Shaw bow down to Chairman Holt

The 2XI arrived at Well-i-Hole to play against struggling Shaw in expectation of a number of things: a win, a good knock for some out of form batsmen; and early finish and some nice weather. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad.

Adam Smalley was welcomed back as we help him return from another broken finger and Chairman Neil Holt was also a late replacement for the injured Brad Hadfield, who’d failed to recover from a strain incurred in the nets.

Skipper Ben Pollard skilfully enticed Shaw’s captain to call wrong and enacted Phase 1 of our plan by electing to bat. We strode to a firm but quite green wicket as the sun broke through the clouds. Jonah took strike as usual, and we were off. The 2nd over brought a boundary for Dickson and all was well. Singles were exchanged and the between over fist-bumps were assured and calm.

And then it went wrong, Jonah licks his lips at a ball on leg-stump and takes shape to pull, but it bounces a bit and is on him quickly, top edge, skyward, straight to square leg. 7 for 1. Minutes later we’re 2 down. Smalley edging a Docherty away swinger a ball after being rapped on the pad by an in-ducker. Shame, we needed Adam to get a good bat, but good bowling is good bowling. 7-2!!

Zak arrives at the crease to replace him, batting at No.4, given the responsibility his performances have been meriting. Together we hatch a plan to get to 50 without further loss. We make good progress too, better than we thought and a flurry of boundaries take us toward quickly. We take it the 13th over and reach 48, two away from our target. Docherty in again, away swinger to follow the snorter he had bowled me in the last over. Next ball, its full and I go forward to push it out to long-off, but this one swings back, beats the push and clips off stump. More good bowling, well played. 48-3 and I’m gone for 16.

Kyle “KFC” Clayton comes in to replace me and he and Zak add another 14 before ZP is bowled by Khan, only 9 more are added before Ehsan
also follows ,caught and bowled by the same man. 71-5 and in deep-doodoo.

Have no fear, Neil is here! Chairman Holt strides out and begins his MoM performance. He and KFC together take the score on to 199 before another wicket falls. It’s a great partnership of contrasting styles. KFC’s idiosyncracy, walking toward the bowler positively in either defence or attack, the latter of which is made up almost entirely of powerful drives for either 4 or 6. Neil on the other hand; entirely classical, still at the crease, well balanced to go forward or rock back, strong on the cut, stronger on the pull and always ready to unfurl a drive. Great stuff.
KFC is eventually out to the returning Docherty for 84, great knock lad. Neil makes his way to a 69, then misses a full toss. Well played boys.

Ben Pollard adds 6 before being pinned LBW by Docherty, for his fourth wicket. At the other end, Gary Pemberton makes a welcome return to form and biffs a rapid 31, including a well and truly blasted boundary which a Shaw CC fielder actually moved his hand out of the way of!!! Yifter comes and goes for a single and when GP and Nathan end the innings unbeaten we’ve reached a formidable 260-9. Well played lads, shaky start, excellent middle, strong finish. An innings of three halves :0)

We take tea feeling confident, Shaw haven’t scored many runs this year so if we bowl and field well we’ll get that win and the early finish we’re after. San Miguel and sunshine to follow – come on boys, let’s crack on.

The start is good, so good we load the slips as Yifter and Zak bounce in (quite a feat for Yifter, having demolished two helpings of chilli and a chocolate brownie at the break). Zak bowls really very well indeed, taking a wicket in the 6th over and regularly beating the edge on many other occasions. Yifter adds a wicket in both the 9th and 11th overs and we’re looking good at 46-3.

GP and Ehsan replace our hot and bothered openers. Pemmy is as accurate and canny as ever, Shaw defend stoically. Ehsan bowls an improved line again. Together they take wickets in the 18th, 19th and 20th overs and we are looking really good with Shaw at 91-6. Line ‘em up Laura!

But then it all grinds to a halt. Shaw’s young guns defend and defend and defend. The heat builds, we get ratty, ragged fielding too. KFC and Polly replace Pemmy and Ehsan to try to change things, but they get a bit of tap and no reward and Shaw are up to the 32nd over and 138 before another wicket falls. It’s the MoM who gets it.

By this time Chairman Holt has begun to twirl and tweak his left arm spin from the scoreboard-end. What a first over it is! A single of the first ball and nowt else, with two wickets to boot via catches from Jonah and Neil himself. 7-down and the early finish is back on!

"No it isn’t" say Shaw CC, and again the defend, defend, defend and selectively whack their way to 174-7 and the 40th over. By this time Zak’s second burst had brought no further reward, we’ve overheated literally and metaphorically as the lack of a second drinks break brings great thirst and an expletive ridden rant that only Gary Pemberton is capable of. Classic stuff! The early finish has gone, in fact we’re in danger of not getting all 5-points.

Skipper and VC have a con-flab, any ideas? We hatch a plan, Pemmy to return and attack the stumps in partnership with Neil. A last roll of the dice….will it work? Oh yes, Sir, it certainly does! Pemmy makes the breakthrough and another double wicket over from Neil finishes it off just in the nick of time, the 44th over!

Neil ends with 4-22 and fully deserved MoM crown. I'm sure he'll be delighted! Pemmy had a good game too, 2-32 to add to his big bash. Well played fella’s.

So we get the win, our out of form batters get some runs and the weather is lovely. Unfortunately its nearly 7.30pm by the time we walk off and the early finish is just a dream. Still, we enjoy a thirst quenching beer, the kids play on the outfield and the evening sun shines. Danny returns from a good knock for the 1s and his 35th birthday celebrations get underway. Happy Birthday Hessy! Shots were involved, apparently!

Daily Lesson: You can never take anything for granted, every win needs to be earned. Also, we take forever to bowl our overs and the fielding is often ragged and let’s us down – need to sharpen up if we are to be as good as we can be.