Venturers vs UWE, Sunday May 16th

UWE Venturers 121 all out: Venturers 122-3 (29.4 overs) - 30 over match

The rain in the morning stopped in time and we played a slightly
reluctantly agreed thirty overs each way, so as to allow time to watch
at least the second innings of the world T20 final. At least it was
being truncated for another cricket match.

In the event our opponents didn't even last their thirty overs. We got
off to a bad start when one of our players withdrew, leaving us short
of bowling; but Ian G stepped bravely, if a little stiffly, into the
breach and opening the bowling with Kevin. Kevin was his usual
self. Ian produced a strange mixture of slow full tosses, medium-paced
half-trackers, and quite rapid good stuff, which made it very
difficult for Alex, keeping, to know where to stand. Gradually the
good stuff began to predominate, and a well-timed half-tracker in the
middle of the good stuff removed one of the two really dangerous
batsmen, who scooped a simple return catch.

Kevin continued lucklessly and Ian's luck also ran out as his accuracy
improved, but they kept the scoring down. When Kevin ran out of overs,
Simon replaced him. Off his third ball there was a blatant edge to the
keeper. The umpire complained, rightly, that he was unable to give it
out because he hadn't been able to see a thing, since Simon had been
standing in front of him. To everybody who could see, though, the edge
was embarrassingly obvious, and the batsman, after a little thought,
acknowledged this and walked off anyway. His successor aimed a
preposterous swipe at his first ball and was instantly bowled. The
hat-trick was avoided with a push back up the pitch but the last ball
of the over resulted in another edge to the keeper, clearly visible to
everybody this time.

After an unremarkable over from Gregory, Simon had another go. His
third ball appeared to catch the edge on the way through to Alex,
again. Everybody appealed. The umpire gave it out. The batsman,
looking at the wicket-keeper, didn't notice that: then he looked up
blankly. Asked (why?) by the umpire whether he had hit it, he replied
that he didn't know. The non-striker wandered over to mid-off and
asked what was going on, saying that it seemed to him to be simply
out. In fact it seemed to everybody except the striker to be simply
out,and even he wasn't sure. The umpire gave him out again, and he
left. There was no actual dispute as such, just a general feeling of
puzzlement. Simon's figures at this point were 1.3-1-0-4, but he soon
spoilt them with a wide.

After that we were always likely to win. The spectating non-striker
(and surviving opener) made sure that there was a struggle by personally
contributing 78 to their total of 121. He hit several impressive shots
including two enormous straight sixes: one of these, and some others,
dented Simon's figures a bit. But in trying to farm the strike he ran
out one of his partners, through a very sharp chase and shy by Alex,
and the new batsman also played a preposterous swipe at Simon first
ball, giving him a fifth wicket and Alex a fourth catch. Gregory's six
overs of accurate defensive offspin brought no wickets but kept the
scoring rate very low. When they ran out, a few runs leaked from
Nazar and Tom, but three catches finished it off: an efficient one at
deep mid-on by Gregory off Nazar, a good one at long-off by Nazar to
get rid, at last, of the opener, and finally a juggle by Fluffy at
short mid-off.

If it hadn't been for Simon's bowling, the highlight of the match
would have been the tea interval. The negotiations had taken as long
as setting up two or three coalitions, but we had been granted
permission to supply our own food and had done so rather
enthusiastically. Sulis supplied tea (the liquid) and that was also
satisfactory: it came with real milk rather than the stuff you get on
aeroplanes. This is the way to do things in the future if possible,
but the present arrangement is for 2010.

After a shower, Richard and Fluffy set off briskly in pursuit of 122
at four an over. Richard dominated and it was unfortunate that he soon
fell LBW to the spinner who opened the bowling. He was a long way
forward, but the ball wasn't going over. Fluffy and Chris continued
more slowly but kept things ticking over at an acceptable rate,
without hurrying unduly. After about ten overs, Chris skied to the
keeper, and with Kevin making a stuttering start we did begin to drop
behind the rate. It was never dangerous, though, with wickets in
hand. Unlike our opponents we didn't hit sixes; but we didn't get out
in absurd ways either, although we usually do. Kevin told Fluffy that
there was no hurry and then, two balls later, that they had better get
a move on; so they got a move on. Eventually Fluffy (34) moved a bit too
much and got stumped, but by that time Kevin (39*) was in control and there
wasn't much left for Ian G to do. We still managed to win with only
four balls to spare, depite having needed only five to win with
fifteen balls to go; but it never looked as if we wouldn't get the
runs.

Fixtures & Results 2010