Theale & Tilehurst friendly XI vs Bradfield friendly XI

21st August 2011

The Sunday Catch up/down: As Steady as She Goes

I think I have finally come to realise why I have been asked to write this report, it dawned on me when I came to pick a title, but fear not I’ll give you something you can talk about.  Roger and Micky opened the batting and not too much happened. But before we get to that (pause from the cricket – I don’t want to talk about nothing for too long now) so let me explain how we got to that ground. Roger had apparently played there before back in the days of ‘’the ol’ baerksheire league’’, whenever that may have been if ever that has been since no one has really given a concrete recollection of it but Rog is perhaps the more convincing. We drove through Bradfield Southend ignored a few signs for recreation grounds not knowing exactly where we were going and suddenly Rog took a right turn into what looked like any other housing estate and what do you know we had arrived at the ground with Rog apparently taking the credit as it was stored in his memory bank from the last time he played there. Obviously not in the satnav memory so it must have been a while back! As tempted as I am to accept that I’m not sure that counts as proof that he may have played there so steady on Rog, how do I know that wasn’t sheer luck?

Ok the partnership, it was nice and it was that word, I can’t remember, it escapes me for now but it would be a perfect descriptor, well if it comes back to me - I don’t know!  The opposition started off strong and kept things tight with extras kept to a strict minimum. Rog and Micky replied by playing risk free cricket but did at times look over cautious with their running between the wickets maybe I’m reading too much into it as a strategy and they were more than likely being lazy but you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. In any case we made a solid start before Rog departed after making a good start.

I got my chance to run out into the middle at number 3 for the third time in my career but I chose to walk, once I got their however I wasn’t planning to stand still for too long. I pushed the tempo up a little bit and Micky responded by making me run some quick singles which I wasn’t too comfortable with so I take it all back he can run (when wants to). We put on a 50 partnership and I was bowled soon after.  James and Micky saw us into the drinks break and Micky had cruised to a 50 with good acceleration in the latter half of his innings. With exactly one run added to his tally after the drinks break Micky was claimed victim of 1 parts squash and 4 parts water and whatever else may have been added to produce the shot he played which was well out of character for Micky which is why I mention it as his first wild swipe was his last!

Then Dough got bowled and Ash came out to bat with Stu fresh from his match report of numbers unfortunately the numbers went missing. The numbers on the scoreboard didn’t look to great neither and it looked like the two of them would soon make things add up but Ash timed one too well to deep backward square who pulled off a good catch to cut his innings short. This left the lower order with the task of helping Stu rebuild the score. Tim and Brian were particularly effective and Mickey wasn’t bad either, first he played the dill scoop and if that wasn’t enough he threw everything he had (the proverbial kitchen sink if you will but he only had his bat in hand) at the next ball and almost wiped out the midwicket fielder with his flying cricket bat. Dolly and Daisy (as Malcolm called them) were the not out batsman calling the late runs in distinctly high pitched voices.

Second Half

The second half saw Mickey open the bowling and I was the first to drop a simple chance unfortunately this wasn’t the only display of how not to catch a ball in case anyone missed it the first time. Mickey would himself drop one, a return catch from his bowling and Bobby was the other. Mickey then bowled one of the Stansfields off a no ball and it seemed like it would be a very long day in the field. However Ash was well positioned at Short extra cover to help Bobby by taking his first catch very low and hit at speed, great reaction time but I think I held my dropped catch longer than his before he threw it up but there you go. The other opener by the same name was out in similar fashion but the catch wasn’t as spectacular. Just as Ash restored our belief that we could catch as a team he then went and put down an easier chance at first slip off Mickey who would finish wicket less even though he would have had 3 or 4 on any other day.

Ash was then introduced into the attack and took two quick wickets. The first of which produced a very good stumping from a slightly quicker ball which gripped and turned sharply. Masters was well out of his crease and Tim whipped off the bails in a flash to send him back. Blakey turned up in his where’s wally shirt and this is probably the time to answer that elusive question as he was well placed at the end of his bowling action to take his one and only catching chance handily off his own bowling, to ensure he got a wicket in his short spell. Ash was still going strong and picked up another two with his fiery leg spin. Stu and Rog also picked up one a piece and made it hard to score with their tidy bowling styles. Stu showed his dedication to the cause and threw himself around in the field and Rog did the same by bowling economically. I was shocked to see Dougie bowl but he did. Didn’t take a wicket but was very economical.

In the end we settled for a draw needing one wicket which was probably a fair result despite the number of dropped catches.  Team performance rating around 6.5 out of 10, wasn’t the worst but I’m sure we can do a little better. So there you have it I finally wrote a report on a Sunday and I’m seeing more and crazier reports by the day, seems like everyone is getting on the bandwagon. I’m willing to hear what you have.

Till next time

Arsalan

THEALE AND TILEHURST CC SCORECARD
Home Team Bradfield Away Team Theale and Tilehurst
Date of Match 21 August 2011 Played at Bradfield



















Team
Result Team

Result

Drawn



















1st Innings of Theale and Tilehurst





 


Name How Out Who Bowler 4's 6's Score


1 M Mehta st J Stansfield J Bargent 6 0 51


2 R Puri ct N Goodwin J Atkins 2 0 18


3 A Ahmed bowled
J Bargent 3 0 22


4 J White bowled
J Bargent 0 0 1


5 S Brown bowled
E Brown 3 0 17


6 A Misra ct R Stansfield N Goodwin 1 0 13


7 T Beck lbw
M Bolton 3 0 16


8 B Cooper run out

0 0 12


9 M Holder st J Stansfield R Stansfield 2 0 17


10 J Blake not out

0 0 3


11 B Rees not out

2 0 11









Byes 2













Leg Byes 0













Wides 13













No Balls 1















Extras

16





















 


Wickets 9 Total

197


















Bowling O M R W








1 L Matthews 6 0 25 0








2 J Atkinson 8 2 36 1








3 R Goodwin 3 1 15 0








4 M Goodwin 4 0 9 0








5 J Bargent 6 0 31 3








6 N Goodwin 3 1 13 1








7 E Brown 3 0 13 1








8 M Bolton
3 0 15 1









9 R Stansfield
2 0 13 1









10 D Masters 2 0 24 0
























Fall of Wicket














Score Outgoing Bat Stand of







1 36 2 36







2 86 3 50







3 95 1 9







4 95 4 0







5 119 6 24







6 129 5 10







7 155 7 26







8 178 8 23







9 178 9 0







10










































































2nd Innings of Bradfield









Name How Out Who Bowler 4's 6's Score


1 R Stansfield ct A Misra B Rees

10


2 J Stansfield ct A Misra B Rees

13


3 E Brown not out



46


4 D Masters st T Beck A Misra

6


5 J Atkinson bowled
A Misra

5


6 N Goodwin ct & b
J Blake

1


7 L Matthews ct B Rees A Misra

18


8 M Goodwin lbw
A Misra

0


9 M Bolton bowled
S Brown

8


10 R Goodwin bowled
R Puri

9


11 J Bargent not out



0









Byes 23













Leg Byes 0













Wides 10













No Balls 1















Extras

34





















 


Wickets 9 Total

150


















Bowling O M R W








1 M Holder 7 0 18 0








2 B Rees 6 0 25 2








3 J Blake 4 0 24 1








4 A Misra 8 2 14 4








5 S Brown 5 0 20 1








6 R Puri 6 1 14 1








7 J White 4 0 12 0








8





























Fall of Wicket














Score Outgoing Bat Stand of







1 25 2 25







2 35 1 10







3 53 4 18







4 65 5 12







5 66 6 1







6 93 7 27







7 93 8 0







8 118 9 25







9 138 10 20







10