Saturday 1s vs Sheen Park
Author: Lewis Hill
Match Report |
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An incredibly handsome, charming and intelligent (not forgetting modest) duo handed Putney victory on the last ball of a thrilling encounter against Sheen Park. The British Summer struck just before the match, delaying the start by half an hour, but Rolf “Shake ‘Yo Booty” Merchant and Ben “Surrey” Williamson eventually opened proceedings. Surrey claimed the match’s first scalp with what was arguably his worst ball of the day. A rank full toss was toed by Sheen Park’s opener straight into my hands at mid-off. Second change Chin Ratnayake soon swiftly removed the other opener, but it was Travis Pyke who stole the show. His frustratingly tight line outside off stump drew several of the opposition players into false shots and he eventually ended up with four wickets. Rolf returned to the fray and bowled a much-improved second spell, claiming a well-deserved wicket. Surrey too bowled very nicely throughout his second spell and picked up an additional two wickets. Putney were set a revised total of 113 from 39 overs. Rich Jeffries once again starred for Putney at the top of the order. Rich struck a gritty 34 in testing conditions and in the process, anchored the innings to set a solid foundation for those lower down the order. However, Rich was caught out just after the drinks break and the traditional collapse of Putney’s middle order ensued. With seven overs to go, Putney required nearly 30 runs and had just two wickets in hand. Surrey and Rolf kick started the fightback, running hard between the wicket and scoring runs where they could. Unfortunately, Surrey was caught out in the 36th over as Putney still required another 15 runs to win the match. Myself and Rolf rekindled the partnership that was so (in)effective during the indoor cricket season. We muddled through to the final over and required just three runs to win. Unfortunately, I was on strike. After I missed the first four balls, we ran two off the penultimate ball and in the process, Rolf escaped a dead-cert run out. With one run required from the final ball, we made a pact to run whatever. In the end, I came down the wicket to drive their opener for four down the ground to hand Putney victory. In truth, without Rolf’s stellar contribution at the bottom of the order, this match would have gone down as another “near miss”. Key takeaway: • The post-match celebration was a sight to behold. The bat was thrown across the ground, the helmet was launched skywards and the entire team ran onto the field to celebrate a fine run chase. In amongst all of this, one would have thought the Putney WAGs would have recorded this piece of history. Well, they didn’t, but their support was still greatly appreciated. • Our water management techniques could be improved. Pinning down the covers with plastic chairs, stepping on the covers with spikes, brushing water off the covers with a broomstick onto the side of the wicket… you get the idea. • For all of Surrey’s talk in recent weeks about the most impressive male at the club, he has overlooked one obvious candidate. Chonito. That dog has cojones. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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05/08/2017 | 1pm | Saturday 1st | Sheen Park | H | 116/9 | 121/10 | W | 20 |