Venturers vs Royal Cavaliers, Thursday June 6th

Royal Cavaliers 81-4 Venturers 74-9

We played the Royal Oak (a.k.a. Cavaliers) last year and beat them comfortably. This year our very strong bowling attack restricted the scoring to well below 100 off the 20 overs, despite only collecting 4 wickets.

Andy Y bowled particularly well conceding just a single and a wide off his 4 overs and removed an opener with Alex taking a solid catch. Ahmad also bowled well to remove the other opener and the number 3 via a catch from Simon T. The latter himself bowled well without reward as did Simon S. Gregory was more expensive and Ian G was wayward but bowled the number 4.

We held them to just 81 and felt confident we could knock those off without getting into any trouble. Alas, it was not to be. Alistair opened and looked in fantastic form striking 10 off just 6 balls before being bowled very unexpectedly, and it was good bowling rather than a poor shot that did for him. Rob B at the other end was slightly less explosive but also got a few away quickly before following Alistair in similar fashion. Matt and Kevin played a steady innings, Kevin striking some nice boundaries. A lot of really good-looking shots also went straight to fielders though and that created a lot of dot balls. After 10 overs we were well in the game and it was starting to turn in our favour, but just as Matt got going he was caught at cover and Kevin followed 2 overs later for 13. We had a platform and needed about 40 from the last 8 overs.

A few decent hits were needed to keep things reasonable but although Alex and Andy looked like they had the bowling under control they could only take a few here and there and then Alex was bowled. Ian G got away quickly and then Andy was caught and Simon S came to the middle. He got off the mark straight away and followed this with a couple of boundaries a bit later. Ian also found the rope pulling the spinner up the hill behind square, and things were looking a bit better. The asking rate was never really under control though and the pressure mounted with every dot ball. The last over saw Simon on strike against the spinner and 10 needed to win. He blocked the first ball – a good one - into the onside and they turned down a very risky single. We really needed a boundary and Simon lined up the next ball to oblige but got a top edge and was caught for 11. The batsmen crossed but Ian couldn't get the next one away and Ahmad pointed out that the next ball had to go a long way to give any real chance. Unfortunately the ball in question was pretty straight and a good length. It needed nifty footwork which didn't appear and the ball hit the stumps. Ian was replaced by Simon T with who lined up his first ball for an 11 th hour match-turner and was desperately unlucky when the ball stopped off the pitch and his shot passed well ahead of the ball. It followed the previous delivery onto the stumps and Gregory blocked the last ball of the match with Ahmad yet to face at the other end.

The run rate never really got up much and this was mostly due to particularly good bowling and fielding that was not reflected in their batting, and we were a bit disappointed to miss out on a low run chase despite 14 extras.

Fixtures & Results 2008