Venturers Vs Bathford, Wednesday August 15th

Bathford 121-6, Venturers 72-8

On a particularly uneven day at Bathford our season spluttered to a close with an eighteen-over match (not quite time for twenty in mid-August, even with the clear view to the north-west), which we lost inexorably. We had the usual XI; Bathford increased gradually from X to about XIX as more and more people who had been told they might be one short turned up to see if they were needed.

Jack and Simon did most of what damage we did do with the ball, with two wickets and a run-out each. Not for the first time, James P fumbled several times when it didn’t matter and caught the one that did. Their openers could do nothing with Jamie’s bowling, but one of them took a liking to James R’s. Gregory was nearly as economical as Jamie: in fact more so, in that if the wicket-keeper missed, which tends to happen if he’s not used to the slope, the ball didn’t go far. Bruce did his death bowling piece, but they made rather too many.

Jamie hit the first ball of the innings straight back past the bowler for four, ran the second to third man for two, and missed the third completely. At the other end, Jack also missed: so, after one of his characteristic punches through square leg, did James P. Only Ian G got anywhere: 25, and the next highest was eight, made by Duncan and by James R, the latter stumped off the last ball. In between times, Chris ran himself out; Simon got bogged down; Roger miscued. Steve Dent’s figures, 1-1-0-0, show what the problem was.