Scorecard
The Greenies Too title chase
gathered more momentum with a good win over UCCI/West Bay last weekend.
With Watto out after a late cry-off, Steve Smith graciously volunteered to step
up (or should that be down?) in his place, and was quickly called into action as
Dickie Thomas yet again lost the toss and we were put into bat. With some
batting dilemmas vice-captain McGrath suggested putting in Sammy Dawson as a
kind of night watchman to see off the new ball. The advice given to Steve and
Sam was to stay at the crease and play out the opening spell on a tricky damp
wicket. In hindsight a suggestion they try and score the odd run as well
may have been a good idea, as progress was painfully slow. Opening bowlers
Rose and Legore werent giving anything away, and with 11 on the board after 8
overs, Steve was sent back to the hutch after trying a cheeky single that
probably wasnt there.
Tex came to the crease and was soon underway with
an exquisite flick for 4 off his pads. Sam was almost Boycott-esque in his
resistance, but finally succumbed to a tired run out a just before drinks with
the score on 57. Last time round he scored 11 of 5 balls. This time
it took 49 balls to reach the same total. The second wicket partnership
was worth 46 however, and gave us a good platform from which to attack after
drinks. Coming in at number 4, Alex was looking to get some big hits
in. Unfortunately after looking good to start with, he holed out for 9,
and was soon followed by Simon, who was bowled while trying to accelerate the
score.
At 87-4 with 14.2 overs to go, things were looking bleak for
Greenies as skipper Dickie marched out to take guard, thinking that a score of
160 would be the best we could hope for. Fortunately the bowling attack
had been blunted by the earlier vigils at the crease, and the bakers were on to
serve up their pies, allowing Dickie and Tex to tee-off pretty much at
will. A quickfire partnership off 88 of 79 balls then ensued, with the
ball departing to all corners of the ground before Tex holed out in the deep for
a magnificent 70, with the score on 175 and 9 balls left in the innings.
Dickie followed 3 balls later, run out a ball after reaching his second 50 of
the season, ending up with 52 off 49 balls. It was left to Carey and Marc
to turn up the heat in the last over, scoring 12 off it including an all run
kamikaze 4 off the final ball. To post a total of 190 after 40 given our
quiet start was a phenomenal effort, and we ran out on to the pitch to field
with a spring in our step.
UCCI have some reasonable bats, but we knew if
we could dislodge the top order we could roll them early. Chris Troskie
and Sam both opened with the obligatory wide ball, but were swinging the ball
yards in their opening spells. It was only a question of time before the
UCCI openers would nick one, and Dickie behind the stumps gratefully pouched the
first wicket off Troskie when it happened. The dangerous Maxwell came in
at number 3 and was looking in ominous, aggressive form before Carey put in a
yorker to dismiss him for a 1run a ball 14. Teddy Grey, more than a useful
bat, then came to the crease and started to compile a partnership with opener
Zitroy Robertson that whittled away the run deficit with the minimum of effort,
getting to 75 after 16 overs before Jerry Beck's nagging line induced a waft
from Robertson that was well caught by Steve Smith at fly slip.
Nevertheless, UCCI got into the drinks break sitting pretty at 101-3 (Greenies
58-2 at the same point), aided by some rather lacklustre fielding.
Post
drinks, after getting a gentle spray from the skipper, Greenies went on the
offensive and it became the Dave McGrath show. First ball saw the
dangerous Grey well caught by Troskie on the square leg rope, and 4 balls later
the number 6 was sent back after Dave got one through some pretty mediocre
defence. One run later Miller, the number 7 was also sent packing Smith
holding onto another good catch at point off Carey, and the match had turned in
our favour 106-6. Things got even better when McGrath snared his
4th wicket with only his 15th ball, bowling their second
top scorer Johnson for 25 with the score at 117, and 6 runs later Marc Randall
joined the party, getting Legore LBW. With UCCI/West Bay punch drunk at
137-9, stumbling around the ring with their chin exposed, all it needed was for
someone to apply the knockout blow. The last pair somehow managed to cling
on for a very nervous few overs however, and then even began to flourish in the
face of some bizarre bowling. Troskie and Dawson each had a crack at the tail,
but could only muster a succession of wides between then. With the score
creeping ominously closer to the target, it was left to McGrath to clean things
up, getting Rose at number 10 adjudged LBW, and picking up his first five-for
for the club in a decade of trying a truly memorable performance and a real
match winner.
The fine session was another corker Watto this time
providing the goods. Steve Smith cooked up another batch of jerk chicken
that would rival anything the island has to offer, and reinforcements from
Jacques Scott were called in. The awards as follows:
MOTM
McGrath. 7.4 0 26 5. Remarkable stats that turned the game in our
favour when it looked for all money it was slipping away from us.
Honorable mention (and a fine) also went to Texas for an excellent knock of 70
to get us a good way down the road to recovery after a pretty turgid
start.
POTD Tasker/Randall. An extremely cheeky all run 4 from
the final delivery with the ball never once getting more than 20 yards away from
the stumps. Had UCCI/West Bay in disarray and their team mates in
stitches.
COTD Dawson. Stuck to the brief of seeing off the new
ball manfully. For nearly 20 overs. Served up 5 wides in an over
when we were trying to get the last wicket. Let the ball run through his
legs twice in one over to take the pressure off the batsmen. Took the
punishment well, for the record.