Theale & Tilehurst 1st XI vs Purley 26th May 2007

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Report by Fingers

This might not look like it at first glance but this again was a very close match, Purley just getting across the winning line with two balls to spare.

There was a season a couple of years ago when Cat won the toss and we fielded first in about the first ten matches.  Cat lost a fourth toss on the trot here and again we were put in to bat; this time on a pitch that was surprisingly damp given the weather towards the end of the week and the fact that there are covers at the ground.

For a second week running we got off to a bad start in the face of some good opening bowling; 29-3 off 11 overs was not a promising position.  Crofty came out and got the scoreboard moving whilst Micky held his end up but then both went in quick succession to leave us 93-5.

Jamil and Mike then put on 57 for the sixth wicket but unfortunately just as he looked like he was going to take the bowling on Jamil was out caught behind to the seventh ball of the over, perhaps it wasn't to be our lucky day.  Mike and Bondy then put on an unbroken 50 partnership for the seventh wicket to take the score to 200 off the last ball of the innings.  The feature of the partnership was the running between the wickets which goes to shown when you've been sat down all week playing with a calculator you have plenty of energy in reserve come the weekend.

200 represented a good recovery but had by no means put the game beyond Purley's reach.  In Doc's absence Mo opened the bowling with Cullum and was unlucky not to take a wicket first ball when Schofield was dropped at slip, a miss that was to prove costly.  First to go was Kevin Denton bowled by Cullum and when Patrick Allen and Paul Reber went in quick succession to leave the score 45-3 after 19 overs we were looking in a strong position.

Cullum had done well to concentrate during his opening spell as he had brought along his girlfriend to the match who for most of this period was playing with Cat and Liz's young daughter in the playground and looking very much like someone who was enjoying the prospect of future motherhood; not seemingly matched by Cullum's enjoyment of the prospect of fatherhood in the near future.  Perhaps the quality of Cullum's opening spell was down to his view that the sooner the game eneded the less broody his girlfriend would be at the end of the match.

Back to the game.  With Cullum and Mo at the end of their spells the T&T change bowlers needed to come on and bowl well.  Unfortunately none of us were able to do that and keep the pressure on the Purley batsman.  This allowed Maycock to play some big shots and score fluently and for Alan Schofield to show the benefits of patience at the top of the innings.

The partnership of 104 was broken when Mo was reintroduced to the attack and he also followed up with the wicket of Maycock.  By this time the prospect of us winning the game had realistically gone but there was still a chance of a winning draw.  With the run rate never really much above five an over and Purley having wickets in hand we probably did well to take the game to the last three balls when James Frost scored the winning runs for Purley.

What had cost us the match was the quality of the change bowling and a couple of crucial dropped catches.