Saturday 3s vs Shepperton
Author: Lewis 'Gerald' Hill
Match Report |
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Like many, I was awestruck with ‘The Last Dance’ during lockdown. For those unfamiliar with the series, it tells the story of Michael Jordan and the great Chicago Bulls team of the 1990s. What struck me most was his ability, and by extension, his team’s ability, to come back from adversity. In many ways, the Putney 3rd XI possess a similar trait to that Chicago Bulls team. No, we are not blessed with height. But we are able to bounce back from trying circumstances. Last week, we batted poorly and deserved to lose again Ewhurst 1st XI. But we fought back in the field to leave them six down at the end of their innings. This week, our lower order put in an excellent cameo and taught our top five how to bat against a decent Shepperton 3rd XI. The start of the day was not ideal. We arrived at Barnes Common CC to find that the stumps, boundary markers and scoreboard were all missing. After a brief, but sweaty cycle to the Putney CC shed, I collected the first two items. I then lost the toss and we were asked to field in 34-degree heat. Not ideal. Charlie and Savan opened the bowling and immediately applied the pressure. Charlie came back from a poor performance last week – he pitched the ball up and draw a number of false shots and close misses. Although, the pitch misbehaving after what can only be described as a lengthy absence from any roller of any kind helped our cause. Charlie took the first wicket, a nick behind to yours truly, donning Hopey’s keeping gloves and inners, and therefore sanitising not only to prevent COVID-19 but a whole host of other infectious diseases. First change bowlers Niket and Nic bowled superbly. They kept things tight during the middle overs in the heat (special mention to Nic for bowling eight overs on the trot). Niket bowled a consistent, attacking line and deservedly trapped Shepperton’s number three batsman LBW. Sayer came on and bowled a spell which swung the match in our favour. He broke the partnership between Shepperton’s opener and captain, with Niket and Giles taking catches in quick succession. He also dismissed Shepperton’s number five, with Fraser taking a catch to mark an excellent day in the field (he fielded well, but an added bonus was that as a ginger fellow, he managed to avoid sunburn in 34-degree heat.) Shepperton were five down, but still in the match. Girish ‘The Terminator’ Nagpaul contributed with the ball too (given the nickname because he wears similar sunglasses on the field to everyone’s favourite cyborg assassin and ex-Governor of California). He bowled Shepperton’s number six to dismiss him for a duck. Charlie and Niket came back on to clean up the rest of the wickets, while I chipped in with a run out after throwing down the stumps at the bowler’s end after some sharp work from Giles at gully. In the end, we dismissed Shepperton for 134 off 37.3 overs and looked odds-on favourites to the win the match. COVID-19 tea report: I had a chilli chicken wrap and a packet of Thai sweet chilli Sensations, topped off with a Lucozade Sport. An upgrade on last week’s disappointing spread. I will keep this next section brief – our top order batted horrendously. Giles and The Terminator had a comical mix up, where the latter stayed in his crease for an easy single leading to Giles’ wicket being terminated early. Billy ‘Floppy’ Pople (he wears a floppy hat, get your minds out of the gutter readers…) was caught off a no-ball which Ben at square leg failed to call. Niket got done by a ball that popped off a length and I played a silly shot, top edging a tame delivery skywards. We were 23-5. I felt sad. I had a strop (the helmet took the brunt of it). But then something strange happened. I felt a wave a positivity wash over me while I was sat on the boundary. Sayer got in and played well for 15 to make our score slightly more respectable. I then started listening to Lizzo. Inspired by my musical choice, Sayer and I then had a conversation about body positivity. It got a bit weird. But then I looked up – Fraser and Ben were still batting. And we were going well. We were 90-odd for 6. Fraser and Ben had figured it out. They put on 50 runs by batting sensibly. Fraser dismissed bad balls to the boundary with relative ease, including hitting a lovely six into the bushes. Ben picked up easy singles and twos to keep the strike ticking over. It was a good partnership which came to an end when Fraser was caught and bowled by Shepperton’s captain. In steps an unlikely hero – Charlie Smulian. Full credit to Charlie, he batted well. He built up a good partnership with Ben and never looked like getting out. He played some lovely shots, including a lovely drive along the deck to the fence. He won us the match with his batting and showed our top five (myself included) how it should be done. So, a victory and my first one as captain. Is this the start of a great dynasty like Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls? Probably not. But we showed resilience and proved that we can come back from adversity. Not a bad trait to have as a team. After the match, we retired to the Putney CC clubhouse and had our first fines session of the season – the results were as follows: Man of the Match: Sayer – for his excellent spell with the ball and for getting us back in the match with the bat when we were 23-5. Honourable mention to Charlie for his all-round performance too. Dick of the Day: Ben – for not knowing the no-ball rule, leading to Floppy’s unjust dismissal. Thanks for Coming: Floppy and Giles – for not scoring any runs or taking any wickets. Champagne Moment: Myself – for throwing down the bowler’s stumps. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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08/08/2020 | 1pm | Saturday 3rd | Shepperton | A | 135/8 | 134/10 | W | 0 |