Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Mortimer West End 15th May 2005

BACK

Report by Fingers

With both James and Osman away it was Bob who picked up the reigns of the Sunday XI. He instantly got off to a bad start by losing the toss but with MWE choosing to bat and Bob wanting to bowl it didn’t really matter.

With having had a rest day on Saturday due to no 3rd XI fixture the theory was that Bob should be nice and fresh for a bowl. However, the reverse appeared to be the case and rather than being fresh he seemed to have gone rusty as his first two overs contained what is often described as an assortment of deliveries; it wasn’t true in this case as it was consistently rubbish. Worst of all was that the first ball of the game, which was well down the leg side, caught Ed right on the end of the thumb. After carrying on for another couple of overs he eventually had to relinquish the gloves to Rags and the colour of his thumb by the end of the evening amply showed why.

Fortunately Bob’s bowling quickly improved and it turned in to a very good spell going past the outside edge on numerous occasions until finally Prinn nicked one which Fingers held on to at slip. Rog was also bowling well in a rare chance with the new ball and he was finally rewarded when Keep chipped him to mid on where Phil took the catch.

What happened next is not entirely clear. I have recollections of most of it but unfortunately it is not aided by the score book which needed correcting at tea. It had been kept so badly that it suggested that 24 overs had been bowled from one end and only 20 at the other, no wonder the scoreboard had been wrong all through the innings.

The two main points were the batting of Jason Searancke who was the mainstay of the MWE innings with a well made 63 and the dismissal and Doe batting at number five. Obviously Doe is a keen cricketer having rushed back from Spain to make the fixture. Following the run out of Everitt he strode out to the crease to face Bob; Bob’s first ball to him was that one was well pitched up on or around off stump, it seemed to fool the batsman by doing absolutely nothing at all other than carrying on in a straight line for middle stump. It was at this point that Doe must have been reflecting on the wisdom of padding up offering no stroke. The inevitable appeal for lbw was upheld by the umpire and Doe made his way back to the pavilion to the considerable mirth of his team mates.

Chilly came on and took three late wickets with some well flighted left arm spin to leave MWE 168-9 at tea.

Ed and Chilly opened the batting and got T&T off to a very good start. Both were batting fluently and it was the 12th over when the first wicket fell on 57, Chilly slicing a drive to be caught in the gully. Ed and Rog also then had a good partnership taking the score through to 106-1 when we looked well in control of the game. Both went in quick succession though and with Searancke keeping it tight at one end the result wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Stephen and Phil both batted well but it took some good late blows from Spike to get us up to MWE’s score. With one needed Matt and Spike attempted a single but Spike was adjudged to have been run out by Rog at square leg. This run out decision prompted much discussion in the bar after the game; not so much over whether Rog had got the decision right or wrong but over how far Spike had been in and how bad the decision was.

With 3 balls left and one run needed Fingers strode to the crease, played and missed at the first before getting the winning run with one whole ball to spare to secure another win for the Sunday side.