Sunday 2s vs Tooting United
Author: Umpire Jeffries
Match Report |
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Putney celebrated the triumphant return of Sunday cricket by fielding two teams in thoroughly un-cricket-like weather. In a week where county cricket history may well have been made by Rilee Roussouw, [probably the first ever batsman to be caught by a bloke in a beanie, off a bowler bowling in a beanie] both Putney and Tooting United turned out in an impressive array of shirts, hoodies and coats underneath their whites. The match was due to start early at 12pm due to a forecast of late afternoon rain and an assumption of bad light, neither of which were to ultimately transpire. This change to usual scheduling disrupted Putney’s plans, with the tardy arrivals of Hannaford and Gus seeing them relegated to the lower order. Putney either won or lost the toss, I don’t actually know, but in any case batted first on a soft pitch that challenged the bowlers’ footing. Particularly the bowler who didn’t have any spikes. Amogh got us going in partnership with our new overseas, Belgian cricket prodigy Oliver Pilkington. Sporting a jumper with the Belgian red and yellow trim, it was Oli who opened our boundary account for the season with a pulled six. Unfortunately he perished soon after to a yorker from the tidy opener, a case of the mockers as yours truly proclaimed him to be looking good. Mike Henshall joined Amogh in the middle and proceeded at a sedate pace to record a partnership of 59. Both defended well against the new ball and neither got full value for some well-timed shots. Some of the bowling was erratic, with wet ball and pitch to blame, which resulted in a decent haul of extras boosting our total. When Amogh fell leg before on 28, the score was 77-2. Hensh, perhaps dreading the prospect of batting with JJ, chose this moment to hole out, and suddenly Putney had two new men at the crease. Jarmola landed some lusty blows while green-fingered Kiwi Scott Good imposed himself on the bowling by dancing down the track to repeatedly score through midwicket. It was therefore a surprise when JJ was dismissed, the most surprised of all being the keeper who seemed stunned that the ball had nestled in his gloves via a huge nick. Enter another fresh face in Tom McGurk, who provided the comedy moment of the day when he set off for a run, only to be sent back by Scott. Playing cricket in trainers is always a dangerous tightrope, and so he found as he went arse over tit in the middle of the track and was apologetically run out. At this point Putney’s 4th and final debutant strode to the crease. Adam Sayer is a concert pianist by night, but by day he uses the long handle to smite boundaries to all parts. An entertaining 12 ball cameo yielded 19 runs before he was clean bowled, bringing our lord and master Ben Brook to the crease. The scoring rattled along at around a run a ball through the final overs, before Scott was castled just 2 (or 9, or whatever) short of a maiden Putney half-century. Gus Carnegie-Brown saw us through to the end of the innings with a characteristic red-inker, finishing on 199-7. A Mexican-inspired tea was taken in rapid fashion, thoroughly enjoyed by all, many thanks to the future Mrs P Ebersohn. In reply, Tooting United got off to a flying start, thanks to Putney bowling the first 30 balls down leg. Their opener perished for 0 off 12 balls, caught at square leg by Hensh off the bowling of young Soham. An unlucky entrant to the duck club, considering the previous 11 of those balls were wides. This brought Tooting’s number 3 to the crease, a man wearing a fetching blue work shirt under his whites. He may well have only had one shot, but Putney continued to feed him as he notched 5 boundaries in his 33, before perishing to a super catch in the deep. Lord Brooks might claim inspired captaincy having moved Gus there just moments prior; a dissenter might argue this was 14 overs too late. In between, a couple of wickets for Adam Sayer courtesy of a catch at slip by Amogh and another clean bowled. Momentum was with Putney as Tooting wobbled at 71-4. Going for the jugular, captain marvel Brooksey unleashed his secret weapon, ponytailed prodigy Tom McGurk. With an action inspired by both Shane Warne and Paul Adams, McGurk bounded enthusiastically to the crease and found turn on the damp pitch. Ably supported by catches from Brook, Pilkington and Sayer, he claimed a 4th victim leg-before to leave Tooting in all sorts of trouble. With one wicket remaining, Brooks showed tremendous leadership as he made the first contribution to the drop tin. A diving grab off his own bowling just failed to stick, but a drop’s a drop and that’s £1. Tooting’s number 11 was actually a proper batsman, with a rare ability on the day to hit the ball on the off side. He pushed the score along nicely, hitting some nice boundaries and taking a real liking to Pilkington’s medium pace. Brooks continued to overlook the underbowled Jarmola, with McGurk looking for his Michelle, and he duly clean bowled the last man to claim the spoils for Putney. Tooting United 131 all out. M.O.M – Tom McGurk for his 5-fer The make Putney sundays great again (formerly known as champagne moment) sunday Thunder Bitch moment of the day – Gus for his inaugural Putney catch after 3 seasons of playing for the club Dick du jour – Tom McGurk for his calamitous run out Thanks for coming, champ – Jarmola |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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29/04/2018 | Midday | Sunday 2nd | Tooting United | H | 199/7 | 131/10 | W | 0 |