Bristol T20 Tournament, Sunday July 7th

Venturers 130-5, Cardiff 89-7 | Bristol Venturers 136-6, Venturers 140-5 | Venturers 160-1, Bristol Academicals 101-6

There is always a minor hitch with this tournament, very often involving either the draw or the catering. This time it was the draw, which instead of being made in advance was done by the captains drawing names out of a hat. This failed when the Cardiff captain found himself looking at a piece of paper with the word “Cardiff” on it. A second attempt led to Cardiff playing us first, on a hot morning that promised to turn into a very hot afternoon.

Bath Venturers 130-5; Cardiff 89-7

In the past Cardiff have often been weak but it was quickly apparent that they had a much stronger team this year. John and Matt opened for us and struggled to do much. Matt was dropped early on but fell indubitably LBW to the same bowler very soon afterwards. Chris S was also dropped, on the boundary, but by his own side: Akhil, who by encroaching onto the outfield made what might have been six into four. That remained our only one until the eighth over, even though the Cardiff captain, who had opened the bowling and looked generally competent, took himself off. His replacement bowled a few wides but was otherwise not much easier to score off, and it was not until the other opening bowler ran out of overs that we started to accelerate. We still had plenty of wickets in hand. Then Chris was rather less indubitably LBW, and Rasesh, trying to hurry things aong too soon, edged. By now, though, John had overcome his early scratchiness, and Sankhet did what he does: use no great force, but place the ball and turn the strike over. They added 47 in six overs, and after Sankhet was run out John launched a final attack, supported by Akhil and Alex, and ended up with a good score.

Anand likes bowling in English conditions, but today’s conditions were not English enough for him and for once he was expensive and unthreatening. He was replaced by Gregory, who found the pitch more to his liking. Akhil, at the other end, did better but also leaked some runs early on. But his extra pace broke the opening partnership, a hurried pull shot looping to Simon, and then Gregory and Sankhet shut the innings down completely. Gregory’s four overs cost only thirteen and Sankhet was more economical still: he didn’t get any wickets, but was partly responsible for the frustration that led the Cardiff captain to charge Gregory and get stumped. Gregory picked up two other wickets and there was a run-out, so nobody settled and Simon and Prasanth finished things off without any alarms.

Bristol Venturers 136-6; Bath Venturers 140-5

After lunch, Anand still didn’t like the conditions and was uncharacteristically expensive, but Akhil was fast and dangerous and was unlucky to get only one wicket. Gregory continued where he left off against Cardiff, and bowled one of Bristol’s most dangerous batsman, but lost his line later on and started a rapid acceleration. Ivor, Bristol’s normally solid left-handed opener, played with more freedom than he usually does, and his colleagues contributed small brisk innings. We found new ways to drop catches, such as running in the wrong direction or (Gregory’s innovation) looking straight at the sun while waiting for the ball to arrive. Simon kept things under some sort of control, but Agam and Matt got hit about at the end. We did, at least, keep taking wickets. We even got Ivor eventually, underestimating Prasanth’s arm. That happens a lot, because Prasanth looks harmless but throws well. The final total was close to what we had made against Cardiff, so probably too many, but not hopeless.

Our chase was unusually calm and well-paced. John and Matt started carefully and gradually accelerated. They were separated only in the eleventh over, when John was leg before, but by then the score was nearly 80. Strangely, he had hit only one boundary. Matt had hit three, but most of the scoring had come about through adventurous running. Matt was bowled not very long afterwards, and Chris S took over. He took the opposite approach, hitting two sixes and three fours, and although wickets fell at the other end the run rate we needed was low enough for the win to be comfortable in the end.

Bath Venturers 160-1; Bristol Academicals 101-6

Meanwhile, Cardiff had beaten Bristol Academicals. We were therefore the only unbeaten team, but if we lost there would be at least one other team level with us and everything would depend on run rate. Our net run rate was not overwhelming, so we needed to win the match to be at all confident of winning the tournament. As it was getting a bit late (we had all been slightly distracted by the tennis) the last matches were reduced to sixteen overs a side.

Our approach was simplicity itself. John blasted the ball to all parts and the rest of us stood back and watched. He hit 123 out of 160 off 65 balls, with eighteen fours and two sixes. Matt mostly just gave him the strike, scoring twelve singles and two twos before getting run out. Rasesh, when he arrived, tried to join in instead, but by then there were only two overs left anyway. Once Bristol appealed loudly for LBW against John, when he had made about 75, but the ball had hit him above the knee roll: once he miscued and cleared mid-on by not very much. One opening bowler returned respectable figures, perhaps mainly by bowling to Matt, but was for some reason given only three overs. Everybody else went for at least nine an over. A bit of mild sledging took place, too, which is perhaps not the thing to do when you are being taken to pieces.

After that there was nothing much for the bowlers to do. One of the Bristol batsmen made 60, batting pretty well in a hopeless cause, but we did drop him five times. Akhil and Sanket were relatively expensive but got wickets; Gregory and Anand were relatively economical but didn’t. Neither of these things made the slightest difference. There was a comical run-out, but generally the innings was a slight anticlimax.

Scorecard vs Cardiff <table id="scorecardframe"> <tr> <td> <table id="scorecard"><tr> <td>John C</td> <td> 73 n.o. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Matt R</td> <td> 2 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Chris S</td> <td> 18 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Rasesh</td> <td> 0 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Sanket</td> <td> 10 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Akhil</td> <td> 3 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Alex</td> <td> 2 n.o. (2st) </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Prasanth</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Simon</td> <td> d.n.b.(1ct) </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Gregory</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr></table></td><td class="gap"></td><td style="width:250"><table id="scorecard"> <tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> 3-0-19-0 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Akhil</td> <td> 4-0-17-1 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Gregory</td> <td> 4-0-13-3 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Sanket</td> <td> 4-1-10-0 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Simon</td> <td> 3-0-16-1 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Prasanth</td> <td> 2-0-11-1 </td> </tr></table> </td> </tr> </table>

Scorecard vs Bristol Venturers <table id="scorecardframe"> <tr> <td> <table id="scorecard"><tr> <td>John C</td> <td> 32 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Matt R</td> <td> 35 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Chris S</td> <td> 41 n.o. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Rasesh</td> <td> 1 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Saad</td> <td> 2 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Agam</td> <td> 7 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Akhil</td> <td> 0 n.o. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Prasanth</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Simon</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Gregory</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr></table></td><td class="gap"></td><td style="width:250"><table id="scorecard"> <tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> 4-0-28-0 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Akhil</td> <td> 4-1-8-1 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Gregory</td> <td> 4-0-37-1 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Simon</td> <td> 4-0-23-1 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Agam</td> <td> 2-0-16-1 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Matt R</td> <td> 2-0-20-0 </td> </tr></table> </td> </tr> </table>

Scorecard vs Bristol Academicals <table id="scorecardframe"> <tr> <td> <table id="scorecard"><tr> <td>John C</td> <td> 124 n.o. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Matt R</td> <td> 16 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Rasesh</td> <td> 10 n.o. (1ct) </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Saad</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Sanket</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Agam</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Akhil</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Alex</td> <td> d.n.b. (1st) </td> </tr><tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Simon</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr><tr> <td>Gregory</td> <td> d.n.b. </td> </tr></table></td><td class="gap"></td><td style="width:250"><table id="scorecard"> <tr> <td>Anand</td> <td> 4-0-23-0 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Akhil</td> <td> 4-0-26-2 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Gregory</td> <td> 3-0-19-0 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Sanket</td> <td> 3-0-23-2 </td> </tr><tr> <td>Agam</td> <td> 1-0-6-1 </td> </tr><tr class="alt"> <td>Saad</td> <td> 1-0-13-0 </td> </tr></table> </td> </tr> </table>