Post date: Jun 24, 2012 5:06:43 PM
Having had last week rained off the 1st XI were on the road again, away at Upottery. Arriving at a pitch that seemed even wetter than Bridestowe, it was clear that the toss would be an important one; a toss that, for only the second time this season, we lost.
With the return of Woodsy we made a reasonable start, even though the wicket was doing all sorts. With a distinct lack of pace on the ball runs were hard to come by and Mark was caught trying to punch one through the off-side. Phil followed in similar fashion and after Sam had played a great shot through the covers he was also caught well. Woodsy was on form at the other end, heaving their spinner for six and driving well down the ground. Tom was the next to fall, caught behind trying to glance the ball down the leg side. Woodsy was then very unlucky to time the ball straight to mid-off; anywhere else and it would have flown to the boundary. Even so, his was a great knock of 44 on what can only be described as a cabbage patch. James managed to pick out square leg and even Lee fell victim to the pitch, well caught close in after the ball popped. Having managed to stick around for a few overs Ian was also caught before Alex was bowled around his legs. Pat then took us over the hundred mark with a well timed boundary before he was the last man out, caught behind. Another not-out for Danners.
After the serving of tea in the multifunctional changing room Briddy took the field in an attempt to defend 101. However as we feared the wicket had significantly dried up and flattened out. The odd ball did move off the pitch or stay low but nothing as dramatic as the previous innings. With at least 50 overs available it was a matter of getting wickets. Danners could feel slightly hard done by after a number of close lbw shouts were ignored. Tom’s stuttering run up at the other end did not prove enough to put off the batsmen, but he did come close with an lbw shout, and there was some good fielding from James close in. The skipper then changed things by bringing himself on. His slow-medium pacers and good areas caused trouble for the batsmen and he got the first wicket caught behind after the batsman top edged it onto his arm, easily caught by Mark. They were batting reasonably comfortably though with loose balls off Alex and Phil being rightly punished. Lee took another wicket, plumb lbw, that the batsmen almost walked for. Sam bowled a couple of tight overs and with the rain beginning to fall, a couple more wickets and some slow batting may have saved us. However the opposition also saw this, sending in a big left hander to up the run rate. He eventually was caught well behind by Mark off Lee but it was too little too late. The rain died down and they got the last 15 runs comfortably. A disappointing match, highly influenced by the toss.
Important match next week, home to table topping Uplyme & Lyme Regis, hope for better weather and a better match!