Bathford Vs Venturers, Wednesday May 27th

Bathford 91-5, Venturers 80-8

The ground at Bathford has a slope. In fact it is a category three climb from square leg up to the wicketkeeper, and two polkadot points are available to the first to arrive at the stumps. Having carelessly omitted to pack the erythropoetin, we were in trouble. Bathford had lent us a player (and Steve Dent was playing for us rather than them) but even so a last-minute withdrawal left us one short. As that was caused by bad luck rather than disorganisation, Bathford were happy to lend us a fieldsman too, but it didn’t make a lot of difference.

Chris’s first over was uncharacteristically wild and, of the two left-armers, Rob caused more trouble. It was Chris who broke the opening stand, but he did it with a run-out, efficiently executed but the result of injudicious calling rather than fielding brilliance. Still less brilliant was our catching, which did the figures of the borrowed Les no good, but he did not give very much away and bowled the other opener. Gregory, getting absurd amounts of turn down the hill, picked off two of the middle order and contributed a maiden in the seventeenth over, which isn’t really supposed to happen, but Omar was less successful from the other end. He did get a significant wicket, though, of one of the very few batsman all evening to play with any confidence: he dragged his foot and was beaten by the turn. For some reason he seemed angry about this, stumping off to the pavilion complaining that he was a qualified umpire and couldn’t understand…his teammates calmed him and explained to him how obviously out he had been, and in due course he worked it out for himself. The other batsman with any confidence had been torpedoed by an absurd shooter from Gregory, so we thought we had kept the runs down enough.

Omar and Nick, either of whom could have settled the match in a few overs, both got out quickly, but Chris and Roger steadied things as usual and at the halfway mark we were well in control. Then Roger miscued, Chris edged, Alex missed a straight one and Rob ran himself out, and suddenly we were sunk. Les used the slope, which he was used to, to better effect than the rest of us (a push to that side is usually worth two), but he got castled and Steve also ran himself out, leaving Gregory to make eleven from three balls with Guy, who can bat and had hit a couple of boundaries, at the non-striker’s end. Sixes, however, were unlikely so there was no point in trying to get him the strike. Gregory therefore slogged three times, making no contact whatever and leaving the last over as another maiden.