Thanks to Matt for his entertaining match report
Sixes galore!
Whilst one team of Graces players were enjoying the tour of Paris, those back home enjoy the annual trip to our old friends at Barton Seagrave in Northamptonshire. Despite weather or the week preceding the game only being suitable for Noah and his ark, it was amazing work from Barton Seagrave to even get a game on. Five players made the trip up from London, with the other six being Northants based, including a second appearance for
Patrick, youngsters Konnor and Arryn and a Graces debut for Karen.
On a understandably green and soft pitch and temperatures barely creeping into double figures, skipper Matt was unsure of what to do at the toss, but chose to bat first. Immediately it looked a good decision as both Henry and Aqib managed a boundary each of the first over, taking thirteen from it. The second over was equally good for Graces, being bowled by
Annabelle, who played for Graces earlier in the season at Great Oakley. That over saw Aqib taking another four and a trademark big six over the bowler’s head. It took until the sixth over to have an over without a boundary as runs were coming freely off the bat as a fifty partnership was quickly formed. Henry had chanced his arm a couple of times with fielders unable to hold on to a couple of catches, but Aqib at the other end looked intent on trying to
clear the smaller boundaries as often as possible. The seventh over saw two more enormous sixes from Aqib, with two more the following over. The fielders were spending more time searching for the ball than actually bowling with it. Aqib’s fifth six giving him his 50 in just 23 balls!
It was obvious for Henry that he just needed to give Aqib the strike as it was clear something special was happening. With the softness in the pitch, the bowlers could not get any bounce, so they had to pitch the ball full, only resulting in the ball being exactly where Aqib wanted it
as the long off, long on and mid-wicket boundaries were being regularly targeted.
Unfortunately, Henry’s luck would run out as he edged behind to the bowling change of Brandon to depart for 28 and end the opening stand of 88 in only 59 balls!
This didn’t stop Aqib. Back-to-back sixes in the eleventh over. The century was on! The twelfth over, Brandon’s second, was the target. Balls one, two and three all disappeared for six, the fifth disappeared too for Aqib’s twelfth six to take him to 93. The next ball, another huge swing of the bat found the slightest of feathers to carry through to the keeper to end a truly astounding innings of 93 from only 39 balls, with 84 of the runs in boundaries!
The two batters were the father and son duo of Konnor and Patrick who steadied the pace and used the long time remaining to get themselves in. The introduction of Dan into the bowling attack saw Patrick start to free his arms with three pulled fours through the legside in
four balls. Skipper Jack brought himself on for his only over of the innings, which took Patrick’s stumps to dismiss him for 17. Whilst Konnor continued to nudge and nurdle effectively, Muneeb decided to follow his brother’s earlier antics, swinging hard himself.
County youth, Max, and Jack’s dad, Garry, bore the brunt of the onslaught as the legside boundary was heavily bombarded again. Back-to-back fours immediately followed by another six. Two overs later, two more sixes back-to-back as the 200 mark passed after 25 overs. Muneeb’s innings was ended LBW by Garry for 34 from 22 balls.
Pritesh, a Barton Seagrave player himself, was next in and wasted no time at all, hitting his first two balls for legside fours. The big match up came when Pritesh’s brother Nick was then brought into the attack. A substantial amount of money was on the line between the two brothers as to who would prevail, but ultimately, Nick won as Pritesh was caught for the unlucky number 13. Matt was in at 7 and typically ran with great intent keeping a healthy
strike rate. He was soon joined by Moeed as Konnor’s good stay at the crease was over as Nick bowled him for a solid 24.
With only nine overs left, Matt attempted to get Moeed on strike as much as possible to exploit the shorter boundaries. Moeed was able to get a couple away with some good striking over the heads of the bowlers for the odd four. Matt continued to push the running to attempt to manipulate the strike for Moeed, but some big hitting was still required to get the magic 300 mark. Four perfect straight six hits from Moeed came as the last two overs went
for 12 and 22 to end the innings at 307/6 from 40 overs. Moeed finishing 47 not out from 29 balls in an 81-run partnership with Matt. 19 sixes in the innings, surely a Graces record? As the clouds and light were drawing in, Barton Seagrave began their chase. Moeed opened the bowling alongside 12-year old Arryn, from Great Oakley. Arryn was getting beautiful swing down the slope with the new Dukes ball, which was providing lots of dots and building
pressure. This meant openers Max and Owen sought after Moeed to try and get the scoreboard going. Owen in particular used his flat bat strength to cut and pull a couple of boundaries. Max tried to go big down the ground and skied the ball towards Matt at mid off, who despite the jeers of his former Barton Seagrave teammates, clung on to a good catch to bring Mooed and Graces their first wicket. Soon after, Arryn got his first, with a big away
swinger finding an edge, which was superbly held on to at ankle height by Henry at slip, 32/2.
In his final over his spell, Arryn had his second, ending Owen’s good striking, bowled for a 24-ball thirty. Dan and Nick were the new batters and Ratan and Pritesh were the new bowlers. Pritesh was desperate to return the favour to his brother, but Ratan had Nick in all sorts, nibbling the ball just outside the off stump with superb constituency as runs started to dry up. Dan went for one heave too many, giving Pritesh a wicket, whilst Ratan deservedly
took Nick’s wicket, with the ball that nipped in, perfectly clipping the top of off stump. The drinks break came with the hosts 76/5.
The dark clouds had covered the ground, bringing stronger winds and colder temperatures as Graces began the second half with four fielders wearing coats, and Aqib even holding a cup of tea in the field to warm his hands. Matt decided to give himself the first over after drinks and it worked immediately first ball, finding some sharp spin from a short ball that
Garry pulled directly on his own stumps. Annabell at the other end was intent not to give her wicket away, with lots of resolute Rahul Dravid style wall defending to both Matt and Henry’s spin, showing that Barton Seagrave were not going to be bowled out easily.
The cup of tea hand warmer for Aqib worked a treat as Ian managed to pick him out on the cow corner boundary to give Matt his second wicket. Matt’s second over brought about the same shot again from his opposite number Jack, taking Aqib slightly off guard as he required a small dive to take the catch, aided by his thick padded coat upon landing. Mark was Barton
Seagrave’s new batter and Henry had been replaced by the returning Pritesh.
However, it was looking Matt’s day as Mark flicked one of his legs to another good react catch from Henry at short mid-wicket. Barton Seagrave were now 9 down and Matt had 4! Coming in much lower than usual, Josh was number 11 and wanted to show that Barton Seagrave could biff it like Graces did. He towered into Matt with his own onslaught of the shorter legside boundary. With it came chances though, with Aqib having a fast hit chance
going down off Matt, quickly followed by a similarly flat shot to Muneeb at long on. On a warmer and brighter day, maybe it could’ve been for Matt against his former club.
Having bowled out their overs, Moeed and Ratan came back on and it was deserving for Ratan to take the final wicket, bowling Josh for a quickfire 40 from 29 balls. 151 all out and Graces had won by 156 runs. Matt with 4-34 from 8 overs, Ratan 2-8 from 6.2 and Arryn 2- 16 from 5 as the pick of the bowlers. A great day had by all with many smiles and laughs throughout the day. Thank you again to Barton Seagrave for getting the game on!
Matt