Western Flyers Vs Venturers, Wednesday August 20th

Venturers 179-5, Western Flyers 176-5

We only had nine to start with and when play was due to start only five, not including the captain, were present. As the light would not last long so late in the season we therefore had to bat, and Gregory and Matt H were greeted by the sight of Chris M getting bowled by Saad as they arrived. Matt was told off by the ground mutaween for changing quickly into his whites by the cars. There was another run-in with them at the end and they have banned us, despite having no authority to do so: this will have no effect whatever. Apparently there is CCTV everywhere and last week some women were caught having a beer, which is also against the rules. By the third over Richard G had already made a good start and he was joined by Matthew B. He took a little while to get going and Yameen was, as ever, difficult to score off; but the left-armer who did a lot of damage to us earlier in the season was less accurate this time. With a fast outfield, not very long boundaries and only ten fieldsmen (they were short too) there were plenty of runs to be had and from the ninth over on the scoring never slowed. Matthew did most of the damage, but Richard also did plenty until Yameen bowled him, and then Roger took over and also scored freely. After his inevitable run-out Matthew took to the air, though he hit only one six before the end, when he twice hit Yameen very high. The first just carried for six: the second was expertly caught near the long-off boundary. Richard M hit his first three balls for four but Nikhil’s innings was more notable for the various bits of equipment that fell off as he tried to run.

With only nine to field the defence of 179 was not certain. Worse, we had only three regular bowlers, and one of them was Gregory who hadn’t bowled for three weeks. The other regular bowlers were Richard M, who was accurate until his last over, which went everywhere; and Nikhil, who is unpredictable at all times. The less regular bowlers were Simon and Chris, both of whom can bowl but seldom do. Nikhil’s second over was expensive but included a firmly driven catch to Matthew B; he also got the important wicket of Shehan, caught behind. Gregory’s first over was, predictably, erratic, but his second was passable and the last two were positively economical in the context of the match. We weren’t getting wickets; but Saad chanced Richard M’s arm and was run out by a direct hit. That, and the left-handed Jude’s inability to get after Gregory, kept the required run rate high, but Simon and Chris are not natural death bowlers. They each got a wicket in their first over, but of the last six they bowled the most economical was Chris’s last, which cost ten. To be fair, we had scattered the field by then and were happy to concede singles or even twos; also, the ground fielding went to pieces. Still, there were a lot of wides, from all the bowlers except, oddly, Gregory. Simon had sixteen to defend in the last over, and started well, but a six off the penultimate ball left the match still in doubt. They needed a boundary, and missed.