Venturers vs The Bath Knights
Wednesday 1st August 2007
Author: Ian Gillard
Lost by 2 runs. Bath Knights 115-8 Venturers 113
Finally the weather stayed dry enough to enable another game to go ahead, and the Venturers arrived at the Sulis Club with a few victories behind them and the sun beaming down. Unfortunately the Knights could not field a full team with two players stuck in traffic and their reduced side batted first to give their players time to arrive. They still had good batsmen though and their opener was clearly a decent cricketer who apparently plays at a higher level each weekend. When Duncan opened down the hill his first two hits were very well timed requiring excellent stops from Chintan at cover. Despite the clean hitting we started very well, conceding just a single off the first over despite the big drives, but Matt had to bowl up the hill and was unlucky to suffer heavily from some decent straight hits that too often went straight through our fielders. Duncan conceded only 11 runs off his four overs and removed one of the openers, and but for a swatted no-ball in his last over he would have bowled through for only 6 runs. Simon replaced Matt at the other end after his early punishment and got a wicket straight away with Matt taking a tidy flat catch at cover. It wasn’t their top man but he had still been looking in good touch and we were relieved to get rid of him for just 14. Chintan followed Duncan down the hill and conceded only 16 off his spell which included a maiden. Simon finished off his own spell with a wicket which bowled the number 4 who had started scoring heavily but frustratingly the opener was still at the other end and the run rate stayed quite high throughout the middle overs. When Lee followed Simon in the 14th over and got a breakthrough bowling the number 5 without scoring we felt that we were nearly through them, and another quick wicket would have put us firmly in front.
Their number 6 usually bats at 11 but we weren’t sure why as he showed he could time the ball quite well and got a couple of boundaries when we thought we had them tied down. The partnership was nearly broken though when he set off for an imaginary single despite our fielder holding the ball as he started. There was an age to get the ball in safely but pressure to take wickets does funny things and during the game at Hinton Charterhouse the same situation brought a really poor throw from Ian (who naturally blamed it entirely on his injured hand) which prevented a much-needed run-out. In this case it was Richard who found himself gliding the ball gently just over Roger’s outstretched gloves and the chance was missed. Happily we are not the only team to suffer from this phenomenon as pressure probably caused the overthrow in the final over of our own innings (see end). Ian was surprised to be following Chintan as he hasn’t bowled for a few matches and started nervously in the 17th over, but he found his rhythm by the last ball of first over and with some decent pace and bounce he took the wicket of their stubborn opener from the first ball of the 19th through a really excellent running catch from Alistair at long on, who judged a high ball superbly running towards the boundary. Sadly Ian missed out on his first ever wicket maiden by conceding 2 off the 6th ball, but surprisingly the last 3 overs were very tight indeed and went for just 7 runs which must be quite rare. This was largely due to four wickets falling, and Chris bowled well to concede just 5 runs and it was his 2 late wickets, combined with a run out, that finished the innings with a couple of balls remaining.
At the changeover we were very pleased with our performance and
the scorebook confirms a theory that our bowling is basically quite good
but just occasionally wayward. Only 4 overs went for 10 or more and each
was attributed to a different bowler. These 4 accounted for 48 runs – approaching
half the full total. In contrast, 11 overs were bowled for only 26 runs
which suggests our bowling is actually pretty good but is let down by just
a few bad overs which is proved in the fact that all 7 bowlers conceded
at least half of their total runs in just one of their overs regardless
of the length of their spell, and Ian and Chris were the only cases where
it was the first over.
So, with the light fading as the sun went stubbornly behind some
high cloud and the target set at 116, Roger and Richard took the
field. The gaps in the field did not seem as big as one might have
expected with two players missing as they had removed the slips
and since it is very rare to see slip chances let alone a successful
slip catch in a whole season, it might be an idea to always follow
this model in future and strangle the runs. Both openers looked
very comfortable at the start and we relaxed and watched 30 come
off the first 6 overs without a wicket falling or even a chance
being given. Eventually Roger went, bowled by a good one off their
opening bowler in his last over for 15, and Fluffy strode out to
the middle. The running between the wickets had been good but it
briefly faltered with the fear of losing the rest of the top order
quickly and there was a feeling that we need to take more calculated
risks to keep the runs coming as our opponents did. Richard was
caught on the edge of the circle off a
spinner in the 9th over also for 15, and Duncan adopted the more
aggressive policy straight away. Strong calling ensured the running
between the wickets was really excellent and this piled pressure
on the field, despite some very close calls. Despite taking the
risks it seems harder than we think to run a batsman out who commits
himself with the umpires giving benefit to the batter so perhaps
we need to be more ambitious with our running. Even so the risky
running still wasn’t enough and we needed the odd big shot to keep
us in it, a fact that Duncan was clearly aware of and his first
scoring shot went to the boundary. In fact when he holed out to
mid-wicket a couple of overs later he had scored 10 off just 4
scoring shots which included 2 boundaries, but the running had
added more runs than this as extras and added runs off Fluffy’s
batting.
We were 67 for 3 in the 12th over and were slightly behind the run rate but it was Chintan following Duncan and heavy hitting is something he is certainly familiar with. His first scoring shot predictably went for 4 which brought some smiles on the boundary, but then he was bowled by their best bowler with a ball that pitched outside off and came in sharply. This bowler was causing us lots of problems, conceding only 8 runs from his spell, and it was his consistency that probably won the match. He didn’t bowl a single wide or no-ball and punished us by bowling quick and straight on a very full length where it was hard to get away. Things were looking awkward but Alistair and Fluffy got things going again and as the really good bowler finished his spell we started to punish their other bowlers. The spinner was the most expensive and finished with exactly the same figures as Simon with 2-29, but although their next bowler went for 12 off his first over he took Alistair’s wicket caught behind for 11 and after Simon hit a 4 off the first ball he faced we had 13 to get with 2 overs left.
The bowling down the hill was tight and in the penultimate over we lost Fluffy who had started scoring more heavily and then Simon was bowled playing a much-needed big shot. The last over was pretty frantic and started with us needing 10 off 6 balls with Matt on strike and Ian at the other end yet to face. Matt hit a single to bring Ian on strike and his shot brought a 2, but pushing for the second had pressured the fielder into an overthrow which ran out towards square leg. Matt had pushed hard running down the hill to the danger end and had run a long way through the crease, which meant when the overthrow happened was there had a long, long way to come back up the hill. He is still very quick between the wickets though and despite the extra distance to run he was unlucky to be just run out by nothing less than a direct hit from square leg. Retrospectively perhaps Ian who is also very quick, could have ignored the pressure from the boundary and not risked Matt’s wicket by calling him through - trusting his own hitting and the quick running the partnership produced against the Taverners this season to bring the match home taking 2 off each ball. This rationale might have swayed him with time to ponder it, but even so had we still lost by 1 run without trying for that single there would have been questions afterwards so it was a difficult one to call. In the event the dismissal brought Lee in to bat at the striker’s end with 4 balls left, but with less speed between the stumps and the field alert he and Ian could only take a single from each of the next two balls. Lee raised hopes with a 2 of the penultimate ball, including a football-style slide from Ian to gain his ground, and this left us with 1 ball to face and 3 needed to win. Lee readied himself against the spinner with instructions to hit and run and he hit the ball quite firmly on the off side, and pounded down the pitch. A bit of luck might have taken the ball into space to allow at least a second run and a respectable tie, but this was a game of very small margins and in the event the ball went straight to the only fielder out there. He might still have fumbled or panicked and conceded overthrows so Lee ran the suicidal second run, but there was no mistake from the fielder, and in a foot race to the striker’s end he ran Lee out to finish a very enjoyable match.