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'Ten Man Graveney Fall short in Run Chase at Falconhurst'
By Jez Skidmore
Falconhurst 215 - 9
Graveney 189 - 8
(35 overs
format)
Falconhurst Win by 26 runs
Ten-man Graveney fell short in a run chase in the rain at Falconhurst
after only three batsmen reached double figures.
An excellent 72 from
man-of-the-match Rob Davies, and 57 from Richard Hussey, who
unfortunately ran himself out when looking set, kept Graveney in the
hunt for long periods during a wet afternoon. Towards the end,
Dave Moody also chipped in
with an excellent 30 not out, by far his highest score for the club, and
looked assured as he hit several boundaries in fading light and heavy
drizzle. Barry Gray is not often right, but his comment last week that
‘Dave seems to have fallen back in love with the game’ was spot on. Not
only has Dave’s wicket-keeping improved, he’s also proved that he can
bat.
But the target was out of
reach because the rest of the batting was less than solid (an in-joke
for Barry).
Nick Goodburn graciously
walked having gloved a good delivery to the keeper, Barry skied an early
ball to a fielder on the boundary, Tim Bunn and Tim Eveleigh were both
bowled cheaply and Jez Skidmore fell lbw to a ball which he claimed
pitched outside leg stump, although he should have hit it anyway.
Before a ball was bowled,
the fixture, long-awaited due to its reputation for providing
magnificent teas, looked in danger. Martin Nieri and Raghu Kankate were
late withdrawals and Graveney were forced to bring in an injured John
O’Driscoll and play with 10 men, giving the side a totally different
look and feel.
Skipper-for-the-day Nick
won the toss and decided to bowl in a 35-over game, perhaps feeling that
we might be skittled early had we batted first.
Nick quickly demonstrated
he had learnt lessons from last week’s skipper Jez and rang the changes
early on, much to the surprise of Barry who was hauled off after three
reasonable overs. But he was later brought back on and the policy of
giving most people a couple of short spells paid off, with the wickets
largely shared around and the score contained to 215, which wasn’t a bad
effort on the small pitch.
Tim Eveleigh was the
unlucky man to miss out on a double spell this week, after conceding
just six in his two overs. But Nick, looking to give everyone a game,
had already decided Tim would be promoted up the batting order given the
close proximity of the boundary, and that others would get their full
complement of overs instead. (It was a shame then that the close
boundary was not to be a factor when Tim batted!)
There were some spillages
in the field – Dave dropped one straightforward and one hard chance and
Barry also fumbled a difficult catch – but there were plenty taken. The
pick of them was from Tim Eveleigh who took a catch on the run after it
had been hit over his head (it was a big shot).
Dave also made up for his
spillages by taking a catch and producing a very sharp stumping when the
opposition skipper wandered out of his ground.
Graveney then produced a
guard of honour for the Falconhurst Chairman, who duly repaid us by
smacking us for 27 runs (pretty much what we lost by!) including one
shot where he splayed Barry’s stock ball back down the ground, drawing
admiring comments from Barry himself. If only our Chairman could do
likewise!
As we approached tea, Tim
Bunn became visibly distracted and shot to the front of the queue as the
Falconhurst innings finished. Although the tea was of a very high
standard, many of the team were shocked by the absence of last year’s
favourite, the honey mustard sausages.
During the tea break, Jez
got out his new toy, an HD camcorder, to record some of his teammates,
but Graveney in HD proved to be a frightening video that could only be
shown after the watershed.
The camera stayed out to
capture some classic straight drives from Rob, but later Jez had to pad
up and unfortunately missed big Tim’s ball juggling exercise in the
middle, which really would have kept the censors busy.
Post match festivities saw
Bigger Tim repeatedly telling their groundsman that the kitchen at the
ground smelt like a latrine, and explaining to everyone that he was
expecting his cricket pants to be delivered during this week! Rob Davies
followed up his man of the match report by winning the raffle, and
taking home a superb array of meats courtesy of the local butcher!
Man of the match :-
Rob
Davies.
Champagne moment :-
Tim
Bunn.....having
offered a simple caught and bowled (which was incredibly dropped by the
bowler) set off for a run before being sent back. In scrambling to make
his ground he was smacked on the backside by the fielder’s throw before
falling and demolishing the stumps!!
Moments of Disgrace
:-
-
Kev McGill stating on
Thursday that he was actually available and would really like to
play, only to then say he was busy when we had been reduced to 9 men
by that evening!
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Tim Eveleigh spending
another week fiddling around retrieving his box after every ball!
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Tim Eveleigh
repeatedly telling their groundsman that the kitchen smelt like a
latrine!
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