Sunday 1s vs Morden
Author: Chris Powell
Match Report |
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It started slowly enough, some shabby timekeeping meant we started over half-an-hour behind schedule. The Morden Vice-Captain took the initiative and we tossed up, and took the first dig. After Aamer was bowled following what looked like a terrible leave from the sidelines (but actually swung in late and seamed in even further), and Aasheesh popped up an easy catch, Wibb’s typical blend of style and power saw us set off at a reasonable pace. As Conor started watchfully against a varied and sometimes testing Morden Attack. The first 5 overs left us at 20-2 a sedate 4 an over… the next 5… 73-3. After Wibbs departed for a busy 33 and Dev had been and gone Bam Bam and Conor combined for 10 overs of absolute carnage. In 10 overs they put on 84. Bam Bam mixing booming shots to and over the boundary with deft guides to third man and Conor absolutely peppering cow corner (of his 9 sixes 8 flew high over cow, despite the presence of three fielders!) the Morden bowlers were left short of inspiration. When Bam Bam eventually departed for 58 from 35 balls Shitij joined Conor as one of the finds of the season reached his maiden Putney century. Since joining Putney early this season Conor has turned himself from an out-and-out slogger with a good eye into a fearsome batsman who has learnt to combine his devastating hitting with periods of straight-bat watchfulness, if he continues to develop the graft to go with his hitting this performance will be far from a one-off. Having dropped a variety of easy chances throughout the innings, it was at this point Morden’s extra-cover fielder woke up and diving to his left took an absolute screamer of a diving catch to remove a dumfounded Shitij and expose our tail, although he did nearly make a hash of claiming Chris’ dollied catch a few balls later! From a position of great strength at 228-5 our lower-order capitulated to 252 all out… although our number 11 did fail to appear. Clearly Bailey new something I didn’t. In the absence of another breakthrough player, out makeshift opening bowling partnership of Powell and Reddy were quickly dispatched to various parts of the common by the Morden opener. Although a bit of extra bounce removed the left-hander at the other end, the Morden Number 1 bat raced to a 57 to rival Conor’s, with 10 overs gone the score stood at 96-2 and despite the number 2 departing cheaply it was going to take something special to intervene. The cricketing gods came through for us. The first bowling change brought the spin of Janjua, what followed was either miraculous or devastating, depending on which team you were on. Striking the danger man on the pad the ball shot straight up, only Wibbs watched it, the rest of the Putney team engrossed in a appeal for and LBW, the Morden bat began to walk, the umpire turned down the LBW appeal, at which point the (still spinning) ball bounced, and spun straight into the batsman’s off stump as he turned back. That was game over. With renewed vigour Putney tore through the remaining Morden batsmen, Aamer Janjua finished with 3-20, Dev with 2-14, Bam Bam with 1-9, Raghu returned to snatch the winning wicket to assuage some of the earlier punishment Rakesh bowled a very creditable (and enthusiastic) spell despite barely being able to run. Special mentions also go to Wibbs for a sharp stumping and Aasheesh for a fine run out from square leg… you still have to make them count, and Conor throwing himself about in the field with great commitment. It was a great effort from the entire Putney side, where commitment was shown even in the face of a potentially devastating assault, catches taken and very few mistakes. Quite possibly the most fun that’s been had on the Common this year, and a fitting way to bring the curtain down on the season (unless we play this Sunday, in which case come and help us top it!). |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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21/09/2014 | 12.30 | Sunday 1st | Morden | H | 252/9 | 168/10 | W | 0 |