Theale & Tilehurst 3rd XI vs Bracknell 2nd XI

11th June 2011

The Thirds in 3D: The Third Dimension

I don’t know what to say really but I did promise to write a little report so here we are, this might be the most personal one yet. We arrived at the ground nice and early, but there was a little confusion amongst the opposition about who our Skipper was. We pointed from the pavilion at a large man in a pink shirt (Alan). The opposition Skip turned around and asked if it was Lakeish? Obviously there were two large men wearing pink shirts in the middle or maybe Lakiesh ought to start worrying (I don’t know).

The Toss

The large man in the pink shirt walked away from the middle (not Lakeish – the other big man).
Me: Did you win the toss Al?
Al: Yes we’re batting!
Me: You’re still a useless tosser Al
Al: Arsalan, you think you’re funny don’t you and by the way you’re match reports are not all that, in my opinion Harry writes the best reports!
Me: But what about James, Michael and Alec? Their match reports aren’t too bad and besides didn’t Harry say you got a duck?
Al: Come to think of it you’re right that Harry – he’s a big fat liar.
Me: Now, now Al you can’t call people fat.
Al: Shut up Arsalan, I’m the Third XI Skipper, I can do what? I want and if you’re not careful pal, I make you field all day out on the boundary! If that’s not enough I’ll whaalluup yeaerrrrrrr and I can shout loud too!!
Me: What does that even mean?

Back to the cricket: Our Innings

Me and Charlie took the field and immediately set the scoreboard rolling with 8 off the first over. Charlie was first to go as he got the faintest of nicks behind which was held and to his credit he did walk. Then Rog came out to build a steady partnership. He found the boundary just as regularly as I did and although neither of us was particularly accelerating the run rate was a healthy one and we put on 68 in a short amount of time. Like all good things that too came to an end as Rog was next to go. Imran came to the crease for a brief stay, he tried to clear the longest boundary and it would have gone for 6 but it was a well held catch that was his undoing. Lakeish came out and we carried on ticking over the score board. By this time we were looking set for a really big score. Things didn’t look any better for Bracknell when we managed to run a 5 out to the long boundary. At some point while this was happening, I reached 50. Shortly afterwards Lakeish nicked one and unlike Charlie it was a much thicker edge but even then he didn’t walk although the finger had to up without a doubt. Alan and I built up another partnership after the drinks break and started to pile on the runs. We put on 76 in no time and at this point Alan was starting to run quicker than me. We rotated the strike well and found plenty of boundaries. I made it to my Third century (and 2,000 career runs) by taking a three out to the long boundary. When Alan got out, Indy came to the crease with only a handful of overs to go as Alan had already decided that it would be sensible to declare after the 47th over. At this stage I pushed Indy to run as many as possible but I was bowled and not too disappointed to walk off at that point although a few quick wickets fell and we ended up 8 down for 248.

Bracknell Innings

It was a dream start. The first ball was bowled by Imran which was worked to fine leg and Indy sent in an accurate throw to run out their opener without facing a ball – I believe that is what they call a diamond duck. Then little Rob got in on the act as he bowled a well flighted ball which P Bray tried to work away on the leg side only to get a leading edge to the well stationed Rog at short midwicket. He had to dive to his left at full stretch to hold a difficult chance while managing to land on his nose for some bizarre reason. I suppose it just added to the dramatic occasion. Well done for holding it. Indy and James then took the new ball and it was James that made an early impression as he bowled at a good pace and swung the ball away. The batsmen simply couldn’t find the edge and so he decided to bowl at the stumps and get his wickets that way. Indy persevered and bowled a long spell which got him his reward of three well-earned wickets. News of his bowling spell spread like wild fire and soon there were reports that he ‘’got a 9 year old girl out and celebrated like he had just won the EuroMillions lottery...’’. Now that was just a rumour it was actually a tough little batsman and Indy uprooted his off stump in menacing fashion. The rest of us celebrated while he caught his breath back. Rog went about his business at the other end and it only dawned on us when he wrapped up the innings that he had also picked up three wickets.

That’s 6 out of 6. The streak goes on. 25 points in the bag is like poetry in motion. If Shakespeare were here he would say the same and he would also tell that Australian fast bowler not to write my name in inverted commas. Dougie you ought to buy a cheap bottle of thunderbird and try to get back some of that courage you had in your prime because Doug you haven’t got what it takes any more. You can tweet that and reference me without the commas.

Shakespeare

THEALE AND TILEHURST CC SCORECARD
Home Team		Bracknell 2						Away Team		T & T 3
Date of Match		11th June 2011						Played at		Bracknell

		Team							Result	Team
Result		T & T 3							beat	Bracknell 2

1st Innings of		T & T 3
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	A Ahmed	bowled						J Bray		11	1	121
2	C Cooke	ct			C Adams			P Tubb		1		5
3	R Puri	bowled						Moses		4		32
4	I Mahmood	ct			J Bray			Moses		2		10
5	L Verma	ct			C Adams			B Martindale		1		14
6	A Why	lbw						B Martindale		3		28
7	I Narwal	bowled						B Martindale				2
8	J Bozarth	st			C Adams			J Bray		1		6
9	A Shotter	Not Out										0
10	R Why	dnb
11	T Beck	dnb
							Byes	3
							Leg Byes	12
							Wides	11
							No Balls	4
									Extras			30

							Wickets	8	Total			248

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	B Martindale		15	2	57	3
2	P Tubb		7	0	41	1
3	Moses		6	0	25	2
4	Ravi		3	0	29	0
5	Richardson		3	0	19	0
6	J Bray		13	1	71	2
7
8
9

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1	18	2				18
2	86	3				68
3	122	4				36
4	160	5				38
5	236	6				76
6	242	1				6
7	242	7				0
8	248	8				6
9
10




2nd Innings of		Bracknell 2
	Name	How Out			Who			Bowler		4's	6's	Score
1	P Tubb	bowled						J Bozarth				14
2	P Marlow	run out			I Narwal							0
3	P Bray	ct			R Puri			R Why				6
4	C Adams	bowled						R Puri				24
5	Krishan	ct			J Bozarth			J Bozarth				8
6	B Martindale	ct			I Mahmood			I Narwal				12
7	Richardson	bowled						I Narwal				6
8	Ravi	lbw						R Puri				8
9	J Bray	bowled						I Narwal				5
10	Ajmal	bowled						R Puri				1
11	Moses	Not Out										4
							Byes	5
							Leg Byes	0
							Wides	1
							No Balls	1
									Extras			7

							Wickets	10	Total			95

Bowling			O	M	R	W
1	I Mahmood		5	1	8	0
2	R Why		4	0	24	1
3	I Narwal		13	3	29	3
4	J Bozarth		6	1	16	2
5	R Puri		6.4	3	13	3
6
7
8

Fall of Wicket
	Score	Outgoing Bat				Stand of
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10