Broughton Astley v BOTWCC First XI
Sat 17th June 2006 - Broughton Astely
Fine Bowling Display Clinches First Win Of Season
With Fisher's bionic knee causing him problems and forcing him to drop out (have you tried changing the batteries Bryan?) Burton were under the temporary charge of Paul Blount for the Broughton game. While his record while deputising as skipper is excellent and gave the team hope for a positive result out of the game, Burton took to the pitch with a nagging feeling of doubt wondering which player/groundsman/scorer etc would be leaving the club after the latest session of Flash captaincy!
Immediately drawing on his 25+ years of accumulated cricketing knowledge, Flash called wrong at the toss, and Burton were asked to take first use of a dry and bare looking pitch.
Against an attack that was at best steady, and at worst innocuous, Burton's opening pair of Moore & Deabill looked in no trouble, and seemed to be building a good solid base from which to post an impressive score. With the bowlers seemingly causing no problems to the batsmen, and the score progressing nicely to 68-0, the view from the boundary was that it would require the batsmen to do something really stupid to get themselves out.
At this point, the batsmen did something really stupid to get themselves out. Not once, not even twice, but 3 times they contrived to offer Broughton easy run-out chances.
First Moore choosing to run to Blockley, probably the best fielder, on the basis of 'that should have gone for 4'. Gary, it didn't, it went straight to him.
Then Dipple, looking to get off the mark, ran the ball straight to gully, before calling Ross through for a suicidal single. Think Pearce & Waddle combined after missing world cup penalties in the shoot-out, and you'll have some idea how disappointed Ross looked as he trudged back to the pavilion. In fact, throw in Southgate & Batty as well.
And finally, Freestone gave Peck the old yes, no, sorry call to leave him stranded out of his ground. Actually, I lie, there was no sorry involved at all. Looking on the bright side though, at least we all know how to swear in Afrikaans now.
With the middle order now exposed, Broughton finally found some potency in their attack, in the shape of leg-spinner Dann. Getting considerable turn and bounce out of what had previously appeared a totally dead pitch, he ran steadily through the rest of the Burton order, to finish with figures of 5-59, Burton finishing on a below-par score of 147, which would have been even worse if it wasn't for an invaluable last wicket stand of 20 between Morley & Smith. Yes, that's Lee Smith! The lad can bat after all! Crucial runs as it turned out.
With just a small score to defend, Burton took to the field knowing that early wickets would be crucial. And after a small flurry or early boundaries, that's exactly what they got. Lang got D'Aujuro LBW with one that skidded through low, Patrick with a brute of a ball that he did well to fend off his chin to first slip, and then the very next ball, Colwell edged behind to Moore. Blockley survived the hat-trick ball, but it was game-on.
Enter Simon Leake on his second 1st team appearance, replacing Lang, and looking for a change of personal fortune. It wasn't just his second ball duck, wiping across, and missing, a straight full toss from Dann. Oh no, it had been worse than that. Not only had he turned up at the wrong ground in Broughton (ok, we've all done that in the past when visiting a ground for the first time), but he had preceded to get changed, and only got suspicious when, having wandered onto the pitch to warm up, realised he didn't recognize any of the other 21 players!!
So what chance of him hitting his straps then after that warm-up? You'd of thought no chance, and after a variable first over (sometimes wide, sometime short), it didn't look like his day was improving much. But little did we know what was to come. Second over on, he was a man transformed, bowling a consistently teasing line and length. Some inspired field-placing by Captain Flash saw him twice persuade batsmen to hit straight down the throat of Lang at deepish mid-off, and sandwiched between those wickets, Flash himself took the catch at short cover to get the prize wicket of Blockley.
That just left the big hitting Tingle to bat with the rather invertebrate tail, and plenty of overs left for Burton to force the game. Leak took another wicket, Pecky chipped in with a couple, and Broughton were down to last boy standing, a young lad of just 12 tender years.
With nearly 20 overs left, it looked like a formality, but the young lad defended well, and Tingle managed a few meaty blows to get Broughton past the 100 mark, and within a couple of good overs of an impressive recovery. It wasn't to be though, Lang came back on for Leak, and castled Tingle to end the game and give Burton their first win of the season.
And with victory came forgivness. And Happiness. All the earlier tears & tantrums were forgotten. Ross was seen smiling again, Pecky was talking to Dave, Mark was talking to Ross. Even Bryan's bionic knee seemed slightly better for it all. Though that might just have been the prospect of an imminent pint of Stella.
MoM : Close call this week, but awarded to Ian Lang for 4 wickets & 2 catches, narrowly pipping Simon Leak.
Ian Lang - 18/06/06
FULL MATCH STATS AVAILABLE HERE