Sunday 1s vs Spencer
Author:
Match Report |
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A truly monumental weekend for Putney cricket club. The ones secured the second division title – a fact confirmed by the state of the club house on Sunday morning with beer bottles, cigars and curry strewn everywhere. However, more importantly with 12 years in the making the Blacksmith completed his maiden 50 for the club. Ridders was made skipper for the day and promptly won the toss which equates to one more than the regular skippers have this season. Putney duly batted first opening with the unlikely pair of Sully and Mike Oliver. Sully is getting married in two weeks time and it was felt that he should get a go in what may be (within wedlock) his last game for the club although he assures us it wont be like that and he will be back next season. Mind you , after being bowled leg stump after jumping out of the way he may want to stick to bowling. “It was a crap ballâ€. Obviously. The inevitable slow first 10 overs from Putney meant that when Ashworth, still slightly drunkenly, made his way to the wicket, Putney were 25/2. 40 odd runs later and the nerves were beginning to set in. Finally, to a standing ovation from the boundary, the Blacksmith creamed one through extra cover and with both arms raised followed by a badge kiss he accepted a long overdue 50. The match actually stopped for a couple of minutes so fair play to a slightly confused Spencer for putting up with the delay. Adam Milton had joined Ashworth at the wicket by this stage and showed the batting promise he has threatened all season. Putting on 136 with Ashworth for the 4th wicket, Milts plundered 72 runs including 5 successive scoring shot for 6 including a wonderful straight driven flat maximum. Adam took the attack to all the bowlers and helped accelerate the game with strong hitting and aggressive running following Ashworth’s injury (Sully acting as a runner). Well batted mate. The pair attacked the latter bowling and upped the run rate until Ashworth feathered one behind and Milton lost his off stump shortly afterward. Although this slowed the run rate dramatically, some good selfless pinch hitting from the tail took Putney to a very respectable 214-7. The old cliché goes “catches win matches†and to be quite honest the catching was atrocious especially when defending a large total. Good early bowling from a returning Phil McCann went unrewarded as the opening pair slowly crept along to 80odd/1 at the drinks break. Anthony Burke must be the unluckiest man in Putney cricket as another fantastic spell almost went unrewarded. However he could easily have had 3 or 4 wickets more but he bowled just too well for the standard of batsman. Don’t worry Burkey, your second wicket in England will come. The usually reliable Shak did not have his best day as the Spencer number 3 proceeded to cream the bowling to all parts of the ground as an unlikely chase took place and suddenly 8 an over was getting reduced by the ball. When someone gets in like this we have to take our catches and 8 dropped including several off their leading run scorer was going to prove fatal. Despite this he was hitting cleanly through the ball and took his chances with the advancing run rate. As the light faded rapidly, some smart fielding removed batsmen with 2 smart but overdue run outs and Putney brought themselves back into a slim chance with 7 needed of the last eight balls. Sully had the unenviable task of closing out the innings and with two balls to go the Spencer batsman crashed one back over Sully’s head for 4 and the game was lost albeit in a very exciting fashion. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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02/09/2007 | 1pm | Sunday 1st | Spencer | H | 214/7 | 218/5 | L | 0 |