22nd January 2007 vs Black Hill Steve's

Well my reporting is a little hampered this week due to missing the first 5 overs of the game.
This weeks team saw Malpass taking Thorpe's spot who was initially listed in the team. Philbert was a fillin once again, and batted with Bruce Reid. Bob and the Don returned as partners for the first time in ages, and Daints batted with Bendy.

Anyway we were fielding first, and started with 7 players.. they say that there were several chances in close on the offside where I normally field. The first pair made around 15 runs with the overs bowled by Philbert, Bendy, Malpass and Cap'n Bob. The next pair put on 28 with the overs bowled by Don, Bruce Reid, Mahstar and Daints. Mahstar had a couple of wides but also picked up a runout. The third pair made minus 7 with the overs bowled by Malpass (2), Bendy (-9), Mahstar (-5) and Daints (5). The first ball of Mahstar's over saw the ball hit straight back hitting the bowler in the arm and deflecting to Malpass for the catch. Bruce also got the runout in the same over. The last pair saw one of the batters bat a second time, and they made 4 runs with the overs taken by Bruce (-8), Bob (3), Philbert (17) and the Don (-8). Don got two wickets bowled in the final over.

So needing 41 for victory for the second match straight, Malpass and Mahstar took up the challenge, and faced the "third ball rule" for the second ball of the innings in which we stole the single when the keeper didn't take it cleanly. A mix up on the 4th ball after we had a three saw a runout the result. Malpass hit a 7 from the last ball of the over. A runout in the second over when Mahstar was found short of the crease, made the score climb a little slower, but with a 4 and a 5 in the over took the total to 17 after two overs. The third over started with Malpass being caught, before a few singles and a 5 took the score upto 22. This was undone a little in the fourth over when Malpass was stumped and runout in consecutive balls. The partnership was 17 with Malpass scoring 6 from 15, with four wickets and facing one noball, whilst Mahstar made 9 from 9 with one wicket.

Philbert and Bruce started with a four, but a catch in the middle of the over kept the net result to three runs. The next over saw Philbert being runout, but ended with Bruce hitting a five. With no more wickets for the pair, they made 14 and 12 from the two overs, with a total partnership of 33 runs. Philbert made 11 from 11 with two wickets, whilst Bruce made 18 from 13 and facing a wide and a no ball.

Bob decided that he'd bat with the Don as they used to do, starting with a wide, they didn't lose a wicket and with one 4 and one 7 they put on 47 runs with Bob making 24 from 13 and facing 1 wide whilst the Don making 15 from 11 and facing two wides.

Daints and Bendy came in with no pressure since we were 57 runs in front at the time, they decided for some big hitting, which saw each of them hitting a 7 and a 5. The big hits also resulted in five catches in the pair, with no dot balls they made 35 runs. Daints making 10 from 14 balls with three wickets and facing two wides and a noball. Bendy made 17 from 11 balls with two wickets.

The final score was 132 to 40, another fine victory, and we just hope that we don't choke in the finals again.