Grace's made to work hard!
Match report away to Addington (1743) 30th August 2015 – won by 6 wickets
Curtley Ambrose, Viv Richards and Sir Garfield Sobers are all known to Addington (1743) CC,new opposition we visited on an overcast afternoon. This club has a lovely setting with a flat strip and nice outfield, and thankfully no West Indians guesting on this particular day! Grace’s turned up with a strong team and invited the hosts to bat in what turned out to be a day for the bowlers.
Addington’s openers were positive but accurate bowling from Newton and Dean kept the scoring down and despite some close LBW shouts the first wicket didn’t fall until the 19th over when Leo pulled off a great one handed diving catch at slip to see off the dogged skipper , Shafi, for 24. Recent rain and a slope resulted in the outfield slowing up anything hit onto it..
2 overs later the other opener was back in the pavilion after being trapped LBW by Mamun for 25. The score was now 69 for 2 in the 21st over. Addington’s 3 and 4 were keen to get the score moving but Mahender and Noddy didn’t let them have many loose balls keeping the pressure on eventually resulting in the number 3 Miah’s off stump cartwheeling away in a very satisfying manner as he played across the line to Noddy for 14. When Scotty took a sharp catch behind to see off the number 3 the score was 92 for 4 in the 31st over. This became 5 as the number 5 hit his first ball off Mahender into the deep where Stuart took a great catch – the number 6 saw off the hat-trick ball but there was to be no respite from pinpoint bowling as the hosts went from 92 for 3 after 31 overs to 101 all out in the 38th.with Noddy being particularly parsimonious off his 6.3 overs – 3 wickets with only 1 run conceded!
Mamun picked up 3 and both Mahender and Newton getting 2 in a fine bowling and fielding effort. After a filling and tasty tea (cheaper then our own!) Dean and Dom opened our reply aware of the nature of the pitch. Addington’s openers were pacy and accurate making us work for runs – things progressed slowly until the 11th over with the score on 17 when attempting a second run Dom was run out for the 4th time in 5 innings!
Stuart then joined Dean in a patient partnership against continuing good bowling taking the score to 63 in the 21st over when he was LBW for 22 bringing in Noddy at 4. If Grace’s were waiting for a part-time bowler to appear they were disappointed as each bowling change produced yet another useful bowler! Dean provided the backbone of the innings with a well judged 35.
We subbed a fielder when one host had to leave early and then sportingly provided a second when an injury occurred. Runs were being eaked out exemplified by Noddy taking 47 balls to score his not out 5! Things were tense as Grace’s crawled their way to the total finally getting there for 4 wickets down with only 8 balls to spare (Niroshan after a good fielding display hitting the winning runs) – full credit to Addington who made us work really hard and were sporting hosts. Once again thanks to supporters and Colin’s multi-coloured scoring. We would love to return next season!
Here is Colin’s
Maybe we will find 1664 soon but this village pitch club certainly claims a long and recently notorious history. That did not matter as the task in hand was a friendly game in gloomy conditions and a slow outfield that had inclines slowing the ball further. Still with houses built much closer in recent years you wonder how safe their windows are if the ball would bounce and lift in summery conditions.
This fairly young group of players were most welcoming and batted first. It was a bowlers wicket throughout the match and with Newton and Dean opening the bowling with tight figures, the run rate stayed very low. Mamun now relieved Newton and took several overs before getting the first glint in over 19 by inducing Captain Rafeel Shafi to lob into the range of Leo who did the job. Only 25 scored and two overs later the second was LBW for 24. Mahender had now joined the attack but three Miah and four were doggedly holding out at a slow rate even with Leo now sending full tosses to disrupt rhythm. and then in over 31 Mahender turned them over with no 4 being caught well behind by Scott and then no 5 Chris, playing his first innings in a couple years playing his first shot sky high to the ever capable hands of Scott. Noddy had just started his spell with the odd bye but soon delivered two wicket maidens to send fear into the team who were now 95 for 6 after being bowled cleanly. Newton now returned for a spell and in one over took Asif Ali for a wooden sounding LBW and bowled the other. This left Noddy the simple task of Bowling The last for a rapid collapse and 101 scored.
The Village ladies are famed for their tea provision and this was certainly a delight with Coronation Chicken or Crayfish sandwiches, loads of lovely fresh fruit and many cakes on offer. Maybe the tactic was to stuff us before a bat was lifted. All part of the delightful day.
Dominic opened the batting with Dean and found Asif Ali and Miah to be a restrictive bowling team with it being so hard to get score going. In fact this match in run rate would so often match the opposition with just one key difference, but you can wait more for that. There are no prizes for guessing how Dom departed in the 11th over opening the way for Stuart to keep Dean company and it was again the 21st over when second wicket fell with Stuart being LBW. This was a useful 22 however. The run rate now dried up, just like they had and suddenly in the 31st over all changed as it had for them as Dean was bowled for his 35 by spinner Amjad. Sadly this bowler would retire hurt later on and we offered Mahender up to substitute field. By this stage we had also at first given Jonners too, then replaced with Stuart and each of them operated with usual instinct and it was quite likely that we would be recording them being instrumental in our own losses. Noddy had replaced Stuart and for a man who can score mightily this was a long drawn out innings before his partner Newton went relatively swiftly, bowled for 7. And still the over rate was slow and two an over seemed a tall order. Surely they would not complete their allotment and leave us wanting? Niroshan had other ideas and though boundary class shots, like many others, the inclines and pitch frustrated the accumulation but he did get the vital last runs to take us past the mark with a mere 8 balls to spare.
The fielding team deserved their ovation as they had restricted our talent so well. Time to clear up, socialise and celebrate a match most interesting and we definitely will look for a fixture next season. The rain held off though light was certainly soon to be a problem if the match had gone much longer and we all left before the showers started.
One regular game left this season unless a late friendly away is arranged. Good to see many supporters here today including a transatlantic visitor who of course chose just the wrong moment to go visit the bathroom and missed the end of the match. Someone should have warned that anything can happen at any time!! Noddy had by far the strongest bowling figures, with only one batted run against him but everyone was diligent today and all deserve credit.