Southstoke CC Vs Venturers, Wednesday July 8th

Venturers 145-6 (20), Southstoke CC 92-10 (19)

Play-Cricket Results

If you are about thirteen and completely new to cricket with a hard ball, you really don’t want the first ball of the innings to be driven straight at you, waist-high. Joshua did that to the newcomer at mid-on: to be fair, she made a genuine attempt to catch it, but she failed and it went for four. Joshua patted the next non-wide to point, and took off: the throw bounced just over the stumps at the nonstriker’s end, some moments before Joshua himself arrived there. The next ball he faced was a wide, and the one after was an unremarkable delivery to which he played a reverse sweep. It may have been missing leg stump. That is, it is imaginable that it would have hit middle only.

Krish lasted five balls and made a couple before clipping a simple catch to midwicket. Naveen’s second ball was identical to Joshua’s last: he also played across it, in the opposite direction, and didn’t even get his pads in the way. Hannan, having played himself in for three balls of slow left arm, charged the fourth and was stumped. Steve pushed his first ball, the last of the fourth over, to short extra, who was Joji, playing against us. His throw to the nonstriker’s end did not bounce over. Dinesh had opened with Joshua, and was now fourteen not out and about to be joined by his sixth partner. Seven other runs were due to Joshua and Krish, and there were seven extras.

In the remaining sixteen overs we scored 117 runs and lost only one wicket. That was Harry, who got bowled trying to hit the last ball of the nineteenth over into the canal. He had contributed a rapid 18; Dinesh, Imran and Afzaal had all reached the thirty-run limit and been retired. James, also fairly new to the game, scrambled a couple of singles. So dominant was our tail-end batting that even Gregory’s off-drived four didn’t seem surprising. There were some moments of normality, notably a few mix-ups with the running, mostly involving Imran, but generally we were very efficient, except with keeping the scorebook, which was abysmal. Joji’s bowling made no impression whatever.

Some of us thought 145 might not be enough. Others, including those who knew the opposition, thought it would be plenty. One opener pushed at Imran with hard hands and was caught and bowled. The other, who had also done the early damage with ball, saw off Imran and Dinesh. At the other end was Ady, a well-known opponent who doesn’t look as if he is going to hit the ball any distance until suddenly he does. Afzaal bowled him a short one and he hit it for six: then he prodded uncertainly at Gregory’s first ball and was bowled. Another nice off-break removed the next batsman a few balls later, and the one after was totally bewildered and bowled by Afzaal, playing first forward and then back and finally trying to use the pull as a defensive shot. The sweep worked no better against Afzaal’s hard spin, although it needed a good catch by Joe to prove it. Joji also struggled, except against Krish, who was not effective today, and was dropped by Imran, who was by now impeded by a minor injury. The opener reached the retirement score: Imran, whose injury did not affect his bowling, induced Joji to edge to Joshua and knocked over the next batsman (Keith, the wicket-keeper) quickly. The newcomer blocked and left well, admittedly against friendly bowling, and the left-armer was also obstructive until Dinesh bowled him with the fourth ball of the nineteenth over. Number 11 was bowled by the fifth.

It was time for the opener to return, but he was in the shower. The options were: declare the match over; wait for him to get out of the shower and pad up again; or get him timed out. We also debated recalling the number 11, but he vetoed it. Somehow we agreed to allow the newcomer, the nonstriker, the doubtful privilege of facing the sixth ball. Dinesh bowled it slow and straight, and she missed. It is not clear whether this counts as a hat-trick, or as a wicket at all. There is no interpretation of the Laws or of any kind of playing regulation that would allow her to face that ball: the idea was just to give her some practice. But if she was practising, then so was Dinesh. Whatever the result of that debate, there was none about the result of the match, which we had won quite comfortably.