Mordi one day side was once again routed in the batting and when i came in at 9 (up from 11!) we were 7/65!
with the stand-in captain at the bowlers end and a quick brief about the swing factor of the bowler i was to face, it was game on.
33 degrees, 90 something % humidity with a hot northerly driving away air and body moisture i saw out the over with a block, a leave and a single.
next over the new bowler came on and in swung a full toss that i watched all the way onto my box with a very lame attempted pull for self protection.
on my knees i received the standard platitudes and jokes and five minutes latter with a throbbing left ag i flicked the next ball (aimed again at my body!) off my hip for 4 and so began the fun.
our home oval is a high school and with all of the heat and rain of late the outfield was a daisy paddock with lush deep grass.Therefore, on this first hot day of the season we didn't feel like running, but had to because only the very hard struck balls ran on.
the captain went out a few balls after mine were mashed and the next man in was one of the clubs 'young-guns'.
we started to score freely but it took its toll with many singles and 2's ran. when a left arm offie came on i was glad of the rest the challenge of facing this fine bowler presented.
3 balls into his 2nd over he got me playing on and i had steadied the ship with my 29 (2nd highest score of the innings- 40 to the young-gun partner) and we ended up with 130 in 35.4 overs.
During the change the breeze turned and we had the benefit of spending our time out in rather more pleasant conditions.
the opening bowlers were good for a few overs each and unlucky as the keeper dropped several. then they opened up! On the western side of our oval it is a ridiculously short boundary... and it showed as 4's and 6's started going over regularly.
Finally a slower ball was miss timed and skied over mid on- me; in a typically drawn out wait under an absolute hanger i shifted back and fourth several times trying to allow for the breeze affecting the tedious drop.
Safely in my mitts we finally had one and felt in the game.
At one end we had them tied down (mostly) but at the other we getting thrashed harder than a red headed step son! So i got my call up.
First ball i ripped but it landed just on the actual edge of the pitch -we are playing on synthetic- and goes on straight so that the amount of turn wasn't given away.
The next one i gave it as much, pitched it up, and got my line about 10cm closer to the batsman who charged it to hit off the half volley, completely missed as it screwed back to be taken by the keeper over the off stump bail. Well taken, he whipped the bails off and i am pumped!
The next batsman we knew has a season average of 240 (!) from 4 innings in their firsts team. He proceeds to take me on, and apart. the next 3 balls are 4, 4, 4; for the last i bowl a type of arm ball/wrong un i've got and he miss times and send it high to deep square leg and directly to our man just waiting for it. After the ball is picked up off the ground my over is over and i don't think ill suck him in with that ball again. BOO!
The other new bowler is being punished too by this gun striker so when it is my next over i'm desperate to make amends only to have him get under the first 3 balls and send them over the boundary for 14 runs.
For my 4th ball i get a wrong un back and through him, the 5th ball is a BIG leg break that goes around everything- he looks frustrated being deprived 2 scoring shots as i know he thinks he can play me with impunity- so with only 6 runs needed and heaps of overs to bowl i give him one i hadn't bowled yet, a stock toppy that lands on the spot, jumps and has him scooping it up to long on. The captain is underneath it and he has hands like buckets and sees the run machine off for me. 2 for 28. The next over it is all over and we've been pumped again.
How goes it with the rest of you?
Mt Lofty B grade went out Saturday to field needing 10 wickets and Mylor needing 72 runs from 70 overs. Clearly we needed to get a lot of quick wickets – and we didn’t. Not even close. Our bowlers tired quite quickly in the first hot day of cricket for the season. And after 18 overs at the first break they needed 10 runs and we had only taken 2 wickets. To be fair the quicks did a great job and really we needed a miracle to roll the reigning premiers (for the last 3 years). The rest of the day panned out as the second worst day of cricket I’ve been involved with. To make a long story short they went on and batted for the rest of the day, compiling 405 runs by close of play. I still can’t believe they didn’t send us back in and go for the outright. We had 10 players from the very start and then lost another at 4.30. That meant they would have 75 minutes to get 8 wickets with plenty of runs to play with.
ReplyDeleteSince I’ve been involved with long days chasing leather in A grade where it was hotter and more demoralising I was surprisingly ok with staying out in the field. It certainly helped that I took three catches – all at gully/point. This included the opener (who took my wicket the first week) that I had dropped the week before when they’d gone in for 7 overs toward the end of the day. I must admit I dropped him AGAIN on Sat though and he made 97 in the end. Both tough chances I’ll say but when you get all of your hand to it you know you could have taken it. The one I dropped Sat was hard to pick up. I heard the ‘catch it’ cry but couldn’t see where it was for another second. Oh well.
Everyone got a bowl basically and so I sent down 3 overs of offies which was heaps of fun. I had two missed stumpings and kept it fairly tight considering we had 9 on the field and they were swinging at everything. None for 21 off 3 overs will do just fine.
I said to our captain that it was likely we’d have a mish-mash team for the whole season which will make it very difficult to get results. Personally I think we’re going to flogged more than not which will really hurt some of the younger players. A different 11 every week makes it hard to get a run-on. Realistically we’ve got a few guys who probably aren’t quite up to the standard yet but there’s little choice. Batting is the main problem as when you can’t get 150 on the board or can’t bat 70 overs you’re likely to lose.
It would be the cruellest irony if I wind up having the best season of my life and we get destroyed as a team!
good one Lefty. I know what you mean about playing well in a losing side! we will continue to suffer the same fate when we only have 3 or 4 core players in the side for each game... and when our batsmen don't make runs!
ReplyDeletetops getting a roll of the arm too.
thanks for sharing with such a detailed write up.
thanks for giving such a good brief of you day Lefty.
ReplyDeleteit certainly was going to be a task; funny way to play out when they had such a chance, go figure some captains logic!
i know what you mean about the irony of playing well in a shelacked side!
we will be in the same boat with such an irregular team as we only have a small core of blokes regularly in the side. there is that, and the fact we will never win much when the bowlers get most of the runs!
look at this card to see what i mean:
http://mycricket.cricket.com.au/common/pages/asphost.aspx?loc=/cricket/reports/match.asp&locx=MATCH&matchID=623734
bizarre. i thought the first comment didn't post!
ReplyDeletesorry about the double up!
I can’t seem to get to the scorecard. I get to MyCricket and found your club (est 1885! Bloody hell!) but can’t see any access to scorecards.
ReplyDeleteMt Lofty’s website is mtloftycc.com.au for anyone to have a look at.
Stoph, what association are you in as this would have results for all the round matches.
By the way, you bloody Vics are giving us a hiding over here! Hodge, McDonald and Rogers have smacked us all over (what’s left of) Adelaide Oval. I was a bit cheeky on Friday as I had a meeting close to the oval and was 30 mins early. I walked around to the Victor Richardson gates and it was free to get in! So I got a few overs of cricket in while ‘working’ and I tell you the western side of the ground is, well, non-existent. They are frantically building temporary stands but god knows what Adelaide Oval will look like when the Windies are here. I’ve been on the waiting lost for membership for a couple of years so I’m hoping SACA does a huge call-in of memberships like they’ve done before. Watching India last summer in the members was absolute bliss. Being able to watch players practice in the nets at the back is so cool. I still dream that if I hang around long enough some player will ask if I want a hit!
Lastly, I’ll be in Melbourne Xmas night. Anyone keen to go to the cricket?
Giddy up
that's a good lurk!
ReplyDeletewe are in the ddca (dandenong)
http://www.ddca.com.au/showrvcontent.aspx?locx=MATCH&matchID=623734&loc=/cricket/reports/match.asp&loc1/match.asp
don't know if this will work?
of course we will be at boxing day, you are expected to attend if in town!
Redbacks now 2 for 317 - 44 runs from making Vic bat again!
ReplyDeleteWhat do I need to do about tickets for Boxing Day?
Sledgie - I need your help!
Your name rhymes with Diddy?!?
ReplyDeleteHe He
I listen to the rythym of the falling rain ... no play in Tamworth!
ReplyDeletethat's still great news Lango!
ReplyDeleteafter last weeks solid #9 batting, i was pushed up to 3 (!) yesterday.
i think due to me wearing a helmet and arm guard bowler think they should give me a 'touch up' and that i will freak out; nothing could be further from the truth! this season i am loving stuff on the body and scoring most of my runs on the leg side- a bouncer yesterday land just inside but for 4 from the best hook shot i've ever played!
the first change bowler must have noted my poor footwork on the off side and set me up a beauty to have me caught in the covers for 16. i'm not worried as this is the first time i've batted higher than 9 in my life and i felt like i was having a good time.
i didn't get a bowl as we had 2 1sts bowlers in our side and they were cleaning up. Then when we had it by the scruff the (stand in) captain gave a couple of the guys that were unlucky with the bat (one unlucky- one unselfish to help a bloke get his 50 in the last over) a roll of the arm... bad judgement as they nearly gave it away.
i dropped an unforgivable sitter at mid off and so when the ball skyed up over me later at short cover on the captains bowling he charged in calling it even though i was right underneth. i decided to not step away and gobbled it up (rarely drop a high one) before he ran into me! all was forgiven with a quick dirty horizontal dance in the infield!
we cleaned up with 5 overs to go- one before i was to have a bowl.
2 wins to the bloodhounds for the season now.
Fantastic Stoph! It’s always good to redeem yourself as well. Get that front foot moving down the line and you’ll be away. It’s amazing how getting yourself into position to play a shot is more than half the battle. As soon as I started making a big forward movement to meet the ball how other things fell into place. That’s what hours of throw-downs in the nets will do for you. Perfect practice!
ReplyDeleteThankfully I can declare that Mt Lofty B grade are in a fantastic position to take the points this coming Saturday. We made 226 in our 70 overs on Saturday; losing the last wickets with the last ball of the innings. Unfortunately I couldn’t replicate my innings against Mylor falling for 14 after 50 minutes in the middle. One of our blokes made 66 and remarked at the club later that it was the tightest bowling he’d faced in B grade. I have to agree – the amount of times I stepped forward to a straight ball and just hit it straight to mid-off was ridiculous. No width at all dammit. A yorker took my stumps but I didn’t do myself any favours as I was trying to get it through square leg. From the outset I was seeing them like melons so I’m hoping we get another bat this Saturday which we should do. It was so satisfying to do the scorebooks watching the fellas build the innings and getting over that magic 200 mark. There’s a chance of me rolling the arm over with some offies as well as we’re losing our two main spinners for this weekend. I’m so keen!
While I’m disappointed to have missed out personally it was so good to see my team get a total that has been out of our reach for much of the last two seasons. When we go out to bowl this Saturday the opposition needs 3 an over from the start. A few quick wickets and some maidens and then the pressure builds. Our bowling line-up is very strong with some excellent and varied pace bowlers. Some getting some nice outswing, others getting extra bounce. And I’ll be standing at gully or point waiting for my chance and getting in the ear of the batsmen. Their keeper was quite chirpy and gave me a send-off when I got out so I’m looking forward to him coming in to bat.
47 days til Boxing Day lads!