Saturday 3s vs Abinger
Author: Skuller
Match Report |
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“Mark, would you like to write the match report?” “Sure.” “I don’t know how you are going to make that funny.” ”Well, Justin, do you like chicken?” Abinger is a pretty village in Surrey, presenting the kind of vista that would not be out of place on a postcard. The cricket ground would neatly fill the place for the stamp. It is on a gentle slope leading down to a pleasant babbling brook (who had given this one a miss). For cricketers of a certain persuasion (batsmen) it is a wonderful place to play the game. Personally, my day peaked at about 12.15 when I tucked into a pre-game isotonic sports drink at the local pub. Arriving at the ground we were greeted by Jarbowla who had unexpectedly won the toss and didn’t know what to do with it. He chose to style his nascent reign on that of Nasser Hussain at the Gabba in 2002 and eventually chose to bowl. Putney had cobbled together a full team, including a local who had graciously agreed to play turncoat for the afternoon. So we took to the field full of hopeful optimism, ready to enjoy a day spent in the beautiful Surrey hills. Did you hear about the man who went into the Greek tailors with a pair of torn trousers? The bowling was not good. Ajay opened and decided to check out the middle of the pitch resulting in the fielders getting acquainted with the local foliage. At the other end the yips continued their hold on me and I thoroughly examined the part of the strip closest to my feet. And so the pattern of the innings was set. Boundaries rained down as we charitably chose to augment opposition batting averages with short filth and dropped catches. In amongst the abysmal showing were moments of middling competence to give hope. Ajay took an excellent catch on the boundary. Chris Smith bowled well and was unlucky not to pick up a wicket. Sayer was tidy behind the sticks, took a good catch and effected a run out with a dive that Jos Buttler did his best to emulate the following day. It should be noted this was his first go at wicket-keeping; a real club man effort. Both Rafaelle and Ben bowled very well and picked up a few wickets each. Sheva came on at the end to clean up the tail and was cruelly denied a hat-trick. In all they finished 9 down for only about a million. Tea was good – scones are always a nice touch. I’m going for a picnic with a llama tomorrow. Alpaca lunch. The upside of the first innings was that there were plenty of runs on offer when it came to our turn to bat. The pitch looked like an absolute road and nothing had really misbehaved in the first innings. We were confident of knocking this off. Yas and Sheva fronted up and set about the chase. Yas in particular looked in excellent touch as the opposition bowled rather better than we had. Unfortunately he got a top edge and was out. Sheva hit a six over the sight-screen and into the next field but soon followed his fellow opener. Jarbowla had a thrash and looked good until he too holed out. Despite Sayer being done by a jaffa that cut back at least a good few millimetres, hope was still high as Ajay joined Chris, who was going well, at the crease. Together they hacked away to bring us closer to the target. Ajay called furiously for twos and ran the first like the man from the QWOP game. The second was rarely on. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Ajay fell for a very good 27. I came to the crease and left two balls later, undone by a vicious rock that bounced about an angstrom. That was pretty much the only ball to misbehave all day. I hate this fucking stupid game. Despite an impressive cameo from Tom (“I don’t bat” - yes you do) the rest of the order folded and defeat beckoned. We were just unable to force the game into a super over or a countback to the number of boundaries. In all a loss by about one hundred runs. Thanks to Abinger CC for an enjoyable game and being excellent hosts. MOM – Sheva for all-round excellence. DDJ – Ajay for comedy calling. Champagne moment – Ajay for a great catch. TFC – Sayer. Pretty harsh in my opinion. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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13/07/2019 | 1.30pm | Saturday 3rd | Abinger | A | 195/10 | 280/9 | L | 0 |