Greenies Too vs UCCI Match Report– 28th June 2008
After much debate and changing of minds, the CICA decided to continue on with the league format as agreed at the beginning of the season, rather than terminate after the first round of games and kick off a knockout competition, which we as a club were keen for. Thus last weekend we took on UCCI in what is euphemistically called the “Division 2 Premier League”, where the bottom 4 teams in the league play each other to find out the best of the worst.
The first big result of the day was the coin toss, which skipper Dickie Thomas guessed right for the first time this season since the Twenty20 competition in February. Controversially, and in the face of perceived Greenies Too wisdom, he decided to stick the opposition into bat. The breeze and the lush, ankle deep outfield providing nominal justification for this decision, but more importantly it facilitated earlier access to the cold green bottles in the cooler.
Larry Gomes and Dogga Dean took the new ball and immediately put it in the right places. After an early chance was spilled off Dogga, the Greenies soon struck with a direct hit run out from Dickie Thomas in the covers. Larry was unlucky to have a regulation nick somehow dribble out of Chris Smith’s gloves behind the stump, but after 10 overs the openers had done a great job in keeping the runs down. In an ambitious mood, skipper Thomas put himself on first change and bowled a succession of buffet balls that were duly punished, and with Jimmy struggling to find a decent line at the other end, the batsmen were starting to gain the upper hand. In reality however, we were just waiting for the 16th over, when restrictions were over and we could introduce the spin twins – Dave McGrath and Nick Sellars, making his debut for the Toos, but looking impressive in the nets.
With these two both on top of their game, they squeezed the life out of the opposition and made for a miserly mid-session. Unfortunately the bowling stats got lost, so details are a little sketchy, however I’m pretty sure Dave McGrath picked up a couple of wickets for his efforts, and Nick finally got some reward in his last over after tying their best batsmen up in knots. With 10 overs to go, Greenies were in the box seat, and Dogga came in to finish up the long UCCI tail, taking 3 wickets in a crackerjack* final 3 overs. The luckless Larry, giving it everything, also finally broke through in the final couple of overs to restrict UCCI to 142 in their 40 overs.
Openers Steve & Chris Smith, given strict instructions to see off the new ball against the national 1st change bowler Troy Taylor and the dangerous Kervin Ebanks stuck to their task magnificently, putting on a patient 41 run partnership in 16 overs. With no specialist number 3 bat, Dickie Thomas trudged out after Steve got caught while trying to up the run rate. Soon after Chris Smith, making a solid 14 missed a straight one and Dogga and Dickie proceeded to make inroads with some big hits and strong running. The partnership was broken after they put on 49, with Dickie attempting an agricultural hoick to one that should he shouldn’t have. Nick Sellars came in at 5 and started belting the ball to all quarters, and with the demise of Dogga, David Groves also turned up the heat. UCCI was unable to cope with the pressure, and Nick and Dave made the target at a canter, with 3 overs to spare.
MOTM- Nick for a great spell of tight bowling (8 overs, 1 for 18 as I recall) and a quickfire top score of 31 of 29 balls.
COTD - Dave McGrath for turning up late and then spending a further 20 minutes chatting in the pavilion before gracing us with his presence on the field.
POTD - Dickie Thomas for a direct hit runout to get the first wicket.