Holton & Wheatley CC at Great Haseley, 35 overs
Scorecard - www.pitchero.com/clubs/bodleiancc/teams/255079/match-centre/0-5527505/scorecard Talk about all seasons in one day, the only weather we didn’t get playing Holton and Wheatly at Great Haseley this Sunday just gone was snow, and considering the cold it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see flakes falling. Thought cricket was meant to be a summer game? At one point towards the end of the game the sun did appear, briefly, and with the warmth came some drying out of wet tops and the discarding of jumpers but soon the clouds came over and it started to rain again. With the Haseley pitch higher than most of the surrounding area a good part of the game was either played in drizzle, watching the rain about to come in or running off to get covers on, take covers off, or just stand around waiting for the rain to stop. On to the match. A week on from the bad defeat at Marlingford quite a few were hoping to put in a good performance, and after winning the toss and choosing to bat the openning pair of Matthew and Dan did just that. Tricky bowling at one end meant digging in and taking advantage of the loose stuff from the other, Dan in particular playing well, following on from a fifty in windy conditions for Oxford the day before. Matthew dug in and supported Dan and the running between the wickets was good. The score ticked over nicely, extras and boundaries on a fast outfield meant that soon Dan got to fifty and an opening partnership of 100 was notched up. Wiseish heads were scratched as we tried to remember when, if ever, we’d got to 100 without losing a wicket before. Matthew goes after a well-crafted knock of 24, Gareth in at number 3 and soon he and Dan are up and running, Gareth hits a lovely driven 4 but then Dan is out, clean bowled going for a big shot when, with good batting still to come, we can start to hit out. An excellent 70. Phil comes in and with licence to swing gets his eye in then starts to swing with a couple of fours and a lovely six. James swings and Tuppy runs a few and at the end of our 35 overs we get a respectable 162. Opposition look like they have plenty of batting so even though we’re pleased with this we’re going to have to bowl well to keep them down. A rain break around 30 overs into our innings means we’ve already had tea, so a quick change round and we’re ready to defend our total. It’s a god job Dan is young and fit. Not only has he batted for a good part of our innings we’d now like him to steam in and bowl at pace plus putting in a decent shift in the field. He and Phil open, though Phil, after bowling a wicket maiden in his 3rd over manages to find a muscle in his leg fielding, which he then pings, so finishes the game grimacing in the slips. Dan bowls a seven over spell, figures spoilt by a big-hitting batsman taking him on towards the end. James replaces and does excellently well. Cricket has to be one of the only times you can call someone miserly as a compliment. His first four overs go for 21, figures spoilt after a maiden is followed by some big hitting as Holton go big. Brought back on towards the end to slow down the run-rate he does, along with Tuppy (7 overs for 22) an amazing job. His first over goes for a disappointing (in the context of what was to come) 7, his next goes for 1 with 3 wickets! Another wicket in his last over gives wonderful figures of 41 for 4 off 7. Catches for Tim, Tuppy and Dan and a clean bowled gives hope that there might be a comeback on the cards but Holton have enough to see them home with quite a few overs to spare. All in all a creditable performance by the Bod, though at what cost? Phil’s ham-string tweak and a bad finger injury for Gareth going for a catch could see both out for a while. The team welcome back Josh, who despite not playing for 2 years looked good with ball in hand and took a decent catch in the deep (as one old-hand stated after he was worried for a bit but felt ok once he realised it wasn’t a regular player underneath it). SA.
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