IBMSHCC vs Raymarine
Our 2nd midweek 20/20 friendly got off to a bit of a shaky start as both teams waited at their own grounds for the opposition to arrive! It transpires we were in the wrong, although our website had us down as the home team. I blame John as he did the fixtures ;) However, a quick drive over to Farlington saw us start just 20 minutes late.
The toss was "agreed" rather than tossed and we went into bat first, with Phil Stride and Jacob George (Hampshire u-14 opening batsman) opening ... mostly because they were the first to get to the ground ;) Sadly, this partnership lasted no more than 4 balls as Phil was out for 2, caught at backward square.
Ian Blair was next to the wicket and he and Jacob were basically mis-timing everything on a slow wicket. They shared a stand of 10 before Ian was bowled for 5 by their opening bowler to leave us on 12-2. Pete Rowson was out to bat next and he was closely followed out into the middle by Oliver Whittaker as Jacob fell for 4 via a catch ... he played some nice shots but was clearly used to the ball coming onto the bat a bit more ;)
Olly and Pete shared a partnership of 14 (2 sixes from Pete, 1 from Olly and 1 extra) before Olly was bowled and that saw me to the wicket. As we were 27-4 at the time, I decided to take it a bit steady, waiting for the bad ball.
Rowson and I soon got going though, with boundaries coming regularly mixed with the odd single and the odd two. A stand of 41 was developed before I had to retire on 30 not out (you had to retire once past 25) bringing up that score with a 6 over long offs head :) Rowson soon joined me as a retiree when he made it to 27 not out.
Kunal and Matt Gleaves were now at the crease and their innings were a mix of play and misses and lusty blows. They were running between the wickets very well ... pushing the fielders all the way and they both got into the 20s before getting out just short of the retirement mark (23 for Matt and 22 for Kunal). By this time, we were on 121-5. Our final few batsman added a few more runs to leave us on 133-7 at the end of 20 overs. A pretty good score really given our shaky start and certainly one which gave us something to bowl at.
Given the shambolic start to the innings, my planned batting order had gone out of the window which had a knock on effect on the bowling. Peter Hicks was always going to open the bowling but I really should've given Graham Stride 2nd over, as he batted at 10, but I gave Ian Blair that pleasure. As he batted at 3, this was probs a mistake ... but there was so much on my mind at the time, I can only apologise!
Still, their opening batsmen looked useful and it wasn't until the 6th over that we had a breakthrough, with Ian getting their most forceful batsman out via a stumping from Pete Rowson. The over soon became a 2 wicket maiden as he bowled their number 3 bat. Peter Hicks was not to be outdone and took a wicket in his final over, removing the other opener via a very fine catch from Olly, running backwards at mid on.
Ian then followed that with another wicket maiden! It was at this point that Phil Stride pointed out that the light was fading and their batsman probably couldn't cope with the pace in that light, so all my plans went out of the window - cue yet more ignoring of Graham as a bowling option as a result! Matt Stride came on to replace Peter Hicks and I chose myself to come on to replace Ian and bowl some off spin.
Matt was bowling nicely at one end and I managed to snag a wicket via a skied caught and bowled in my first over. I also managed to get a bit of turn to take my 2nd wicket in my 2nd over via a bowled. By this stage, their number 7 batsman was in and looking useful. He was soon ably supported by their number 8 and Matt and I bowled out our overs without any more success.
I planned to give Phil a bowl with some tweekers but he protested and suggested I gave Graham a bowl, which I did ... although I felt kinda bad, mainly for the opposition as Graham can get quite a bit of pace and bounce - not good in bad light! Still, he shoulda been on sooner I guess. His first over was too short and went for 13, though! oops They were in no danger of getting the runs once batsman number 7 had retired and Olly and Graham saw out the last few overs, picking up 1 wicket each via a bowled for Graham and an LBW for Olly.
They finished on 104-8 after 20 overs and we'd won by 19 runs. I finished with figures of 4 overs 0 maidens 20 runs 2 wickets. Add to that my 30 not out and it made for my most successful evening game, recording my highest score with the bat and joint best bowling figures :)
Also another win for me as captain, so it's all good. Everyone got to do something, which was also good, although as previously eluded to (a few times) Graham probs should've had more overs. Still, he gets plenty on Saturdays, so it's all swings and roundabouts.
:)