Grace's in need of 50 more runs!
The very late drop out of Five Lions CC saw a hastily arranged fixture against new opponents Woodlawn CC from Hampton Court. The morning showers had happily disappeared leaving a sunny afternoon by the time Dom lost the toss and was invited to bat by the visitors.
He opened with Stuart and things were progressing well until the 6th over – with the score at 26 Dom edged to the slip (looking to repeat a delicious late cut) Enter Simon who showed his ability with some lovely straight drives taking the score to 44 before Stuart followed Dom’s example edging to slip for an attacking 29 – this was to be our top score of the day.
Leo then joined Simon who was looking set until he mistimed the sumptuously bearded 4th bowler Mr Chapman and was caught and bowled for a nice 19. This was to epitomise the afternoon as most Grace’s batsmen got a good start only to perish – credit is due to the visitor’s niggly bowling making us work for the runs. 70 for 3 soon became 73 for 4 as Leo was next to give the slips practice for 12.
Woodlawn’s fielded was top drawer snaffling almost all the catching chances offered keeping the pressure on us. Newton in at 6 was bowled for 9 (he demonstrated an interesting use of a cricket box and a carrier bag preparing to bat!)- Naroshan again batted positively until he was caught for 10 (98 – 6 in the 26 over) At this stage the necessity of seeing out the overs became apparent – however good bowling saw Scott caught at slip for 15 – this was the visiting skipper’s 4thslip catch of the afternoon!
Jonners and Anosh added 17 runs before Anosh holed out to a great running catch in the deep – late drama saw Matthew collapse with a pulled hamstring which saw him retire bringing Mamun in – he was then left not out in the penultimate over as Jonners was bowled with an optimistic yahoo.
Grace’s pondered their low total of 137 as the usual spartan Greenford tea was taken – Dom was considering the bowling options as we only had 3 regulars playing. Hopes were raised as Naroshan took an outstanding catch in the deep – 16 for 1. However Ben ,the guest’s other opener , and the number 3 (Tish , 4 catches!) then showed great concentration in accumulating runs with almost no chances offered.
The hundred came up in the 22nd over and Dom tried all the options open to him (Anosh , Mamun , Newton , Leo and himself) to no avail as the batsman showed great application and some nice shots. Ben looked to be guiding his team to victory until Dom produced what could be the ball of the afternoon (did it hit something?)as he bowled him with a jaffa – a late flurry of wickets added a bit of respectability as Woodlawn reached the target for 4 wickets down.
We did well as it took until the 30th over for the target to be reached and we didn’t give up – another 50 runs would have made it interesting. The visitors will certainly be invited back as they played in a very sporting spirit – hopefully we can get more runs on the board next week!