1.G.Powell
2.J.Jackson
3.G.Hope
4.I.Barstable
5.G.Jackson
6.N.Maynard (wk)
7.Captain CF
8.N.Sammers
9.J.Long
10.S.McKenzie
11.P.Terry
Yet again i had the luxury of naming an un changed side consistency is vital!
i won the toss and chose to bat on a dry pitch, which i was sure would spin as the game went on...
They opened the bowling with spin. The ball did spin from ball one, however at the start it was slow spin, it did spin quite a bit though as the game went on. After the first 10 overs we reached 38-3 and was struggling. We were struggling to find boundaries early on, and with the field up singles werent easy to find as well. They bowled around 30-35 overs of spin in the innings and it was tough to play. i promoted my self to no5 as we needed a captain's innings. After 25 overs we had reached 80-3....we were building a partnership but the rate wasnt good at all. However i said to the man batting at the other end, that if we put on a partnership then we had wickets to attack towards the end, on this pitch wickets in hand was vital. However 2 overs after saying that, Hope tried a stupid reverse sweep and was plumb LBW! I was not a happy skipper and merely shook my head as he walked off. At that stage were 94-4 and in desperate need of a partnership! After 40 overs we reached, 140-4 the partnership was buliding and we had wickets in hand. i felt that we needed 200 to be honest, however 180 would be competitve we had pace off and spin options throughout the side. I then decided to start hitting out, we neeeded quick runs and i chose to be the man to do it. I made 66. We closed our innings on 179-7. Below par total but it was something to bowl at!
I gave the new ball to Sammers and told him to give it a rip. I was at slip and i put a short leg in to put some pressure on the batsman. The ball was spinning and i felt that we were in with a shout. This was the first time this season, that we had played on a wicket that spun this much....I gave my other spinner Mckenzie the new ball as well. After 15 overs they were 54-2. The rate was slow and we got both the openers... However at some stage pace would have to be used, and they enjoyed the pace...my first over went for 12 runs. However i dragged it back as did Long and terry my other seamers. After 30 overs they were 104-6.....!!!!! We had taken wickets however they were scoring runs at a decent pace! P.Loucs who batted 3 for them made 77 for them and was batting well until Sammers came back on and got him out LBW! The spinners bowled really well...at this stage Sammers had bowled 8 overs for 25! and Mc Kenzie had bowled out...his 10 overs only costed 34 and he took 3 wickets. With 10 overs left they needed 50 to win with 3 wickets in hand. i brought myself back on and bowled through, i took a wicket and in the end my figures were 10-1-1-36. Terry got the other 2 wickets as we won by 8 runs!!!!!!
We managed to defend the low total and pull of a win!
My performance: 66 with the bat, 1-36 with the ball.
WE WON BY 8 RUNS
You seem to have a good team. It helps the team in many aspects when the captain put on excellent contribution throughout the series. Nice that you are reading the wicket well and flexible with the tactics , taking one match at a time.
