Priston Vs Venturers, Sunday May 7th

Priston 128, Venturers 129-6

After a wet Coronation Day and before a wetter Coronation Bank Holiday we assembled, not entirely straightforwardly, at the classic village ground at Priston. Two ordinary cars are not quite enough to move a cricket team, not in England: in other places, two autoricks suffice, although then you probably want the driver to play. Fortunately Joji cycles, but even so Bruce went back for Subrata so that Gregory would have enough space for the kit, and a spectator.

We began with a minute’s silence for the President of Priston cricket club, who had died very recently. He founded the club more or less single-handedly in 1984 and opponents as well as members of the Priston club owe him a great deal.

Bruce had lost the toss by then, which was fortunate as we had no idea what we wanted to do if we won it, and we were fielding. Dinesh’s second ball was outside off and the batter let it go, but the bounce was lower than Rohan expected and he only half-stopped it. They ran a bye, then tried to un-run it as no shot had been played. We, and the umpires, pointed out that that only matters for leg byes, and we insisted on them accepting the run. No further runs were scored until a single off the first ball of the fifth over, by which time Dinesh and Subrata had bowled the openers. In the seventh over Dinesh strayed down leg and was glanced for four, but Subrata reeled off four maidens and they handed over to Joji and Gregory at 6 for 2 after eight overs. Joji conceded three. Seven of the nine runs had been made by one batter and he, after defending two balls from Gregory, felt confident enough to hit the third back over the bowler’s head. Subrata called firmly to avoid a collision with Tobias, and absorbed the catch with the minimum of fuss. Two overs later Gregory won an LBW decision: a slightly marginal one, perhaps, but the batter was stuck in the crease.

At 12 for 4 in the twelfth of 35 overs we seemed to have the game firmly in our grip, but of course that was an illusion. It didn’t go to pieces. The boundary off Dinesh remained the only one until the twenty-first over. But we stopped getting wickets. Gregory perhaps had a half-chance at a caught-and-bowled: Joji beat the bat a couple of times. But Priston batted sensibly, without hurrying. Immediately before the drinks break they attacked Tobias, who had been tidy up to then, and took the partnership past fifty. A decision was made to change pace, and Bruce recalled Dinesh, who broke through almost at once. Mihir was tried at the other end and he took two wickets with slower balls, but he also gave away a few runs: so, surprisingly, did Subrata when he returned. Still, 89-7 was definitely good for us. But again we couldn’t quite finish it. With a proper batsman, who had come in at three and played very well, still around, Bruce didn’t want to bowl himself (he is very effective if tailenders try to attack him) and he selected Mub ahead of Kamal. That didn’t really work, though a couple of miscues went not far out of reach. Finally Bruce turned to Joji and Kamal, who ended the innings abruptly.

We had hoped not to have to chase as many as 129. Still, to win they would have to bowl us out. Jaideep and Mub opened. Midweek, they had added a hundred, with Jaideep making the early running; but this was trickier, and they were both cautious. One opening bowler was very accurate: the other certainly carried a danger, but offered width sometimes. A dozen extras helped to build a partnership of 37 in ten overs: then the accurate bowler produced a completely rank full toss, and Jaideep hit it tamely back to him. Shortly before that, Mub had survived a close LBW appeal and been dropped at midwicket. Subrata hung around for a bit but was leg before, pad-bat rather than bat-pad, before he could do much. This is another thing that used not to be given out before DRS, which proved that it happens quite often and that it isn’t very hard to get right. Rohan fell the same way to the same bowler: Bruce was probably glad to have an easy decision this time. At 49 for three the match could have gone either way.

The decisive partnership really was the one that followed, 52 by Mub and Kamal. Kamal plays flicks and scoops and scores most of his runs behind the wicket, but he is not rash except perhaps in running. His aim is to keep turning the strike over. Today he started with seven dots, followed by six singles, with little risk. Mub plays many more dots but will punish anything loose. We did have a piece of luck. The bowler who had got Subrata and Rohan was taken off, and puzzlingly did not bowl again: the new bowler lost his rhythm totally (for them it was the first match of the season) and bowled a string of wides and no-balls. That got the score moving again, and meant we didn’t have to worry about the run rate. But just when it all seemed under control, Kamal committed the error of Misbah-ul-Haq and scooped a catch to short fine. Back came the accurate opener to bowl his two remaining overs. Dinesh chopped on, Tobias chipped a return catch first ball. Joji stopped the hat trick, but we still needed nearly thirty and there were Mihir, Bruce and Gregory, none of them much use with a bat, to come. Mub stayed calm. Joji had some anxious moments but he saw off the opener, and after that it was downhill to the finish.