After 4 resounding defeats we were a little nervous to be hosting the unbeaten League leaders, Locksbottom 3s.
We were missing Baker senior and junior who were consuming vast quantities of alcohol elsewhere. Damps was recovering from surgery on his wrist occasioned by a repetitive strain injury.
However, we had a decent youthful side out.
The pitch looked good and our decrepit cover had worked well to keep the rain off the wicket.
A group effort got the technology working. Well, except for our skipper who stayed well away from the gadgets. Which was undoubtedly for the best.
We lost the toss and were asked to bat.
Tim Lush and Tanky opened up. Tanky was Tanky. Please see all previous match reports which will describe what he did. The statistics report an entertaining 13 from only 7 balls.
Petty looked good but got a bottom hand on one that bounced and lobbed a catch back to the bowler.
The bowling was a good standard.
Guttsy was in next but was caught for 8.
Olly Patton has a lovely straight bat but was caught playing a bad shot for 1.
Tim Lush was dropped behind the wicket but carried on battling.
Hollis has a good eye but was caught for 12
Ollie Marriner was on a break from GCSEs and batting well. He forced the pace in the running between the wickets.
Tim Lush was eventually out for 29. They were off 107 deliveries but he is crucial to us accumulating any decent score. He’d have scored more if Marriner hadn’t got his backside in the way of a glorious straight drive.
Freddie Salter was caught for 3.
Max Patton edged one behind first ball.
Skinner came in the death and scored 11* off 10.
Marriner was unbeaten on an excellent 26.
We had scored 132 for 8 from our 40 overs.
It wasn’t a huge total but gave us something to bowl at.
At tea Max Patton was having a complete grump and was lucky not to get a clip round the ear from his skipper, let alone his Mum.
Defending a small total, it was important to get off to a good start.
It was reassuring therefore to have Ollie Marriner coming down the slope first up. Unfortunately the batsman had other ideas. He smashed 5 boundaries and after that initial over they were 20 without loss.
The ageing keeper decided he needed to change something and decided to stand up to the quicks. It meant we conceded a fair few byes but it seemed to curtail the opening bat who liked to wander down the wicket to play his big shots.
Marriner could have lost his head and had a strop. He put on his big boy pants and showed maturity beyond his years. His next 5 overs went for 4 runs. He was moving the ball back into the right handers mixed with several that were angled across them.
From the bottom end we had Max “Stroppy” Patton. He was clearly bowling against some very good batsmen.
Patton was, to put it frankly, far too good for them. He was bowling with aggression and swinging it in late and dramatically. He bowled one bad ball in 5 overs, it got smacked for 4. The rest were almost unplayable. His first wicket was a catch behind by Skinner. His second was clean bowled. It started wide of off and took the top of middle stump. Watch it on Play Cricket. I still can’t work out how the batsman was supposed to deal with it.
His third was bowled from a bottom edge. FInal figures of 5-2-7-3.
Your aged match reporter started playing adult cricket in 1980. This was one of the the best spells he can recall. It was worthy of Divison 1 rather than Division 8.
Both bowlers had to come off because of age restrictions. Could we keep up the standards? We certainly could
Palipane came down the slope and bowled some beautiful deliveries. He was robbed of a plumb lbw but soon clean bowled the same guy. He also clean bowled their skipper. 6-2-14-2 was a great set of figures.
Oscar Hollis bowled up their slope. He gets good away swing and jags some back off the seam. His 5 overs went for 23. Crucially he accounted for their opener, top scorer in the division. He top edged one and Skinner waddled around in front of the stumps with more pace than usual and took a good catch.
When he reached his age limit, he was replaced by Ollie Patton who bowled his lovely flighted off spin.
Freddie Salter charged down the slope next. He might not be the biggest yet but he is fearless and gives his all. He got three wickets, one caught and bowled, one held by Max at mid off and one clean bowled. 4-1-8-3 were his excellent figures.
Ollie took the final wicket with one that turned sharply into the No 11. (5.3-0-13-1)
We had bowled out a very good side for 95. We didn’t even need Guttsy or Lush to bowl.
We fielded well and supported each other throughout the innings. Your skipper has absolutely ruined his knees keeping wicket but is typing this match report with a big grin on his face. I’m very proud of the team, especially the youngsters.
This wasn’t a glimpse of the future. It was the here and now.