Saturday 1s vs West End Esher
Author: Dave Higson
Match Report |
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And so the long awaited first game of the season had arrived, West End Esher away. On a cloudy and cold-ish day with cricket sweaters abound, we bowled first on a distinctly average track. Albeit with some cobwebs to clean away for myself, an early wicket came through the guise o a looping full-toss which felt shameful, but their captain's pull-shot fell short of the mark. GP took no time to get into the swing of it and promptly despatched the other opener. Then a nick juggled by Dev and clutched by Jackson took the third to my delight, followed by a debut Putney ball and wicket for Tush. Despite their top order looking solid, Esher found themselves at 35-4. What the middle order lacked in technique was made up for in 'grindability', and after another GP wicket seeing off a sublime 9 over consistent spell (which will do well to be bettered this season), their numbers 5 and 7 scored 40ish a-piece and 130-5 wasn't looking so bad for them with 12 to play. Thankfully during this time, fairly tight spells from Chin, JP and Jackson kept a large total out of reach, and then the impetus began to fade as Chin picked up a few wickets (including another full-toss-shamer). Many of their wickets had been given away through needless shots, almost Putney-like in manner. The target 181 off 45 overs. After a measly tea with a disturbingly poor array of choices (most of which was eaten by Garth, worried that cricket teas in Bristol would be equally as bad) we set about the chase. What happened next can only be described as capitulation as we slumped to 23 for 6 from 10 overs. Anil, Chip, Jacko, Garth, Dev and Tush falling in a fire of self-immolation, although Garth had looked promising. One man remained from the top 7, Ricky. With GP providing valuable support at the other end, Ricky tirelessly bashed four after four, keeping us up with the run rate, taking us to 90 before GP fell LBW. Chin and JP then hung around for 5 overs a piece whilst Ricky (the smiling assassin) continued to destroy their bowling attack, now opting for the aerial route to the boundary. At 134-9 I attempted to give Ricky the strike and we marched on to 166 from 40 overs as he got to 120 in 32 overs and looking invincible. The opposition were getting extremely anxious and resorted to an unsportsman-like level of heckling, talking during the bowler's run up, swearing at Ricky, trying to bowl when the batsman wasn't looking, and even the bowler colliding into me when running for a single and then proceeding to try and run me out whilst I was on the floor, although their wicket keeper thankfully showed some restraint and refused to remove the bails. The next over, the same bowler struck my pad, and after an almighty appeal, 10 seconds later, the umpire raised his finger, and then proceeded to ask Ricky if he thought it was out. The great escape was foiled but not without great effort. When they come to Putney....I would love it we beat them...love it! |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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02/05/2015 | 1pm | Saturday 1st | West End Esher | A | 166/10 | 180/10 | L | 7 |