A Rusty Performance
1st XI V Hatfield CC Saturday 15th May 2004
After two wet weeks, we finally we get to play
a league game! It seemed as though we hadn’t shaken off all that
rust a few weeks ago and it was our first game of the year again.
And boy was there some rust in evidence!
But first things first, it was nice to start
off on the right foot, everyone was either at the meet on time, or
at the away ground on time, if going direct. And we got to the
ground with plenty of time to spare, even if we drove past the
ground entrance, because the navigator thought we were playing
Hatfield Hyde and not Hatfield –Funny thing is though, this happens
every time we play Hatfield and I still don’t remember ever playing
at Hatfield Hyde’s ground!
So down to business- I lost my first toss as
Captain of the league team, but fortunately the opposition obliged
by inserting themselves into bat, precisely what I wanted to happen.
Unfortunately the match didn’t pan out as I was hoping. Hatfield’s
opening batter took the initiative, with a blistering run a ball
ton, in fact scoring 104 out of his teams first 148. Mo was hit out
of the attack, but young Tyrone steadied things at the other end –
Junaid Sultan came on to replace Mo and bowled reasonably well.
However it wasn’t until Ziggy and then Pat came into the attack,
that we salvaged something out of this innings. Taking the pace off
the ball seemed to do the trick and one passage of 15 overs that
this pair bowled, only cost 30 runs. The pair took five wickets
between them, but even they couldn’t prevent Hatfield’s experienced
middle order increasing the run rate, with wickets in hand at the
end. Even so I think we recovered well from a leaky start, to hold
them to 225 for 5.
All the same I didn’t think it was a 225 pitch
and we should have kept them down to 180, but saying that, it was
also not a 100 all out pitch either! It was an ok start to our
innings, with the first three all making a start, but with a
shortish top order and some inexperience, combined with new players
in the middle order, we really needed one of us to go on and hold
the innings together.
Although we lost the game quite easily in the
end, there was a lot of positives to take out of this game; Tyrone
Reis opening the bowling on his Saturday 1st team league
debut with a tidy spell; Junaid Sultan giving us 6 controlled overs
on his return to the team after 5 years; Ziggy Cragswell still
proving that he is one of the best bowlers at the club; Pat Micallef
causing havoc in the Hatfield middle order with a mixture of flight,
guile and an ever increasing level of control; Mo, Kevin and myself
having time in the middle and finally the encouraging team fielding
performance, which although I’m sure can be improved with practice,
no one let their team down through lack of effort .
Obviously there are things we need to improve
on, most of which can be worked on with net practice, fielding
practice and match practice, which as a new skipper I need, as the
more games I can get under my belt, the better. Talking of which,
nothing can quite prepare you for what you encounter when you become
a new skipper. It’s a steep learning curve and I’ve realised from
Saturday’s game, that although you can listen to advice (which is
greatly received!) no one can tell you how or what to do, because
you only learn by making the mistakes yourself.
