Sunday 1s vs Richmond
Author: Tory
Match Report |
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A great win under pressure for the 1s, in a nail-biter that ebbed and flowed throughout. As Captain I had decided this week to lay down the law, and to insist that everyone be at the club house on time. They were, and so was I. The clubhouse keys however, were not. 30 minutes and 6.2 miles of frantic bicycling later, the keys were collected from my bedside table, and the game ready to begin. Richmond won the toss and chose, given the beautiful sunshine, to bat. They looked serious, with their own umpires, and matching jumpers. Ryan Allan took up the new ball for the second week, promptly dismissed Richmond's opener for 5 with some intimidating pace, and followed it the very next ball with an inspired caught and bowled. In the middle of appealing for LBW as the ball looped over our heads, he kept his and snatched it out of the air for a deserved second wicket. Hugo Flower made a welcome return to the side, bowling a genuinely superb 8 overs with 2 wickets at a cost of only 14. At the close of the opening spell, Richmond looked in trouble. But their numbers 4 and 5 were graceful, accomplished batsman, and Vik Sehgal and Charlie bore the brunt of their dominant batting. With 20 overs gone, this resolute pair had taken the visitors to more than 100, and had begun to hit some big boundaries. Persuaded by urging from Charlie and Sam to take some of the punishment on myself, I reluctantly agreed to bowl, seeing whether a change of angle would help. Fortunately, no-one had taught Richmond how to clobber a lefty and, together with Chadd managing finally to get their number 3 to smash one straight down Huda's throat at deep Cow Corner, we kept them very quiet indeed over the next 16 overs. Some excellent bowling from Hugo, Ryan and Charlie at the death left Richmond on 186 for nine after 40. Our fielding was much improved this week, with no dropped catches, and a frightening run out from Ryan, hitting one stump from a distance of about a mile and a half. We can be proud as well of how we pulled together to turn the innings around and keep a good side to fewer than 80 in the second 20 overs. As the clouds predictably rolled over, and we all donned our jumpers for a cold sit on the sidelines, we lost Chowdhury early to a typically confident slog. For the second week running Kumar and Dylan Ramsey built an impressive innings, scoring 29 and 20 respectively in double quick time. A flurry of cheap wickets though left us looking very vulnerable. Veterans of last year's Sunday 1s were heard to reflect on the familiarity of watching such a collapse. Chadd Richardson was next up. Having spent the past 25 minutes telling us how easy it was out there, and how anyone could hit those puddings for a boundary, I told him he had to score 60 and turn the game around for us (true story). He failed. In fact he only scored 58 not out, in the process building important partnerships with Charlie (20) and Hugo (10) to take us to 7 short of the target with one wicket and two overs to go. Meanwhile, Putney's nervous Captain was pacing up and down. Batting 11, I was of course, keen to get in and play a captain's match winning innings, but selflessly hoped that Hugo and Chadd would close it out for me...I mean instead. It was not to be, but luckily a thick edge for 3 to third man was all that was required, before Chadd smashed a four through extra cover to win the match with 10 balls to go. Again, I think there are some real positives to take away from this game, as under real pressure with both the bat and the ball we stayed calm and turned both halves of the game around. A well deserved man of the match for Chadd, who supplied the vital wicket, the vital innings, and his own spectators. |
Date | Time | Team | Opposition | Location | Putney | Opposition | Result | Scores | Points | Toss |
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13/05/2012 | 2pm | Sunday 1st | Richmond | H | 189/9 | 186/9 | W | 0 |