The future is bright

With availability looking good for the weekend it was decided that it would be a good idea to get a 4th team out. This was Monday. By Friday evening we were down to 7 available players. This led to a frantic rush to increase the numbers, cancel the game, borrow players and un-cancel the game. We turned up with our tail between our legs and made our apologies for the Friday night confusion.

Detling were kind enough to lend us one full player and a fielder. Which took us to 9. After a quick conversation with our team it turned out that out of that 9, only 7 of us had actually played in a cricket match before. Given that 2 of the 7 were Detling players our leader Tanky figured that it was going to be a challenge.

We lost the toss and the opposition elected to bat. After a quick bowling practice we opened with Joel (one of the never played in an actual match before). He delivered some fantastic balls which kept Detling's skipper extremely quiet with the first 2 overs being maidens. 7-2-24-0. Jez opened from the pavilion end and despite the borrowed keeper unfortunately dropping a sitter Jez kept the pressure on taking out their opener in his 3rd over. 7-1-27-1. The pressure from the field was extremely high and they struggled to find the gaps. At first change Jack V came on and maintained the pressure taking a beautiful wicket on his first over. Later in his spell, with some intense fielding from Evan and the keeper there was some confusion between the stump's leading to an easy run out. 7-1-13-2. Detling then brought on their (younger) power player. You could feel their pressure increasing on us. However we adjusted our field a little and Evan came on to bowl from the pavilion. Evan on his second over took out (Ollie) their younger power player. The bowling and fielding pressure stayed on with Evan having to come off due to age restrictions. 5-2-12-1. Jack C (another of the players that hadn't been in an actual cricket match before) came on for Evan and bowled extremely well. With a maiden in his second over. 5-1-12-0. Detling were still struggling to find the gaps and they were starting to push. Ted B came on bowling towards the pavilion. Detling thought they could take on Ted. They got that very wrong. On Ted’s 3rd ball they decided to send a perfect delivery straight into the hand of Tanky. In the second over their skipper eventually tumbled following another perfect delivery by Ted. An LBW in his 3rd over, which is an extremely rare occasion at Detling due to the angle of the pitch. And another in his 4th over. 4-0-12-4. Detling finished on 109. It was an outstanding bowling and fielding performance especially considering our numbers and experience.

It was now time to bat. We opened with Evan and Alf (their loaned player) they started strongly but sensiblly. However Alf after scoring a couple of 4s was quickly dispatched for 7. (Editor’s Note. Is my maths working?). Ted came on and set up a great partnership with Evan with some lovely shots. Jack V came on and was in great shape. Evan was still looking good, finding the gaps and making their field work hard. He eventually went out to a fantastic leaping catch.(For 28) It was like something from the IPL. Tanky came on, watched Jack V play a lovely shot which landed high in their hedge (which should have been a 6) then Tanky walked back to the pavilion for a duck after being useless. Peter T, after missing the first half of the match, came on and played some lovely shots but sadly sent one of these shots directly back to the bowler. Jack C came on and was clearly nervous and new to the game. He played himself in and they couldn't take his wicket, his confidence was growing and started scoring. Jack V maintained control playing with calmness. He capitalised on some slower bowling finishing the game with a lovely 4 straight through a gap in the field. Finishing on 41 not out and winning the game.

A great team performance and a well deserved victory.