Venturers vs Civil Service
Sunday 8th July 2007
Author: Ian Gillard
Won by 2 wickets. Civil Service 160-8 (40 overs),
Venturers 161-8 off 39 overs
We were a little short when we took the field against a Civil Service team who looked like they only had 5 players themselves. Actually it was hard to say where the rest of their team emerged from, but they did appear on cue. Lee arrived late (perhaps arriving late from Wimbledon – see end) and took up position square of the wicket and was straight into the action to stop a decent square drive. In fact our fields were well set throughout the match and the standard of ground fielding and throwing was excellent. Matt was vice-captain, supporting Roger who I think was also captain at the other 40 over win against the Badgers early in the season.
The batting had a one dimensional feel to it with a left hander who was left to score all the runs, but who was up to the challenge. His partners fell steadily with Matt claiming 2 wickets with some accurate medium pace and Simon claiming wickets either side of him, including the opening left-hander. The catching was good with Ian G claiming a customary high-ball and Alistair keeping himself in the frame for most prolific catcher of the season despite a late start with the team. Fluffy irritated the left-hander with some good stops close to the bat, and Matt did well close in on the other side against the mid-innings partnership. In fact the frustration showed several times when the lefty charged Matt’s bowling only to find it still hadn’t arrived and he could only block it away. Matt wasn’t bowling particularly slowly, but the pitch was quite slow and clearly not to the batsman’s taste.
Actually things were looking very favourable when a young lad ambled out wearing shades and was reminded to take a guard. He did well to hit the ball as he was obviously not familiar with batting, but got a couple of runs before being bowled by Adam. The key partnership came in the middle of the innings when a tiny batsman and a bigger partner put on about 30 between them, although Lee was unlucky not to have the latter caught when the ball was dropped. The culprit may have been put off by the confidence in the call from somewhere that it was “Ian’s ball”, but in reality he was unforgivably half asleep following a long period of low run-scoring and doubles his dropped catches for the Venturers. As it turned out Lee got his man soon after and when the high catch fell to him he made no such mistake.
In the end we weren’t able to bowl them out despite threatening to 15 overs in, but it didn’t matter and we were in a good position with 161 the target. Not that we could put that on the scoreboard as there was no “0”. The usual tea and the Wimbledon final and then it was back out with the Ian’s padding up to open the batting. This improbable selection was due to the heavy rain clouds edging closer and the threat of a Duckworth/Lewis result where run rate would count. Of course, that presupposes that the pinch hitters actually hit the ball. Ian B has opened the batting a few times for us with some success, but the last time Ian G opened against the Bath Knights he lasted four balls. This time his first ball went orbital and was dropped by none-other than the man he had dropped earlier. Karma it may have been but after hitting a rare 3 he was out bowled at the other end suggesting that to him ‘block’ in fact means ‘swing’. The bowling was straight but not lethal but also did for Fluffy who got a thick top edge playing a shot on the leg side. Kevin commented this “did not look good” as he collected his gear, and with the score 6 for 2 in the 4th over it was hard not to agree with him. Alistair had other ideas and held fast against improving bowling and he and Kevin got us into the match.
When Alistair went to a really good catch at 2nd slip the score was 29, and the foundations were there for a good run chase. The run rate was low and the rain was threatening but Roger played a Captain’s innings and he and Kevin, and later Andy, batted through to the 23rd over to bring the score to 81.
At this point the rain started and did not stop until the late evening, but our opponents gallantly played on in, at times, really poor conditions. Catching was nearly impossible, and Roger was dropped twice during his innings, but the fielders were not the only ones struggling. LBWs are almost always controversial which is presumably why the full time umpire refused to give numerous shouts during our bowling spell. Andy fell to one of these, and Matt could not continue his good form with the bat, but it brought Chintan to the crease. He was hampered in running by a leg strain, but batted really well despite being unable to run several normally comfortable seconds. In truth this worked for us as a run out would have finished us off.
He and Roger took the score to 150 with 4 overs left, but in trying to finish the game off he was run out by one of several direct hits by what was eventually a very handy team. I say eventually because the ambling, shade-wearing batsman did not field with his team and was replaced by someone else - hopefully not improving their team too much. Actually the pressure and the rain made running between the wickets quite a nervous affair. At one point Roger clipped one in the air towards a fielder on the leg side and set off down the pitch and it was chaos. The fielder dropped the ball and lost it between his feet, Roger skidded to a stop and dropped his bat as he turned and just as he made his ground the throw came in to the wrong end. The fielders could not be blamed as the conditions were poor. In fact the bowling was excellent despite this. The excitement and heavy rain may also have accounted for Andy putting up 29 instead of 79 on the scoreboard which drew a rather aggrieved shout from Roger in the middle. Later, a minor clerical error with the overs left gave us 12 instead of 30 balls remaining with similar repercussions in the middle.
Adam followed Chintan and he held one end up while
Roger went about the business of winning the match, but was eventually
bowled and Simon finished the innings with Roger (60 no) with only
9 balls to spare. Much credit was due to the fielders for sticking
it out and for the umpires who were half drowned by the end. Despite
another good bowling spell it is in this capacity that Lee also gets
the final mention. At Hinton Charterhouse he sported a professional-looking
white coat and Trilby which we agreed suited him well, while this
time the choice attire was a velvet black jacket to contrast the
white Trilby. This lent him the look of a 1930’s gentleman of leisure
and we agreed he cut quite a dashing figure. A sweepstake is now
running on what he will have for us next game.