Sunday XI v Egerton

The Sunday XI travelled to Egerton on the back of some red hot form with 4 losses and 2 games conceded from their opening six fixtures. Our side, initially had an average of 13 which was brought down to 11 after Angus Kenny came in at the last minute. Most of the side had spent the morning finishing revision for the 11+, this clearly had an impact on Leo ‘no byes’ Petty in particular who’s father (U15s coach Andy Petty) had to wheel his bag to the pavilion for him.

Egerton won the toss and elected to bat to keep up Alex Lush’s 100% record of not winning a single toss this season. Egerton is a wide open ground and fairly unprotected which meant the gale force winds were in full effect. Lush opened up whilst James West came in from the other end. Lush started well (off a shorter run up) whilst West was struggling for length early on after being hit for a couple early boundaries through mid wicket. Shortly, Westy settled into a nice rhythm and had a couple of close LBW shouts. It was Lush however who got the breakthrough, trapping their opener in front. Egerton’s other opener was going well, putting away the bad ball and rotating the strike. Meanwhile, Westy got his deserved rewards as he dismissed their number 3 wrapping him on the pads in front of middle. I’ve never seen Jerry put his finger up so fast!

Christian ‘Bobby’ Roberts replaced Lush at the 12 over mark. This time around opting to bowl over the wicket and offering very little to the batsmen in the way of line or length. He too was rewarded after their number 4 helped one into the hands of Jamie Baker at square leg. No one was more surprised than Baker himself after he held onto the catch. Lush then tentatively through Baker the ball, having not had very fond memories of fetching the ball from the boundary rope in previous seasons from his bowling. Safe to say Baker proved your match reporter wrong. His first over was an excellent maiden and he only got better from there! Don’t get me wrong there was still the odd ball that was too wide or too short but Baker took a deserved wicket in his 3rd over after a fantastic catch behind the stumps from Leo Petty. It was the first time I’ve seen Baker bowl in a game this season. Playing and bowling in the 3rd XI every week has brought about (dare I say it) astronomical improvements in his performances as well as confidence on the pitch. Egerton was 99-4 heading into drinks. Following the drinks break, Baker and the rest of us were brought back down to Earth…

Egerton’s number 6 came out and from ball one it was clear he liked a heave to leg. Roberts and Bakers last 2 overs apiece shared the brunt of this onslaught as those 4 overs went for 56 runs. After Roberts (9-0-72-1) had bowled out he seemed in great spirits and didn’t mention at all how his last over going for 19 “had ruined his figures”. In his defence, his first 8 overs only went for 53 so he was clearly very economical up to that point anyway. I should also point out that their number 6 was dropped twice. Once at long on after Keith Roberton misread the flight of the ball to say the least. He should’ve walked in 10 yards to take the catch, but instead stood still, then realised he had to run in. It was already too late by this point, but Keith tried to make up for it by trapping the ball underneath his foot, at which point the ball went underneath his foot for 4 runs. Myself, Noel Johnston and Wendy Roberts (who were watching on from the boundary) managed to see the funny side of the situation. Keith and Christian were less amused. At long off, Harry Norton forgot what sport he was playing and went to tip one over the crossbar. Isaac Marriner was brought into the attack, in the hope of taking a wicket and stemming the flow of runs from one end. In his first over, he was treated much the same way Baker was. Egerton had raced onto 209 from 30 overs. However, in his second over, Isaac got the vital breakthrough, bowling the big hitting number 6 after one too many heaves to cow corner. Isaac (6-1-46-3) grew from strength to strength after this and ending up take 3 wickets in his impressive spell. His last 4 overs only going for 15 runs! Lush also ran out the opening bat on 94 off of Isaac’s bowling. The bat pulled up with what looked like a torn hamstring half way coming back for the 2nd but would’ve fallen short of his ground anyway.

Lush (9-0-31-1) came back into the attack from the other end. This time off his longer run up. He varied his pace well and used his slower ball to good effect (copy and paste from the 1st XI match report). Westy (9-0-50-1) replaced Lush for his final 2 overs and bowled excellently at the death with the only boundary off his bowling coming from a thick outside edge. Lush had forgotten Isaac was only 16 and could therefore, only bowl 6 overs in a spell. Who could he turn to for the last over of the innings? JAMIE BAKER! The specialist death bowler bowled a superb last over only going for 5 runs and taking a wicket in the process as he finished with figures of 7-1-55-2. Egerton finished on 254 - 9 from their 40 overs. An excellent effort all round in the last 10 overs to pull it back after it looked like getting away from us at the 30 over mark. Leo also told me make to make sure I mentioned the fact he conceded no byes. His wicketkeeping has come on a long way since the start of the season, even if he does get pinned in the chest at least once a game off my bowling.

Bobby and Tim Lush opened the batting for us. Bobby looked out of nick as he only managed to take the first over for 17, including a horrible looking cover drive as well as an ugly looking on-drive. Lush senior was knocking it around nicely at the other end, but was out for 6 runs after failing to clear mid-off. Westy joined Bobby at the crease and these two started a nice partnership. Westy picked up singles here and there whilst Bobby was batting magnificently, picking the gaps with ease and jumping on anything loose. Egerton turned to their tall number 6 bat to try and find a breakthrough. He bowled at a decent pace with Egerton setting a very aggressive field for his bowling. Westy continued to play and miss outside off against him and make him look like Mark Wood. Bobby clearly enjoyed the extra pace on the ball and made him look like Ollie Robinson. Despite beating his bat on several occasions, Westy survived and latched on top of a full toss beautifully at one stage. It was the off spinner at the other end that would prove his downfall. Looking to accelerate the game he charged down and was clean bowled for a well made 34 to bring an end to a vital 129 run partnership. Meanwhile, Bobby had reached his century but no-one cares about that because he does it all the time!

Matt ‘no knees’ Klimke was in at number 4. He looked solid early on and got off the mark with a good shot through the cover for 4. However, he fell shortly after that, their young leggy slipping one through his gate. Lush Junior joined Bobby at the crease with the score at 177 with 12 overs remaining. Bobby was delighted to see Lush join him at the crease, looking to scamper quick singles and turn 1s into 2s. What every opening batsman wants after batting 28 overs and being on 110*.

Egerton looked to buy a few overs before bringing their big, 'quick' bowler back on. Bobby and Lush took full advantage of this as the next 3 overs went for 32 runs. Egerton brought their big bowler back on and had the field spread on the off side with 7 fielders out on the boundary (not very cricket of them!!). However, they had no mid on and he served up full tosses with Lushy and Bobby both helping themselves to 3 runs apiece through this region in consecutive balls. Bobby then put on a bit of show at this point, sending their so called quick bowler to every corner of the ground. Especially when he tried to bounce him which Bobby was more than happy to bring the pull shot out for. We were now well in control and required 11 off the last 2 overs. With their big lad bowling the penultimate, Egerton set one of the weirdest fields I’ve ever seen at the death. Long off, deep extra, deep cover, deep point but no deep mid wicket! Anyone with half a brain would think they were going to hide it outside off. Their bowler charged in, Bobby stepped across and smashed a full toss through midwicket. The bowler charged in again, Bobby hit another full toss through mid wicket. All but game over by this point as Lush and Bobby picked off the remaining runs with a couple of singles. Lush finished on 24* whilst Bobby finished on 168*. A truly fantastic knock from the vice captain, but I’m not sure if it even improved his average.

Bearsted chased down 254 without hitting a single 6, which shows the real class of Bobby’s innings. A first win of the season for the Sunday XI with contributions all round and great signs of improvement, especially from some of the Under 15s (Leo Petty and Isaac Marriner).

Perhaps we aren’t out of our depth in Division 1 after all?

Cheers,

Lushy