Close run chase in the gloom
Our first home game of the season saw a bright morning turn into a gloomy and drizzly afternoon.
Despite this, Grace’s had a close and exciting game against Roehampton Bats. Gordie lost the toss and we were invited to field – train problems saw us with only 9 fielders for the first 13 overs.
Accurate opening spells from Hemang and Mahindra saw Roehampton restricted runwise but after the first wicket fell the number 3 chanced his arm , punishing anything lose. At this point the weather turned gloomy with a slight drizzle – this didn’t help our cause as cold fingers allowed the ball to squeeze past.
A bowling change saw Mamun claim a wicket with his first ball closely followed by another in the same over. Grace’s spirits were raised – however the visitor’s skipper had other ideas ,stylishly driving on his way to 89 with support from their number 7 to post a challenging final total of 231.
After some warmth and respite in the pavilion having a welcome tea , the 9 man visitors (they were 2 players short) took the field. The fine drizzle continued with Jonners and Deepu opening the innings , Deepu hit a quick 18 before hitting a full toss straight to a fielder , Abhi fell the same way for 25 – the cold didn’t seem to hinder Roehampton as their fielding was tight with few errors.
Anosh continued his good form with the bat before mistiming a shot giving a catch to the keeper for 26. After Korsala was caught looking to push the score along Gordie joined Jonners. Despite some big hits , the target run rate remained high but Grace’s battled to the end with Gordie on 53 and Jonners 47 , falling 10 runs short.
A great game despite the cold and drizzle, the difference was the visitors’ fielding as they didn’t let many through despite the conditions. There are a lot of positives take from the game , Grace’s chased the total well and newbie Mahindra showed he is an asset to the squad. – Roehampton joined us for a drink afterwards showing us a great scoring app for the Ipad , perhaps something for us to consider