs including two 4s and three 2s, a wide and stolen single. The partnership was 49 runs with Malpass making 27 from 14 and faced two wides, while Mahstar made 14 from 10 and faced one wide. We had a chance at 50, but the stolen run on the last ball was turned down so as to not risk a runout. So after the pair we had the game won which took the pressure off the rest of the team batting.

King and Philbert were second pair and with a slow start of 11 runs in the first over which included 3 wides, the second over they took 27 runs including two 7s a five and a four. The next two overs were just 17 runs which included one four and one three. The partnership was 55 runs. King made 15 from 9 balls and faced one wide, while Philbert made 28 from 15 balls and faced four wides.

Cap'n and Bruce batted together for the third pair and continued the run fest, but losing three wickets with Cap'n runout, caught and stumped. The third over was their best with 23 runs from it. Bob hit a seven, a five and a three, while Bruce hit a five and three 3s. The partnership was 47 with Cap'n making 13 from 14 after the three wickets and faced two wides, while Bruce made 22 from 10 and faced two wides and two no balls. The runout came from Bob hitting a six and being a little short of the crease.

Jacko and Thorpe continued from where Bob and Bruce left off with an easy 13 from their first over. The next over Thorpe hit a seven followed by Jacko being caught and then Thorpe hitting a five, and netting 14 runs. The third over Thorpe hit another four and Jacko faced a couple of wides to net 13 runs. We had 191 runs before the last over which had already past our previous team highest total. Needing 9 to reach the 200, they did it with some singles and extras. The partnership was 49 with Jacko making 14 from 13 balls with one wicket and facing two wides and one noball, while Thorpe made 25 from 11 balls and faced one wide and one noball.

We had superb batting versus a team that missed a few catches and a bit wayward with the ball. Jacko and King had some great glove work despite missing a couple of catches. The ball was replaced twice during the match once when they batted and then
with two balls left in the match the opposition received a newish ball for the end of the over. We took most of the chances that we had to get wickets which was good with most of the team taking at least one catch or getting a runout.