It’s been a common theme this Summer; sunny and dry from Monday to Thursday and then the wind and rain sets in! Already this year 4 home games have required our no-expense spared Jewson builders membrane to keep the wet stuff off and last Saturday’s game with Chipping Norton was no exception.
The weather forecast had a ‘Yellow Warning’ for Bucks with torrential rain, high winds and thunderstorms threatened, so the track was prepared early and covered on Thursday morning as the drizzle started. When midday Saturday arrived and the clouds were still parked resolutely over the Mighty Gibbon it was looking dire. But, as the track was perfectly dry (though a bit like Grants armpits – sweaty!) it was a question of waiting and waiting and waiting, whilst Neil slept and slept and slept. The new rules say matches can start as late as 4.10pm and so we were going to give it that long. At 2.45 the air cleared and the cover came off and 15 minutes later we were underway for a 25 over Blast!
Stand-in Skipper Dave began by losing the Toss and we were inserted – Standard! (TimDog was away basking in the sunshine of Gran Canaria with the lovely miss Emma) Joe and Frankie presented another solid start and moved the dial to 38 off 9 before Joe (23) was ‘wrong-footed’ by Molyneux and missed a straight one. Now was the time to up the rate and up stepped Chaz Gregory Shippo only to sky one early (49 for 2 at halfway). Long-handle Leonard joined Frankie and the pair moved it along steadily and prepared for the late innings onslaught…..which stalled just as it was to start when Stu was caught behind with Stevie following next ball hoiking to cow. Crouchie was also in no mood to trouble the scorer and returned a hat trick of ducks! Satty and Guns came and went and Matt fell after a hard battled substance-over-style 38. Kyle and Farmer added a critical 20 in the last 2 overs to push the total to 124 off 25 and a competitive score was established.
To score 5 runs an over for 45 overs is a challenge – a total of 225 will win the game more than not, but to score 5 an over for only 25 overs means the bowlers cannot give any margin and the fielders must not miss the chances when they come. The mark of any team is how it holds its nerve when the margin is small.
And it certainly helps to not have 4 pints of Hen inside you or holding nerve, ball, or bat is a feat!
Steve and Nathan opened straight and sound and in the 4th over Wallington, who was playing with intent snicked to Kyle in gully who snaffled it up between elbow and rib!?! A breakthrough but by the 8th over the score was 30 for 2 when Millard pushed to our affable Asian at mid on and set off on an anticipated jog, only for the spirit of Jonty Rhodes to enter the Asian soul and infuse it with athleticism and accuracy – sprinting and hurling down the stumps! The game seemed to have re-balanced again.
There followed a further period when the Norton skipper slowly kept nudging them toward the target, and at 70 for 3 off 13, Norton required 55 runs from 54 balls with 7 wickets in hand. With so many wickets in hand the smart money had moved on to Norton.
But when a side holds it’s nerve to the end they can make things happen, and that was the case.
In the next 25 balls Marsh took 6 wickets for just 7 runs!
Satty started the rout with Duester skying to Kyle to hold on, then 3 balls later the essential wicket of the skipper as he snicked to Dave behind and the whole house of cards was falling…Kyle The Jackal(?!) stepped in with a double wicket maiden, bowling both through the gate and behind the legs (we were now coming from behind you might say!) The expensive Vadivale then trapped Molyneux in-front before rounding the day off with a caught and bowled (after a practice effort!) The now grubby Asian (“get a move on it’s getting dark”) returned exceptional figures of 5 wickets for only 9 runs in 24 deliveries.
Chipping Norton bowled out for 78 in 21 overs.
Nerve-Held.