Scorecard

Greenies Too got off to a losing start to the 2009 League against what was in truth a mediocre Paramount/DTA team. Much has been said about the batting performances during the Twenty20 comp and, while we have talked about how we need to remedy the issues, we were in truth unable to convert words into action, as once again our batting let us down. 

Put into bat after another lost toss, openers Watto and Dickie got us off to a very quick start, putting on 32 in less than 4 overs before Dickie rode his luck once too often and was caught for 16 off 11 balls. Tex was next in and continued the flow of runs, and we reached our fifty comfortably enough after 49 balls. Watto was out soon afterwards however, with his second run out in as many innings. With Jamie caught short, quite literally, at Watto’s departure, Simon went in at number 4 and duly took the first change bowlers to task. It was in truth some of the least threatening bowling I have seen for a long while, although the old adage that crap takes wickets rang true for Tex, as he was bowled out by a very crusty pie after looking to have got himself set in. Jamie then finally made an appearance, presumably several pounds lighter, and was also shaping up nicely before another needless runout saw him heading back to the pavilion with only 7 to his name. 104–4 after 18 overs, and I could not help but think we were in for a long post drinks session. Grover came in to solidify the middle order and with Simon belting the ball to all parts of the ground, wisely contented himself with nurdling the odd single to give him the strike. Simon went on to record his maiden Greenies 50 off 49 balls, amid much crowd celebrations.

The return of opening bowler Banton saw a downturn in our batting fortunes however, getting the scalp of Grover in the 24^th over to leave us 5 down at 136. Thereafter the usual parade of wickets began to tumble. Simon was next out for a magnificent 58, an out-of-sorts Dave Rajaratnam didn’t last too long (or cause the scorer to do much sharpening of his pencil) and John King was given a very dubious LBW. Dave McGrath, bemoaning his number 10 slot, went in and did little to cement a higher position by getting a golden duck, and Jerry was last man out.  The last 4 wickets fell for 19 runs in just 4 overs, leaving us all out for 165 off 27.1 overs.

Our defense got off to the best possible start with Chris bowling what at best could be described as a loosener down the leg side that the batsman somehow managed to push down the throat of Jerry at short fine leg.  John King at the other end was not so fortunate with his loose deliveries and was ordered off the strip by the umpire before even completing 2 overs after his second warning for dangerous bowling.

A very useful 2^nd wicket partnership developed between Macintosh and Moore, bringing up their 50 an over quicker than we did. Jamie however soon put an end to this with a magnificent spell of swing bowling that ripped out their top order and brought them from 55-1 to 77-4. Unfortunately there was little spin for McGrath to entice the batsmen with so the 5^th wicket partnership built steadily taking them to 126 before another breakthrough was made. Watto, bowling very well, got his just reward with 2 wickets to bring us back into the match. At 128-6, we felt that one more wicket would break the game for us. Unfortunately, unlike our tail, they stayed strong and were able to close out the match without any further loss.

This was a team that we should have scored over 200 against, given the relative weakness in their bowling. We need to believe that we can score 80+ runs from the last 5 wickets, and not get twitchy once the 4^th wicket falls. Back to the drawing board…

MOTM: Simon Wetherell for a cavalier 50
POTD: Split between Jamie's well-timed dump that caused Simon's promotion to number 4 and Jerry's wind-unassisted catch.
COTD: John King. Not only for being taken off after 1.4 overs but for saying beforehand that he would bowl 8 overs with no wides or no balls. Final figures:  10 balls, 2 no balls, 1 wide, 20 runs.