Monkton Combe vs The Venturers, Saturday
5th May 2007
Author: Roger Peabody
Won by about 70 runs. Venturers 242-6 Badgers 170-odd off 35 overs
The game was reduced to 35 overs per innings, and a prompt 2pm start agreed in order to allow the Badgers, a touring team from South London, to begin their evenings drinking by 7pm. A warm sunny day and very sporting and friendly opponents made for a highly enjoyable afternoons cricket, culminating in a rare early season victory.
We won the toss and batted first. The Badgers lined up with a very optimistic field of two slips, a gully and short leg, with only one man saving runs on the on side. The bowling was reasonable but not threatening, and without having to take risks, Richard and Roger rattled up the first 50 from 9 overs, a run rate that was maintained throughout the innings. The first change bowlers were a bit more threatening than the openers, if a little more inconsistent, and Roger edged the quite useful Aussie swing bowler to the wicket keeper. Richard continued to find the gaps on the onside during a lovely innings, and looked set for a fifty when surprisingly bowled. Kevin holed out to the boundary whilst Andy Young, playing like a proper batsman, set himself up for a long innings.
With three out and the chance that the innings might falter, enter Andy Watts. Despite not having seen a cricket ball since last season, he played his first ball in his customary style, despatching it to the long-on boundary, and there was no let up, with every delivery considered a possible boundary. He offered only a couple of very hard chances whilst racing to Venturers' first fifty of the season, and set us up for a very decent score. Chintan followed Andy W and seemed intent on scoring even more quickly; taking boundaries from straight drives, the late late cut that-only-he-can-play, and one huge, towering six as the ultimate riposte to the previous delivery which he had edged painfully into his nether regions. So Chintan scored 31 off about 20 balls, whilst at the other end Andy chipped away, and later flourished with some driven boundaries of his own. Rob B and fluffy Ian ended the innings in the same dashing style, and a decent score was posted.
Kevin, drawing upon years of experience, warned the team that 240-odd was not necessarily that good a score given the shortish boundaries and an ultra-fast outfield, unseasonably hard after a hot and dry April. He was right of course, but fortunately he and Paul S then rattled through nine very tight overs for only 11 runs as the Badgers replied. Nine runs an over from this point was always going to be tough for the Badgers (surely), even with wickets in hand.
With the change of bowling one of the openers duly started
attacking, and hit several boundaries
to the short side, although Ian was unlucky to him dropped on the
first delivery of a decent spell of slow bowling. Rob B was somewhat
inconsistent to begin with, but his fourth over was a key one. He
snared the opener
courtesy of a marvellous leg side catch by Andy W, and two balls
later,
the Aussie, who looked like he could bat, hit a ball very firmly
through cover, and only slightly off the ground, whereupon James
took a diving
catch that eclipsed even Andy's. Rob claimed another wicket clean
bowled in the over, and another in the next, to finish with four
for the match.
Venturers were now in a very strong position, but the Badgers' number
three was very useful indeed, and whilst he was flaying Chintan for
four fours in
succession, there was some cause for concern; but Paul Snow came back and bowled him for
a very good 50-odd, and the remaining batsmen were not of the same
quality. Chintan was too quick for a couple of them, James
got his first
bowl for the Venturers, and Roger finished the innings with a direct
throw as the final batsmen went for an unlikely run.