Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Shedfield 27th July 2008

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Report by Rags

So to the game itself. I must admit as a non player that day, it actually makes it harder to remember (or maybe it's my age) all the thing that happened, but here goes.

Prior to the game Tim bought out a special orange bat, used to give catching practice before a game, everyone 'seemed' to excel in making the catches off this bat. Maybe we should have had a word with the opposition and asked them to spray paint their bats orange, as it may have helped later! Also in the pre-amble to the game was the 'brolly wars' between Speedo and Sunil with both claiming that 'theirs was bigger' !!!

Not sure who won the toss, but we were in the field, with Bob and Colly opening the bowling. This seemed to suit the Shedfield openers, as the pace and bounce of an artificial track meant that the bowlers were having to pitch the ball up, and driving seemed to be a strong suit for these batsmen. A fairly early drop in the gully by Den off Colly was the start of a feud between the two, to see who could drop the most catches on the day!! Colly putting a hard chance down in the covers to equal his rivals score( as far as I can remember the final score was 3-3).

After an opening stand of 98, Sunil made the breakthrough, bowling Jennings for a well deserved 54. The next wicket followed soon after, when following a 'yes-no' scenario, James threw the ball from square leg to Sunil to complete the run-out. Another 50 partnership followed before the skipper wisely turned to a bowler renowned for his wicket taking prowess and ability to bowl it straight!!!

Enter Micky - he proceeded to give a masterful display of tight, accurate in-swing bowling, that the batsmen couldn't get away, luckily for them Brian was not bowling quite as well from the other end. Micky took 2 wickets whilst conceding only 8 runs in 5 overs to be the pick of the bowlers on the first day.

At this stage it was 192-4, soon 198-5 as Colly came back and took a wicket, no surprise really, apart from the fact that Raj took the catch!! This was the signal for the number 3 batsmen Martin to start launching the ball directly to fielders and running lots of runs as they dropped him. Colly dropped 2 in 2 balls, Dennis dropped 2 in 2 overs and at least there was a certain parity between them both at the end of the innings. Brian's figures, in particular, suffered. Martin ended on 75 not out and saw Shedfield to a total of 238 for 5, a good total, but one that we felt was within reach if we batted well.
 
James and Raj got us off to a good, solid and quick start. James was looking in good nick but then fell to a decent catch to leave us 76-1. Enter the returning Tim, for his first match for T&T in about 4 years since he left us for the 'warmer, tropical climate' of Cheshire! What followed was an excellent stand of 134, between the increasingly knackered Tim and the even more increasingly knackered Raj. Raj batted superbly and managed to keep his concentration to complete a 'ton' before Nelson struck. With Raj on 111, Tim pushed the ball firmly to a shortish cover, Raj called for a single and set off, Tim called No quite emphatically. The ball was thrown to the bowlers end and missed, Raj was demonstrating the turning circle of a super tanker stuck in the oil it should have been carrying, the ball was backed up and under armed at the stumps which also missed, Raj was stumbling back to his crease, finally the ball was again backed up and the throw this time did not miss and found Raj just a foot or so short and run out. I'm sure I saw a smile on his face at the relief that he wouldn't have to find another breath for running again and could instead go off and have a cigarette. Well played Raj although its possible that he deserved a fine or two for the impression of Sehwag when on 96 (going past his ton with a six) and the Inzi impression as he was comically run out. That was the end of the wickets falling, despite Dennis trying to get out in various ways whilst at the wicket. Tim brought up a well deserved 50 and the two of them saw us home with over 3 overs to spare.
 
A competitive start to the tour, in a game played in good spirit, was just exactly what we'd wanted. Unfortunately we couldn't stay on after the match, as we had to travel to Chickerell to book-in, but I'd like to thank Shedfield for the hospitality shown to us on the day and hopefully we will return to sample the delights another time.
 
Dennis received the duck/bunny T-shirt, as he had the lowest score of the day (23not out) and Spike won the Dicko of the day T-shirt, for a lightning quick dash across the car park to get his match trousers, which he'd left in the car, and thinking that nobody had spotted him!!! If you get to see the tour photo at some point that was taken at the Shedfield game, you may see Spike clearly holding his whites in front of his jeans for the snapshot.