SHAH
AND WATSON SHINE TO GET LEAGUE
SEASON
OFF TO A WINNING START.
4th
May 2002
Braughing
CC v Holtwhites Trinibis CC
HTCC
147-10
(47.3
overs)
Braughing
133 – 10
(46.1
overs)
After a week of making more phone calls than I care
to mention at a cost equal to a small Third World countries
national debt, it wasn’t until Saturday morning that myself and
House had managed to find 11 men each that would take on Braughing
and Tewin respectively.
It was only at 11:30am Saturday that that the visions
of Blighter charging down the hill could be put out of my mind. A
sight that would put the fear of God into any Third man and Fine
Leg, God only knows what it does to the batsmen. However with
Wassa’s car being involved in an accident near his home, he was
unable to make the meet and the 1 ‘XI’ set of to Braughing
with 10.
With the toss won and unsure of what to do, the old
adage of ‘if in doubt bat’ came into play, with the batsmen
setting about posting a total that we might be able to defend. A
steady start was required and attained with the score reaching
96-3 of 30 overs, however the inevitable Holtwhites collapse
ensued and we finished up 147 all out. Shah batted well to finish
on 59 having been run out by an excellent piece of fielding, Shah
received good support from Daniel Webb (17) with David Evans
hitting a quick-fire 21.
The rear-guard action of the 9th (and
last) wicket deserves mention, with Pat Micallef and Neale
Dookheran who batting for half an hour put on 12 and enabled
Holtwhites to pass the 140 mark gaining two batting points and
getting the tally for the season underway. Holtwhites finishing on
147 all out of 47.3 overs.
After tea and the listening to the Cup final on
Sue’s radio, the token fielding/warm up was taking place, when
all of a sudden Kevin Burgess began running round in circles, arms
in the arm screaming like a banshee, was he hurt, an allergic
reaction to wasp sting maybe? Nothing as dramatic as that, once
he’d calmed down he told that he had Parlour in the sweepstake
at work!
After all the excitement, we took to the field with a
score that was defendable with eleven with a full compliment of
bowlers, something we did not have.
Cometh
the hour, Cometh the team!
Rowan ‘Buggy’ Watson and Pat ‘Haddock’ (or
Falcon if you’ve been at the club long enough-Ed) Micallef
opened the bowling. Micallef suffering from a large hangover, a
touch of gout and a hip injury that he had picked up playing an
extravagant ‘Robin Smith’ style leave during the first innings
bowled extremely well uphill into the wind, making it difficult
for the batsmen to score. The Braughing umpire probably best
summing up Micallef’s performance by giving him a ‘high
five’ on the way back to his mark after he had beaten the bat, a
scene that would bring great joy to any bowler around the world.
Whilst Pat was keeping things quiet at one end Buggy was blasting
away at the other. He produced two devastating spells of quick
bowling with both the old and new ball, to finish with the superb
figures of:
O
M
W
R
20.1
9
7
37
and
certainly proved the match winning performance.
Shah also picked up three wickets with his so called
‘loop and dip’ deliveries. Kevin Burgess provided a tidy spell
to allow Watson time to rest before he came back for his crucial
second spell. The bowlers were supported extremely well by the
field and the commitment shown was to be commended, even when
things were starting to get away from us heads did not drop as so
easily can happen and that bodes well for the rest of the season.
All in all a great win for all concerned a great way to get
the season started and certainly made the Stella taste a bit
sweeter that evening. Thanks as always to Bob and Sue for Umpiring
and Scoring.
David
Evans
1XI/X
Captain
