Canal Taverners vs Venturers, Wednesday July 13th

Canal Taverners 148-6, Venturers 149-2 (17.3 overs)

There was enough cloud cover for the setting sun not to be too much of a problem at Victory Field this time. Our team, though consisting of familiar people, had an unfamiliar look, lacking both Indians (only Satheesh and Shashank, plus Gregory) and specialist bowlers. There were four of the latter, Satheesh, Adam, Simon and Gregory, and they were used in that order and were notably unsuccessful in dislodging the openers. Adam was at least economical. Satheesh tended to stray to off and was thrashed through the covers many times by the senior opener. With his liking for that shot and his Elgarian moustache that batsman might have reminded one of Archie MacLaren or F.S. Jackson if the cover drive hadn't quite often landed at short third man, usually about eight yards from an increasing disoriented Chris Middup. It was very effective.

Simon was the best of the bowlers. Gregory bowled a wide first ball, dazzled by the low sun, and to avoid this bowled his next two overs with his eyes tight shut. If he didn't shut his eyes, he might just as well have done: it certainly looked as if he had. He also dropped the Elgarian off Simon, a fairly hard chance but the only really clear one we had had. That wasn't the Elgarian's first escape. Earlier, Satheesh had had him caught by David at wide mid-on, but off a no ball, and in the resulting confusion had forgotten to go to the stumps to effect a run-out. In the end it was Satheesh's safe pair of hands that dismissed him, holding a big skier off Simon at long-off. By then the opening partnership had at last been broken, the other opener unluckily bowled off his pads by Gregory. Hearing a rumour that a left-hander had arrived, Gregory opened his eyes and bowled better, picking up a couple more wickets. Simon also improved, from a better start, and got another wicket. David and Tom Rosoman, both rather occasional bowlers so far this year, finished the innings off. Tom was very effective: David strayed expensively to leg at first but recovered, and kept them below 150 by hitting the stumps with the last ball of the innings.

Chris Middup hit a four at the fourth violent attempt and was bowled early in the second over of the match, playing his first and only defensive shot. Shashank whipped his first ball away through square leg, waited for a while and then hit a full toss into the chestnuts lining the Frome road. That characterised his innings: care, attention, and bouts of extreme violence. Tom did the same but without the violence. The bounce was uneven and the bowling good: only Canal Taverners' ground fielding let them down at times, and ours had been no better. Tom and Shashank dealt with the bounce by watching closely. To deal with the bowling, Shashank waited, then took maximum advantage when something loose did come along. Tom didn't wait but simply took singles all the time: he seldom faced three balls in succession. There weren't torrents of runs, but a steady strong flow, eight an over just about every time. Shashank's boundaries - he hit five sixes - meant that he dominated the scoring. The locals stopped pushing branches through the side netting of the tennis court and sat down to watch. In the twelfth over the hundred came up, as it had done when we were bowling; but instead of losing wickets as Canal Taverners did, we just carried on.

Eventually a slow off-spinner was introduced and suddenly Shashank looked less comfortable. He played one over with what almost amounted to caution. Two overs later he hit his last six, over long-on, and then danced down the pitch and was beated by flight and turn, and bowled. He trotted off, waving cheerfully, with 91 to his name and the match all but won. Any idea that Canal Taverners may have had that they were through the batting was instantly scotched by David's two cracked fours at the end of the over; and Tom and David wound up the batting as they had wound up the bowling, cantering to the conclusion with two overs to spare. Pete, Alistair, Alex and Satheesh, good batsmen all, never even got in.

Fixtures & Results 2011