Saturday 1s vs West End Esher
Author: Rich Jeffries
Match Report |
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Welcome to the season’s second instalment of incredible PCC pre-match prophecies. We may never know if Sam Furber is in fact a time traveller sent back from the year 6491, but we can say for certain that he’s a prediction master of great proportions. “1. West End Esher bat very slowly. 2. Their number 4 is a run scoring cyborg who refuses to get out” Move over Nostradamus, there’s a new prophet in town. It had all started so well. The sun was out, Bam Bam was on time and the wicket looked like a batsman’s paradise. Then Dev lost the toss, pouring cold water onto the flames of Saad’s strong desire to bat second. Strolling out to the middle, Hope and Jeffries saw nothing but runs in their futures. Jeffries’ stay was brief, with newly applied bat tape rendered surplus to requirements as he was clean bowled second ball. For Hope this was another tale of getting in and then getting out, as he dealt primarily in handsome boundaries before inexplicably sweeping one onto his stumps. Again. The departing Hope dropkicked his bat like an amateur-era union fly half, as Piers Jackson joined skipper Dev at the crease. At this point your correspondent was distracted by the ice cream van, but I am assured that Dev and Piers played nicely as both reached 30 before Dev had a brain fart and was castled as he swiped across the line. Rikki arrived in the middle and provided a jolt of entertainment with some sweetly struck boundaries in a welcome return to form. Bam Bam replaced him with more of the same as he devoured the boundary feast before him. Why run when you can hit fours? By the time Bam Bam’s cameo came to an end, Piers’ respiratory system was almost completely devoid of nicotine – as indicated by the succession of 11 consecutive singles he walked. Soon after completing his 50, Piers fell to a catch in the deep leaving Furber and Hyland to play out the innings. Awaiting a declaration, the pair were told to bat on for five more balls, and what a decision that turned out to be as those five balls yielded a massive three runs. Putney 234/6 declared after 47.5 overs. West End Esher’s opening pair came out full of intent. Intent, that is, to block out their 48 overs. Finding themselves 3 down with not many on the board, this looked like a questionable approach. The leave was definitely the shot of choice - closely followed by the edge, as a number of streaky fours found their way to the unguarded fine leg boundary. What little entertainment was provided during the innings came from Putney’s fielders, with plenty of encouragement for the batters and attempts to keep spirits high. A particular highlight was Furber reprising the Australian role of spitting venom from short cover, describing the home batsman’s willow as ‘the most flaccid bat I’ve ever seen’. On the rare occasion an attacking shot was unfurled by the home side, the fielders were often equal to it. Props especially to Bam Bam for a fine fielding display, which was only surpassed by a quite remarkable diving catch by Piers in his spiritual home at gully. Soaring to his left like the love child of Jonty Rhodes and Neville Southall, this was a genuine catch of the season contender. You won’t see a better grab. Such was the dearth of ambition from the batting side, Putney spent the entire 48 overs without bothering to protect their boundaries, allowing the “run scoring cyborg” to proceed at a leisurely pace towards his century. A rare moment of excitement in the penultimate over as cyborg, on 99, dabbed into the gully and set off on a suicidal single with the aim of both completing his ton and retaining the final over strike. The ball was picked up cleanly and thrown in, but alas missed the stumps with the non-striker a long way from home. Despite the best efforts of Saad Hannan, who picked up 4 wickets, Putney were unable to take the final wicket and claim a deserved victory. West End Esher finished on 180/9, with the run scoring cyborg (Amandeep Singh, genuinely a terrific bat) not out on 108. A flattering score which the uninitiated may think indicates a close contest - in reality, this was anything but. Putney’s reward for their dominant display a paltry 10 points and a drop to third in the league. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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09/06/2018 | 1pm | Saturday 1st | West End Esher | A | 234/6 | 180/9 | WinDraw | 10 |