Venturers vs South Wraxall
Sunday 5th August 2007
Author: Ian Benzeval
Lost by 11 runs. South Wraxall 130-5 Venturers 122
Prior to this weekend game there was a suggestion that it may be moved to the Sulis club due to the still saturated pitch in South Wraxall. In the end it was decided that it was dry enough, but it was definitely borderline. The wicket being soft enough to have divots taken from it by the faster bowlers, with many of these rearing viciously at the batsmen.
South Wraxall batted first and made slow, but steady progress. Duncan removed the younger opener, but they were 50-1 at the halfway stage. Both Duncan and Kevin bowled very tightly (going for 14 and 24 respectively) but the opener was the only wicket taken by our opening pair. Chintan also bowled tightly, taking a wicket late on and Nirmal – I believe in his first game for the Venturers – bowled well after a nervous first over, several chances being offered by the batsmen, but a combination of bad luck and a conservative field meant he remained wicketless. It was down to Simon to tear out the heart of the South Wraxall innings, removing their 2,3 and 4, two of whom got into the 30s. It was a good all round effort in the field, keeping South Wraxall down to 130 – though we only took 5 wickets.
Less than four an over was required, so the aim was to bat steadily and keep wickets in hand. No one told the wicket this – it spat the second ball of the innings at Roger who was caught as he fended off the rearing ball. The first four overs passed with the only run being a wide, but we still had plenty of time. Duncan was trapped LBW soon afterwards and Adam Paz struggled to find his timing before taking 11 off the first change bowler’s first over. Unfortunately he was then clean bowled in the next. Chintan (21) and Kevin (20) did a good job of carrying on the scoring – after the slow first few overs we had gotten back to just above the required run rate. However, neither of them pushed onto the big score which they could easily have taken. The slowness of the wicket and calm accuracy of much of South Wraxall’s bowling resulted in both getting out earlier than they would have liked. During much of this Fluffy (22) had been doing his Boycott impression at the other end – scoring at less than a run an over, but trying to keep wickets in hand. With the more recognised batsmen having fallen Fluffy tried to push on for the win and skied a hoik straight up and the bowler gleefully took the catch himself. Lee, Simon (who hit one beautiful 6) and Chris all fell too soon given the required run rate still was not above four an over. Alex and Nirmal valiantly tried to close out the win in a 15 run final wicket partnership. The final wicket fell with Alex trying for a quick run, not taking into account Nirmal’s unathleticism (shaky, even for a Venturer). We fell 8 runs short with most of 3 overs to spare. Even taking into account the slow outfield and the unpredictable wicket, we should have won this game and the difference between the teams was the ability to keep wickets in hand.
The match was enjoyable, but leaves Duncan’s desire for a win
against Bill Owen in the next, and his final, match all the greater.