Saturday 3s vs Bank of England
Author: Lewis
Match Report |
---|
This match report has been written in the style of Paul Hogarth, my favourite Putney CC match report author (no offense Rolf, I still love you). The Putney 3rd XI turned up to play cricket on a sunny Saturday in June. We were against the Bank of England, our closest rivals in the league. We went to look at the pitch. There was no pitch. At least, no prepared pitch. The opposition brought spring-back stumps for the unprepared pitch. Caspar insisted they used real stumps that went in the ground. He later learned that there were no holes in the ground where the stumps should go. But he insisted! I lost the toss. We were asked to bat. We had a top order collapse. Girish, Doug, and myself all got out for diddly squat. Caspar hung around and made a gritty 21. But then he was out. Rohit then went into bat but then he too got out. He made 14. Rupert and Ajay were both now at the crease. We needed runs badly. Rupert and Ajay started scoring runs (hooray!) Rupert made a lovely 33 until some silly umpire triggered him. That silly umpire was me. Ajay stayed at the crease but the run rate slowed. He was joined by Niket who did not hit the ball for the first three overs he faced. This was not ideal. But then, Niket started hitting the ball a long way. Ajay got out for a solid 26 off 65. We needed that. Niket and Cameron were now batting together. They both started scoring runs. Their South African opening bowler who took all our wickets earlier came back on. He asked Cameron if he had the arms to clear the infield. Cameron then hit him for six the next ball. He also recently called him a fanny on our WhatsApp group. We finished on 198-9. This felt like a good score, given the circumstances. Tea report: another Sainsbury’s meal deal for me. It was satisfactory. We then started bowling. Max and Sid opened for us. They both bowled well and took wickets. The opposition’s chirpy fielder came into bat. Rohit and Ajay gave him some stick. He made very few runs. Cameron and Niket were our first change bowlers. They did not take any wickets. The team got stuck in to fire them up. I told Niket that his older brother Savan would have had three wickets already. Max told Cameron to fire it up like Neil Wagner. We then started calling him Waggy. Waggy then took a wicket. He then took another one. And another! (Accidental Partridge) Niket remained wicketless. Their South African opening bowler came in and scored a 50. But they needed 10 an over off their last 10 overs to win. Ajay and Caspar came onto bowl. Ajay channelled his inner Hulk Hogan with inspired use of his zinc stick. Caspar did not take any wickets. Ajay did two. I also got a run out. It then became mathematically impossible for them to win the match. We won the match. MotM: Ajay – A vital innings and two wickets to secure the win. DotD: The Barn Elms Sports Centre groundsman (or lack thereof). TfC: Honourably shared between Doug and Girish. Champagne Moment: Waggy’s perfectly timed, post-sledge six. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12/06/2021 | 1pm | Saturday 3rd | Bank of England | A | 198/9 | 153/10 | W | 20 |